Those who frequently interact with our Twitter account @SoccerSupport
would have noticed recent discussions about an upcoming Soccer Tech Conference in
Los Angeles next month. We are happy to report this is indeed close to becoming a
reality and is in the final phases of organization.
Today we retweeted a job posted by the San Diego Flash Soccer Club
(@SDFlashSoccer) calling for people to become members of a new street team they are obviously
assembling to help increase their community outreach.
However it was the feedback that we received from users asking about the job and where they can
get more information that really got us thinking – why is no-one aggregating all the soccer jobs
that get posted across the country?
Recently Soccer Speak USA, a humble blog of ideas that was created to help act as discussion
tool and more optimistically, a catalyst for change at the grassroots of U.S. soccer – surpassed
5000 hits.
Not a number that screams ‘listen to my me because my ideas are great' but rather an indicator
that there are indeed people out there that believe soccer can reach its potential in this country
through innovative approaches to help foster a cultural shift in the big four ‘Americanized'
sports of NFL, Baseball, Basketball and Ice Hockey.
One of the most overlooked ways to #GrowTheGame is the sports capacity to embrace new technology
at the grassroots. Most of us have a feel for the various mediums available to us, but most don't
understand the full capabilities of social media and how it contributes to new fans and prospective
revenue streams.
We the grassroots of Australia would like to create more creative players but when we send them off
to Rep teams and then watch them at National Championsips we're faced with this:
Massive pitches for U13 -
Han can you please inform me how this encourages players to overlap, to play through balls, for
coaches to take a few risks, to encourage the smaller play - he or she of little legs on the
massive pitch.
If you talk to some in clubland they follow and preach the FFA Small Sided Game mantra.
Nothing else.
Well those of us who work with kids know SSG's work in the working class areas of Brazil, although
even I would maintain some of those kids could have technical correction to speedy along their SSG
development, but they aren't the complete answer in clubland in Australia.
In football we can simply learn from the best, but how do we and are we able to do it quickly
enough in each town/city across Australia?
The way they are developed is fascinating, as Bergkamp explains. 'We don't just
classify our players by age, we divide them into three 'wheels' depending on how much they have
grown.
Great article from Ned Zelic on the World Game today.
Question to is - does any Club pay their Coaches at 7,8,9 10 age group.
If they did the club can set a standard of commitment of direction for all coaches - and this could
make huge changes to all player development at your local club.
Seeing my club change some years ago to SSG and slowly seeing kids working with a ball you can see
the impact the changes are and can have on Aussie football.
My club is no Barcelona - not in culture of skills, but we do play SSG's. I'd like to see 5 v 5
taken to at least U11s but that's clearly just me.
Victoria won the U13 National Championships which was held in Canberra this week.
With the accent truly on creative football, touch and individual skilled meshed into a passing,
movement game Victoria - perhaps with some of the smallest players - came and conquered all before
them.
We just firstly see if they get up, secondly see if they survive and thirdly the FFA don't have to
come crawling to Canberra for a team to replace them.
Sad we've have such poor measures of success in the new football.
Love Han Berger - love his work and what he's doing for the game in Australia but there are a
couple of areas where he and the FFA Technical Group need to improve and could improve our players,
all our players more quickly.
The revolution is on - for some, but very slowly in some areas.
In Canberra for example in clubland we are a long long way behind what constitutes technical
development.
"It's been great. Just seeing Sally Pearson win her Gold Medal race at the World Championships has
really inspired everyone involved in Primary School Soccer this week," said young Athletics Coach
Tiny Passmore.
The Primary School Soccer Tournament is on in Canberra all week and despite all the talk of FFA's
revolution of Small Sided Games the girls are playing on the biggest pitch at the recently and more
appropriately renamed Hawker Junior Athletics Centre.
Well everyone has an opinion and there is always a debate between those who've played
professionally and those Coaches who haven't.
Do you need to play professionally to develop young players? I don't think so but then I didn't
train professionally - I played in Canberra!!!!
But maybe our Coaches who are full-time, but haven't played professionally have lacked real
guidance from the professional side of the game down the years.
Take Canberra United women's team - and divorce it from Capital Football - and now would be a great
time.
Capital Football do what they are best at - grassroots and local competitions.
The Canberra United professional set-up would gain further expertise and focus in their elite area
and Canberra United would expand to run and promote the elite game in town.
If you've ever watched the Brisbane Roar play - and most Aussie's don't have Fox Sports so will
never have seen them - they play to instruction, tactic and a tempo rarely, some say never, seen in
Australia.
There is many elements to their game but one is critical to Australian football development at all
levels.
Soccer clubs all over Australia see themselves as masters of the grassroots and sit waiting in
their club houses for their local A-League team to see the apparently obvious and come knocking. In
the absence of this knock, they carry on.
The A-League grassroots are the untapped crowd potential.
Families that enrol their kids at the local have taken a step that indicates that they are
interested in watching the sport.
FFA came under a lot of fire over the last couple of years as they put all their attention and
resources into the World Cup Bid, at the expense of a still fragile national league sitting in an
over-subscribed professional sporting arena.
Now it seems things are improving.
We had the season changes, and like the AFL and NRL, some key planning has gone into making noise
at the right times.
Cashed up and paranoid AFL have another wee problem to solve.
Delighted when they assisted to sabotage the World Cup bid, ecstatic when the recent growth of
professional football was halted; if A-League crowds and failing teams/owners is anything to go by;
the all powerful AFL must have thought they'd thwarted football expansion.
What we're watching: New York City's World Cup, the Cosmos Copa
Not too long ago we found the trailer for this, but now the short documentary is here for all to see. To refresh your memory, this is what the Cosmos Copa is all about: "Every year, 36 ‘national teams', comprised of the diverse communities that make up New York City, come together to play in a World Cup tournament called Cosmos Copa.
In England, semi-professional footballer Daniel Ailey calls the treatment of his deafness "the same as racism."
In Italy, Inter Milan are fined €50,000 after their fans directed racist chants at Mario Balotelli. Balotelli was himself fined €10,000 for gesturing to those same fans.
England coach Gary Neville has spoken out about the undeniable link between better coaching and better football.
The FA have acted after it was clear that no progress was being made on the international stage despite a 'golden generation of players' coming through over the last decade. They have started where it matters most- the youth.
With the #GrowTheGame San Diego Pilot fast approaching, Soccer
Support will be previewing each of the five major events being held across the city on
Saturday 14 & Sunday April 15.
Our third event to be previewed this week is the ‘Future of San Diego Soccer'
Forum to be held at San Diego's very own Hall of Champions and includes today's
announcements of the forums guest panelists, the agenda and interactive ways in which the broader
soccer community can participate.
Soccer Support was created out of the desire to help the sport realize its potential in the
U.S.
Focused on growing the grassroots of the game we are looking to help clubs become more
sustainable and provide mentorship and advice for them to all become cutting edge, 21st century
clubs.
We know the majority of club administrators & coaches put in countless hours in a volunteer
capacity and that future planning sometimes comes second to the day-to-day operations of the
club.
With all the excitement of releasing your second album but with the concern you might have been
a one hit wonder, Â we kicked off our second #SoccerSpeakUSA Twitter Chat. With some improvements
to the overall flow of the chat, feedback from users suggest that we are on the right track to
create an avenue for simple, fun and constructive dialogue, linking the grassroots and equipping
them with the tools to help grow a stronger game in the U.
The following was inspired by Lalo's latest comment. He makes good points about leadership,
and poses questions about the work on this blog. What follows is not intended as a full response,
but I preferred to post here instead of in the comments.
On the statement: "Leadership is doing the right thing".
Jan Versleijan and Han Berger have been slated by many over the last few weeks for their team
performances at the various World Cups.
Versleijan as manager of the teams, and Berger for laying down the 1-4-3-3 revolution, with a
little help from Rob Baan the former Dutch Technical Director.
