As you know soccer in America is continuing to evolve. The United States leads the world in youth soccer development. This has been born out of necessity. We did not have the history in soccer of some other nations. Many coaches of the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s did not have a strong playing background of their own. Other than the NASL there was little professional soccer to observe for young players to learn the game. Consequently coaches took center stage in the development of players. The coaches had to demonstrate every technique since most of the players had never seen those ball skills before. In the 1970s the soccer explosion began with older players. The explosion first impacted high school aged players. There were very few soccer clubs and U6 and U8 soccer were unheard of in 99% of the country. In fact U10 and U12 soccer really did not get up and running until the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. Since the explosion of soccer in America began with adults and older teenaged players the attitude was that all age groups should play 11 vs. 11. By the 1980s this included the U8 age group.
In the mid 1980s many states and clubs were changing U8 soccer from 11 vs. 11 with a size 5 ball on a full size field with an adult size goal to something saner for children. The arguments against this change were that it isn’t real soccer if they play with numbers less than 11 a-side, we won’t have enough coaches, we have too few referees, where will we get more fields and how will we afford more goals? The sentiment of many people was that we were going to ruin the game and that players would quit and soccer in America would fall by the wayside. Since the mid ‘80s we have added another two million players to the ranks of soccer participants. With those players have come more coaches, fields, referees and resources. The game did not suffer from those changes in fact it has flourished. Who in the 1970s would have believed that 3.2 million people would be playing youth soccer in the USA by 2004?
Now in the early 2000s we are continuing to evolve youth soccer for children. This is all in an attempt to take a game designed by and for adults to play and make it “user friendly” for kids. Soccer is now less coach centered and is becoming more player centered, as it should be. Kids now have professional and college teams to watch in person or on TV. They have player models to copy. This brings us to Small Sided Games (SSG) and our next step forward in the growth of the game. The arguments now are the same as they were in the 1980s as you can read in the above paragraph. The results will be the same too. This change to SSG will enhance the sport, cause it to grow larger and most significantly we’ll create a better educational environment for our children.
Tom Goodman, the National Director of Coaching Education for US Youth Soccer, and the Coaching Education Department predict that the entire nation will change over to SSG within the next three years. All fifty-five state association Directors of Coaching have voted in favor of SSG. All of the U. S. Soccer National Staff Coaches and National Staff Instructors are in favor of taking this progressive step forward. The National Soccer Coaches Association of America also endorses SSG and teaches the same in their coaching courses. The American Youth Soccer Organization national board is in favor of SSG. For many of our clubs this will be no change since they are already playing SSG. In fact for the overwhelming majority of soccer clubs there will be no change in the U6 and U8 age groups since they are already following the US Youth Soccer guidelines on playing formats. Some have already made the change in the U10 and U12 age groups and more will make the change at the beginning of the 2004/2005 soccer year.
We know that even with folks who support SSG there is a need for answers to practical questions of implementation. The US Youth Soccer Coaching Committee and the Coaching Education Department have put together printed information to distribute to soccer clubs across the nation to help them solve these logistical challenges.
Another task for the implementation of SSG in your club is the education of your membership of why the change is being made. US Youth Soccer will send to you via E-mail information you can use to enlighten the members of your clubs. We hope that you will use the information you find pertinent to educate the coaches, team managers, board members and others in your clubs on the benefits of SSG. Also the Staff Coaches of the Coaching Education Department are available to come and speak with your clubs’ coaches to help you with this transition if you like. Just get in touch with us at the national office and we’ll be glad to help you in any way we may.
Lest you think we are alone in this revolution please note that most of the FIFA nations are also changing to SSG for children. We are proud to say that America is at the forefront of improving the environment in which kids play soccer. Let’s show our kids the meaning of teamwork in action and together we’ll make a change for the better.
As always we are here to help your state association, so please do not hesitate to contact us. We are willing to visit any state association anywhere in the country at anytime.
KEEP KICKING!
Tom Goodman Sam Snow
Director of Coaching Education Assistant Director of Coaching Education
