YTS Parents,
I hope you all had a good weekend. Below is a link to a video that is also under the Parents Library on the Blog homepage. Please take a few minutes to watch the video. As always our goal via our posts is to make each of you think about the role you play as a parent of a child playing sports.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFsF0Z9EKDg
On a different note young players need to spend as much time with the ball as they can. Below is a video attached on Cristiano Ronaldo in a little juggle off against a former youth soccer player at Arsenal FC. Juggling can help develop good technique and overall comfort level with the ball. Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_pO8TznfeY&feature=related
We look forward to a good week of training.
As always any questions or concerns please don't hesitate to contact me.
Paul
paulf@caslemail.com
CASL Youth Training System (YTS)
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Happy Tuesday
YTS Parents,
I was able to watch some YTS games on Sunday and enjoyed very much watching our teams compete against other NCCL teams. The conditions were perfect. For the most part the games provided our players and teams with challenges and tests that will assist in the overall development of the our YTS players. I know the kids loving playing on Sunday's!
Some reminders/thoughts from my end:
1. Please make sure your child brings both uniforms to the games. It is always good to have both colors in case there is a conflict.
2. If you child cannot attend a game please let your team coach know. This is very important. Our players can play on different teams so we have a good amount of flexibility if a team is short on a player or players.
3. For the most part we don't have full-time GK's on our teams. As a result we ask that the kids take turns playing in goals. As parents we ask that you support this. It helps the kids learn a great deal about the position and they will develop a respect for the position. This is very important. I have had a couple of coaches tell me that parents have told their child their son/daughter is not allowed to play in goal. Unless there is a medical condition we'd like to see all of the kids take a turn. The great thing is the score is not important in the grand scheme of things- unless you make it important.
4. While we don't focus on winning soccer games we still want the players in our program to compete and develop a winning mentality both on and off the field. For some players this comes naturally. We encourage the players to compete during all of our training sessions and games. Establishing this mentality is important long term for the players. They must be willing to compete. Learn how to compete first then they can learn how to win. Please understand the order in which this process must occur. There will be plenty of time to worry about winning and of course losing as the players get older.
5. We have a great staff in place in my mind. With that said I still heard too much coaching going on from the sideline over the weekend. Comments like, shoot, pass, dribble, etc are not necessary. Let the players make there own decisions. Not matter how frustrating it can be on the sidlines let them make their own decisions. Just like when they are at school.
6. We do have Gk training once a week for our YTS kids. Matt Brown our newly hired GK coach works with the U10's on Tuesday nights and the U9's on Friday nights. These sessions are to help the players that attend learn some very basic skills about the position. We try to rotate which players attend these sessions unless a player is set on being a GK.
7. I am finalizing our winter training program and hope to release this shortly. We will train in Dec and Jan. I appreciate your patience as we work behind the scenes to set things up.
Should you have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to contact me at anytime.
Thanks for your continued support and enjoy watching your son/daughter play the beautiful game!!
I was able to watch some YTS games on Sunday and enjoyed very much watching our teams compete against other NCCL teams. The conditions were perfect. For the most part the games provided our players and teams with challenges and tests that will assist in the overall development of the our YTS players. I know the kids loving playing on Sunday's!
Some reminders/thoughts from my end:
1. Please make sure your child brings both uniforms to the games. It is always good to have both colors in case there is a conflict.
2. If you child cannot attend a game please let your team coach know. This is very important. Our players can play on different teams so we have a good amount of flexibility if a team is short on a player or players.
3. For the most part we don't have full-time GK's on our teams. As a result we ask that the kids take turns playing in goals. As parents we ask that you support this. It helps the kids learn a great deal about the position and they will develop a respect for the position. This is very important. I have had a couple of coaches tell me that parents have told their child their son/daughter is not allowed to play in goal. Unless there is a medical condition we'd like to see all of the kids take a turn. The great thing is the score is not important in the grand scheme of things- unless you make it important.
4. While we don't focus on winning soccer games we still want the players in our program to compete and develop a winning mentality both on and off the field. For some players this comes naturally. We encourage the players to compete during all of our training sessions and games. Establishing this mentality is important long term for the players. They must be willing to compete. Learn how to compete first then they can learn how to win. Please understand the order in which this process must occur. There will be plenty of time to worry about winning and of course losing as the players get older.
5. We have a great staff in place in my mind. With that said I still heard too much coaching going on from the sideline over the weekend. Comments like, shoot, pass, dribble, etc are not necessary. Let the players make there own decisions. Not matter how frustrating it can be on the sidlines let them make their own decisions. Just like when they are at school.
6. We do have Gk training once a week for our YTS kids. Matt Brown our newly hired GK coach works with the U10's on Tuesday nights and the U9's on Friday nights. These sessions are to help the players that attend learn some very basic skills about the position. We try to rotate which players attend these sessions unless a player is set on being a GK.
7. I am finalizing our winter training program and hope to release this shortly. We will train in Dec and Jan. I appreciate your patience as we work behind the scenes to set things up.
Should you have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to contact me at anytime.
Thanks for your continued support and enjoy watching your son/daughter play the beautiful game!!
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
An interesting article below. I might not agree with every point but it makes for an interesting read.
Monday, Oct. 4, 2010
Champion coach Albertin Montoya puts winning in perspective
By Mike Woitalla
On a sunny September Sunday, Coach Albertin Montoya watched his Gold Pride players, including the magnificent Brazilian Marta and U.S. world champion Tiffeny Milbrett, celebrate the WPS championship after a 4-0 win over Philadelphia.
The dominating final performance followed a regular season in which the Gold Pride averaged nearly two goals per game and played such entertaining and effective soccer that longtime reporter on the women’s game, Scott French, declared it the best women’s club team ever.
Thanks much to Marta, the Gold Pride played soccer worth paying to watch. So as Montoya, out of the corner of his eye, watched his players bask in the glory, I asked him why the USA isn't producing Martas. After all, this country has more girls playing and more resources dedicated to female soccer than any other nation. Shouldn't we be seeing many more highly skillful, exciting players?
“We’ll need to talk about youth soccer,” said Montoya.
Montoya is also a longtime Northern California youth coach for girls and boys. He and his wife, Erin, a former collegiate star and pro player, run the Montoya Soccer Academy and coach at Mountain View Los Altos SC, for which Albertin also serves as technical director for under-8 through under-14 boys teams.
“The biggest problem at the youth level is the emphasis on winning,” he says. “I don’t know if it’s in our genes or what, but there’s so much desire to win at the ages when player development should be the emphasis.
“The first thing I tell parents is, ‘You want to win at U-8, U-9, U-10, U-11, U-12 -- you’re at the wrong club.
“We’re here to develop players to where, hopefully, by the time they’re U-14, U-15s, they’re playing at a high level, where if we do our job, winning will be a byproduct and we’ll compete for state championships.”
At the U-14/15 level – when the college showcases begin – MVLA teams do get results and win championships. And it sent 14 players to the girls youth national team program in the last seven years.
“These players might not be winning at 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 – but that’s not what it’s about,” he says. “We’ve lost some good players in the past because their parents wanted to win at U10, U11.”
The challenge is to convince parents that at the early ages the focus should be on individual technical development – not scorelines. Montoya even advocates against playing league ball at the early ages.
“I don’t want our teams at U9, U10, U11 to play in the league,” he says. “I want to just have in-house 4v4s. It’s difficult because parents say, ‘We want to play different teams. We want to travel.’ I say, 'Believe me. You’ll have plenty of time to travel and drive when they’re 14, 15, 16. You don’t want to do it now when they’re U8, U9, U10.'
“We have enough players in our backyard. Let’s play 3v3, 4v4. But the parents want to play other teams. So I said, 'OK. We’ll do it in the fall.' But in the spring we’re not going to play anywhere. We are going to continue what I believe in. They’ll get more touches on the ball.”
Like most close observers of the women’s game, Montoya sees that the USA has depended too much on athleticism – being stronger, faster and quicker:
“When you watch the U-17 and U-20 World Cups you see the technical ability of the Japanese, the Koreans, the Germans, the Brazilians – you ask, ‘Why can’t our players do that?’ We have the athletes and I think it does go down to the early youth level where there’s so much emphasis on winning.”
When Montoya coaches his pros, he wants them to play like Barcelona or Spain. To rely on skill, creativity and possession.
“Once they realized they could play that kind of game … When you have the ball – they enjoy it that much more,” he says. “As soon as we lose it, we try to win it right back. And when we get it back, then identify, ‘Do we do a quick counter or do we keep it and let them chase for a while?’”
With his youngsters, it’s all about developing the individual skills that will enable them to play a possession game later. That, he says, is a bigger challenge for American youth coaches, whose players don’t watch as much soccer as, for example, Brazilian children. So coaches need to demonstrate more and do more skill work – and encourage dribbling during games even it if means the risk of losing the ball and giving up goals.
“My U-9 teams -- I haven’t even told them to pass it yet,” says Montoya. “I want my right back to dribble six players. I want my left back to dribble five, six players. I want my center back to do the same thing. My center-mid, my forward. Every single one of them.
“So we get 9-year-olds who are doing spin turns like Marta does. They’re doing step-overs. And I want that. I encourage that at every single position. And every game, they’ll start at a different position.”
Montoya doesn’t mind if a young player loses the ball because she keeps dribbling and the other team exploits the error for a goal. In fact, he “bribes” his players to try dribbling moves during a game. Giving them a small prize if they pull off a step-over move or a “Maradona” during a game.
“When a U-9 player touches the ball once, passes, touches the ball once, passes. How much are they developing?” he asks. “Teams may look well organized when they keep their players in the same positions – the positions they’re strongest at. But what separates players at the highest level is doing magic with the ball. So dribbling needs to be encouraged early on. The organized tactical stuff should come later. I tell the parents don’t tell the kids to pass the ball.”
When strong athletes are encouraged to strike the ball into space and run after it – coaches may start winning. But these players suffer later because they’ve been encouraged to use their athleticism instead of their skill or their savvy. When they're older, says Montoya, they have a certain style – but’s a power, direct syle.
“When they’re 13, 14, 15 -- there’s even more emphasis on winning and a coach is even less likely to work on developing the player,” he says.
But Montoya sees that parents are starting to understand why the scorelines shouldn’t be considered so important.
“It’s all about educating the parents,” he says. “And fortunately there is a generation of coaches coming up now who have played the game at a high level. But we need to make sure those coaches are working at the younger age groups and that they have developing players as a priority and not winning games.”
(Mike Woitalla, the executive editor of Soccer America, coaches youth soccer for Rockridge SC in Oakland, Calif. His youth soccer articles are archived at YouthSoccerFun.com.)
Monday, Oct. 4, 2010
Champion coach Albertin Montoya puts winning in perspective
By Mike Woitalla
On a sunny September Sunday, Coach Albertin Montoya watched his Gold Pride players, including the magnificent Brazilian Marta and U.S. world champion Tiffeny Milbrett, celebrate the WPS championship after a 4-0 win over Philadelphia.
The dominating final performance followed a regular season in which the Gold Pride averaged nearly two goals per game and played such entertaining and effective soccer that longtime reporter on the women’s game, Scott French, declared it the best women’s club team ever.
Thanks much to Marta, the Gold Pride played soccer worth paying to watch. So as Montoya, out of the corner of his eye, watched his players bask in the glory, I asked him why the USA isn't producing Martas. After all, this country has more girls playing and more resources dedicated to female soccer than any other nation. Shouldn't we be seeing many more highly skillful, exciting players?
“We’ll need to talk about youth soccer,” said Montoya.
Montoya is also a longtime Northern California youth coach for girls and boys. He and his wife, Erin, a former collegiate star and pro player, run the Montoya Soccer Academy and coach at Mountain View Los Altos SC, for which Albertin also serves as technical director for under-8 through under-14 boys teams.
“The biggest problem at the youth level is the emphasis on winning,” he says. “I don’t know if it’s in our genes or what, but there’s so much desire to win at the ages when player development should be the emphasis.
“The first thing I tell parents is, ‘You want to win at U-8, U-9, U-10, U-11, U-12 -- you’re at the wrong club.
“We’re here to develop players to where, hopefully, by the time they’re U-14, U-15s, they’re playing at a high level, where if we do our job, winning will be a byproduct and we’ll compete for state championships.”
At the U-14/15 level – when the college showcases begin – MVLA teams do get results and win championships. And it sent 14 players to the girls youth national team program in the last seven years.
“These players might not be winning at 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 – but that’s not what it’s about,” he says. “We’ve lost some good players in the past because their parents wanted to win at U10, U11.”
The challenge is to convince parents that at the early ages the focus should be on individual technical development – not scorelines. Montoya even advocates against playing league ball at the early ages.
“I don’t want our teams at U9, U10, U11 to play in the league,” he says. “I want to just have in-house 4v4s. It’s difficult because parents say, ‘We want to play different teams. We want to travel.’ I say, 'Believe me. You’ll have plenty of time to travel and drive when they’re 14, 15, 16. You don’t want to do it now when they’re U8, U9, U10.'
“We have enough players in our backyard. Let’s play 3v3, 4v4. But the parents want to play other teams. So I said, 'OK. We’ll do it in the fall.' But in the spring we’re not going to play anywhere. We are going to continue what I believe in. They’ll get more touches on the ball.”
Like most close observers of the women’s game, Montoya sees that the USA has depended too much on athleticism – being stronger, faster and quicker:
“When you watch the U-17 and U-20 World Cups you see the technical ability of the Japanese, the Koreans, the Germans, the Brazilians – you ask, ‘Why can’t our players do that?’ We have the athletes and I think it does go down to the early youth level where there’s so much emphasis on winning.”
When Montoya coaches his pros, he wants them to play like Barcelona or Spain. To rely on skill, creativity and possession.
“Once they realized they could play that kind of game … When you have the ball – they enjoy it that much more,” he says. “As soon as we lose it, we try to win it right back. And when we get it back, then identify, ‘Do we do a quick counter or do we keep it and let them chase for a while?’”
With his youngsters, it’s all about developing the individual skills that will enable them to play a possession game later. That, he says, is a bigger challenge for American youth coaches, whose players don’t watch as much soccer as, for example, Brazilian children. So coaches need to demonstrate more and do more skill work – and encourage dribbling during games even it if means the risk of losing the ball and giving up goals.
“My U-9 teams -- I haven’t even told them to pass it yet,” says Montoya. “I want my right back to dribble six players. I want my left back to dribble five, six players. I want my center back to do the same thing. My center-mid, my forward. Every single one of them.
“So we get 9-year-olds who are doing spin turns like Marta does. They’re doing step-overs. And I want that. I encourage that at every single position. And every game, they’ll start at a different position.”
Montoya doesn’t mind if a young player loses the ball because she keeps dribbling and the other team exploits the error for a goal. In fact, he “bribes” his players to try dribbling moves during a game. Giving them a small prize if they pull off a step-over move or a “Maradona” during a game.
“When a U-9 player touches the ball once, passes, touches the ball once, passes. How much are they developing?” he asks. “Teams may look well organized when they keep their players in the same positions – the positions they’re strongest at. But what separates players at the highest level is doing magic with the ball. So dribbling needs to be encouraged early on. The organized tactical stuff should come later. I tell the parents don’t tell the kids to pass the ball.”
When strong athletes are encouraged to strike the ball into space and run after it – coaches may start winning. But these players suffer later because they’ve been encouraged to use their athleticism instead of their skill or their savvy. When they're older, says Montoya, they have a certain style – but’s a power, direct syle.
“When they’re 13, 14, 15 -- there’s even more emphasis on winning and a coach is even less likely to work on developing the player,” he says.
But Montoya sees that parents are starting to understand why the scorelines shouldn’t be considered so important.
“It’s all about educating the parents,” he says. “And fortunately there is a generation of coaches coming up now who have played the game at a high level. But we need to make sure those coaches are working at the younger age groups and that they have developing players as a priority and not winning games.”
(Mike Woitalla, the executive editor of Soccer America, coaches youth soccer for Rockridge SC in Oakland, Calif. His youth soccer articles are archived at YouthSoccerFun.com.)
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Happy Wednesday
YTS Parents,
I hope you all had an enjoyable Labor Day Weekend. I will be sending out an email to team managers later today that will count as the educational piece for the week. Below are some reminders as the players prepare to play their first game of the season.
1. Before the opening weekend I wanted to address a few things about the games and our philosophy on competition and games at the YTS level. The first and main point is that RESULTS DO NOT MATTER at this level. Our job at YTS is to introduce competitive soccer to these players, our job at YTS is NOT to win games, in all honesty, we do not care about the results. We do recognize that winning is part of a positive experience for the kids, but ultimately we want our kids to improve and enjoy the experience. As a parent you are very important to this. Your demeanor on the sideline has a huge impact on your kids and the game itself. We ask that you encourage and cheer for your kids in a POSITIVE way, that is all. Please do not yell at your kids in frustration or try to coach your kid from the sideline. Only the coach is to give instructions about the game, your job is to encourage. Please enjoy watching your child play and his/her team play.
Just as YTS is an early stage of soccer for these kids, it is also an early stage of refereeing for our officials. They will make mistakes. Do not complain or yell at the referee. Not only is this something we do out of respect to the referees, but it also has a huge impact on your child. If you yell at the referee he/she will think it is ok to yell at the referee. There should be no reason at all to communicate with the officials at anytime.
2. In short enjoy the game, be a good sport, set the right example for your child and represent our club in the right manor.
3. Always check weather hotlines etc before you leave for a game. Never assume a game is on, or off for that matter.
4. Make sure your son/daughter has both sets of uniforms for each game and of course they bring their soccer ball and plenty to drink.
5. Please arrive to games on time. I recommend being at the field 30 minutes before kick-off. If in doubt arrive early. Better to be early than late!
As always if you have questions please don't hesitate to contact me.
Good luck this weekend!
Paul
paulf@caslemail.com
I hope you all had an enjoyable Labor Day Weekend. I will be sending out an email to team managers later today that will count as the educational piece for the week. Below are some reminders as the players prepare to play their first game of the season.
1. Before the opening weekend I wanted to address a few things about the games and our philosophy on competition and games at the YTS level. The first and main point is that RESULTS DO NOT MATTER at this level. Our job at YTS is to introduce competitive soccer to these players, our job at YTS is NOT to win games, in all honesty, we do not care about the results. We do recognize that winning is part of a positive experience for the kids, but ultimately we want our kids to improve and enjoy the experience. As a parent you are very important to this. Your demeanor on the sideline has a huge impact on your kids and the game itself. We ask that you encourage and cheer for your kids in a POSITIVE way, that is all. Please do not yell at your kids in frustration or try to coach your kid from the sideline. Only the coach is to give instructions about the game, your job is to encourage. Please enjoy watching your child play and his/her team play.
Just as YTS is an early stage of soccer for these kids, it is also an early stage of refereeing for our officials. They will make mistakes. Do not complain or yell at the referee. Not only is this something we do out of respect to the referees, but it also has a huge impact on your child. If you yell at the referee he/she will think it is ok to yell at the referee. There should be no reason at all to communicate with the officials at anytime.
2. In short enjoy the game, be a good sport, set the right example for your child and represent our club in the right manor.
3. Always check weather hotlines etc before you leave for a game. Never assume a game is on, or off for that matter.
4. Make sure your son/daughter has both sets of uniforms for each game and of course they bring their soccer ball and plenty to drink.
5. Please arrive to games on time. I recommend being at the field 30 minutes before kick-off. If in doubt arrive early. Better to be early than late!
As always if you have questions please don't hesitate to contact me.
Good luck this weekend!
Paul
paulf@caslemail.com
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