Preaching Patience But Growing Tired...

I'd like to think that patience has always been one of my strengths as a coach and soccer educator.  After more than 25 years at all levels from U6 to University, camps to North American youth championships I've often championed the cause of "give it time, put in the work and it will happen."

Admittedly not as catchy as "build it and they will come," but taking the long view has been more than fruitful both on and off the field more often and not.

Today though after taking a hard look at the latest update from Alex Chiet, the OSA Chief Technical Officer, on Ontario's implementation of the Long Term Player Development initiative I have to admit my patience is wearing thin.

Don't get me wrong there is way more good news than bad in the update including:

• A focus on developing players, not winning, at early youth levels.
• A new coaching curriculum to be unveiled within weeks.
• A focus on individual skills development with more identification opportunities at local and regional levels.
• A League structure to reflect development for U4 to U12 with less emphasis on winning.
• A move to a league and competition structure that is not about promotion and relegation for older youth players but centred on player development with a club focus based on standards.
• Establishment of L1 Youth League in Ontario.

All good ideas and well overdue.  Chiet himself says it bests when in the update he says:

"Our current pathway is so broken, confusing and fragmented that we can no longer avoid "the elephant in the room".  we have to develop a pathway that not only makes sense for but is also in the true best interests of young players."

Then the head scratcher (or heart breaker) in the deal for me - "Based on our current plan, LTPD will be phased-in, starting in 2013, with the broader "roll-out" expected over the next 6 to 8 years." 


So, I could be wrong but the way I read this is, if you an eight year old currently playing in Ontario you'll be ten by the time LTPD starts and assuming the "phasing in" starts with the youngest age group and adds a level each year after that you will be missed entirely by the LTPD and yet another generation will be lost to development.  In fact even if your six and possibly younger you will not receive the full benefit of LTPD.

Really?  Eight years to basically give 80% of coaches involved in coaching in this province the thing they want more than anything else, a simple tool - a curriculum - that helps them do a decent job and give the bulk of youth players a decent grounding in skills and instils in them a love of the game.  Eight years...

A twitter exchange (not the perfect forum for complex discussions but certainly a timely one) with Jason DeVos a club technical director and someone who is doing more than most to effect change for the better on the game in this country revealed some of the thinking behind this slow phasing in - "It's not about starting with low standards and phasing them higher. It's about starting with high standards and phasing them in, starting with the youngest ages first."

The context being we need to educate and qualify coaches, that the process takes time - "Giving unqualified coaches a curriculum and expecting them to be 'elite' coaches won't work. Education is vitally important."

Very difficult to argue this (on twitter or anywhere) in fact impossible - education is vitally important.  But understanding your "market" is pretty important too and the fact remains the vast majority of our coaches at the developmental level (U12 and younger) - are not certified, have no desire to become certified and frankly will more often walk away than spend a weekend becoming certified.

If the LTPD curriculum becomes yet another "closed document" available only to "certified" coaches who spend (or their club spends) more than $125 for OSA certification than once again the core of the people delivering the foundation of our youngest players will be missed and a huge opportunity lost.

Instead make the curriculum for the first two phases of the LTPD available online - make it simple to use, easy to understand with lesson plans to ease delivery - offer free three hour clinics to show people how to deliver the sessions and answer some basic questions and then move on.  If the quality of the programming is good maybe you'll then hold on to the majority of these coaches after a couple of years instead of losing them and then and only then can you hope to gain the quantity of certified coaches you are looking for.  Consider it a loss leader for the future of the game.

Do it today, not in 2013, do not wait until you have the right number of "certified" U4 and U6 coaches because I'm afraid as patient as I am that day may never come.

LTPD: Making Headlines for the Wrong Reasons

Once again a media outlet in Canada has brought up the issue of how soccer is "banning" winning under the new Long Term Player Development plan that the Canadian Soccer Association is attempting to implement across the country.

Besides simply regurgitating arguments that have been already been made it is obvious from the article the CSA still has plenty of work to do not just with the folks outside of the soccer world but with the very people who are supposed to helping to deliver the message and implement the plan.

This time the LTPD gets column space in Ottawa through a Ron Corbett article in the Sun describing how the local district league has decided not to award medals to divisional champions. Mr. Corbett has decided that this policy says that, "achievement is now something you should be ashamed of, something you should hide from other people and ignore if at all possible."   More of the solid headline making and sure to get a reaction material that has surfaced across the country (Tom Brodbeck brought this up in a Winnipeg Sun blog way back in February which led to my original article addressing this topic).

 My point then was the CSA and other soccer governing bodies had to work much harder at getting the message out to the general public about what the LTPD was all about, how it was going to be implemented and most importantly what it was going to do to improve the state of the game in this country. What I may not have emphasized enough was how much work the CSA had to do within the game as well with the leaders it expected to aid in the process.

According to Mr. Corbett - "This past season, scores and standings were outright banned for all soccer players in the association under the age of nine. It will be raised to 10 next year, and 11 the year after. Before long, you will have to be 12 years old before you are allowed to win a soccer game in Ottawa."

No where in the LTPD does it say that scores are not to be kept or that teams will not be able to win games - it would be impossible to implement or enforce such a policy even if one wanted to as everyone who attends a game be they player, coach, parent or referee certainly knows what the score is and who won at the end.

The point of not keeping standings at these younger ages is to de-emphasize the winning at all costs mentality that has entered the game and focus more on development - nothing more, nothing less. If the league structure would also eliminate promotion and relegation for the younger players this too would be beneficial for development but that is an another debate for another day.

I don't expect people outside of the player development pyramid to understand or even care but the one thing I can assure them the LTPD is not? It is not some communistic plot born of the 1950s cold war meant to mollify the masses and turn them into some sort of non-competitive non-thinking zombies (we have a school system for that) as Mr. Corbett and his ilk like to think.

No, the most troubling thing in the article is not the comments from a headline searching Sun writer, that I expect, what is troubling is the comments from the soccer people quoted in the article. Not because the comments themselves are wrong or even misplaced but they do show how far we have to go to even get all the soccer people on the same page in this country when it comes to implementation of this program.

“Honestly, this is what the experts are telling us to do,” says Wayne MacDougall, president of the Eastern Ontario District Soccer Association. “We don’t set the policy, we just implement it.”

In other words don't shoot the messenger we're just doing what we are told.

Never mind that for the first time in history a district body is just blindly following the direction of the national association in Canada but the fact that there is really no attempt to explain the purpose or defend the LTPD by MacDougall other than, “It’s all part of the long-term athlete development plan that Sports Canada and the Canadian Soccer Association is putting into place,” says MacDougall. “We want to put more emphasis on development, and less on winning.”

Bill Michalopulos president of the 6,300 member Ottawa South United Soccer Club adds to the mixed message, “We don’t live in some Utopian world where there’s no winners or losers. Kids have been getting medals and trophies for as long as there’s been organized sports. Now all of a sudden that’s wrong?”

The answer is - no it's not but making the sole emphasis of a program for players ages 8 to 11 is.  What the LTPD is attempting to do is reset the balance a bit between winning and development put a little more emphasis on one over the other.

Both Michalopulos and MacDougall are long serving in their positions and have done yeoman's work in making the sport bigger and better in the Ottawa area and to my knowledge are firmly in favour of player development and their efforts certainly deserve better light than the Sun's article cast on them - intentionally or not.

But it does beg the question of our national or provincial associations - Have we even bothered or attempted to help  club and district leaders understand the issues in implementation and educate them on dealing with the media in these situations regarding the LTPD?  It seems not and once more shows we have many miles to travel if this task is to be completed.

Throwing Down the Gauntlet - But Lets Aim First

Ben Rycroft over Canadian Soccer News has put together an excellent article calling on the local clubs, in particular the Oakville Soccer Club, to come out and get their members out to support the Canadian national team when they are playing in Toronto.

He has laid out a well thought out plan and the only sticking point to me is the following:

The vast majority of consumers in our clubs DO NOT and NEVER WILL CARE about the Canadian national teams. They are there and involved so there child has an activity on Monday and Thursday to round out the myriad of other life "experiences" it seems people want their children to be exposed to by the age of 12 these days. Even if you gave them a ticket to go see the game there is large cahnce they would not go in any case.

Now that is not to say that the clubs should not attempt to encourage participation of their members but the reality is that if ANY club decided to cancel that night's U6 and U8 house league games involving hundreds if not thousands of potential fans - they would be crucified for their decision. The hard core members would go if encouraged but probably they are already going in any case.

One thing, maybe the only thing, that TFC has gotten right is they did not rely on marketing to the mom and pop brigade (the default option) but instead focused on the young adult crowd of players and wannabees and it paid off handsomely. Think back and think of the marketing they did initially even if they've gotten away from it somewhat now.

The challenge is getting these people interested enough to turn away if even briefly from their cultural and club allegiances to support THEIR national team even if just for one game with hopes that the love affiar would blossom over time.

Unfortunately our team has struggled on the field and usually in far off places for years and the marketing (what marketing there has been) by the CSA has focused on the a game and is very short term in scope and scale and has not focused on the individual.

Most people, excluding those who read this and any (every) other Canadian soccer blog could not name one player from the team - not one - and therefore they have no or very little interest in even paying attention let alone spending money to watch the team. They have no vested or vicarious interest.

To care people need have a personal interest and to have a personal interest they need personal attachments and investments. We need stars and heroes, even manufactured ones at this point, to get people interested - first the larger population of general soccer fans and then the next generation of players and fans.

The kids who are keen will drag their parents to a game - the parent with little interest compounded by a child with little interest - will not attend no matter how much marketing you do or if the ticket is free.

What you suggest is good but you've got to aim at the 20% in the clubs who care not the 80% who do not or you're just wasting precious resources.

The Maturation of Canadian Soccer

Things are moving quickly now for Canadian soccer - on and off the field. The signs of change and shift are everywhere around us from the highest administrative levels right down to the local youth scene and all signs point to a maturation of the game here in Canada.

The importance of expected governance changes, the awarding of world cups, development of professional clubs and building and expansion(!) of facilities across the country cannot be underestimated but subtly and sometimes not so subtly, something even more exciting for the future is beginning to happen at the grassroots levels - the professionalism of the game.

The changes have been ongoing, subtle and sometimes swift depending on location and maturity of the local game and strength of local leadership. Changes taking hold as youth clubs professionalize and sometimes streamline their organizations adding paid general managers, administrators and technical directors to their staffs and have started running things on a much more business based basis. Five year plans, budget projections and thinking beyond the upcoming season are becoming the norm not the exception at clubs as paid employees put their talents and expertise to work.

Along with this approach often, at least recently, comes the linking of professional and semi-professional clubs to youth clubs. These arrangements range from complete integration to "technical partnerships" to loosely arranged agreements that basically are in place to provide the "pros" with access to a potential pipeline of talent for the future.

Does this sound familiar? It should because this is how the rest of the world does it and has so for years. Maybe, just maybe, we ready to realize they've had it right all these years and we were kind of making it up as we went along.

It's been fascinating study to watch Canadian youth soccer from both the inside as an administrator, technical director, coach and parent and the outside as a fan, observer and writer over the last 30 years. Fascinating but maddening as time and time again we've ignored the rest of the world (as far as structure goes at least) and continued to go our own merry way obviously thinking we knew something the rest of the world did not when it came to football - the world's game.

This despite our total inability to produce truly elite level talent in a systematic way (granted there have been individual and local change and successes). We have continued to do things basically the same way for the past three generations of players somehow expecting different results despite the fact that no where else, outside of North America, did the model of development entail the separation of the professional game and development of players. Quite the opposite in fact.

Obviously the rest of the world had it wrong and we were right. Not.

There is a reason the rest of the world does things this way and has for a number of years. It works and finally we seem to be paying attention and the signs are there that player development and professionalism are coming together on many if not all fronts for the game in Canada. This is a good, no great, development for the game and our players in this country.

Players will begin to not just see but understand and participate in a pathway of development that makes sense and inspires as well as provides a reward for effort and their passion for the game.

Finally there will a true pyramid of play not a topless one that, in most cases, led no where but out of the game. A true top to the pyramid with growing and natural links between the youth, senior and the "non-amateur" levels of the game.

Obviously there will be challenges, mistakes and stumbles but is that really that much different than the way things are now and have been for the past thirty years of wandering in the wilderness? At least these developments offer a different map and choice of direction.

Conflicts will arise in organizations as people have expectations placed upon them by employers who may or may not be ready for the additional responsibility (and a responsibility it is) of guiding, nurturing and ultimately rewarding or releasing these people.

The recreational elements of the game will be concerned that they are being left out or unfairly being burdened with the costs (they should not be and most cases are not) of developing the competitive side. (This furthers the argument that perhaps it is time for a separation of these two elements within the game but that is fodder for another article.)

Despite these "costs" the rewards will ultimately more than make up for this change in approach to the development of our best players and the long term development of the game.

Perhaps we truly are finally growing up as a soccer nation.

May You Live In Interesting Times...

Long thought to be an English translation of a Chinese proverb or curse - "May you live in interesting times" - certainly characterizes the current state of affairs for Canadian soccer.

From the ongoing "Battle of Alberta" which has taken yet another interesting twist to the much hyped but still tenuous change in governance of the Canadian Soccer Association to the recent awarding of not one but two World Cups to Canada and the off-field challenges and on-field successes of the Canadian women's team things are nothing if not interesting for observers of the world's game in Canada.

It makes knowing where to start on a Monday morning difficult to say the least but the dominate story because of the potential repercussions has to be the governance issue because it will determine everything moving forward.

If the governance issue was truly resolved in early February (and I have my doubts) my question is, "What did the CSA give up in order to get the reform package, all be it a revised one, passed at the meeting? Why would the provinces and their presidents give up the stranglehold on power they have enjoyed for the past thirty or more years in the upside down world of Canadian soccer governance where the tail wags the dog?

My guess is power.

I suspect the establishment of new "high performance" leagues in British Columbia and soon Ontario, the establishment of professional academies by the the MLS franchises and the establishment of guidelines for "elite" academies in Ontario are among the signs that the CSA has totally ceded development of players to the provinces and pro clubs.

Even the much talked about Long Term Development Program a CSA initiative has been handed over to the provinces for implementation and delivery and will therefore in all liklihood take on a different face and tone in different parts of the country.

The professional academies have become the de facto national training centers (see recent U17 men's roster) while the provincially governed (at least in Ontario) elite, regionally based academies will replace the regional programs and a redefined provincial program while the new HPLs will provide a proving ground for the clubs within the country.

What the CSA will be left with is the control and direction of the national teams programs and little if anything else - and this under the watchful eye of the three MLS clubs - who I suspect have way more say over what is going on right now than anyone is admitting to or saying out loud.

Meanwhile the provinces got the youth and more importantly for them the monies that go with them. Which leaves the CSA on the outside looking in when it comes to the traditional revenue stream they have come to rely on - one hopes that the new board if and when it happens comes to the table with new sources of cash or as bad as things have been in the past they could indeed get even worse in the future.

Good or bad only time will tell.

Interesting times indeed.

The Challenges Ahead

Today's FIFA announcements offer unparalleled opportunities for Canadian soccer.

FIFA as expected today made two announcements important to the future of the game here in Canada. The first dealt with the hosting of the 2015 Women's World Cup and by default the 2014 U20 Women's World Cup, the second the announcement concerning the allotment of confederation spaces for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

The first was easy and as expected with the withdrawal Zimbabwe as the only other contender for hosting of 2015 Canada was named host. The main challenge here will be finding a way for Toronto to be involved and ensuring that we as a nation are left with a legacy as far as improved facilities and infrastructure for the sport.

The second announcement was important if not disappointing for many as it was hoped that a fourth place for CONCACAF would open the door a bit further for countries from the region and would improve Canada's chances of qualification.

The reality is CONCACAF has not, yet, earned an additional spot at the world stage. Currently we are as many say a "two nation" confederation - Mexico and the U.S. - with everyone else scrambling for third. To take away another confederation's spot at this time to give another to our region would have been a stretch even for FIFA who are well known for their sometimes quirky decisions.

The final spots for Brazil will be decided in a play-off featuring South America's fifth-placed team, CONCACAF's fourth-placed, Asia's fifth-placed and Oceania's qualification winner. Play-off match-ups will be determined by a draw.

So in essence for CONCACAF nothing changes. The top three are in and the fourth faces a two game showdown for one of the final spots instead of automatically qualifying.

What we have to realize as a soccer nation that to get that spot we have to earn it and not hope that the door continues to swing further open via political machinations but that we are part of the movement to push the door open with results on the field.

Canada - with the right approach and application should be challenging for that third CONCACAF spot on a regular basis and need to do so if hope this game is ever going to move beyond a predominantly recreational activity in this country.

We are seeing signs of change. Canada's recent success of our U17 men who qualified for their own World Cup later this year in Mexico with a roster dominated by players from the countries three professional club academies showed the most likely path moving forward.

Professional standards and development are the way forward. What is needed to support these and further developing elite programs is a grassroots focus on technical development delivered by all coaches and clubs across the country.

The challenge for soccer people at all levels is to get the masses involved, to buy in and support the proposed Long Term Player Development model. The people at all levels of the game have to begin to understand that we are a major component of developing players in this country. This country succeeds or fails because of what we are doing at the developmental level and we need to do a better job.

The opportunity, here and now, for the Canadian Soccer Association is to develop and deliver a national curriculum (in quick order) that supports the LTPD and provides leadership to a constituency that is starving for leadership, a plan and vision.

A national curriculum would provide national guidance to an integrated and consistent approach to the development of players and coaches throughout the country and ensure that we are kicking doors down not begging for someone to open them.

The time is right - the gauntlet has been laid down - let's not just accept the challenge let's take it up with passion and intent.

Those With the Most Column Space Win

The Canadian Soccer Association and their partner provincial associations are losing the battle for the attention of the masses who will have a huge influence on deciding the the success or failure of the implementation of the Long Term Player Development program.

The Winnipeg Sun, among other media, is in a running battle to make sure the status quo - no matter how unsuccessful it has been - remains in place.

Their claim to insight on this matter is most respondents to a Leger Marketing poll — 59% — agreed keeping score and standings should be done at all ages. No details to sample size or what the other questions were of course but their take is the masses are with us no matter how ill-informed they are.

The media is basically taking the stand that keeping standings and winning trophies is the primary factor in the development of quality players and the major objective in youth sport. The idea being that no one else in the world is doing this and that it is some left wing, granola crunching semi-socialist Canadian idea to turn our children into... I'm not sure what because obviously these people not coached children long term at any level successfully and probably still believe that drinking water during training is a sign of weakness.

Never mind that 30% of Canadian believe in ghosts, 20% believe aliens live among us and that 58% are more likely to believe in bigfoot than a politicians campaign promise... oh wait, scratch that last one. The point being polls are notoriously inaccurate let alone the best method to determine and design policy. Just ask the voters in Toronto.

Now for the facts.

No where in the proposed Long Term Player Development documents I have read does it say scores will not be kept. Even if it did say such a thing, this is nigh impossible as everyone involved in any game, parents, players, coaches and officials know what the score is. Even in non-organized sport (the near endangered species that it is) everyone keeps score.

The LTPD does call for no league standings and a jamboree format with an emphasis on fun at U6 - U9 and an organized schedule but no standings for the U9 - U12s. To point out the academy program in traditional soccer nation England, involving some of the world's major clubs, does not keep standings (or tables if you prefer) until, wait for it U18.

Again it is not about eliminating competition as the media mongers would like you to believe - it is about putting competition in perspective and ensuring our kids are learning the right things about their game at the right time. It's about developing the technical skills and the ABC's of movement (agility, balance and coordination) because it is has been left to organized sport to do so since this secondary role has been forfeited by our school system and interfered with by video games and computers.

The challenge for the associations, both national and federal, is they have no developed marketing and media strategy that targets the people with the most influence on the players and club decision makers - the parents. The OSA travelling roadshow is targeting the coaches which is of course vitally important in getting the message out but this misses the largest group that will ultimately accept or reject the plan.

The implementation of the LTPD, along with the further development of the professional game in Canada and the eventual qualification for the World Cup that will come with the improvement in our youth development programs are the most important thing for our associations to focus on and they need to scrimp, scavenge and find a way to ensure this gets done.

They to get the message out properly and clearly to everyone involved in the game. They need to partner with the MLS teams, media and corporate partners to get the message out in a way that everyone can understand and support. We need widespread dissemination of information during MLS broadcasts on radio and tv, print media (through both releases and advertising) and especially during soccer events where the people involved in all aspects of the game are gathered.

Obviously money is a factor but I believe the professional franchises and the people who run them understand the importance of this initiative and would welcome the chance to be associated with it if it was presented in the proper, professional fashion.

No executive of these franchises or soccer's current or future corporate sponsors (Bell, BMO etc.) would term down the chance to be affiliated with a grassroots effort to improve the development of our players and improve the sporting experience of our youth. But it needs to be done right and they would probably want creative control - a small price to pay - to get the message out to the masses.

A "new" soccer nation Australia has faced many of the same challenges we face and has done wonders in a very short time including delivering a national curriculum that has all of the factors of the LTPD and packaged it (PDF - 5.42 Mb) in a way that makes it readable, succinct and visionary - we could do worse than to follow suit.

If we do not the message will be lost to the noise of soccer bashers and sensationalist media that know how to get people's attention even if they care little about the sport itself.

Stand up, speak out or sit down and accept the status quo and another battle lost.

Bill Ault
bill@canadakicks.com

PS - Finally enjoy what creativity in a corporate sponsorship and a national association can do in this ad from the AFF prior to the World Cup in South Africa.

A Good Day All Round...

Great news for Canadian soccer today when Canada booked its ticket to the FIFA U-17 World Cup Mexico 2011 on Wednesday with a 2:0 victory over Trinidad and Tobago in the quarter-final stage of the 2011 CONCACAF Men’s U-17 Championship. Canada will be participating in the World Cup at this level for the first time since 1995.

Chris Nanco opened the scoring in the 15th minute and Keven Aleman scored a wonderful strike four minutes later to provide Canada with the decisive goals in the match.

Just as important as qualification itself might be the list of clubs that the players representing the Maple Leaf today are currently affiliated with. Of the twenty players on the roster fourteen players are currently affiliated with four different professional clubs - most importantly three of those clubs are Canadian. Even better eight of today's eleven starters are currently with pro academies - again the bulk affiliated with either Montreal, Toronto or Vancouver.

It is probably unique in Canadian soccer history that a team at this end of the national development programs has this many players already affiliated with professional clubs, especially professional Canadian clubs and this can only be good for the development of the game in Canada.

Another important part of this shift the professionalism of development is the inclusion of former professional players getting the opportunity to work with this young talent under the watchful eye of experienced professionals with backgrounds that span the globe.

The latest sign that things are finally coming together for development in this country are the announcements today out of Toronto that Danny Dichio and Jim Brennan will be passing on there vast professional experience as players to Toronto's Academy players while previous Academy coach Jason Bent has been moved up to assist the first team staff to provide a link to the youngsters moving up through the ranks.

All in all a good day for Canadian soccer.

Thoughts.

Bill Ault
bill@canadakicks.com

More Than Meets the Eye?

The following is conjuncture and speculation based on a couple of documents that have crossed my desk in recent days so please read with that in mind. This is meant as a discussion starter and not the final word on the many issues raised.

A few things to keep in mind:

The Canadian Soccer League comes under the direct jurisdiction of the CSA and not the OSA.

There has been a recent application to the OSA for the launch of a new "non-amateur" league which is in direct competition with the CSL - in fact at least two teams have indicated they want to jump ship from the CSL to the new loop.

The recent documents raise some interesting questions about both the new league and what the OSA is trying to do.

The first is the application to form a New Ontario Non-amateur Soccer League - the interesting thing is the application is under the name of Dino Rossi Jr the President of Milltown FC and is dated January 17, 2011 almost a full month before Milltown and Hamilton Croatia were not readmitted to the CSL.

Not a crime in of itself but it certainly appears that Milltown had no plans of returning to the CSL (perhaps Croatia as well) in 2011 and had been working on an alternative for a while.

Digging into the second document, which obviously of one of those dreaded PowerPoint presentations we know and love, has a number of interesting little points.

Among them:

That non-amateur leagues (read CSL) are not permitted to run youth development leagues in Ontario. Additionally it is pointed out that the CSA has RULED that the OSA is responsible for youth leagues and youth development in Ontario.

Another point in the document is that this new non-amateur league will register directly with the OSA and NOT the CSA as per the CSL. A minor, but important, distinction that would give the OSA control over the league (how that would owrk in a cross border league with Quebec I'm not sure).

The Long Term Player Development model also gets a mention with document pointing out that the OSA will be implementing a High Performance Youth League in Ontario. Look for it be modeled on the new HPL in British Columbia. On another youth note the OSA has been forced to recognize the academies due to a FIFA regulation but they are looking at how to extract the fees.

What does it all mean? Hard to say but I think it's pretty obvious that there is much more to meet the eye with this whole NONSL (not the real name for obvious reasons) and CSL issue and the it appears whether we're ready or not the LPTD is going to begin changing youth soccer in Canada in a number of ways very soon.

LTPD Technical Matrix

Attended the RMC Soccer Symposium this weekend in Kingston - as always well run and well worth the price of admission.

One of the topics that came up in Saturday nights "bear pit" sessions was the existence of a technical matrix to go along with the Canadian Soccer Association's Long Term Player Development plans. National Team head coach and CSA Technical Director Stephen Hart said the document existed but he was not sure if it had been published and none of the 30 coaches in the room said they had seen it.

Doing a bit of online research I discovered this document that appears to be the one Hart was referencing.

http://www.canadakicks.com/docs/W2WC_Matrix_ENG.pdf

My question to the coaching community is has anyone seen this document before in a published form. The follow-up question being if not, why not? It appears to be a finished document so why would it not have been passed on to the provincial associations and clubs for distribution?

Comments below or email me directly.

Bill Ault
bill@canadakicks.com

Dollars and Sense

"There's no way you could hold a job and do this," Lang says. "And $18,000 isn't much to live on. The bottom line is most of their girls live at home with their parents and have zero assets and zero savings. It's not what you envision yourself doing at 27 or 28 years old." - Globe and Mail

So like most things in life it basically comes down to money.

As Canadian national team athletes, the players receive $18,000 annually, tax free, from the federal government, but players like Kara Lang and Carmelina Moscato say that hardly covers their needs considering they train nearly full time – the women’s team will be together for 122 days in 2011, including several lengthy trips abroad.

The money they have received comes in the form of bonuses – often negotiated during the competitions – that are provided out of prize money paid by FIFA.

The team did not get paid for the 2008 Olympics and would not have been compensated for the World Cup qualifying tournament had it failed to make the World Cup.

“As national team players, we're just searching for something a little bit more stable, something a little more guaranteed,” said Christine Sinclair.

This is a battle that has been going on for years and there is much ground to be made up.

For comparison's sake the six year agreement U.S. Soccer signed with their women's players in 2006 looks like this:

The contract, negotiated by the U.S. Women's National Soccer Team Players' Association, calls for the U.S. Soccer Federation to pay at least $1.28 million annually to players in residency according to the Associated Press. At least 14 of these 20 players are guaranteed annual salaries of $70,000 with the six others assured of being paid at least $50,000.

Additionally, the USSF has the option of employing up to four more players at $30,000 per year and the right to call in other players for trials lasting up to six weeks.

Additionally, players earn $1,000 bonuses for victories in all non-World Cup and non-Olympic games. For the 2007 Women's World Cup and the 2008 Olympics, each player got $10,000 for being on each qualifying tournament roster; $10,000 for making the 20-woman roster for each tournament, $50,000 for finishing first in each event, $20,000 for placing second and $10,000 for taking third place.

Should the Americans win either the Olympics or the Women's World Cup, the players would split $1.2 million for a 10-game celebration tour.

Now people will say that's not a fair comparison as the Americans have so much more money to spend. This is true but also this is not the fault of the Canadian players.

Raising and GENERATING funds is the responsibility of the Canadian Soccer Association not the players. The association must move beyond Sport Canada hand-outs (which are in danger in any case if they can't get the much talked about but little acted upon Long Term Athlete Development plan in place), sponsorships (such as they are) and start generating monies through other sources.

Going back to the American model (two things they do well - win and generate $$) prior to the 1994 World Cup the Americans knew they needed to accomplish a number of goals. They needed to raise the profile of the sport, test some venues, play some quality opponents and importantly they needed to raise some cash.

Thus was born the U.S. Cup a manufactured competition with the aim of addressing the identified needs. Was there risk involved? Certainly but bringing in quality sides with proven records and links to established ethnic groups (playing Germany in Chicago and England in Boston for example) minimized the risk.

The result? In the two editions of the U.S. Cup prior to the 1994 World Cup the U.S. played host to Ireland, Portugal, Italy, Brazil, England and Germany and over two years attracted just under 500,000 fans with the six games involving the U.S. drawing an average attendance of just over 35,000 - money was made. This at a time when the U.S. was coming off their first appearance at the World Cup since 1950, had no national pro league and had yet to leave us trailing in their wake.

What was required was a vision and a plan.

The CSA despite the promise of a newly adopted governance model has shown little vision and even less long term planning in the past but this showdown with the women's team and their coach provides them with the opportunity to do both and show that things are going to be different moving forward.

Get creative, let people do their jobs and reward people for what they have done and continue to do. In other words, show them the money and get out of the way.

Bread and Circuses

The attention of the soccer observers has quickly shifted from "A Historic Day for Canadian Soccer," to the day time soap know as the Carolina Morace Affair. This in itself is not surprising but it does give one the feeling that we're taking our eye of the truly important ball - reform of the governance structure of the Canadian Soccer Association.

As Nigel Reed points out, "The rumours had been doing the rounds for months. Despite on field success, disharmony was festering away from the pitch. Patience, on both sides, had worn paper thin until, finally, it was torn apart."

For Morace she will never have more leverage than now to demand as much as possible from the CSA and their bean counters. CONCACAF Champions, just one loss in a long stretch of games, and finally qualified for the World Cup.

Come summer time and post World Cup she could be in an even stronger position but there is also a chance coming out of a very strong group including the hosts Germany she could be in a much worse position. So if you are going to push for even more concessions now is the time to do it.

As Duane Rollins over at the 24th Minute points out, "Carolina Morace is a great coach, but not an irreplaceable one." No coach is and that's why these kind of power plays happen. Rollins also quotes the mandatory anonymous CSA official as saying, "She does not want to report to anyone."

Kara Lang jumped in to protect her former coach and program basically saying Rollins had it all wrong. In particular the allotment of monies to the women's program versus the men's (gee there is news) was raised on both sides - leading to Rollins conveniently (not having it for the first post) posting the CSA's 2010 budget here. One is led to assume that the same anonymous CSA official supplied more than just quotes in this matter.

In essence, we have the CSA or at least someone within the CSA fighting back anonymously through the media against one of their own coaches - a public spat that is sure to stretch on until at least the World Cup in July if not beyond.

Taking the infighting public certainly serves the agenda of anyone and everyone within the CSA who does not want folks paying close attention to what is happening or more likely not happening on the reform front.

"Give them bread and circuses and they will never revolt."

Keep your eye on the ball folks.

CSA Governance Meeting - aka Groundhog Day

The time is nigh. In less than 48 hours the face of Canadian soccer will be changed forever. The fate of the very game itself rests in the hands of the mind trust that will be gathering in Ottawa for the Canadian Soccer Association's Special General Meeting to vote on governance renewal.

Well except of course it doesn't and won't.

Call me cynical but anyone expecting dramatic changes and insightful decisions from this group of individuals obviously has not been paying attention for the past thirty years. Going back even a few years (pdf of December 2008 article) shows that with the same people asked to make the same decisions we are unlikely to get a different result.

However, just to review here is what is on the agenda this weekend:

The first is a motion to adopt the bylaws that implement the 2010 CSA AGM governance framework.

The second is a motion to adopt the bylaws of a compromise framework, for implementation in 2011.

The third is a motion to adopt the bylaws of the same compromise framework, with an implementation date of 2012.

These three motions will be considered in turn, with the 2010 AGM framework discussed and voted upon first, the 2011 compromise framework second, and the 2012 compromise framework third. The first motion that receives a two-thirds majority vote will be passed, and the voting will end. If the 2010 AGM framework gets a two-thirds majority, we will all go home. If not, we will move on to the second motion, then the third.

If no motion receives a two-thirds majority, then we maintain the status quo and there will be no renewal.

Jason de Vos over at CBC Sports has done an excellent job of outlining the process and what exactly each option might mean for the game:

Governance of Canadian soccer about to change

Change on the horizon for Canadian soccer

Q&A: Canadian soccer governance renewal

and our old friend Ben Knight has attempted to get a read on how the different Provincial Associations are leaning with their votes:

Time to count the votes

Waiting to see what Ontario does

British Columbia on governance reform

and then just to put a little more spin on the dice the whole Alberta Soccer Association soap opera continues to play in the background. Herein lies, I believe, the best clue of how things are likely to go at this weekend's meeting despite the hopes of all of us outside the process.

The governance of the game in this country is in turmoil and has been for some time - it's an ineffective, bureaucratic, conflict-ridden structure full of folks who are willing to do anything to cling to the status quo and who are desperate to retain their hold on positions of power.

Does this sound like a group who is likely to suddenly see the light and do what is best for the future development of the game here in Canada?

Already the Associations who have tipped their hands are making a resolution to the issue look doubtful - Ontario has said it's an all or nothing thing on proposal one while BC has said they are very much in favour of option two and no one is sure where Quebec or current squeaky wheel Alberta will come down. Ultimately the decision rests within this group and they seem unlikely to set aside petty regional rivalries to arrive at a common sense solution.

The biggest challenge is that the people voting this weekend face a rather large hurdle in making the right decision - themselves. They have to put the game - or at least a vision of the national game - ahead of all that that puts them in a position to vote in the first place. This seems unlikely and doubly difficult because on top of everything else that is missing in the game in this country another is a vision, national in scope of what the game is and what it could be.

The reality is if Ontario sticks to their guns and says it's all or nothing on option one - which is the right option - then the meeting is doomed from the start. Then like a groundhog seeing his shadow the delegates will scuttle back into the holes from whence they came and we're in for a much longer self inflicted "nuclear" winter for the game up here in the frozen north.

Bill
bill@canadakicks.com

Frustration and Shifting Snows

According to some reports Randy Ragan has resigned as Technical Officer of the Ontario Soccer Association after just seven months in the position to return to the legal profession.

Sad but really not unanticipated as at the OSA's coaching conference earlier this month Ragan had a very low profile which seemed a little strange at the time since it was a technically oriented event and he was the OSA's technical face.

That a very intelligent man, a member of Canada's only World Cup team and a general all round good person has left the governing body of the sport in Canada's largest soccer province after just seven months shows, once again, the sad state of the governance of the game here in this country.

While no official reasons have yet leaked or been given out one can guess that sheer frustration sits right at the top of the list. One can plot, design and plan ways forward but if you are constantly stone-walled and don't see even small amounts of progress or hope it leads to frustration on both the personal and board side of things.

This issue strikes close to home personally as well because after two years as the Technical Director of a club here in Ontario I was told last week my contract would not be renewed at year's end and led to my resignation from the position. As I reflect a week later on my decision and a job left unfinished I have come to the conclusion that one of the major contributors to the decision was frustration on both sides.

Frustration with communication (both ways), frustration with change and the pace of change (too fast for some, too slow for others, too much for some, not enough for others) and frustration with differences in philosophy (player oriented or team oriented development) and finally frustration that both sides were both basically making it up as we went along.

In both Mr. Ragan's case and mine (if I can be so bold to compare them) it's not a question of being right or wrong on either side - it's the result in my opinion of not having specific developmental targets and defined pathways of development for players and coaches laid out so there are targets to strive for and goals to be measured.

The much talked about Long Term Athlete Development plan is a step in the right direction but if the governing bodies (from the CSA on down) do not provide developmental plans, guidelines to work to and expectations to measure and then reinforce them everyone is left basically doing their own thing and trying to find their own way forward.

The end result is everyone, players, parents, coaches, technical staff and clubs are left stumbling in the dark and more time, energy, effort and resources get wasted as everyone is left spinning their wheels in the shifting snows that are Canadian soccer.

Bill Ault
bill@canadakicks.com

PS - After a long hiatus from writing due my duties as Technical Director I'll be searching for a new approach for CanadaKicks as the blogosphere has more than enough sources for Canadian soccer news unlike 1995 when we started this thing. Thanks for your patience while we reorient ourselves.