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.

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.

Level the Playing Field

The Ontario Soccer Association after years of delay and only after being forced to be by a FIFA regulation this weekend passed a Request for Decision (RFD) recognizing private academies and setting down operational guidelines for these academies.

The document makes for interesting (read excruciatingly painful) reading as far as who can officiate games how much they can be paid, how much money (taxes) will be due to the OSA and the obvious administrative trivia is impressive ( 11 pages of impressive) - but contains exactly 22 lines (generously speaking) that actually address the development of young players and the people responsible. Nice.

The OSA has managed of course to ensure that these academies know their place however by placing them third in the ladder of development behind the professional clubs (of which they recognize one) and themselves and their club members of course. This despite the fact that many of the academies looking for recognition have better qualified coaching staff with more experience than many of the programs they will be placed behind.

The other slightly perverse part of this exercise is the on field conditions that will be put on these academies wishing recognition - the requirements are stringent, as they should be, but are unique in that the OSA does not require their own existing members (the clubs) to meet these same requirements.

The requirements include:

Academy Staff
1. Academy Technical Staff to be overseen by Coach with a minimum of National “B” Licence
2. All coaches require a minimum of Provincial B Licence or better
3. Goal Keeper Coach with OSA GK diploma or equivalent
4. Have access to a strength and conditioning coach
5. An individual will be restricted to hold only one of the above coaching positions (in 1-4 above) within the Academy staff
6. Administrator / Manager - The Academy will employ an administrator to run the business side of the Academy
7. Staff ratio of coaches to students will be 1 coach for every 14 participants (specific to all age groups)
8. The Academy will provide screening and harassment policy and procedure
9. All Academy staff and volunteers will undergo required interview / screening process every two years
10. All Academy staff and volunteers will be required to have a police records check every two years

Academy Facilities and Equipment
1. The Academy will have ownership of, or access to, quality facilities and necessary equipment which will include:
- Indoor Facility - Field
- Outdoor Facility - Field
- Board Room and Class Room / Lecture Hall - with IT capabilities for game analysis
- Equipment - balls (2 sizes) - Goals (all-sizes) - Bibs / Cones - All Fitness Test Equipment - Training Gear / Uniform

2. Staff will ensure that all fields and equipment used must be kept in a safe, well maintained operating condition
3. The Academy will have the necessary property insurance relative to facility ownership

Academy Program
The Academy will provide:
1. programs for all age groups.
2. the minimum number of hours per week spent on training the participants will be:
- 3.0 hours minimum for Under-8 to Under-12 players
- 5.0 hours minimum for Under-13 and Under-14 players
- 6.0 hours minimum for Under-15, Under-16 and Under-17 players
- 6.5 hours minimum for Under-18 and older players
3. the ratio of training sessions to games will be a minimum of 3:1
4. $5 million liability insurance for staff and students to cover all activities
5. on-going and innovative ideas related to development of the soccer student
6. international relationships and soccer experiences for the soccer student
7. support resources of the highest quality. Information about the National and Provincial programs (NOTE: in order to play for an OSA Regional Team or Provincial Team, the player will have to be registered with a Member Club affiliated with the District Association in which the player lives.)
9. recognition to achievements in soccer excellence

If only our clubs were held to such scrutiny and standards of operation the game would make massive steps forward in very short order. Also it must be pretty frustrating for a prospective Academy operator to know they can do all this and meet all the requirements but if they would like to have their player progress up through the system and play with a provincial team they would be required to release the player back to a club - where the level of coaching and training might not be as high. I'd love to know the logic behind that one (number 7 above).

The 3:1 training to game ratio is what experts around the world would recommend but while the OSA expects academies to meet these and the other training standards they currently do not hold their own members to these guidelines. This includes notably those clubs involved in their current highest level of play - the OYSL - where teams more often than not play two and even more games in a week making it impossible to meet the training:game ratio due to scheduling at what is presented as the highest level of the game.

Minimally, the OSA should ask that teams participating in their highest levels of competition under their jurisdiction meet the same requirements that they are asking of these new programs. Make the playing field level and fair for all players who want to compete at the highest levels.

It's the least all players in the province deserve.

Bill Ault
bill@canadakicks.com