Welcome to the Soccer and
Goalkeeping Newsletter. Today's issue is a bit different then my others and one
of the differences is that I am sending this to both the Goalkeeping Newsletter
list as well as the Soccer Newsletter. The reason is that the subject kind of
involves everyone so I thought I would make sure as many people received this as
possible. In the future I will most likely only send this type of information to
the Soccer Newsletter, which is one of the reasons why I recommend that keepers
subscribe to both newsletters.
The first thing I want to discuss is
based on an email I received from a young lady who had attended a SoccerPlus
Keeper camp. Besides having returned from what sounds like a great camp for her,
one of the other things she mentioned was a guest speaker. One of the things
that was obviously important to her was when this guest speaker mentioned that
each player should take off one season of soccer per year. His reason was this
would give both the body and mind time to rest. This is an interesting idea but
one that has to be given some thought before agreeing or disagreeing. The logic
of giving your body and mind some time to rest is a great idea but the important
question is when and for how long? I have had the advantage of having coached
for 17 years now at different levels and I think this break is essential.
However, to think that a person can sit around doing nothing while taking this
break and then get right back to where you were (or even higher) is ludicrous.
While you might not want to do any soccer specific training, this would be a
great time to work on your fitness level. One of the best breaks I can think of
from soccer is to play basketball during the winter season (yes I realize that
this goes against what a lot of club coaches are saying but then again, I don't
respect what a lot of club coaches say anyway). I can think of two examples of
people who did a great job of taking advantage of breaks. The first is a keeper
from Atlanta who played basketball in the winter and in the spring she would
play field for her high school team. This gave her body time away from abusing
her body while at the same time she was able to work on her jumping and short
sprints. Even more importantly, she had fun and when she got back to playing for
her club team she was revitalized. However, keep in mind that she still worked
on the fitness side (including weights and also continued to train 2-3 times per
week to work on her hands (this was down from her normal 6 times per week). When
she graduated from HS, she was considered the top keeper in the country coming
out of college and was still refreshed. The other player who comes to mind was a
male midfielder who got frustrated from a lot of the politics involved at the
national level and decided to take the summer off from soccer as opposed to
playing with the U18 National team. By taking this time away from the game and
working on his weaknesses, he came back refreshed and stronger from having
worked with weights and sprints during this time. Did taking a summer off hurt
him? Not at all, he came back and was bumped up the U-23 national team. However,
realize the key is he did not sit around doing nothing. He still worked out
during this down time and made himself a better player. If you were trying to
figure out the best time for you to take time off from soccer, I would recommend
the indoor season. There are some advantages to indoor soccer (although I can't
think of many) but the disadvantages far outweighs the advantages. I do not
believe the summer is a good time to take time off normally since this is a
great time to train more then normal.
The next issue I want to discuss is ODP.
For those of you who don't know, this is Olympic Development Program. This topic
is currently being discussed on the GA Soccer Forum and the truth is that many
of the posts are flat out wrong. The obvious question is, is ODP important? The
question is the easy thing, the answer is much more difficult. It really depends
upon what you are looking to accomplish by playing ODP. If your intention is to
get a full scholarship by playing ODP then no you should not do it. Simple math
will tell you that there are very few full scholarships out there so if that is
what you are looking for then it's not the thing to do. I read somewhere that if
you make region team or even pool then you will get a full scholarship. That is
ridiculous. There are so many other factors that would determine scholarship
amounts. However if you are interested in playing college soccer, then it
certainly in your best interests to play ODP. First of all there are college
coaches at region camp but that is not the only reason. One of the first things
that college coaches look at is the resume and after academics, the next thing
that most coaches’ look for is whether the player played ODP. It is a
credential whether people think it's important or not. Am I saying a person has
to play ODP in order to play college soccer? Of course not. However, it does
make it easier. Now, since the primary reason for playing ODP is to increase
college opportunities for most people, the next question is when should a person
start playing ODP? In my opinion, way to many people are starting at too early
an age. They start as 12 year olds and by the time they are juniors in high
school, it's kind of old to them and they don't want to do it anymore. This is
so wrong but no one tells them to not try out. If they wait till they are
sophomores in high school to try out, they will go to region camp all excited
and there excitement will show through. The exception to this is if you are a
truly high level player with the potential to be a region team player. How do
you know if you are one of those players? Be realistic and take a look how you
compete in your state and then at the region level. Realize that the purpose of
ODP and YOUR purpose for ODP are not necessarily the same thing (the stated
purpose of ODP I believe is to select players for national teams). Take
advantage of ODP for your benefit and not for others.
The last subject I want to discuss is
High School soccer. Every year I hear about players who try to decide whether
they should play for their high school team. The arguments against high school
soccer are the lack of quality of the players on the HS teams (both on your team
and on the others). Also, there is the issue of lack of quality of the school
coaches (of course if people were serious about this they would also have to
give up on most of their club teams as well). The factors that are not taken
into consideration are the camaraderie on many teams, the recognition by their
peers and also the pressure that can be put on by their peers. My own club team
had to make this decision recently and unlike many coaches who might encourage
them to only play club, I was one of the people who was encouraging them to play
for their high school team. This was a hard decision because we are in a state
that prohibits any involvement in club soccer during the high school season. If
you are in a state that allows you to train with your club team during the high
school season then you can offset some of the problems of high school soccer
(yes I do know that some high school coaches forbid any involvement
with their club teams but truthfully that is none of their business, this is not
a popular opinion but it's one I do believe in, in the same way that I can't
tell a person what they can and can't do, neither can a high school coach). If
you are in a state that forbids all club contact during the HS season then it
becomes much harder. Take HS soccer for what it should be (fun) and it will all
work out.
I do not expect everyone to agree with
my views on this but what I would hope is that this might give you something to
think about.
