Soccer Edition 2

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 were 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 coach’s 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 comradeliest 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.

To subscribe to the Soccer Newsletter or the Goalkeeping Newsletter go to http://finesoccer.com. There are easy to follow links to subscribe to each.

Send any comments or questions to comments@finesoccer.com. 

I will be leaving town tomorrow for a week so there will be no newsletters written for the next 7 days or so but I will be getting my email during this time.

Next week's newsletters will go back to being separate.

Have a great day.