U14 & U10 Weekly

Baldwinsville Youth Soccer Association 

V. 

OSSC

Wanted to do this one as a combined deal, as both teams played the same outfit, with similar results.  These uniforms will look familiar.  But they aren't Baldwinsville Youth Soccer Club kits...they're the greater Syracuse organization, Soccer Central...the back of the jersey tells us this!  One of the coaches/organizers of SC is none other than Rob Franco, member of the board of the CNYJSA league we play in.  His name will be familiar to our TMs; he is the scheduling guy for CNYJSA.  He's a good guy, but apparently uses BYSA as a front for Soccer Central players; SC doesn't support players playing in leagues.

Why The Special Treatment This Week

Now, it might sound like I'm accusing Rob and his colleagues of nefariousness, but I'm really not.  Mostly, I hope our families at OSSC understand that BYSA players show a tremendous amount of technical skill not because there is a great development program in Baldwinsville, but because BYSA is really a much broader group of players pooled together, and generally sending many players into the Empire program, as well as aiming to send the best Syracuse-area players to high-profile tournaments and get them into the college recruiting mainstream.  If B-ville had a program that was truly B-ville only, I suspect we'd see a result, for the U10s much more along the lines of the F-M match last week.



In reality, I love the argument they are having with this situation; Franco wants the kids playing in leagues, Richard Shaw, the DOC, doesn't want them doing anything other than training until they are of the age to be recruited - evidently.  I get this second-hand from Chris McLain who knows both these guys...he's pretty well informed.  I've said, and still believe, that up to U14 or 15 tournaments are pointless (one a year is fun...special) and indoor leagues are pretty useless too.  It's good to compete a bit, sure, but developmentally, those indoor games aren't making a big difference.  It's similar to "teaching to the test" in education circles; if we are worried about winning indoor games, coaches really won't do things that are helpful to true, senior-level 11-a-side play, but rather do things that win indoor games.

For my part, and OSSC's, I agree with the no-games approach as a third session of training each week would be hugely helpful.  Here's a little thought experiment for those who are thinking I'm nuts: next game, count how many touches your kid has.  Then come to the next training session and count how many touches he/she gets there.  I know for a fact that most of the OSSC kids are playing AYSO games in their local leagues, and between that, an outdoor full-size spring/summer league, and scholastic ball, the kids are getting the 20 (U12 and under) to 30 (U13 and up) games per year that the USSF recommends.  Probably more, in all reality.

It's not to say that not playing games should be the exclusive approach (clubs can schedule friendlies, hold festivals - like a tournament but one day, shorter games, less travel - play in a CNYJSA type league with 8 games a season, etc.) but more training is unequivocally the best known practice in player development.  Again, more class time, more teacher/pupil interaction and less concern with results (tests - game scores) is the best known approach for learning in academic settings, and there is a lot of overlap between learning methods in academia and sport.

The Game Reviews

U14s:


The U14s found the hard way what a deep talent pool looks like.  Of the 21 rostered players, of which 9 showed up, here's where they came from:
Baldwinsville: 5
Auburn
Cicero: 2
Syracuse: 3
Liverpool: 3
Fairhaven
Fulton
Warners
Red Creek
Clay
Manlius: 2

So clearly not Baldwinsville!  Point being, they are drawing kids for this roster from some thousands of soccer players...30% of Syracuse is under 18 (145000 total citizens) which is about 43000 kids.  Presume that half of 1/18th are boys aged 13, and we come up with almost 2000 boys at this age group.  Now, Onieda is around 10000, Vernon is 1500, Canastota is 4000...it's going to take a lot of towns to get to 2000 boys aged 13 or so in our area.

So the game review is simple; we played a group with much greater technical ability.  Despite our boys working hard defensively to pressure the opponent, they were simply able to use the dribble to escape pressure, and the pass to exploit space.  There's no shame in this, and I would put it in these terms: Francesco, Ryan, Evan and Brian are (roughly) our most athletic & technical players and more than hold their own with BYSA types.  There are just more like them in a larger population.

The takeaway is, as I find myself preaching so often, a patient approach.  The impressive talent we faced this week could be looked at like this: those players are that much closer to the ceiling of human performance.  Not that they are anything approaching perfection in a soccer sense (or any other!) but just that the amount of room for improvement for them is limited.  Our boys, while behind this particular curve right now, are perfectly capable of still reaching the same upper limits of soccer performance.  It's just going to take some time because they are going to have to actually work and study to get there...in these bigger populations early  talent development overshadows kids who develop more slowly (think a stronger sapling shading the weaker ones in the woods) and if you're into social Darwinism, that probably sounds fine.  If not, it is simply remaining democratic in our approach, teaching all players thoroughly and thoughtfully, and trusting in the science of player development to do it's thing.

U10s:

The U10s had about the same experience on Tuesday, but did have the good fortune to score four via Parker, Erik, Andrew and Curt.  What's nice about this is that those kids all played all over the field (though none got in goal...) and in the limited time they had at the front of the team, they were able to score.  So it is fair to "blame" the coaches for juggling the lineup around constantly; maybe we do better score-wise if we left the "strongest" attacking players at the front of the team.  However, I refer you to the U14 review; the whole point is to avoid the errors of other soccer organizations!

Todd Conklin had a remarkable game, and though he didn't score, was rewarded with Player of The Game by Travis, and I think very justifiably.  He has been playing at a higher and higher level over the past few weeks and highlights a bright future for the boy's teams.  Our guys are pretty average kids physically.  We are virtually never the bigger team, and have a wide range of speed and agility capabilities.  BYSA was remarkably quick, balanced and generally athletic, however defined.  The little #9 was, in a word, special.  But here's the catch; he's way too small to play up much more than an age group or possibly two...but he has to be a little bored at the U10 age group.  And I suspect he's already playing "up."  Good luck, I say, to the coaches and parents who have to keep him in a developmental track for the next ten years.  It will take creativity and cleverness, as well as a an organization that won't exploit the kid, but rather put his total development at the top of the list of priorities.

The point being, our OSSC guys, while getting a little bit run over this week, had some moments of very good play.  And their slower development, while rough in the W/L columns now, does actually eliminate some of the problems that plague more precocious players.  I have to think of Mario Balotelli, the Italian striker (Man City, too) who parties every night of the week, says idiotic things in the media, and does some incomprehensible things on the field (including taking waaaaaay too long to shoot against Spain the other day, allowing Sergio Ramos to recover and poke the ball away, denying Italy a crucial win).  I'd wager Balotelli was a stud when he was 8...and he's been bored ever since.  Messi, on the other hand, was in a great youth system, and despite being a stud, he was challenged and instructed in a way that taught him professionalism as well as how to get to the professional level.

But these are two of the top guys...most pros labor slowly and steadily in youth programs, fighting for every opportunity and slowly earning their way into the top level, like our OSSC boys.  I'm a parent, I'd be thrilled if Sam was a child prodigy...and horrified.  It raises far more problems than it resolves.  Not that any of the BYSA boys are prodigies by any stretch, but the questions in my mind as I watched the matches this week are greatly resolved when I consider the points I've shared here.