Carolina Soccer Club What You Need to Know The first thing you need to know is that this soccer club is not primarily about soccer. What you have signed your child up for is character building. Soccer is the tool we use to build character, and we take it seriously with qualified, experienced coaches, and professional curriculums and sessions plans. But soccer-competence is our second priority. Our first is character building. This is not a kumbaya, everyone hold hands, rainbows and unicorns philosophy. We believe that good character on and off the field are mutually beneficial to one another and are effective in helping us achieve our goals:
The three character traits we (mostly) focus on are those that we believe have equally crucial relevance in both life and soccer: Hard Work Selflessness Intelligent Decision Making We reference and promote all these traits using ONE QUESTION that we ask players to ask themselves in any given situation: What can I do to help? 1. Can I work harder to help my team? (Can I work harder to help my family?) 2. Can I put my team s success before my own? (Can I contribute to my community?) 3. What choice is going to be most successful on the field? (Can I think before I act?)
PARENTS: We need parents to be patient and supportive. The best way to achieve patience and support is for parents to be informed, and to be informed parents need to be willing to listen and learn. Here s the most important thing for parents to know: Your child is a long-term investment, not a short-term asset. The development of your child, both as a person and as a soccer player, is LONG-TERM. It does not happen in a week, a month, three months or even a year. In terms of soccer, a player s peak is usually around 25 years old. Keep this in mind before getting angry that your child hasn t gone from zero to super-star in six weeks. (Or three months. Or a year.) We work towards developing kids who are genuinely good at soccer by the time they reach 15 or 16, not who are just successful when they are 9 because they whack the ball. WHAT YOU HAVE SIGNED UP FOR In addition to using soccer as the mechanism to build character through the values of hard work, selflessness, and intelligent decision making you have also signed up for the following: FROM THE CLUB An enjoyable environment for your child Honesty & transparency Polite & timely communication An open & accepting attitude towards feedback you provide Genuine care towards you, your child, and the community FROM YOUR COACH A coach that is a fundamentally decent person. A coach who is organized & communicates well. A coach who is a good "psychologist," capable or reading & responding to different individual needs from players. A coach who is a good teacher, with the subject knowledge & the skills to pass that knowledge to your child. A coach who is a good leader, with the personality, a philosophy & a plan that inspires trust, loyalty, & dedication. A coach who is demanding, honest & caring with your child. A coach who promotes the player values of hard work, selflessness & intelligent decision making.
A coach who is available & approachable. A coach who creates an atmosphere of harmony in your team. A coach who treats players with humanity and discipline. A coach who lets the team take the credit. Training that is based off a curriculum, and focused on a specific purpose. Training that allows players plenty of "time on task" during training sessions. (I.e. repetition.) Specific information-based feedback to players during training sessions. A "fair" amount of playing time during games. (Fair does not mean equal. Many factors affect playing time, all of which are up to the coach to use their expertise to interpret. So long as your child is playing a fair amount, which we translate as roughly 1/3 of a game, playing time is not up for debate.) WHAT YOU HAVE NOT SIGNED UP FOR Wins (they are a bonus) Trophies (they are a bonus) Your child playing with their bestie (this is a bonus) Your child playing on the team you think they should (this is a bonus) Immediate developmental results o It takes 10,000 hours to become an expert at anything. (Approximate guideline.) That roughly translates to ten years. Aside from expert status though, if your child begins the season as average and puts in the exact same effort as everyone who is already better than them, he or she will improve, but comparatively will still be average. Doing extra is what counts. We cannot make your child do extra. * Amateurs practice until they get it right, professionals practice until they don t get it wrong. * An evaluation that states your child is golden, when that is not the case o Your child s soccer ability is not reflection of you as a parent, and no reflection of your child as a person. It is also not necessarily a representation of their future potential. Stay calm. Stay patient. We do not / cannot take responsibility for: A child s effort A child s natural ability A child and/or parent s willingness to listen and learn A child and/or parent s commitment level to the team and club The strength of other teams we face The ethics of other clubs we face, for example placing strong teams in weak tournament brackets so they can win with ease The methods other teams we face, re whacking the ball as hard as possible then crashing the goal. (This usually results in a WIN for that team but does nothing to build players for the future.)
COACHES We employ qualified coaches. Each has their own personality, style, and set of beliefs. All are unified, however, in the CSC expectations for all coaches: DEMANDING Every player deserves to be pushed to reach their potential. To not be demanding is to cheat the player out of reaching their potential. Coaches will be demanding of your child. HONEST When a coach compliments a player the player should know the coach genuinely means it. To be dishonest is to cheat the player out of the possibility to learn and improve. Coaches will be honest with your child. CARING To be uncaring is to cheat the player out of the right environment needed to learn and grow. Coaches will care for your child.
THE GAME Sport has the power to change the world it has the power to inspire. It has the power to unite people in a way that little else does. It speaks to youth in a language they understand. Sport can create hope where once there was only despair. It is more powerful than government in breaking down racial barriers. Nelson Mandela Fundamentally, soccer became the world s most popular sport for two reasons: people want to play it because it is enjoyable to play, and people want to watch it because it is enjoyable to watch. The game should be enjoyable to play, and it should be enjoyable to watch. If the game fails either one of these benchmarks then there is a problem. If it fails at both then it is not true soccer. The game is older than all of us, and it will outlast all of us, and it brings the world together through its universal language. This means the game should be honored in the way it is played. Our way of honoring the game is for our teams to play an attractive, aggressive, and adaptable brand of soccer: Attractive in Possession Aggressive in Transition Adaptable in Defense In terms of games: we like winning, you like winning, the kids like winning. This is no secret, and there is nothing wrong with it. We try to win every game we play in, but we try not to do so by forgetting our principals: An Attractive, Aggressive, and Adaptable style of play respect for the game demands this Hard-work, Selflessness, and Intelligent Decision Making by players respect for the kids demands this Short-term, this can cost us in terms of results. REMEMBER: losing, disappointment, and frustration are just part of the journey. They are not the destination. (If you informed then you will understand this, and then patience and support come easily.) Success is short-term. Excellence is long-term.
What (else) Makes CSC Special? 1. OUR VALUE SYSTEM We use the following priorities, in order, to in make our decisions: a. Conscience what is best for the player b. Customers what is best / what is owed to you, the parents, who have paid for a service c. Club what we need to do as a business to survive, strengthen and grow. In soccer there are frequent discussions of winning vs. development, parents vs. kids, or interests vs. values. In a perfect world, they all go together. Most often though there's some sort of compromise involved. We realize that and we are happy to compromise to make customers (you) happy, and to do what is necessary for the club s business interests. The only question is how much do we compromise? There is a simple answer: 49%. Development, Kids & Values vs. Winning, Parents & Interests If there is a balance, the tightest balance possible, we come out 51% vs. 49% DKV over WPI. Winning is great. Winning keeps people happy. It keeps parents happy. Parents are important. They are customers. Their needs are important. Parents are the ones that sign kids up. Our main interest is keeping kids. Without kids signed up, we have no one to coach. These are all essential things to consider. But, in the end, without integrity, all of this is worthless. We can compromise and compromise and compromise. That's fine. Up to a point. And that point is 49%. The game, the child, and our integrity have to come out on top. Then we do the second part of our job - educate the parents why what we are doing is right.
2. OUR JUNIOR PROGRAMS a. All programs incorporate appropriate SMALL-SIDED PLAY. This improves time-on-task (interaction with the ball,) as fewer people on the field results in more touches per player. This is opposed to inappropriately large numbers of kids on the field resulting in some players never touching the ball. Dino Mites (4-year olds) play 2v2 or 3v3 Ginga (5 year olds) play 2v2 or 3v3 Rondo (6 year olds) play 3v3 or 4v4 Pre-Academy (7-8 year olds) play 5v5 or 6v6 b. All Programs do NOT form teams, for the following reasons: o To emphasize a focus on the individual player and their individual technical development. This is opposed to making the focus about a team, which translates to a focus on results. Results are irrelevant individual development is what is important. o No teams means no need for substitutes This improves time-on-task (interaction with the ball,) as everyone is involved all the time. This is opposed to having set teams large rosters where 50% of the kids sit out 50% of the time. o Free movement of players every game guarantees the appropriate challenge-to-success ratio. We can change teams around each week, and each session, to compensate for strong/weak players or performances. This is opposed to set teams, where kids can be either largely unchallenged, or experience little success. Kids need to be challenged to improve, but also experience successes in order to keep accepting challenges. c. Use appropriately sized fields to achieve the appropriate challenge-to-success ratio. Players need enough space to be successful with whatever they are attempting while feeling the adequate amount of pressure. Too much on a huge field means there is no challenge, and too little space on a tiny field means there is no hope. This is opposed to fields that are too small, which are a jumbled mess of kids falling on top of one another, or fields that are too large and result in an athletic contest with little to do with soccer. d. Uses a professionally designed curriculum and 100% professionally supervised practices.
3. OUR ACADEMY PROGRAM TRAINING The season is divided into five two-week blocks. Each block focuses on a different technical and tactical area. We do a hybrid of the following: a. Technical & Tactical Sessions Technical Session A technical session is based on a players one-on-one interaction with the ball such as passing, receiving, dribbling, running with the ball, shooting, turning, 1v1 defending (and tackling), shot-stopping (for goalkeepers). A player must be able to successfully interact with the ball personally to be competent. Technique is unchanging. There is always a right and a wrong. (Or at least a more correct and less correct.) Tactical Session A tactical session is based on either collective actions of a group of players and/or a concept that is fluid (circumstantial) within the game, such as group defending, transition, combination play, switching the point of attack and possession. Tactical sessions work on player s discipline to follow a coach s instructions, and their soccer IQ as it relates to their in-game decision making during play. b. Stations, Random Groupings, Training (Ability) Groups, Stations This is when each coach works on the same subject (e.g. passing and receiving,) but each does a different exercise. Players are put into groups and rotate around each station. Stations provide for players to receive information on the same subject, but from different examples and from different voices and styles.
Random Groups At some point every player will no longer play with any of their current team mates. This goes for any player, on any team, in any country. Random groups help players become non-team dependent. It is vital that players develop individually, outside of the team, so no matter who they play with they know how to function as a player not just part of a specific unit. Long-term, being exposed to random groupings will help players feel comfortable in otherwise non-comfortable situations. Training Groups Ability-grouping players in training groups helps achieve the best success-to-challenge ratio possible. Players, no matter what level, should be practicing and playing against players of roughly the same ability. This guarantees that they will have achievable success and the appropriate level of challenge. Age of the players is irrelevant and not taken into consideration in training groups. Team Training In the case that teams need to practice as a team before a weekend, for example a tournament, those teams may practice together during the week. GAMES We do a hybrid of, age-group teams, tournament teams, travel teams, and even teams. There are no permanent teams. We play either 1 or 2 games per day. Permanent Teams The Academy itself should be considered ONE TEAM. However, since when we play we play 6v6 or 7v7, smaller sub-teams, need to be created. Because there are no permanent teams in the Academy, the Academy program is flexible and we can create different types of teams based on different needs and circumstances. Age Group Teams Creating teams from players who are all in the same age group has the advantage of preparing for the future when movement of players between age groups is not as flexible as in the Academy. (Players are often asked to double, and play for two different teams on any given day, usually to add support in terms of either numbers or ability.) Tournament Teams The purpose of entering a tournament is to do as well as possible. For the best chance of success tournament teams are formed from who are deemed the top players of each age group. Travel Teams When travelling long distances, or when opposing teams are travelling long distances to come to us, it is necessary to provide players with multiple (two) games to justify the investment in the journey. When playing two games teams need to have a higher number of players in their squad 9-10 players instead of 7-8 so players do not become too physically drained or strained. Travel teams are based on ability and the age of the players is irrelevant and not taken into consideration. (Like in high school, or college, or the professional game, or real life!) Even Teams The best players have the opportunity for improvement by making those around them better. (This is what makes good players great players.)
The weaker players are exposed to the level that is expected, and get pushed to keep-up. They also get the chance to be helped by better players. 1 Game vs. 2 Games It is healthier for players to play one game a day. This is what we try to do. In some situations playing two games cannot be avoided. When playing two games does happen, we increase the squad size of teams to lower playing time per-player. PLAYER DEVELOPMENT CONSIDERATIONS The Challenge / Success Ratio Players need to be challenged in order to progress. At the same time, players need to experience success to motivate themselves to keep accepting challenges. Player development is fluid, and therefore the challenge/success ratio needs to be constantly adjusted for players. This is why the fluid environment of the Academy is so important. Players should be moved between groups as to find their best fit. Stable but Fluid Environment It is important for players to feel the right amount of uncertainty in the club environment. Players need to feel safe, but at the same time open and excited about changes and challenges. For this the environment needs to be stable but changing. We try our best to re-evaluate groups and teams every two weeks to achieve the right balance. Player Movement The freedom of movement for players between groups allows for differences in players development rates. For example, a player that began the season in the top training group may be struggling after a month. In this situation it would benefit the player to train in a lower group to achieve the best challenge-to-success ratio. COACH ROTATION Rotating coaches between teams or groups helps players avoid becoming coach-dependent. At some point in the future every player will be coached by someone new and when that happens players will need to adapt. In addition, different coaches have different styles and methods. Rotating coaches increases the chances that a player will find a coach that clicks. It also increases the chance that players will get a coach they do not click with, and when this happens it provides players the chance to learn how to deal with that scenario.