Youth soccer; perhaps we should rename it. Youth soccer for the benefit of adults. Yes, that’s much better. Looking at the youth soccer landscape, you’d have to say we rarely put the kids first when making decisions about changes to the structure and organization of the game. Let’s look at some of the issues here in SoCal and across the US in general to explore why that is the case.

Travel time

Here in SoCal there are multiple leagues competing for teams spread across a large geographic area. Because of this fractured setup, teams often end up travelling long distances (4+ hours round trips) for a single game. Sometimes, that includes kids as young as 8 years old. Really? We have to put kids of that age in a car for 2 hours (sometimes at 6am) to get a competitive game against other 8 year olds? Absolute madness.

The competing leagues could and should be combined, whether by Cal South or US Soccer directives. They can all still make money (because that’s generally why they do it) in the same way as companies and shareholders still make money when they merge. The geographical issues would be largely removed if leagues combined. Look at the number of soccer clubs in SoCal; there is no need whatsoever to travel any more than an hour for a game of youth soccer, even for higher level teams. For the majority of areas, you could structure leagues and brackets so that travel time for many of the games would likely be 30 minutes or less. Everyone wins by the way; players, clubs, parents, referees. Nobody loses.

The argument that there are not enough players or teams of a similar standard within a short driving distance is completely false, especially for the younger ages. Sure, for the older age groups, the top 5% of players perhaps have the need to travel longer distances to play against teams of a similar level but for the other 95%, it is completely unecessary. Why don’t we just put the kids first and reorganize things so they don’t have to travel so much? We’re adults. We’re intelligent. We’re capable of sending rockets into space and performing medical miracles; if we really want to, we can reorganize the geography of kids’ soccer games with our eyes closed.

Playing time

Playing time is a big issue for player development. To improve, you cannot just practice; you also need to play in games. Many clubs have players sitting on the bench for games without seeing a minute of playing time and we all know that isn’t the best way to develop every kid we serve. Everyone in club soccer recognizes that playing time is largely merit-based but there is something to be said for having all players get some playing time in every single game. If a player is on a roster, providing the club and coach have done their jobs properly (and haven’t simply added players purely because they are paying $’s), that player should be capable of playing at the level the team is operating.

Sitting kids for entire games is about nothing else but winning (and we all know how much coaches here love to win, regardless of the cost). If coaches are able to put their winning ego’s aside and place the development of players first by giving everyone time on the field, our kids will be better served overall. Interestingly, the general standard of players would also be higher (due to more playing time and development) and this would foster a higher level of play for everyone, which we would all agree is probably a good thing.

Most clubs mock AYSO’s ‘everyone plays’ approach but there is something to be said for it. Belgium adopted something similar many years ago (after failing badly at the top level they launched Project 2000) and they seem to be doing very well in terms of producing world class players, both on the male and female side. Having everyone get playing time is a big part of their approach to youth development and you’d have to say their approach seems to be working rather better than the current US setup.

Tournaments

Tournaments have been structured for maximum financial income and maximum games for a long time. Some teams can play up to four or five games in two days. Is this the best way to allow our kids enough rest to play at 100% and avoid injuries? We already know the answer to that but we continue to do it because “that’s just the way it is with tournaments.”

If we put players first, we would have them play only one game per day, likely longer than the current format which has shortened games in general. Of course, this wouldn’t work for the current tournament organizational and financial structure. However, tournament organizers would have no problem finding a way around that; they are clever people and know how to make money!

If we truly want to put our kids first, we should change the structure and approach of all tournaments. It would need everyone to pull in the same direction and change at the same time to work but as with the leagues merger, it’s easily possible for intelligent people like us.

Why on earth can’t we, as adults, get together and put the kids first with all decisions we make regarding youth soccer? Why can’t we put our ego’s aside and do things that will benefit all of our kids?

It’s time to put the kids first. They’ve been second for too long.