By Paul Nicholson
August 19 – US Club Soccer, one of the largest and certainly most influential youth soccer organisations in the US with more than 500,000 members, has launched an amibitious ‘Players First’ initiative that will give its members a suite of tools to better manage their soccer experience.
US Club Soccer CEO Kevin Payne (pictured) explained that ‘Players First’ is designed as a “philosophy, not a curriculum…Youth soccer is about the players and making them better. Players First gives parents a way to judge a good soccer experience”.
The initiative puts access to resources based around five pillars: club development, coaching development, player development, parent engagement and education, and player health and safety.
The tools are aimed at clubs, coaches, parents and players.
At the launch event at Nike World Headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon, Payne said: “We’re on a mission to change the sport. In order to achieve our mission to change the sport, we need a vision, courage, enthusiasm, resilience and a plan.”
Payne has lined up an impressive set of partners and tools to drive the programme (see below), and he is unequivocal in what needs to be done.
“There are two major problems in US youth soccer that we have been unable to breakthrough. One, we have not been successful at producing world class players. This is a cultural thing based on the priorities of winning and youth success – that’s what the parents want,” said Payne.
“The second problem is that we have vast participation rates in the US but at the age of 13, up to 75% of our players leave the game. We are losing three out of four players because we have created an environment that is not fun. We don’t want to drive our kids out the game.”
Payne explains that the system currently puts too much of the wrong kind of pressure on coaches to have successful teams saying that “youth soccer is about the players, about making them better”.
The US youth soccer system is a big business nationally. “Youth soccer in the US is massive,” says Payne. “It is bigger than the MLS. Just the fees paid by those registered comes to $4-5 billion a year. It is not a system we will automatically change.”
So far Payne reports the response to Players First has been very positive, but he knows that a revolution will not take place overnight. “We will push the philosophy via regionalised events. We will have our experts presenting and we will have special pricing programs,” he said.
Players First partners (more will be added) are:
La Liga – technical partner
Beast Mode Soccer – Players First video training series
FIFA 11+ – Warm-up program as an injury prevention method
Fit for 90 – Player Monitoring System).
KYCK Registration – KYCK Registration is a tool for clubs to reach parents and take administrative burdens off club volunteers and staff.
Positive Coaching Alliance – Resources and materials for coaching development and parent engagement & education.
SoccerPrep – College Planning and Test Prep partner giving access to a platform offering academic and athletic guidance.
SportSessionPlanner – Access to id² Program and Player Development Program curriculum.
Sports Leadership Program
TopYa! – The TopYa!-powered mobile app “My Soccer Moves” provides an interactive environment where players can challenge other players around the world at any time with skills challenges.
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