Article posted by State governing body on Facebook – I am angry.

[Brian MitchellParticipant]

My local state soccer governing body – EPYSA here is Eastern PA posted a link to this article on their FB page today.

http://www.soccerwire.com/blog-posts/when-should-my-child-specialize-in-one-sport/?loc=psw

Not sure of your feelings but for me this is a perfect piece for Soccer Moms to throw in a Coaches face and more importantly why real youth soccer development is beyond 99% of people who say they know what they are talking about.

While I am ranting…I very senior member of the coaching staff at the same organization recently posted a small video of an ODP coaching session, let me know what you think:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=795646000450796&set=vb.130179756997427&type=2&theater

Brian

 

 

 

[SEAN KIERNANParticipant]

Poor, at the ODP region I work in we would get hammered for that.

we have been instructed that every session must be functional to play possession style soccer with no generic exercises like this

[Justin AlmquistParticipant]

1) I follow the author (O’Sullivan) of the article and generally agree with his views of giving sports back to the kids, which is necessary with all of the helicopter parenting going on.  I’ve also read quite a few of the research papers he cites stating that it’s helpful for kids to play multiple sports.  Lastly, encouraging kids to play multiple sports was a recurring theme at the NSCAA convention so it’s a bit of a hot-button topic right now.  The article itself has some good points, however the key to the whole argument is free play which comes back to culture.  Sure, if the US had a culture of free play and soccer flowed in the veins then there would be no need for the early specialization.  If I knew my players were playing soccer every day after school then I would have no problem taking 3 months off of organized practice so they could play some organized basketball.  Of course, in reality that’s 3 months that they don’t touch a soccer ball.

Another fallacy in the argument for playing multiple sports is that many of the athletes that reach the top have a multiple sports background, which is obviously going to be the case for top-end athletes that excel at basically everything they do.  Any kid that excels in a sport is going to want to continue that as long as possible, but that doesn’t prove that playing multiple sports produces great athletes.  Moreover, the top players in sports such as soccer and basketball that require tremendous amounts of decision-making have played their sport extensively from the youngest of ages even if they dabbled in a few other sports.  Other than women’s soccer, where athleticism still reigns supreme, you’d be hard pressed to find a top level soccer player that hasn’t been playing since they could walk.

My current line of thinking in the US is that it’s up to the clubs (or some organization) to create open, unstructured play environments.  I love the work that Ted Kroeten is doing in Minnesota and hope his idea continues to spread (http://www.joyofthepeople.org).

P.S. My daughter is very young (9), has tried a bunch of other sports and has settled on soccer as her favorite so I’ve put her in CrossFit Kids as a way to teach general physical fitness and hopefully prevent any overuse injuries.  So far she really likes it and I believe it addresses many of the benefits of playing multiple sports.

2) The ODP video is interesting because it reminded me of the CogiTraining session I saw at the NSCAA convention led by Michel Bruyninckx (see video below).  Michel’s work is labeled “Brain Centered Training” and is based on rhythm, timing and synchronization in an effort to force the players to concentrate.  He started out with fairly basic patterns, but it quickly escalated to become more and more challenging to the individual player and the group as a whole.  I have to admit it piqued my interest although I only saw the tip of the iceberg…

[DamianParticipant]

I don’t disagree that an athlete can benefit physically and mentally from exposure to different sports.  But I assume this is a North American concept or theory.  In other words – are football associations in Brazil, Chile, Argentina, France, Spain, etc. worried about their kids specializing in soccer at too young of an age?  Curriculums at younger ages in these countries incorporate much more physical literacy than we do in North America perhaps to compensate for this, but I highly doubt there are sirens going off on this topic the way they do here in North America.

Put another way – I doubt anyone told Ronaldo’s or Messi’s parents that they were harming their child’s long term development by having them play soccer exclusively.

To give further evidence, we have distinct seasons here in Canada.  Hockey season – and then hockey off season (insert tongue in cheek), where lots of kids play soccer as a rec activity.  Often at a young age, the hockey players are strong, competitive, know how to ‘practice’, and are often our stronger kids.  As they get older, the 6 months away from the game shows and technically, they fall farther and farther behind the players who have chosen soccer as their full time sport.  I am not sure I need more proof than this to debunk the multi sport theory.

Exposure to different sports is great – but the kids still need constant repetition in order to gain technical mastery – no matter what sport they chose.

• This reply was modified 10 years, 9 months ago by  Damian.

[Joel LorahParticipant]

Many academies incorporate gymnastics and martial arts into the development of footballers. My own sons practice brazilian jiu jitsu and my daughter is a dancer as well.

[Scott NelsonParticipant]

Damian, I’m curious if you have noticed whether the kids who play hockey do a better  job of “getting their heads up” than those who  don’t.

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