As we wait for the weather to turn more favorable, there are plenty of updates. In this update we will cover everything from the K1 Youth Program to some interesting insights from Tab Ramos regarding parental involvement and youth development.
K1 Youth Academy-Enrollment has shattered all expectations for the 1st year program. However we set a very lofty goal and are just shy of reaching that goal. Coach Blake needs your help to attract 10 more players for program which begins Sunday, March 13. Please have interested parties contact Blake Decker a
t bdecker@slsgsoccer.com for registration information and questions.
Success at the Border Battle- Congratulations to the SLSG Metro U10 Boys and the SLSG Metro U9 Girls on very successful weekends at the Border Battle in Overland Park, KS last weekend. Coach Brent’s boys win the Championship in exciting fashion and Coach Kevin’s girls lose a heart breaker. Congratulations to both groups for the commitment and hard work that lead to the success.
U11 Girls Green – I want to take a moment and commend Coach Kassidy’s U11 girls and parents for a job well done. There have been a number of benefits to the recently completed SLSG Metro Indoor Program. One of the unexpected benefits has been watching teams in action. I get to watch players technical ability and tactical understanding. I also observe and interact with parents of our teams.
In the last weekend of the indoor session, I watched one of our U12 girls teams play the U11 Green team. I was extremely impressed with the way the younger girls competed, I was impressed with the way they transferred information from their coach to the field and I was equally impressed at how supportive the parents were in that game. The parents clapped and cheered at the right times and supported the girls with encouragement. At the end of the day, the older girls wore down the younger and smaller girls. But when fitness levels and fatigue were even, the U11 Girls Green played one heck of a game. 
Tab Ramos Interview –I think you will find the following Soccer America interview interesting. Tab articulates some of the SLSG Metro sentiments. Working with parents of our players is a crucial part of a young players development. However when it comes to doing what is right for the long term success of the player, team and age group, the soccer expert often has a much larger picture and more comprehensive goal in mind. In the following interview, former US National Team player Tab Ramos discusses the competing factors that coaches have to consider when working with a youth player as well as how parents and coach can cooperate and positively impact the development of the young soccer player.
Tab Ramos, considered one of the USA's most skillful players ever, played for the USA at three World Cups, two Copa Americas, and in the Olympic Games. Two years after retiring in 2002 from a playing career in Spain, Mexico and MLS, he founded the New Jersey youth club NJSA 04. In 2008, he coached the NJSA 04 Gunners to the U-14 U.S. Youth Soccer national title, marking the first national championship for a New Jersey club in two decades.
SOCCER AMERICA: If you had a magic wand, how would you use it to improve youth soccer in America?
TAB RAMOS: Wow. I’d have to think about that …
One of the things that’s been most important for our club is, from the first moment, eliminating parents’ opinions from what we do.
The opinion of the parents of the players here is completely irrelevant to us. And that’s been a good formula for making this club a real soccer club.
SA: What would be an example of detrimental parent interference?
TAB RAMOS: There are a thousand things. But I’ll start with an example of a parent who had the right attitude.
On our U-16 [U.S. Soccer Development] Academy team we have a great player who starts all the games. He’s been at our club for four or five years and just about every year previously he’s been a substitute. He did not start. He happened to be on the team that won the national championship, but he didn’t start.
It’s the perfect case of a parent who figured it out the right way. This boy’s father is a
soccer guy. He kept his son at the club even though he wasn’t starting. He could have moved him somewhere else and started for another team. He stayed here while he was a substitute -- trying hard all these years. Now he’s 16 -- in the year that it really matters for him -- and starts every game.
I think that’s the right formula.
SA: And the wrong parental approach …
TAB RAMOS: For most other cases, parents will be looking only at two things.
No. 1. Whether your team is winning the games. So if they’re not winning the games, then obviously it’s time for Johnny to move somewhere else -- to the team that just beat us.
No. 2. The huge effect that the parents have on the kids when they drive home. When the parents get in the two front seats of the van and little Johnny’s is in the back. And he hears the parents say, “Well, the coach this … the coach that … He only gave him five minutes. … And I was timing the first half, and he only put him in this position. …”
All that negative talk instead of saying, “You know, that’s great, you only played five minutes but you tried as hard as you can. Maybe if you keep trying hard, the next time you’re going to play more and impress the coach.”
I think parents are very protective of their kids and obviously everyone should be, but when it comes to sports, I have yet to meet a coach who doesn’t want to play a good player a lot of the time. So chances are if your son is not playing a lot, he doesn’t deserve to play at this point.
SA: Since you started the club eight years ago, what have you discovered is a good strategy to providing the children with optimal coaching?
TAB RAMOS: At our club now, we believe the best thing is have people who are experts at certain age groups.
We keep our staff at the same age groups year-to-year, so the kids go through coaches like they go to school. First grade you have Mrs. Whatever, second grade you have Mr. Something Else.
We’ve been able in less than eight years to identify coaches that we have fit into certain age groups better than others. They teach the game better, and we’ve kept them in those age groups.
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