Welcome to Coach Rory Soccer! Are you new to coaching youth soccer? Maybe you've been coaching for years?
My goal is to share experiences, mistakes, philosophy, and best practices I have learned navigating the jungle that is youth soccer in United States. Youth soccer videos, youth soccer sessions, real youth soccer game film, youth soccer tactics, & more.
Sound like your thing? Hit that SUBSCRIBE button and feel free to comment on stuff you'd like to see on the channel!
-ABOUT- Youth Soccer Coach. US 'C' Licence. I see a lot of coaches struggling. From parent coaches just starting, to full on academy coaches who have lost their way. Is my way better? Guess that's for you to decide.
Start playing on a field with holes , partially grass even with pools of water after the rain ,gives more feeling how the ball behaves, and sharpens your movements and reactions.
Can’t speak entirely to those but my understanding is they are becoming more and more similar. In general the other sports here have a much clearer pathway. Whether that be college, AAU etc.
I moved here in 1982 at the age of 14. This country seems to have been stuck in a soccer time warp. Moments of excellence, but really no further along than it was back then. Sure it's more popular, but it is not any better. The American soccer culture is awful. I love America and hope it gets its act together. Happy 4th of July everyone.
Get rid of “elite” leagues which are pay to play. This goes for all US sports. There are many talented young kids out there that won’t get the attention since they aren’t part of the “elite” teams due to not being able to afford it.
The majority of coaches are terrible as they don’t teach how to play the game but focus on drills that don’t help kids and make it look like they know what they are doing.
I believe that a focus on "stars" here in the U.S. rather than teams is also part of the problem, and this is an issue that has been growing for a few decades. I just don't feel that other countries/cultures focus on the individual quite so much. Yes, individual skill is very important, but you won't win without your team.
I was one of the kids at the opening ceremonies in Orlando in '94. Met Michelle Akers, very nice and a tremendous player on the woman's side, and as a basketball player at the time left after the ceremony was done and played basketball. Once our athletes move away from our football, basketball, and baseball and touch the soccer field - and as you speak merit - our team will begin to win the World Cup.
I’m glad you are speaking truth my kid played Ecnl the coach was unqualified and the club only wants fees they have 28 players per team only a few are actually good enough to be there Specially the team managers kid he’s always the liability of the team but he plays 90 % of the time LOL
I've been saying for years the "pay to play" model has broken soccer in the US, and the ability to find and develop talent. Soccer got popular about 40 years too late in the U.S. 😢😢
I think a way to mandate training compensation and solidarity payments is the bronze bullet to fix this stuff. But how is pro/rel to blame? People way too often invoke Pro/Rel as the silver bullet to fix everything and the kitchen sink when it isn't.
Was just having this EXACT conversation with my mom. The amount of money my parents paid for local clubs was insane. And we didn’t even live in a large market. 300-400 a season is just ridiculous.
I would love promotion relegation at all levels of soccer. 100% it would make us better. But that's not why the USMNT lost. All 11 starters play in pro/reg leagues. We lost, for the most part, because of Greg.
I’ve Ben coaching my nephews team for the last 6 years & they don’t let them head the ball until they are 11 years old. Do you think they do these stupid rule in Argentina or Spain….?
I agree with your analysis except for the fact that US Mens Soccer is in decline. They had a bad tournament, but the players are good and so is the talent pool. I think the problem lies within the coaching and management itself. Now, one can make the point the youth soccer is in decline compared to years past due to all the supposed advanced leagues forming at club level so the clubs can stroke the egos of parents by taking more of their money while they are at it. When it matters most, kids will quit in their mid-teens due to various pressures put on them.
Can you say the same thing for the women? Are the women just riding off the fact that the USA is more pro female sports than any other country, or do we have the same issue on the female side?
The problem is us, the older generation. We didn't play so we don't have the skill/knowledge to pass down. It's diff when your uncle played, grandfather played, and dad played and mom played. And they watch all the pro games together and there is passion. We have that here for USA football, basketball, and baseball. It's only natural for leaders in organized youth club sports to make some $$ they put a lot of time into it- truly skilled & gifted youth players will get scholarships... happens in all youth sports. Tennis and basketball for sure. There is not enough passion and history yet, look at the stadiums for USA games- not full. Games sometimes only on weird cable channels. Telemundo has the games.... why? more passion.
True about the money. My dad would always say "no where but America does it cost so much to be so bad. There are 5 kids in Uriguay playing with a coconut football right now and they will go on to play in Europe." I played soccer as a kid and they don't draft the right kids. It's all like an Andre Agassi Canon commercial from the 90s. "Attitude is everything."
The fact that the simplest, most affordable, and most common sport in the world is as expensive organized hockey is an absolute joke. There’s not even a lie you can use to justify this system. People need to stop paying or being involved with pay to play system entirely or this will never change.
Thank you Rory! I was talking to my father about this because I have a few friends who work for the French Football Federation. They shared with me their model and how they have low barrier of entry to football due to public investment and they utilize a merit based system. I think we all know how great french players are. France also use football as form of soft power around the world. One of my friends is a coach for the FFF academy in Singapore. US exceptionalism is the bane for the US Soccer Federation. Also, my bold take along with your pitch for Promo/Releg system is to move the MLS and USL season to sync with the rest of the world. It is a gamble but it needs to be done.
The core of the problem is what is the U.S playing for? Nobody can answer that question right! and is not embedded in players The main focus is to win the world cup Period! Every kid in the world that plays soccer is there main dream . To win a world cup and score the winning goal! Heart , pride, desire ! Is not existing is the youth in the us .
I completely agree with you. The youth soccer system doesn't work. MLS teams do not care about developing players either. The fact that there is no relagation like in other contries does not give an incentive to MLS teams and players to get better. There are no real or well organized soccer academies or farms like in Spain, Argentina, and Uruguay. That's a big issue. You can't look at soccer like any other American sports because it is not. Also US has to get a more experienced soccer coach otherwise nothing is going to change.
Between my passion for soccer in America and the complexity of the US soccer problems, it’s difficult for me to avoid resorting to ranting when sharing my opinions. Well done, I appreciate everything you shared here. I think your points about money and merit are spot on. I want to share my observation that there seems also to be a lack of passion or interest amongst people in general or those who have local leadership over soccer. I’d argue that we have a contentment with mediocrity in our system or the opting to be indifferent about the quality of the development. This leads to me receiving U12-15 players that only seem to have received the product of a sense of false assurance that sometimes manifests itself as entitlement or arrogance. They think that since they’ve played soccer before, they’re good, when really they look like they’ve never touched a ball in their lives. For example, I corrected a boy’s toe stab pass into side footing the pass and he commented about his preference to do it his way and his parents were curious why he wouldn’t start certain games. There is a cultural sense in which our white boys get pummeled by schools with a higher Hispanic presence and I think it can be explained partially by this lack or passion for the game as a whole, families, youth systems, professional teams, boards, etc. I’ll have to give your channel a follow and see what else I can learn from you!
You’re nailed coach as, I always looked at MLS no relegation system as a craazy thing, everybody should be able to start a football club and be able to compete in regional leagues and try to achieve MLS that’s the funny part at team from your city playing in a continental or mundial competition
You’re nailed coach as, I always looked at MLS no relegation system as a craazy thing, everybody should be able to start a football club and be able to compete in regional leagues and try to achieve MLS that’s the funny part at team from your city playing in a continental or mundial competition
Best American athletes go to NFL, NBA, MLB. Unless US fix this, never gonna get to European or Latina American level. Every single World Cup winning countries’ number one national sport is association football by a large margin. You walk down the street in US and ask a random American citizen to name USMNT roster. I bet 99 out of 100 Americans can’t even name one. In Europe, even the kids know the subs’ list.
I think that's a fallacy. In a country of 350,000, there should be plenty of good athletes for soccer. Look at the Euros; you have some very small countries giving the big soccer powers all they want. Plus, soccer isn't like American football or basketball; you don't have to be a Superman to reach the top levels. The emphasis is on skill and having a 'football/soccer brain.' To be among the best players, you don't have to be a physical Adonis. Plus, with very little exception, football and basketball bodies are entirely inappropriate for soccer.
Don’t start at the top because the rot is at the youth level. It’s been neglected and remanded to those players whose parents buy their children on the better youth team. The current U.S. team does not have any approach players or scorers. The primitive kick and chase tactic at far too many youth clubs renders player talent inoperative at the higher levels.
