OPDL: Where Changes Should Be Made

As I've stated before, I think the idea of LTPD and the OPDL are very great in concept, but with that being said, I think there has been a major lack of communication and structural set up by the OSA with all the clubs involved in the process. There are many naysayers out there who appear to want this league to fail, while others think this is the saving grace for Canadian soccer. Where do I stand in this whole situation? Although I'd love to see this league succeed, unless there are changes made by the OSA quickly, I can't see this league obtaining its full purpose. From the majority of talk I am hearing via soccer blogs and twitter there are many flaws currently going on with the process at the moment (I don't know if the talk is all true, but I believe a lot of it is). I'm not going to get into prices, lack of inclusion of academies, demographics and other issues, but I will be talking about where the OSA/Clubs are still failing the players.

If the OPDL is supposed to be a league for Elite players...

When this league was introduced, many individuals believed (and still do) that this league is supposed to be for the "elite" players in the province. If this was the case the OSA failed miserably right from the get go.  Taken right from the OSA page, they describe the league as this:

"OPDL represents young players' early graduation to a genuine high performance training environment, targeting only the top athletes in the province from age groups U13 to U23 with what will be the highest level of competitive youth soccer in Ontario."

With this statement being made by the OSA, for the league to be truly for the top athletes, the way they granted teams should have been completely differently. If they wanted it to be for the "top players" (I find it a bit hard to claim 12/13 year olds are "top level players", then this league should have moved away from clubs being appointed teams, but instead ran as a district league. What this would allow for is to players from teams an opportunity to play relatively close to home (depending on district size),  provide clubs with an opportunity to pride themselves on how many players they could promote to the next level, costs could be unified being supplemented by clubs in that district having to pay some of their district fees to the program (they already give money from registrations to the district), and for the larger districts they could possibly have 2 teams.

Despite the OSA claiming that this is for the top athletes, they contradict themselves in other documents as they say that this league is about development of the player. With the development of the player being the focus of the league, from what is being talked about by individuals from the Ontario soccer world, then the clubs are failing from this aspect.

OPDL, the Developmental League...

With rumours circulating that many clubs are struggling to find players, and more importantly RELEASING players, clubs are failing, and despite the focus being about "development" the old problem of wanting the best players currently still exist. For those that follow me on twitter, you may know that sometimes Jason De Vos and I don't always see eye to eye on things, but yesterday we did come to an agreement on one major issue. After having a back and forth discussion I tweeted: 

"If it's about elite training then coaches should, be taking almost any decent player willing to join the program" 

Jason agreed with statement, and provided quite possibly the best response to what these clubs should be doing with 

"You are absolutely spot on. It's not about the kids who are currently "the best". It's about the ones if want to be.  

I couldn't agree with this anymore, if clubs are receiving players who want to get better by receiving elite training year round, and these coaches who were hired are really good at developing players based on their qualifications, then they shouldn't be releasing players (they obviously have to have a bit of skill), but instead they should be taking them in to develop these players so that the talent pool can increase. The problems of "low numbers" could be resolved by this.

Why are coaches supposedly releasing so many players that are wanting to join the program? Is it possible that despite results not mattering in this league, coaches and clubs still want to get a WINNING team on the pitch?

Conclusion:

With the OPDL season slated to begin soon, the OSA and all the clubs need to make some changes to how this is being ran in order for it to operate properly. With development supposed to be the main focus of the league, players shouldn't be turned away, but instead embraced and taken in so that they can further their development so that in the long run they can actually produce some "elite" players in the future.

The Multi-Sport Athlete

With the Canadian World Juniors not winning a medal in their 2nd consecutive World Championships, our nation believes that hockey needs to change how the grass roots level is operating. This was spear headed by head coach Brent Sutter's comments after their bronze medal game loss saying that kids are being forced to focus on results at a young age instead of developing their skills, and everything they do is to hockey oriented from such a young age. These comments got a lot of the youth soccer community talking as this is what they are trying to eliminate from the game in Canada. While getting in on this topic, I ended up getting into a lengthy discussion with a couple coaches about players who are multi-sport athletes, and thus don't "focus enough on their soccer development". The comment that really got me thinking was when one coach wrote:

"I have coached a boy’s team in the past with several high level hockey players and for them and their families the hockey always came first. Admittedly, these soccer players played the sport in the summer to keep fit and when they did not get the majority of playing time they were upset. As a coach I don’t want to build a team with such players being the corner stone. I have the greatest respect for those athletes who can compete at a high level in multiple sports, but that does not change the need for total commitment to the team. Both hockey and soccer are a 9 to 10 month a year sport and therefore there will be conflicts. As a coach I could not in good conscience give majority of the playing time to a player who does not practice regularly with the team between September to March. So I am not saying that my view is correct, but it is my view."

This got me really going because I don't agree with it at all, and believe that by penalizing individuals for being talented in more than one sport might actually drive them away from the game. In regards to this specific issue, in my eyes if the player is able to be one of your top players when they come back to join the team in the summer, and they are committed to the team, then they deserve to play more than a less skilled player on the team. This particular coach said it wasn't in the best interest of the team to build it around players who weren't around all year. If the coach is truly looking out for the best interest of the team, then they should be putting out their best players no matter what their commitment is in the winter. If the coach is looking for the best interest of the players (which should be the main focus), then this is taking away from those talented players who have talents in multiple sports.

Having coached a team with many multi-sport athletes, I never really cared to put much focus on the indoor portion of year by having a slightly leaner policy on attendance for training, and never entering into an indoor league.  I believe that allowing players to participate in other sports in the off season has many benefits because it  allows them to work on different skills that might not happen in soccer, allows them to analyse the game in different ways, and most importantly won't lead them to burning out from being too consumed with soccer at a young age that by the time they reach 15 or 16 they want to quit. What I noticed with my group when we first started playing games at the competitive level, the players who played other sports had a much better sense of positioning in comparison to other players who just played house league soccer the year before.

The argument then came up of if we want to be producing world class players in Canada, then they should focus on soccer to develop their skills. In regards to this, a true reality check needed to be given. At the end of the day, a very small percentage (1%) will end up going pro. To me, the players that do end up going far with the sport are the ones who truly want it (not their parents, not their coaches, not their coaches, or their peers). These are the players that will show up to every training session possible, go out on their own without being told, grab a ball work on their touches and watch games whenever they have the opportunity. To many times it is everybody else who wants to see a player excel in soccer, but the player themselves may not. If the player truly doesn't have the desire then even if they train 10 months a year with their club, they won't go anywhere.

My view on the multisport athlete is that parents shouldn't take it away from them if they can afford it, and the child is enjoying it. The athletes who have aspirations of getting to the next level will show that on their own by their actions away from the team. If they are a multisport athlete, when the time is right for them, they will make the decision as to which sport THEY want to focus on.

Should Ontario Youth Footy Follow the A, AA, AAA Model

2013 has been quite an interesting year for youth soccer in Ontario mainly due to the creation of the 2nd standards based league the OPDL (SAAC is the first despite what the OSA may try to claim). Although in theory a great idea, the OSA has handled this completely wrong as they have concentrated the majority of the clubs in 2 areas that makes it quite hard for clubs to get the truly elite level players throughout the province involved in the "top" league. There has been many blogs, tweets, and post on various forums about this so I won't go into details about it.

Yesterday I came across a newspaper article from the Toronto Star written about the GTHL looking at downsizing (eliminating non-competitive teams) and as I briefly discussed with another individual on twitter, something that needs to happen in the "competitive" world of of youth soccer in Ontario, as there are far to many teams playing at the rep level, and this has severely water downed the level of play. In the case of the GTHL, it is more of a shift in demographics as the majority of organizations that are struggling are from the east end of the GTA, and the same shift has been seen in youth soccer as well where once the Scraborough Soccer Association use to be a power house, but that has now shifted to Peel-Halton being the dominant area in Ontario youth soccer.

After reading this article, it rekindled some thoughts that I had that I believe could help change the landscape off soccer in Ontario, keep things more competitive on the filed, and not dilute the level of rep soccer as much as it is now. What I believe should be done is what happens in almost every other competitive team sport in Ontario where organizations are classified as A, AA, or AAA. Why I believe this would be better for the game is so that it eliminate a lot of teams/players who shouldn't be playing at the rep level, rids coaches of thinking about promotion and relegation (win at all cost), and it would PLACE THE PLAYERS AT THE APPROPRIATE LEVEL THEY SHOULD BE PLAYING. Instead of coaches being viewed as "successful" for winning trophies, they now could be looked at being successful for how many players they are able to develop to play at the next level.

For this to work, what would need to happen is that organizations would need to be classified as having teams in either as A, AA, or AAA (they me be affiliated with a club, or a stand alone organization). For some of the smaller areas, if they would like a AAA or AA organization it would be 1 team in that region so that they are able to pull from the surrounding towns without having to really worry about competition for players in neighbouring towns, and in larger areas such as Mississauga there may be 2 AAA clubs, 3 AA, and 3 A clubs. From there at the start of every season there would be tryouts where coaches would pick their top 15-18 players to make up their rosters with the rest of the players who aren't selected either trying out for another team, or play in their local house league program for the summer (which if numbers provide, will have an all-star team).

The leagues themselves will have standings, but there would be no promotion or relegation for teams, and if a player is doing very well in their current level, then hopefully the next season they will try-out for a team at a higher level. Like the OPDL, to coach at different levels coaches would be required to have a particular coaching level so that players playing at the AAA level are getting trained by individuals who have had higher training themselves. The AAA level could be where the provincial/national coaches go out to scout (maybe some AA games as well). As time goes by, we will be seeing the top players playing at the top level while receiving level appropriate training, and the same thing throughout the other 2 levels as well.

The reason why I believe that this would be the best way for soccer to progress is that it won't stretch thin top level training (often times right now, club's technical staff are working with very large groups, and in all reality a lot of the players need to be working on the basics first), teams don't need to focus on finishing at the top of their league to move up, but instead it will be based upon the individual player themselves and their skill level, and it will also eliminate the abundance of "rep" teams that currently exist. This model is used in hockey, baseball, basketball, and lacrosse to name a few sports, and the Canadian national teams are able to compete much better than the majority of national soccer teams.

Everybody Makes Mistakes, That's Why Pencils Have Erasers

If you can remember a few months ago there was an uproar by many individuals in the province of Ontario who are both apart and unattached to the soccer community, with Don Cheery being the biggest critic (media wise) to the removal of standings in youth soccer up until the age of 12. This is a topic for another day, but with the introduction of LTPD players are able to play in  a much less stressful environment (or at least it should be that way).

In the old system, coaches often hindered players development because the focus of play was on winning instead of actually developing players, and more importantly allowing players to be creative. As I watch rep games in the older age groups, I often see very little creativity from players, when in pressure they are quick to get rid of the ball instead of trying to take a player on, and I believe this can be attributed to the fact that from a very young age these players were never given the freedom to actually be creative as coaches wanted to win, and if the player tried to do something creative and made a mistake, they were often yelled at and in some cases taken right off the pitch. From a young age when players are in such an environment, they get scared of making mistakes because they don't want an ear full from the coach after.

With the removal of standings and having the kids just play, coach's should now (although they should have always been) be encouraging their players to try for them to be creative without getting on them negatively if they happen to be unsuccessful with what they are attempting. When we started to walk, our parents didn't yell at us, but instead would encourage us to keep trying until it became natural to us, and this is the approach that we should have with all young players in the game. 

If a player is coming out of the back, or in the middle of the pitch tries to beat a player with a step-over and happens to get the ball taken from them, instead of instructing the player to get rid of it next time, coaches should be encouraging that player to keep trying it so that eventually as they do develop they aren't afraid to try it again or other tricks that are even more advanced, because one day they will eventually be able to do such things successfully. The u9 team I've coached for the last 2 years have conceded goals where players try to make a certain pass such as looking to play it back to a defender and it gets intercepted and the counter attack is on. Instead of yelling at the player to not try that again, it is important to recognize what they are trying to do, and point out it was a great idea, and maybe I will tell them next time they need to put a bit more pace on the ball to make sure it makes it to the player next time. If a player realizes that the coach isn't going to be upset with them with for making a mistake, it will only help build their confidence and they won't be nervous to try it again. Something like this is very important because as they get older, there will be many times where they need to knock the ball back to their defender to maintain possession, and if their confidence is shattered from a young age it will be much more detrimental to them as they get older.

Quite possibly the most important position where coaches should allow for "mistakes" to take place is the keeper. I was recently watching a  u10 game where a coach was yelling at their keeper to stay deeper in their goal as the keeper was highly aggressive at challenging the shooter and got beat over their head a couple of times. I later had a talk with the coach and the keeper and told them that they should be encouraging the keeper to continue this style of play, because as they grow (and can touch the cross bar with ease) the goals lobbing over their head will decrease dramatically, and they will also be cutting down the angle on what the shooter has. There is nothing worse than seeing a keeper at the u13+ age group who afraid to come off of their line because from a young age their coach was instructing them to stay deep to avoid getting beat over their head.

With young kids we must remember that they are going to make mistakes as they aren't professionals, and instead of getting on them for making the mistake, we should be encouraging them to try it again. With there now being nothing on the line to play for from up until u13, we need coaches need to do their best to let players confidence grow so that when they are ready they can do something special like a rainbow to get by a defender instead of have them just knock the ball down the pitch in hope that their player can chase it down.

I conclude this entry with a quote from William Edward Hickson "IF AT FIRST YOU DON'T SUCCEED, TRY, TRY AGAIN." To all coaches, please remember this and encourage the creativity that your young players have inside of them.