Highline Premier FC: Soccer according to Alex Weaver (Part Two)

Today we publish the second and final part of our interview with Highline Premier FC Director of Coaching Alex Weaver.

In Part One Weaver talked about some of the differences between American and English soccer player development. Today he addresses what the role of Sounders FC should be in regional youth soccer.

  HPFC '97 Blue. (HPFC photo)

Part Two

What should be the role of Sounders FC in local youth soccer?
 
Alex Weaver: "It should be huge and I think it will be. I’m from a country that bases it’s football culture around the local professional club. A lot of kids simply like Man Utd and Liverpool and Chelsea etc because they are successful but most are very passionate about their local club regardless of how they are performing at any one time. Supporting that club becomes natural from a very young age and stays with them for the rest of their life. People are very passionate about their club. I see the same thing happening with Seattle Sounders FC. I just hope the club continues to do well on and off the field long enough to create this ‘loyal' mentality so that young fans at this time go through their lives living and breathing Sounders FC. At the moment it is the new thing in town and lets face it, Americans just love the chance to shout and cheer at most things (remember, my wife is Texan) so I hope eventually the supporters knowledge and understanding grows as the game grows over here. The club has a responsibility to help to support this and from what I can see it has done extremely well so far. The club is certainly seems to be a wonderful template in which other MLS clubs should look to emulate.
 
"The club has a responsibility to provide the best development program in Washington and has already made a start with the RTC’s. In my opinion everyone should be supportive of the Sounders as they are the professional club in the area. Though, having said that, it would be great if there was another MLS team in Seattle eventually. It would create a great rivalry and would be great for the game however, I doubt the 'business' people at the Sounders would appreciate having to compete with another club for tickets sales though!! A Mexican club, Club America or Pumas should look to have a club in Seattle (a la 'Chivas), now that would be something given the population - if not practical with franchise rights etc! I suppose a nice alternative is Portland and Vancouver but a 'derby' game to me is Man Utd v Man City, Liverpool v Everton...Stoke City v Port Vale (it has been quite intense despite the division separation), these clubs are no more than a few miles away from each other."

 
Where are ''tomorrow's US soccer coaches" being developed today?
 
"Well, clubs and organizations could start by stopping the ‘fast track’ system where ex-players get priority on courses and even allowed to 'waiver' certain levels of licences because they played the game at a certain level. Also, jobs are so frequently handed out simply because somebody has played as a professional or college etc. Playing is totally different to coaching/teaching and I am amazed at how this is allowed to happen at all levels. I don't take a coach's playing credentials into consideration when selecting a coach for HPFC. They have to ba able to teach the game. I wouldn't hire Diego Maradona for example for obvious reasons, yet he was the best player in the world at one point. I think it’s certainly necessary for a coach to have played at some level but certainly not a professional level. Teachers and professors in the education system are not fast tracked through university to get into school positions or college positions quickly as that would lower the standard of teaching and ultimately the standard of education our kids would experience – I don’t understand why we do it in soccer.
 
"Also, each club should take on more responsibility to provide a good coach development program. Coach education is vital but unfortunately coaches in general don’t take their coaching education seriously enough – this is so in England also. I don’t mean just attending licence courses but continual education in attending seminars and clinics and observing other coaches working too.
 
"It’s also vital that coaches go out and learn for themselves. They need to perceive themselves as ‘students of the game’ if they are really serious about progressing as a coach. I heard a story recently about a coach that was asking a DOC to have an additional team to coach at the club while already coaching a boys and a girls team. His reason was that he could become more of a ‘full time’ coach. I found out that the coach did not even have a ‘C Licence’. This is just an example of how coaches don’t really see the importance of education. You won’t even be considered for a coaching position at a club’s academy in England unless you have at least a UEFA B Licence. Having a licence doesn't make you a great coach but it shows that the coach is determined to continue their education and has met certain standards of assessment at the very least."

 
What is the most misunderstood aspect (by parents & the public) of youth soccer?
 
"Winning teams/players at a youth level will be successful at the senior level and that a long ball from the goalkeeper or center back high in the air is ‘nice’! Both of these are seriously misunderstood.
 
"The first one is slightly more serious but the second one highlights a serious lack of understanding about the game in general but in particular about youth development. In last year’s friendly match against the Sounders, the fact that Barcelona’s goalkeeper arguably looked better in possession of the ball than some of the Sounders outfield players said everything about how players are developed here and again, in England too. It’s only the fact that England has done it for longer and the game is so much more of the culture than here that it produces better players.
 
"The element of development is lost here as winning is the most important element in the eyes of so many. Not many coaches will admit it but it’s obvious from watching games at the weekend. I can’t really remember seeing any team here demand that their players pass out from the back. The reason for this is that there is a risk in losing possession near the goal and therefore increasing a chance of conceding. The coach doesn’t want to do that as he may lose the game. He doesn’t want to lose the game because he will be considered a bad coach – why? Because the parents want their son/daughter to be part of a winning team as a priority – they don’t care if the ball is always booted forward at U10 as long as the team is winning. They can’t see that when it comes to U15 and U18 their son/daughter is not going to be able to play out of pressure and maintain possession. They won’t be able to protect possession 1v1 and they certainly will not look to pass back to the goalkeeper because that would be ‘risky’. It's difficult getting this across to our coaches but I have made a big point of leeting them that I expect them to be telling their players to do this. Challenging kids not to be afraid of failure at the younger ages is what development is all about. Do you think the Barcelona players were told to ‘get rid of it’ when they were younger or were they taught how to deal with pressure 1v1 and how to play back to the GK and look to receive it back again? We never want our kids to accept failure (I am a terrible loser myself – ask my wife when we play the board game, ‘Risk’. I will never say that it is ‘OK’ when a team I work with loses a game but I will tell a player that they have been successful if they have been, despite the defeat. We need to redefine success as working hard so you can do better, technically and mentally as opposed to just physically…and then try to get even better still. So often we see talented kids being complacent because these standards are not driven into them at an early age. I am personally more demanding on the kids I work with that demonstrate technical capabilities as they must understand, that, as John Maxwell says: ‘Talent is Never Enough'.
 
"The most misunderstood element of youth soccer here is that it should be about ‘development’ and not winning matches. Focusing on the ‘process’ and not the ‘outcome’ will certainly help many to improve their development philosophies."

Read Part One with Alex Weaver here.