Coaches Are Just Helpers

Klinsmann's Advice: 'It's driven by you, coaches are just helpers'"

By Mike Woitalla

Last Sunday, U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann showed up at a breakfast for the 46 finalists of the 7Up Sueno Alianza National Finals presented by Verizon in Southern California.

The surprised boys, ages 14 through 19, dropped their forks to listen to the man who had won a World Cup as a player and 10 days earlier celebrated the USA’s qualification for the 2014 World Cup.

Here are excerpts from Klinsmann’s advice to aspiring young soccer players:

DECIDE YOUR PATH. "It’s always difficult at this age, when you’re 17 or 18 or you’re 14 or 15, to imagine, where’s my road leading? Where’s my next level?

“It’s all down to you guys what you’re going to do with your opportunities. Whenever someone opens a door for you and gives you a chance to show and prove how good you are, take that chance. Hopefully coaches will show you that level. But you’re going to have to decide your own path. You are your own driving force. …”

PRACTICE DAILY. “... What does that mean in reality? How often do you train a week? Everyday? How do you think you can get better if you don’t train everyday?

“How can you do that if you’re not with your team? In the park. Kick the ball against the wall. Meet your buddies somewhere in the neighborhood. Make an opportunity.

“Every time you kick the ball in some way, you’re going to make yourself better.”

GOOD MOVES. “How does a Kobe Bryant become a Kobe Bryant? He’s not learning all those moves because a coach tells him to make those move. He learned them himself, by fooling around with the ball."

COACHES ARE JUST HELPERS. “Take your path in your own hands. Ask questions all the time when you can to coaches and to other people.

“But you are the driving force. We can tell you certain things, but you have to do it. … Maybe you’re tired after 70 minutes and if you lose the ball we expect you to chase the ball back. But I can’t do that run for you.

“It’s you who makes the decision. That’s the beauty of soccer. That it’s all driven by you, not by us coaches. We’re just helpers.”

DON’T LOOK FOR EXCUSES. “From professionals, and not only American professionals, professionals everywhere -- because I played in four different leagues in Europe -- I often heard, 'The coach doesn’t play me … This is wrong … The media doesn’t like me …'

“They’re really good at finding excuses. But every coach wants to win. At the end of the day, every coach will play the best team he can. If you belong to those best, you’re going to play.

“If for whatever reason he doesn’t play you, then go up and ask him, and he will tell you. Maybe you don’t show the right spirit. Maybe right now you’re more a taker than a giver.

“‘Taking’ meaning you think about yourself too much. Maybe you’re not thinking about the team at that moment.”

AVOID DISTRACTIONS. “Maybe some players are too busy with their haircut, and how they look. Or how many followers they have on Twitter and Facebook.

“We coaches, we see that. We tell them, ‘You know it would be nice if you start to focus more on soccer than on your cell phone.’”

COPING WITH SETBACKS: “When you get an opportunity, give it all you have, and things will develop. Even it doesn’t work out right away, it doesn’t matter.

“Even if the reward doesn’t come right away, keep going. Keep going and it will be the next time, at the next opportunity. There are many opportunities coming up but you’re the one who drives it.

“Drive yourself. Your dream is yours.”

Klinsmann ended his talk with: “I wish you lots of luck. Enjoy it. And have a smile on your face whenever you kick the ball around.”

Article from Soccer America's Youth Soccer Insider.

I think it's kind of cool Klinsmann took the time to meet with the young fellas.

You guys read about the Alianza Futbol program? They had some serious funding from Verizon, Gatorade, etc. I think, if I remember correctly, one of the finalists was offered 16 trials/contracts with pro clubs and even got a look by the US program.

It appears they may be fielding a team for the Dallas Cup, too.

http://www.alianzadefutbol.org/site/noticias.php?filtro=3&pagina=9

I've always believed 80% of the equation is up to the player.

Sadly the majority of parents can't get their head around that fact.

Laimport wrote:I've always believed 80% of the equation is up to the player.

Sadly the majority of parents can't get their head around that fact.

DING DING DING!!!!!!!   Its sad to see parents hop from one coach/club to the next expecting to turn the DD or BB into the "next thing".  Sometimes I wonder who's "dream" they are chasing.

best playing partner in the world? never misses a pass...returns every ball for your dd/bb to receive...never gets tired....is free....available 24/7/365..... "The Wall"! wall ball will and does prepare more youth technically than the best coaching in the world can do twice a week  

[quote="soccerdadrandy"]best playing partner in the world? never misses a pass...returns every ball for your dd/bb to receive...never gets tired....is free....available 24/7/365..... "The Wall"! wall ball will and does prepare more youth technically than the best coaching in the world can do twice a week  [/quote]

"The Wall"? Sounds awesome! Where do I find one of those?
Do they sell them at Target or...... wait for it......Wall-Mart?
(Lame).

cowpukesfan wrote:

soccerdadrandy wrote:best playing partner in the world? never misses a pass...returns every ball for your dd/bb to receive...never gets tired....is free....available 24/7/365..... "The Wall"! wall ball will and does prepare more youth technically than the best coaching in the world can do twice a week  

"The Wall"? Sounds awesome! Where do I find one of those?
Do they sell them at Target or...... wait for it......Wall-Mart?
(Lame).

lame? why is wall ball stupid?

[quote="soccerdadrandy"][quote="cowpukesfan"][quote="soccerdadrandy"]best playing partner in the world? never misses a pass...returns every ball for your dd/bb to receive...never gets tired....is free....available 24/7/365..... "The Wall"! wall ball will and does prepare more youth technically than the best coaching in the world can do twice a week  [/quote]"The Wall"? Sounds awesome! Where do I find one of those?
Do they sell them at Target or...... wait for it......Wall-Mart?
(Lame). [/quote]lame? why is wall ball stupid?[/quote]

No. Not wall ball. My Wal-Mart joke.

I thought it was funny but yes, a rebounder will do wonders.

Se la perdio,

Thanks for sharing! Excellent post.

cowpukesfan wrote:

soccerdadrandy wrote:

cowpukesfan wrote:

soccerdadrandy wrote:best playing partner in the world? never misses a pass...returns every ball for your dd/bb to receive...never gets tired....is free....available 24/7/365..... "The Wall"! wall ball will and does prepare more youth technically than the best coaching in the world can do twice a week  

"The Wall"? Sounds awesome! Where do I find one of those?
Do they sell them at Target or...... wait for it......Wall-Mart?
(Lame).

lame? why is wall ball stupid?

No. Not wall ball. My Wal-Mart joke.

lol.. funny

They were on sale yesterday, half off, at Wall-greens.

It is possible to overemphasize the wall as a training method. Most American kids need better ball handling skills, but unopposed play does not help you understand effective defensive posture, moving to penetrate space, recovering into space...in short the wall is an effective technical receiving and control activity that is especially effective when kids are young, or when such skills are under developed. If playground basketball was all you needed for example, the NBA would be stuffed full of kids from Harlem blacktop play. Take a look and you will see that this is not the case.

In soccer individual possession play is necessary but not sufficient. The real root problem is that coaches make money not by being the most effective teacher, but by winning games on Saturday. Since you want your kid to be on a winning team, the coaches look for the kids who can help them win right now. They may cut this kid next season...such is life. We do not measure or validate coaches for being effective teachers...all the rewards recognition and validation go to the wining coaches.

In a system where the coaches are paid by the players parents, their incentive is to win games. If your kid learns to play the game well, so much the better. The truth is that properly teaching your kid the game can me that the coach deteriorates the performance of the team as the kids attempt to learn and master a new skill. As he does this you become frustrated with the crappy coach you have (we used to win against these guys) and move on.

Bottom line is that to teach your kids advanced proper form, tactical roles (of many positions not just one), while navigating them through puberty (7th grade comes and some kids are 4'5", some are 6'1") might mean they lose some games...and this being N.Tx...

I agree with the article for what it is worth, you have one your own development and direction...I would not expect my kids algebra teacher to navigate him though major life choices...and so I agree...a helper. More accurately the coach is a teacher and plays fundamentally the same role as any other teacher in the life of a kid.

Rightback wrote:It is possible to overemphasize the wall as a training method. Most American kids need better ball handling skills, but unopposed play does not help you understand effective defensive posture, moving to penetrate space, recovering into space...in short the wall is an effective technical receiving and control activity that is especially effective when kids are young, or when such skills are under developed. If playground basketball was all you needed for example, the NBA would be stuffed full of kids from Harlem blacktop play. Take a look and you will see that this is not the case.

In soccer individual possession play is necessary but not sufficient. The real root problem is that coaches make money not by being the most effective teacher, but by winning games on Saturday. Since you want your kid to be on a winning team, the coaches look for the kids who can help them win right now. They may cut this kid next season...such is life. We do not measure or validate coaches for being effective teachers...all the rewards recognition and validation go to the wining coaches.

In a system where the coaches are paid by the players parents, their incentive is to win games. If your kid learns to play the game well, so much the better. The truth is that properly teaching your kid the game can me that the coach deteriorates the performance of the team as the kids attempt to learn and master a new skill. As he does this you become frustrated with the crappy coach you have (we used to win against these guys) and move on.

Bottom line is that to teach your kids advanced proper form, tactical roles (of many positions not just one), while navigating them through puberty (7th grade comes and some kids are 4'5", some are 6'1") might mean they lose some games...and this being N.Tx...

I agree with the article for what it is worth, you have one your own development and direction...I would not expect my kids algebra teacher to navigate him though major life choices...and so I agree...a helper. More accurately the coach is a teacher and plays fundamentally the same role as any other teacher in the life of a kid.

Good comments about the current system and coaches' role as helpers. The reality is worse than that. And it won't get better as long as clubs promote winning at very young ages. We expect and entrust our kids' math teachers to teach our kids the correct and proper way to do algebra. I am not sure some coaches are capable of or even want to teach our kids to play the game properly. Sad!

Just curious, which clubs are promoting winning? I haven't seen one coach that is preparing to win all games in the season.

Lets see some facts.

Dallas Texans, FCDallas, Andromeda, Solar and so on and so forth. All of the clubs promote winning. Otherwise why have a kid benched for the whole year with perhaps 5 or 10 minutes of play in a game? Or why bring kids to the team either in mid season or for tournaments inspite of having a generous bench? How else are you going to call such type of behavior? Development? Working to make the kids better players? ABSOLUTELY NOT! The coach selected the kids and it his responsibility to help develop them. I have not heard of a coach that was coerced to take a player (maybe coerced with money to fill the roster and in my book this is DISHONESTY and lack of INTEGRITY)

Ok point taken

While I agree clubs promote winning. I do not fault them for that. They are a business and in America people love winners. People are drawn to winning organizations. The more championships a club can boast the better story the club can sell.

While, yes a coach is hopefully there to develop players. In the end, they will rarely hold onto good players because parents do not have patience to watch a team develop with their kid. Parents/players move on to the most successful team that will have them, leaving the previous coach with a huge hole that he must now develop. I know many coaches who are not coaching the "top" teams that do emphasis skill. The "winning coaches" are receiving these players that were developed elsewhere and benefiting from it. How many of the players on these top teams were actually developed by the same coach since U8 academy. I doubt many.

The clubs and players may have to take a little blame but the majority of the blame falls falls on us parents. We chose these clubs/coaches. Do we check with players previously coached by same coach to see how much time was spent developing? What is the coaches definition of developing players and does it match ours? Do we go to teams that need our players? Do we seek to understand the coaches philosophy of soccer and system play? Clubs/coaches offer our kids to play for them but it is the parents who make the decision of where our kids play. It is the parent who is attracted to the names of the big clubs or the name of the coach. It is not enough to talk with the coach when investigating what team to play for. Talk to former players (Why did they leave? What did they like about the team/coach? What did they not like? Would they consider going back? What is the team chemistry like not only the players but the parents?). If you want a coach who develops players then go to coaches who have a reputation of helping players develop, not a "winning" coach.

Of course a "competitive" coach will play to win and selects those who he thinks he can win with. I do not think my parents ever expected my football coaches to "develop" me into a football player. They were expected to provide guidance but in end it was up to me to develop.

I agree with a lot of what you said, except that 'it is the parents who make the decision of where our kids play."

If you are past academy age, it should be the kids deciding where they want to play, not the parents.