| Extending Our Reach |
By Jay Martin
I first saw the advertisement a few months ago. It, at first, surprised me. In the German Football Federation publication Fussball Training there was an advertisement for a group tour to Kansas City and the NSCAA Convention! The ad said the trip would take participants to the “…largest soccer coaches meeting in the world.” This was very interesting.
The NSCAA has grown in the past decade. The Association now boasts more than 16,000 members and is, in fact, the largest coaches’ organization in the world. But is that enough to entice German coaches to the Convention? I don’t think so. Without quality there is no chance the coaches would make the trip!
The NSCAA is now recognized not only as the largest coaches’ organization in the world, but as one of the best. The Association has attracted coaches from the UK for many years and more recently Holland, but now Germany? The same Germany that has displayed a soccer arrogance since the mid 1960’s? The same Germany who were World Cup runners-up? Yes, that Germany.
It seems fitting that at the Convention labeled “Expanding Horizons,” the Association is finally recognized as worthwhile by coaches in other soccer playing countries. I began a search to find these new visitors to really find out what they thought of the Kansas City Convention.
The search began on Wednesday, with absolutely no luck in locating the German coaches. I did find KNVB presenter Cor Pot and long-time attendee Johan van Gejin, also of KNVB. Mr. Pot had been in the States before, but never to the NSCAA Convention. As Johan and I tried to explain to him the magnitude of the Convention and the ins and outs, he just smiled. It was obvious that he thought our explanation was exaggerated a bit.
Mr. van Gejin told him he “…would not believe the event. It would be like nothing he had ever seen in soccer before.” Mr. Pot, who is the KNVB U-21 coach and advance scout for the national team and has been around soccer a long time, just smiled. He was in Kansas City representing the KNVB to make the annual presentation on behalf of Dutch soccer. He felt, I am sure, that this affair would be like the hundreds he had previously attended. In fact, he made reference to the recently completed UEFA meeting and how boring it was. Mr. van Gejin and I assured him that the NSCAA is many things…but not boring!
Two days later, after his second session (which was well-attended and professionally presented), his eyes were glazed. What do you think about the Convention now? It was Mr. van Gejin’s turn to smile. Cor Pot was absolutely amazed. “I have never seen anything like this. It is amazing. So many people interested in soccer! There are so many clinics and so much merchandise. There is nothing like this in Holland or even in Europe!” But, we know that. We tried to tell him.
The search for the DFB members continued without success until Saturday night. I had actually given up on any hope of finding our German friends. But, as I sat in the stands watching the 4 v 4 teams play in the Walt Chyzowych Memorial 4-A-Side Tournament, I heard two men speaking German!
I introduced myself and asked if they had come with the publicized tour. They had. They introduced themselves as Uwe Kemmer from Cologne and Bernd Mai from Baumholder. Herr Kemmer is a coach of an amateur adult team and Herr Mai is the youth coach at VfR Baumholder. Both had answered the advertisement in Fussball Training, both thought the trip was a relatively inexpensive ($1,400) way to visit the United States and both were absolutely amazed at what they found in cold Kansas City.
After the German equivalent of “unbelievable” and “out of sight,” they offered their opinion on the long weekend. They arrived in Kansas City with doubts about the quality of the event. It was going to be a long weekend to see America and have fun. They said they were surprised at the quality of the “Amis” World Cup team. They thought the Americans could have won, but stopped short of should have won!
They were in awe of the size of this Convention. They, too, mentioned that there was nothing like this in Europe. But what really surprised them was the quality of the sessions. They thought that Juergen Klinsmann (sponsored by adidas) and Klaus Pabst (sponsored by Success in Soccer) were very good, of course. And they thought the Dutch were not very good, of course. But they were very impressed with the American coaches and the quality of their work. They mentioned both content and teaching methods! They were particularly very impressed with Anson Dorrance. They felt his presentation was great for content and even better for presentation.
Overall they felt that a Convention like this might help German coaches. They felt that many German club coaches are still using antiquated teaching techniques. They acknowledged that fussball has changed. They will return next year!
It is clear that the soccer culture in the United States has made great strides. The past year, 2002, is arguably the best year ever for U.S. soccer. Americans have always understood pedagogy, now we are beginning to understand the game. This is a deadly combination – for the rest of the world.
We are not there yet. But KC 2003 showed we are making progress! We must not stop this growth. We must understand we have a long way to go. We must understand what baseball manager Earl Weaver said…”It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts!” Let’s keep learning.
So, now we are looking forward to Charlotte in 2004 and a celebration of “The Family of Soccer.” That family has grown by at least three very impressed coaches!
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