By Jay Martin
The NSCAA Convention in Indianapolis ended on January 14. It was a good one. Some thoughts:
MLS and Beckham
Major League Soccer announced that David Beckham signed with the Los Angeles Galaxy right before the MLS SuperDraft at the Convention. Ticket sales for MLS clubs spiked. Newspapers all over the country hailed the signing as a new life for MLS. Even David Letterman and Leno joked about Beckham's impact. That really is a step in the right direction. Or is it?
This will be viewed as a minority opinion, but Beckham in the MLS is not a good thing. The instant spike in name recognition for the MLS internationally is a good thing.The short term effect he will have for MLS teams at the gate will be good. His presence may actually allow the MLS to get paid for television rights instead of buying time on the tube. He may even get more face time for the MLS on SportsCenter. But after the short term effects, what will happen?
Remember what happened with the NASL in the 1980s? The NASL invited too many "over the hill" internaitonal players to play in this country. International players who were more interested in a golden parachute than helping soccer grow in the USA. These international players came to this country to play and contributed to the NASL going out of business.
For years European leagues in mnay sports have had rules that allowed a limited number of foreign players on a roster. For example, European leagues allowed only two foreign players on basketball rosters for decades. This ensured that at least 10 roster players were from the European country. Over time these countries actually got better in basketball and other sports. The NASL had a rule that insisted each roster must have two Ameicans. Do you see the difference? The NASL set American soccer back a generation. While we watched Pele and Beckenbauer, Ricky Davis and Kyle Rote Jr. were on the bench and a whole generation of American players did not have an opportunity to play.
MLS has worked very hard to learn from the NASL and the mistakes that that league made. Is signing Beckham and the subsequent signings of other intenational players the beginning of the end for MLS? What happens after the novelty wears off? Is this signing a desperation move for MLS?
Only time will tell.
Chyzowych Award to Osiander
The Walt was given to long time federation coach Lothar Osiander. The Walt is the award given in honor of Walter Chyzowych for lifetime achievement in soccer teaching and coaching. Past recipients include a Who's Who of America's best coaches: Jerry Yeagley, Anson Dorrance, Bill Killen, Joe Morrone, Bob Gansler, John McKeon, Mel Lorback, Bruce Arena, Tom Fleck, Joe Machnik and Nick Zlatar. All of these men were instrumental in the growth of soccer in this country.
Lothar Osiander is a deserving recipient. He was one of the fortunate coaches who was involved in the first federation course at Moses Brown (Providence, R.I.) with Dettmar Cramer. He received his A license and teamed with Walter to travel all over the United States teaching the coaching courses. Lothar coached (and still coaches) at all levels of U.S. soccer. He coached at the National Sports Festivals, the Olympics, the National team, the Pan American Games, the U.S. Open Cup, MLS and now has returned to his roots and is coaching the U-17 boys at San Ramon United. He has touched many current and former national team players and has done so with humility. His passion for the game is still very much alive.
The ceremony was held at the Indianapolis Marriott Downtown on Saturday, January 13. The ceremony was special because NSCAA special guest Dettmar Cramer was there to help present Lothar the award. Cramer is recognized as the ultimate teamchef of German soccer. He lives just a few miles away from Der Kaiser, Franz Beckenbauer. Der Kaiser lives in Austria and teamchef lives over the border in the German Alps. Cramer came to the U.S. at the behest of the Federation to establish a coaching education program. He stayed in the U.S. only a short time, but had a profound impact on soccer in this country and soccer education specifically. Cramer played for seven different clubs in the pre-Bundesliga days, was assistant coach to Sepp Herberger in the 1954 World Cup; was a DFB and FIFA staff coach and was the leader in the Japanese soccer movement. He ended his career with Bayern Munich, winning two European championships and one world championship. At 83, Cramer was spry and active in his time in Indianapolis. He presented two very good sessions and presented the Walt to Lothar Osiander.
Maher's Take
Alan Maher has attended over 40 NSCAA Conventions. Here is his take on Indy:
As usual the convention had many diverse presentations and opnions about the present state of soccer and the course to be taken in the future. As diverse as it was, a theme began to emerge. Several coaches spoke on the same topics and used nearly the same words.
The theme that seemed to develop was that there has been too much emphasis on technique. That may appear to be heresy for some, but the point was made that technique was not that hard to teach and need not be the sole topic in player development. This was coupled with the observation that the team failures in the last World Cup were not failures of technique but rather failures in field vision and perception of the game. Different coaches used different phrases:
- Vision in football
- Soccer intelligence
- Analyzing the game as it is played
The result was that a triad developed:
- Perception or vision of the game (in progress)
- Decision-making by players
- Technical execution
Notice that technique, technical execution, is last in this triad. I will discuss each of these:
The floor demonstrations clearly showed the lack of vision by participating players. They passed the ball to marked teammates when others were open for a pass. Players failed to run or stay wide. The long axis player was missing or just ignored.
The same floor demonstrations showed a lack of ability to make proper decisions or make them quickly enough in the run of play. The choice of passing to feet or space was often incorrect. Quickness in decision-making was lacking. As a result, play was slow and labored.
Technique was not a real issue except for the fact that it was obvious that technique would be more motivated if placed in the context of the game rather than isolated as a drill or exercise. It could be compared to learning selling or vocabulary in isolation as compared to context.
So what is the modern coach to do about the shift in the basic paradigm of training soccer players? European coches have some suggestions. The old routine of playing small-sided games gives way to playing them differently. Instead of playing games like 5 v. 5, 7 v. 7 or 8 v. 8, the new paradigm calls for playing more against less. This means playing uneven games. This means simplified games that stress discovering solutions rather than the players being taught solutions. Even-sided games tend to stress basic technique since all players are marked and there is little margin for tactical development. Uneven sided games create situations for identifying unmarked players and that leads to tactical development. Vision, decision-making and technique will follow.
The clinicans gave some clear examples:
- 3 v. 1 with four goals and touch variations
- 4 v. 2 with many variations
- 8 v. 5 as a posession game
- 11 v. 7 on half field with variations
One coach talked about pressure in possession of the ball by;
- Closing the three lines
- Marking positional changes
- Direct passing (one touch passing)
- Using the width of the field
Near the end of the Convention I met an old Dutch soccer friend whom I have known for 20 years. He has coached in Holland, Asia and other parts of the world. After discussing this new paradigm, he reminded me, "Your country has still not produced a world class player."
Perhaps this new paradigm will move us closer to that.
Finally, Joe Morrone did not make it to Indianapolis -- and we miss him.
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