Talent Evaluation.

Summer camp season is coming to a close and high school season began yesterday here in Ohio. Talent evaluation is very much on my mind this week. At every camp I conducted I found that I valued certain players differently than the coach I was conducting camp for did. Beauty is indeed in the eyes of the beholder.

As I prepared for a camp that was to focus on striker play and finishing a coach sent me an email detailing the virtues of two players that would be attending. I believe one was a sophomore and the other a freshmen. The abilities of these players were lauded as the coach proclaimed they would be his starting forwards this fall. There was a third player from his team, a senior. After the first session I was wondering about the coaches reasoning as the senior put on a show. The senior demonstrated a strong work ethic, great attitude and the ability to strike powerfuly and accurately with either foot.  The senior also possessed a strikers mentality - worked hard off the ball and was always thinking about scoring the ball.  The younger players were certainly solid players but not on the level of the senior, in my opinion.



At a camp focusing on zonal defending the coach had seemingly made up his mind about playing a junior as a center back. I had my doubts.  Having worked with the player before I knew him to be lacking aggressiveness and having a dislike for physical play. My role is to conduct camps on topics the head coach has asked me to address. My role is not to make out lineups or determine roles for the players. I will offer my opinion when asked but generally refrain from initiating such conversations. This team participated in a tournament after camp concluded and to my surpirse the player in question performed admirably throughout as a center back. The coach had obviously seen something in the player that I had missed. Perhaps it was a negative first impression of the player or a  preconceived notion based on previous observations? I do know that I changed my opinion on this kids ability to play as a center back.

High school practice officially started yesterday and it was with some trepidation that I awaited my son's arrivial home from his first session. Would he make varsity or be relegated to JV?  There was no doubt in my mind that he should make varsity, but my opinion caried no weight in this decision making process.  The head coach had proven to be less than supportive of my eldest son, Grant, when parents of a certain "teammate" berated Grant from the stands throughout his sophomore year. The same coach relegated my second son to JV as a junior despite the fact he had been Captain of his U16 MRL team the previous spring. Both Grant and Treg left his program. Even last year fall many of the varsity players and a couple of staff coaches indicated they believed my third son, Lance, should have been on varsity instead of JV. He made ODP this spring and made all 5 of the club teams he tried out for in June. Still, there was doubt in our minds based on past experiences with this coach. It was a relief when Lance walked in the door and announced he was on varsity. The coach in question has won over 300 high school soccer matches all at the same school.  He obviously knows what he is doing.... but Treg's MRL coach was/is on the NSCAA's National Staff, so he obviously knows what he is doing as well.

As we watch the transition of the USMNT from the leadership of Bob Bradley to that of Jurgen Klinsmann it becomes obvious that even at the top levels of play coaches value players differently.  DeMarcus Beasley has been reinvented as a left back under Klinsmann and Landon Donovan has had to prove himself all over again. There has been a tidal wave of new players never under serious consideration by Bradley who are getting their chance under Klinsmann. Obviously Bob Bradley and Jurgen Klinsmann are both among the worlds elite coaches, yet both value players differently than the other.

Beauty truly is in the eye of the beholder.