What is development?

In re-reading the recent article on coaching to win I found myself pondering what exactly is development. I apologize in advance for what will almost assuredly be a rambling article. I often write as a means to gather my thoughts on a subject and this is the process I am following today. Process is a good word to begin with for development is most certainly an active on-going process.

The idea of playing, in this case playing a game of soccer, is fun.  So, soccer development should be oriented in fun activities.  We often have the most fun when being challenged. Curiosity is a good thing. We explore to learn. The process continues when we apply our new found knowledge to take ourselves somewhere we have not been before. So, developmental activities should be designed to promote thinking, exploration and attempts to succeed.  Failures will be part of the process. Success will be relative, ever changing, ever elusive and yet always attainable.

Drill work should be limited to introducing new techniques and demonstrations of new tactics. There is nothing stimulating about drill work. It is tedious, can lull the mind and cause it to wander from the task at hand as it seeks stimulation from other sources. Development then must be centered on activities designed to promote thinking.

I have sometimes thought how promoting players to think for themselves in sports might be considered heresy or anathema to American coaches. Most American sports are coach driven, after all. Free thinking creative problem solving players are often looked upon as trouble makers or non-conformists in most American sports.  Yet, in soccer ingenuity and creativity are prized traits attributed to the elite of the sport.

Development needs to take place in the context of the Four Pillars of Youth Soccer.

Technical: The skills of the game.  Running with the ball, dribbling, receiving, passing, heading and defending.

Tactics: Player decisions and application of techniques in problem solving.

Physical: The ability to perform at a sustained high level of play.

Psychological: Freedom, Responsibility and Positivity in play.

Each of these four pillars of youth soccer are grounded in FUN.  Skill development is a critical component of FUN.  The attempts, failures and successes found in application of tactics is FUN.  Being physically fit to execute techniques and tactics is paramount to having FUN. Being psychologically challenged with the freedom to explore, fail and succeed responsibly is definitely about having FUN.

I think we could describe the process in a number of ways, but two in particular come to mind. Truthfully, they are one and the same.  First is giving ownership of the game to the players.  I have repeatedly stated my belief that soccer is a player driven game.  Ownership of game occurs when the players are allowed to think for themselves, decide for themselves while playing the game.  For this reason, training the art of decision making should be a primary consideration in every practice session. Player decision making.

With all this talk of development it might seem I am devaluing the importance of winning. I am not. However, I do believe winning should not be equated to a team result in a match, especially at the younger ages. Winning implies a competition is taking place. Competing is what athletics are all about. I am suggesting that the opponent in terms of development is one's self.

The intrinsic rewards of self-knowledge, self-worth, self-esteem that stem from competing against one's self will last a life time. Whereas the extrinsic rewards of victory, relative fame and glory are fleeting at best lasting only until the next game or next season. Where sports are about elimination in a search for the best we cannot allow this to overshadow the benefits of competing against our self to make one's self a better player, a better person.