Articles
US YOUTH SOCCER PLAYER DEVELOPMENT MODEL
Welcome to the US Youth Soccer Player Development Model. The purpose of this publication is to help youth soccer coaches and soccer clubs raise the level of play across the country. This can be achieved by becoming aware of the capabilities and aspirations of their players at each stage of their development and by creating more positive, player-centered learning environments. The key to modern youth player development can be found in the lessons of the free play era, where children took charge of games, learning and fun. By participating in endless hours of player-centered soccer, the children of the street soccer generation developed a life-long passion and a practical feel for the game that has been all but lost in the transfer to over-organized sport. By returning to the ideals of the free play era, youth coaches and soccer clubs can use meaningful soccer games and soccer-related activities to unlock
the potential of their young charges to produce savvy, sophisticated American players.
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IMPROVING YOUTH SOCCER: AYSO’S MIKE HOYER ON WORKING TOGETHER
How does the man responsible for the AYSO see the challenges in youth soccer today?
Diane Scavuzzo interview Part I with AYSO’s National Executive Director Mike Hoyer on how our failure to qualify has spurred social media hype which may have grown the game and what we need to do to improve youth soccer for all kids.
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AYSO’S MIKE HOYER ON THE CHALLENGES IN YOUTH SOCCER
Here is Diane Scavuzzo’s exclusive interview with AYSO’s National Executive Director Mike Hoyeron how youth soccer and AYSO has changed today:
Diane Scavuzzo: AYSO has 50,000 teams and 500,000 players across the USA. How does AYSO fit into the big picture of youth soccer in America?
Mike Hoyer: We are here to give kids a good start in the world of soccer. We are the entry level — this is where a lot of kids get their first experience in soccer. We have a development-over-winning philosophy that is very old.
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WINNING VS DEVELOPMENT - WHAT MATTERS MORE?
By Scott Pugh
For the Deseret News
When it comes to youth soccer clubs, ask yourself this question:
Is the primary focus on what the club can do for the young player, or what the young player can do for the club?
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CHANGING THE GAME PROJECT
A comprehensive collection of articles from the Changing the Game Project. The mission of the Changing the Game Project is to ensure that we return youth sports to our children, and put the ‘play’ back in ‘play ball.’ We want to provide the most influential adults in our children’s lives – their parents and coaches – with the information and resources they need to make sports a healthy, positive, and rewarding experience for their children, and their whole family.
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What Parents Can Learn From a Town That Produced 11 Olympians
By KAREN CROUSE FEB. 8, 2018
In 2015, I set out to study the unlikeliest of Olympic pipelines: Norwich, Vt., a small town that has placed at least one of its own on almost every United States Winter Olympics team since 1984.
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