Steve Hoffman on New US Soccer Curriculum and Elite Player Development

Soccer STEVE HOFFMAN on U.S. Soccer Curriculum, Cal South and the Development of Youth Soccer Players

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The new program outlines a the style of play:

All teams will be encouraged to display an offensive style of play based on keeping possession and quick movement of the ball.

Quick Transitioning and Finishing

Speed of play, avoiding over-dribbling, looking for an organized and quick movement of the ball and finishing will be encouraged in all age groups.

A team must be organized defensively, keeping their specific positions in the formation. However, players will look for spaces and movements to support forward when attacking by moving away from their original positions.

11v11 Teams will use the 4-3-3 formation, either in its 4-2-3-1 or 4-1-2-3 variations. Teams in the advanced stage (U15 onwards) can also use a 4-4-2 formation with a diamond in the middle. This system (4-4-2 diamond) provides more space in the wide areas of the field for the outside backs to move forward and join the attack.

Teams playing 9v9 soccer are strongly encouraged to use the 3-2-3 formation. This formation helps players express the principles of play specified in this document. This system grants for better adaptation to a 4-3-3 formation as the players progress to 11v11.

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Steve Hoffman, Director of Coaching and Player Development for Cal South on the changine landscape of youth soccer in America, player development

Steve Hoffman is Director of Coaching for Cal South’s 120,000 players, 14,000 plus coaches and more than 2100 clubs. A long time member of the youth coaching world, Steve Hoffman has helped player development evolve and the Olympic Development Program (OPD) produce great players.

U.S. Soccer hired former Chemistry and Physics High School instructor David Chesler to help really implement the curriculum. Chesler, who holds a U.S. Soccer “A” Coaching License, has been a U.S. Soccer National Staff Instructor since 1996, and is helping run courses at the National Coaching Schools for A, B and C licenses. Chesler took over as head coach of the U.S. Under-18 Women’s National Team at the beginning of 2009, coached in the Region IV Olympic Development Program for 17 years.

Steve Hoffman wants America to be #1 and is dedicated to providing the ideal player development programs possible for today’s youth soccer players. Hoffman knows that America needs to do better, and can do better in developing great soccer players.

“We are not producing enough top level soccer players. Who have we produced recently? Landon Donovan and Clint Dempsey are fabulous players but who do we have in world’s ideal soccer leagues such as La Liga? And on the women’s side, we are #2 right now. We want to be #1 in the world. All the golden era women players all played with boys growing up. Now the women’s team struggles when we play teams that are tougher. One of the biggest problems we have in this county is the size of the country and the new U.S. SoccerCurriculum is going to improve player development,” states Hoffman.

Understanding that our players can achieve more and that the game has grown, U.S. Soccer revamped the coaching guidelines. According to Hoffman, “U.S. Soccer has recognized the need for better coach training and education. David Chesler’s involvment clearly shows the emphasis and importance of teaching. The new curriculum requires more learning components before and after the regular coaching courses.”

“Parents’ insatiable appetite for winning is one of our biggest challenges. U.S. Soccer doesn’t have a magic wand. How do you evaluate your club coach? It should be about development, not about how many tournaments or games your team has won.” Hoffman says, “It is an interesting time in youth soccer, what we need are better instructors to teach the game. The European model is being used and the approach is very professional.”

Just think back to the last time you were at a soccer field. Did you hear a coach screaming instructions at a player? “We want children to solve problems in the game, not have the coaches screaming what the players should be doing every two minutes,” states Hoffman.

Coaches yelling instructions to players from the sidelines has been SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) for decades.How do we change behavior on the sidelines? Hoffman recommends that coaches should have someone video tape them coaching a game. “Video taping a coach coaching from the sidelines is a great learning tool but coaches don’t use it enough. When people see themselves, they can realize exactly what they are doing,” states Hoffman.

Young players need a good teaching environment and the old-fashioned screaming coach who dictates every step of action is not developing players, even if he is winning games.

This new approach reflects the deep shift in coaching guidelines set forth by U.S. Soccer. The new focus is on training coaches to teach the game of soccer, not to have coaches who coach to win.

Hoffman also believes that children should be children and play multiple sports. “If you look at the great players, most of the great ones, were developed in many sports. We are specializing at too young an age. Kids should be diverse,” states Hoffman.

All too often, focusing on one sport, such as soccer, is the desire of the parents with the goal of replacing college funding. As Hoffman says, “Playing youth soccer should not be about college scholarships but about player development. The preparation for the MLS is college.”

If playing college soccer is a pre-professional stepping stone, then the college fields should not be filled with players who are there just to get an academic education at a discount but rather players who are dedicated to the future of the game.

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Education is the road to change and U.S. Soccer is determined to improve the coaching education levels in America. There are now new requirements in coaches education. For example, for the basic E License, coaches must take an on-line RULES OF THE GAME test prior to the classroom course. Plus there is a new, required course from the CDC (Center for Disease Control) on how to recognize and deal with concussion. Hoffman says, “We feel the CDC’s course is essential for coaches.”

U.S. Soccer is also focused on growing the sport in America and is looking at the youngest players, trying to determine what can we do to get more children involved.

The number of children playing youth soccer player has been steady for 15 years while other sports such as tennis and hockey have lost players but U.S. Soccer would like to grow the game at the youngest level.

The top elite clubs’ players in So Cal are registered to play in both CAL South and US Club and this year many of these top teams will not participate in Cal South State Cup or National Cup because of conflicts.

According to Hoffman, “If you are an elite player you will find yourself on the elite player level.” This elite track can be outside the the traditional Cal South program.There are 4.3 million children playing soccer and 78 U.S. Youth Development Academies throughout America. If there are approximately 30 children rostered on each academy and two teams per academy, then there is a total of less than 5,000 children involved on this elite level.

The impact of these top, elite level players leaving the mainstream youth soccer programs to play ENCL and Academy is not a problem, according to Hoffman who says, “These are the children out of mainstream. Is it a loss to have these top tier players not participate in State Cup and National Cup? Absolutely. But if it is better for these kids, better for the game, then it is absolutely better. And this provides the lower end of everyones roster to have more playing time and to develop.”

What will be interesting? According to Hoffman, people complain about travelling to Lancaster, for instance, for State Cup competition and bad weather cancelling games. Now parents are going to travel to North Carolina with the rain there and possible cancellations?

Hoffman says, “The newSouthern California Development Soccer League,(SCDSL) is well liked by the coaches because it is really about developing players.” SCDSL was formed this year by a group of Directors of Coaches from top clubs in Southern California.

Hoffman says, “There are 4.3 million children playing soccer in America. Cal South is the leading say for youth soccer in our country and we are working on some significant and exciting changes in ODP. This is a great time to be involved in youth soccer and I believe the new curriculum is going to improve player development for all our players.”

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