A LONGER MORE MEANINGFUL SEASON.

Recently I was blogging here in the East Coast about how to we can make soccer better within the youth model by focusing on developing players. My proposal was to make the season longer and more meaningful and play fewer tournaments.

Consider that we only play a 3 month season, September through November. To compensate for the short season, we then play as many tournaments as we can the rest of the 9 months. This at times becomes counter-productive to the players.

Here is what we should do:

1)    Play at most 2 games a week, ideally 1 game a week. Season should start September and end first or second week in December.
2)    At that time there should be a Winter Break.  Teams can train; play some indoor soccer, maybe an indoor tournament.
3)    In March the season should resume, again playing 1 time a week until 1st week of May.
4)    While the season is in gear, players should train 2 or 3 times a week.
5)    The remaining 3 weeks in May, and then June and July could be used to do some exclusive tournaments.
6)    August should be used for training for the upcoming season.

Models for this are usually used all over the world and work real well. There is sufficient ample training time for the players, 2 to 3 times a week, and they play meaningful games.

This leads me to my last point. Teams should play in divisions where they truly belong to play meaningful games so their players get the most out of their season. If a team is winning big or losing big, it is in the wrong division.

Paul Giovanopoulos
Rose Tree Soccer Club
Media PA