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During World Cup, one of the hottest topics of discussion was how to
improve soccer development in the United States to
create more and better players at the international level. ESPN analyst
Jurgen Klinsmann, top goal scorer for Germany, former Bayern Munich
coach and later candidate for U.S. Men's National Team coach, described
the U.S. soccer pyramid as upside down from the rest of the world.
Recently, U.S. Women's National Team coach Pia Sundhage suggested that teaching the values in
the game itself would improve the U.S. level.
I sat down and
talked at length with Mike Singleton, who was recently
hired as Executive Director of Massachusetts Youth Soccer
Assocation (MYSA), the second largest of 55 state organizations
in the country. MYSA has 200,000 members and a mind-boggling 457
different member organizations and towns. SIngleton, who worked as
Director of Coaching for MYSA for seven years, has been charged with the
hands-on task of fixing the system.
Two of the big issues are
coaching education and parent education. The game is not in our culture,
and parents and coaches have small understanding of philosophy,
strategy, and technical ability. Educating coaches and parents and hence
players is complicated by a convoluted bureaucratic structure of clubs,
school, and town organizations. Singleton, who played soccer for
University of Pennsylvania, is also a psychologist who has worked and
coached at the college and club level, so has a good background for this
job.
Our conversation ranged from increasing the ratio of
practices to games, training parents alongside players, mandatory
level-appropriate coach licensing, competing within local towns to build
local rivalries and relationships, and merging many of the member
organzations. Read on for a fascinating and candid discussion of the
real obstacles that need to be overcome to improve soccer development
and create better players in the United States.
Interview with new Massachusetts Executive Director
Mike SIngleton: Part 1
Interview with new Massachusetts Executive Director
Mike SIngleton: Part 2
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