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Player Development

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Dougherty: How youth coaches, players and parents can help fix U.S. player development

Longtime soccer coach and SoccerWire.com columnist Joe Dougherty outlines six specific areas of focus that U.S. youth soccer coaches, players and parents need to emphasize in order to help the U.S. Men's National Team return to relevance in future World Cup cycles.

Player Development Nov 16, 2017

Hummer: Addiction to GotSoccer stifling youth soccer progress

If you are involved in youth soccer and value team rankings in any way, you are an accomplice in killing the future of our game. For the sake of our children, I’m begging you to quit. Rankings are like an addiction, and in this case, GotSoccer is the drug.

Player Development Nov 07, 2017
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U.S. Soccer Girls’ DA officials discuss goals for the new league

In a teleconference with members of the media last week, Girls' DA Director Miriam Hickey, U.S. Soccer Women’s Technical Director April Heinrichs, and U.S. Soccer Academy Jared Micklos spoke about this new venture and why the timing was right for creating the Girls' DA, tens year after the creation of the Boys Development Academy.

Player Development Sep 08, 2017

Dougherty: Doing the Right Thing in a World of the Professional Foul

There are certain moments in a youth soccer coach’s life when you can make a significant difference in a young person’s life, the kind of difference that the youngster will look back upon years later and realize it significantly affected her life. Unfortunately, coaches are not given a script in advance to know when that moment will arrive.

Player Development Jun 27, 2017

Bradenton Residency is dead: What does it all mean?

The U.S. Soccer Federation announced the shuttering of its Bradenton Residency Program in Florida on Friday afternoon. Charles Boehm takes a look at the factors behind this abrupt revelation.

Player Development Mar 17, 2017
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Case for bio-banding? Man United academy research finds late bloomers overlooked

It’s long been seen as a fact of life in U.S. youth soccer: The bigger kids are at an advantage, and thus disproportionately identified as promising players. But new research suggests that even world-renowned professional academies may be overlooking talented but undersized players.

Player Development Feb 10, 2017
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Study: Youth athletic success poor indicator of adult athletic success

Success as a youth athlete does not necessarily mean that athlete is headed for success as an adult, a study delivered at the 2016 Youth Athlete Development Conference revealed.

Player Development Jan 23, 2017
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What’s the real problem? American soccer and a culture of mastery

The United States does not have a culture of mastery, writes guest columnist Kris Ward. We are an over-caffeinated, over-stimulated, over-worked, microwave culture that values results above all else. We are programmed only to see the fruits of the labor and trained to ignore, if not avoid, the labor itself. Yet there is a way.

Player Development Nov 15, 2016

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