What One College Soccer Coach Is Saying About Today's Game.

A small excerpt from a longer conversation I had with the Head Women's Coach for the University of Pennsylvania, Darren Ambrose.

Gary: Well, you know speaking of that if you look at players now and as they enter into the college ranks they sometimes get a bit, a bit pigeon hold to what they can or cannot As you were saying, you tend to recruit some players to fit a specific position. But if you look at, at players now even on the youth side, like what are some of the specific things that you might be looking for athletically and technically for certain positions.

Darren: I can tell you right now that the problem with the game in this country and this is a big discussion amongst a lot of coaches. And I’ve just read the under 20, the under 20 National Team Report from the team that won the world cup in Chile this year, is we lack technique in this country. And China and Brazil have caught us. And if you’ve watched any of the games you’ll see, the U.S. we’re athletic and more athletic than most other teams that we play against. But from a technical standpoint and a creative standpoint, we lack development in those areas. So any kid that handles a ball properly under pressure, can beat players one on one, can receive balls out the air, can take balls down under pressure, they’re the kind of kids that we’re looking for. Because to be honest, in college we don’t have the time to spend on developing players technically.

Gary: Right.

Darren: Its three practices a week, mainly in regards to fitness and tactically preparation, a little bit of technical repetitions. And so we need that, kids have got to be technically proficient and how they receive a ball, how they pass a ball. And as basic as that sounds, I think there aren’t any secrets and we often try and complicate it. Their skills are the foundation of the game. So you know watching these games, a lot of the time we’ll sit and there’s a lot of good athletes and there are kids that are pretty fit or they’re fast. But their first touch is a mystery a lot of the time. And you know so I think they’ll be technically proficient would be the kids, that’s what we’re looking for.

Gary: Okay. So if you’re looking, so that’s across the board.

Darren: Across the board, there’s got to be a standard technically to be able to compete in the college level.

Gary Christopher
www.soccerandspeedcoach.com