USMNT legend Tab Ramos has called out coaching in American youth soccer 🗣️
He believes due to various circumstances, coaches are making things too complicated for young players— which ultimately harms them instead of helping them develop.
“I was able to coach youth soccer outside of the national teams for a period of about 10 years,” Tab began.
“Unfortunately nowadays, the game has gotten so complicated, the pyramid of soccer in this country has gotten so complicated that it's very difficult for coaches.”
“By the way, it's a really big effort to get your C license, your B license, and your A license. It's an effort. It takes a lot of time. It takes a lot of money. And so now these coaches are going to go back to a club, you know, after spending all this money on their coaching education, those coaches have to get paid.”
“And in order to get paid, you have to sort of not only teach the players, but you have to kind of put on a show of all of the things that you learn.”
“So now I get to the complicated area. Because now what if you hired me in California? Here I am. I'm the former U.S. Soccer technical director and under-20 national team coach for four World Cups, and I have my pro license, and you bring me in and I take your players, because you just hired me to coach your team, because I'm this incredibly knowledgeable guy. And I come in and I just do small sided games with your players.”
“The parents of the kids on your team are gonna be sitting around and going, ‘Wait, why are we paying for this?’ But this is what happens.”
“See, I would have enough confidence to go there and do that. But the problem is that every coach in the country has to respond to a technical director.”
“And because of that, they have to put on this very, you know, difficult training session that's in sequence from your activation, to your small five v two, to your small sided possession, to then the body of your work, to then the tactical to then the big game, right? You got to go through the whole thing.”
“They have to do that. And the reason they have to do that is because their technical director is under pressure.”
“Because for the technical director to have his club in this league, the ECNL, or whatever, you need to have all of these standards.”
“And because of those standards, now the technical director is forced to hire someone who can do all these things.”
“Well, at the end of the day, there's all these standards and all these things going on. And who's not benefiting is the player, because the player would benefit more from things being simple, right?”
“And of course, it's only my opinion, but I think I've gotten enough experience. Forget the playing side. I've gotten enough experience on the coaching side at all levels, from youth national teams to coaching in MLS at Houston Dynamo to say, ‘Okay, let's put the brakes on this. Our training sessions are getting too complicated. How about let's go back to the beginning, right?’”
“That's what matters. This is how players learn the most. And of course, every once in a while you have to have your tactical sessions, and your exercises, where you have the certain patterns to goal, and like I get all of that.”
“Of course, we all know that stuff. But the simpler we make it, the more we put players in game like situations and one v one, the better.”
[via Sports Recruiting USA]
WIAA D1 Girls Basketball State Championship (2OT):
Arrowhead (28-2) 80
Wauwatosa East (29-1) 74
Arrowhead (4) surpasses Kettle Moraine (3) for the most WIAA state titles won by a Waukesha County girls basketball program.
They avenged an earlier season loss to Wauwatosa East.
25 fourth quarter points given up.
A stagnant offense in the third quarter.
7 points left on the field by Brandon McManus.
That equals a total collapse in Chicago. A season that started with plenty of promise ends in 5 straight losses, as the #Packers get bounced by the Bears.
@KellenAlex When you make the money those guys do it’s legit unacceptable. GB weird situation because you don’t have an owner that has final say on standard/expectation.
Bottom line need someone to be able to handle those situations better than GB has this year.
@KellenAlex Wouldn’t post about it because a W at this level (pro) ALWAYS covers up all else but when it fails miserably for 2nd game in a row vs same team(think back to last L vs bears)
Emotions high but results are what they are. 2 massive leads late, 2 losses.
@KellenAlex With the luxury you’ve got of the first half lead legitimately just need to execute (hopefully altered approach coming out of half) it’s like a 3-0 lead in soccer. Just MANAGE the game out. Straight up failure.
The 10 Truths Parents Rarely See
1. Coaches lose sleep.
2. Decisions aren’t personal.
3. Playing time is complex.
4. Culture matters more than stats.
5. Accountability is care.
6. Coaches invest emotionally.
7. Development isn’t instant.
8. Hard feedback is intentional.
9. Wins don’t tell the whole story.
10. Coaches remember kids forever.
Perspective matters.