FROM THE DESK OF J.P.STRACHAN-ACADEMY DIRECTOR
Well, the Fall season is upon us already. The first two weeks of practice are already under our belts. The coaches and the players have hit the ground running and it has been great to see the enthusiasm from everybody involved. For those who are returning to the club for their 2nd or 3rd year I hope that you are enjoying the changes we are implementing this season. We (coaches) have been assessing our programming, group assignments and the flow throughout our time together at the practice fields. Based on feedback I gather each week we will continue to do our best to maximize the experience for our players. We will also rotate the coaches so the players will get to meet all of the players as the season progresses.
All of our academy through U12 teams have very busy Fall schedules and the majority of our teams in this age group will start August 26th in High Point for the Furniture City Classic tournament. For some players this will be their first ever soccer match with BSC. This can be a daunting experience for our younger players and their parents. With that in mind we hosted a very informal get together for the academy and U11 players this past weekend (19th Aug) at the Fairchild soccer fields. Here we introduced some of the basics to our teams. With our U11 boy’s teams, we were introducing them to 9v9, off-sides and even the new kick off that is used by FIFA. For our younger academy players we introduced some of the rules that we use in academy soccer: 7v7, retreating to the half way line for goal kicks (allows players to play out from the back), and proper throw in technique, to name just a few. All of these subtle changes in academy soccer are designed with player development in mind.
For the month of September BSC will participate in US Youth Soccer, Youth Soccer Month. The concept is very similar to what we did for our skills sessions this summer. Each week during Youth Soccer Month we will focus on a different message celebrating Youth Soccer; Fun, Family, Friendship and Fitness.
The goals of Youth Soccer month are to raise awareness of Youth Soccer and the benefits of playing the game; the #1 youth participation sport in the USA and a leading contributor to the healthy lifestyle of our families. It brings kids of all ages and abilities together for fun, friendship and fitness.
During the four weeks in September we will focus and measure the technical proficiency, skill development and growth of our players in 4 areas. We will run this during September and again at the start of the spring seasons and again at the end of the season. The goal for data collection serves 3 primary roles.
- Provides self-assessment and reflection for the player as it relates to their output/performance on the corresponding tests
- Supports our directors of coaching in their development of reality based training sessions to meet the demands of the game, while furthering the individual skill development of our players
- Stimulates and challenges the players to work towards a tangible goal related to their individual skill level
The technical proficiencies to be administered will be; Individual Juggling, Change of Direction Dribbling, Close Control – Figure 8 Dribbling and Passing and ball Striking Accuracy.
The goals of the technical testing are
- Measure fundamental technical skills
- Use the results as feedback to players on skills to improve
- Encourage our players to spend time on their own mastering the ball
- Test the players throughout the season to provide feedback and personal reward for measurable improvement.
It should be noted that these tests that NC Youth Academy and BSC are using are modified from the U.S. Women’s Youth National Team Program (designed with U12-U20 players in mind).
