Goal Lines Magazine - Issue 19 - September 2017

OREGON YOUTH SOCCER ASSOCIATION’S MONTHLY MAGAZINE

GOAL LINES

ISSUE #19

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* a 2.5% credit card fee will be charged in addition

Credit card payment due at time of application. For questions about the tournament, email Jose Campos, Manager of Leagues and Tournaments, by clicking here.

Buy Tickets and help the TOPSoccer Program

9.24.17 5pm Buy 2 tickets and get a wristband for an exclusive ‘BENCHWARMER’ on the SIDE OF field while the teams warm up before the game!

(Single tickets also available)

All Proceeds go to the TOPSoccer program in oregon

Click here to order

CORNER TOP OF THE HEAP

BY THE NUMBERS:

AT the time of publication, the Portland Timbers are the top team in the Western Conference and

12-9-8 record

arguably one of the most in form teams in the league right now.

Of course we have to add the disclaimer “at the time posting” because it is so tight here in the West that things change by the minute. We’re top right now, but unlike Toronto in the east, no-one has been guaranteed a playoff spot yet. Can this be the Timber year? Can it be the title we’ve been

49 goals for 45 goals against 58,397 miles travelled this season so far

waiting for for two years. It was painful watching the final last year and watch Seattle gain their title

for away games (round trip)

(in a painful final game). Sound off on our Facebook page to let us know what you think!

Top scorer - Valeri (17 goals)

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT Check out our favorite Timbers videos this month that you may not have seen

MATCH HIGHLIGHTS

NEXT OPPONENT

Here are the most recent match highlights from our favorite team

Saturday, September 16

Rio Tinto Stadium

6:30pm PST

DEAR SOCCER, FROM A MOM SAYING GOODBYE

This was a great article by Lisa Larson Chang, and we thought you’d like to read it.

Dear Soccer, As our 11-year intense love-hate relationship comes to an end, I wanted to share a few thoughts with you…

Caroline first met you in 1st grade when her friends were playing and she asked if she could too. I said yes: fresh air, exercise, team sports, all good! I knew she’d play one or two seasons and then move on to the next activity.

Still playing three years later, she was begging to play club soccer. What kind of parents would drive their kid all over Georgia to play teams when there were plenty of rec teams to play right here in town? Then, Caroline made out her Christmas list. Her list was missing the customary video games or iPods, it simply read: “To play club soccer.” Ah, now I know what kind of parents put their kids in club soccer.

Every time she had to choose between soccer and anything—you won. Loaded down with homework? Can’t skip practice. Friends planning a fun sleepover? Sorry – early game Saturday morning game. Friday night lights? We were on the road for our weekend games.

You always won.

And, sometimes, I hated you for it.

There was so much more I hated you for. The daily laundry. The fields with no bathrooms…

To read the full article, click here.

The mission of the Soccer Parenting Association is to educate, engage, support and advocate for youth soccer parents so their child will thrive. MySoccerParenting.com is the education platform developed by the Soccer Parenting Association that is always expanding with interviews, webinars, courses, articles and much more! Affordable club and individual memberships are available.

SUPPORT EAGLE CREEK FIRE RELIEF The two scarves are only available through an online pre-order at ShopThornsFC.com.

In effort to aid and support the region impacted by the Eagle Creek Fire, the Portland Timbers and Portland Thorns FC are bringing back two popular scarves featuring Multnomah Falls and the Columbia River Gorge – areas impacted by the wildfire – with 100 percent of the proceeds going to Friends of the Columbia Gorge and its restoration efforts.

EN ESPANOL….AND ENGLISH! Welcome to the Spanish sec0on of the Goal Lines magazine! From now on, you will be able to find at least one ar0cle in this language in our magazine. From Oregon Youth Soccer Associa0on we understand the growth of the Hispanic and La0n community in this country and its tremendous influence that they had over soccer that’s why we would like to offer to our Spanish-speaking readers content in their own mother language. In the following pages you will find an ar0cle, interview or report wriLen in both languages. OYSA is commiLed to support the par0cipa0on of all the ethnici0es in this beau0ful sport. There isn’t a more universal sport than soccer and that’s why we hope that the love that we all have for this sport make a bridge between groups with different cultures or languages.

The ar'cle below is in SPANISH FIRST, THEN IN ENGLISH ¡Bienvenidos a la sección en español de la revista Goal Lines! Desde ahora en adelante podrás encontrar al menos un arTculo en este idioma en nuestra revista. Desde Oregon Youth Soccer Associa0on entendemos el grandísimo crecimiento que la comunidad hispana y la0na ha tenido en el país en los úl0mos años y su tremenda influencia que 0ene sobre el futbol en nuestro estado y queremos ofrecer un contenido en español para que nuestra audiencia hispanohablante tenga la oportunidad de leer contenido futbolís0co en su lengua materna. En las próximas páginas encontrarás un arTculo, entrevista o reportaje escrito en ambos idiomas para que todos puedan disfrutar leyendo en su propia lengua. OYSA está comprome0do a fomentar la integración y par0cipación de todas las etnias en este precioso deporte. No hay un deporte más universal que el “soccer” y por eso esperamos que la pasión que todos tenemos por este deporte una a grupos con diferente cultura o idioma.

LA FORMULA DEL EXITO El fútbol es uno de los deportes más populares del mundo, gran cantidad de personas se reúnen para mirarlo y una cantidad similar lo práctica o lo ha practicado en su vida. Este deporte despierta pasión, entusiasmo y mucha intriga por descubrir la clave de los campeones. Qué hacen? Cómo entrenan? Cómo se preparan? Qué estrategias utilizan? y en la mira siempre están las grandes selecciones y los grandes equipos.

Este artículo va dirigido a todos aquellos entrenadores, también directivos y porqué no padres que analizan y preparan las victorias.

Existe en el fútbol una gran tendencia a sobrevalorar el resultado, la victoria, pensando siempre en ganar partidos y salir campeón.

Quisiera presentarles algunas líneas de la fórmula de la victoria, una victoria asegurada casi por completo.

En primer lugar debemos entender que el fútbol profesional poco tiene que ver con el fútbol amateur, son cosas diferentes, un entrenador de niños y adolescentes deberá tener unos conceptos y objetivos que son muy distintos a los del primer equipo.

Trabajar con jóvenes requiere de un mayor conocimiento, una muy buena preparación ya que es una tarea que implica gran compromiso y responsabilidad.

Todo entrenador de futbol juvenil debe saber que al fútbol profesional llega un mínimo porcentaje, no conozco los números de Estados Unidos pero aquí en Argentina sólo llega 1 de cada 1000 niños que practican fútbol y se reduce aún más el porcentaje de los jugadores que han logrado sostenerse y vivir de esa profesión. Por lo tanto si una preparación en fútbol infanto-juvenil está abocada solamente al aspecto deportivo, a formar jugadores que triunfen a nivel profesional su función y su tarea estarán destinadas al fracaso porque estará trabajando para 1 de cada1000 niños que practican este deporte. ¿Entonces debemos prepararlos futbolísticamente? ¡Claro que hay que prepararlos! el problema se manifiesta cuando los preparamos únicamente para esto.

La formación del jugador de fútbol debe ser integral, ¿a que me refiero con esto? a que además de los aspectos deportivos debemos educar a los jóvenes para ser personas de bien con buenos valores dignos de participar en una sociedad de bien público.

El éxito o la victoria asegurada se hacen presentes cuando todos los jugadores del equipo han crecido desde lo futbolístico pero mucho más desde lo humano, los entrenadores deben ser educadores y saber que el fútbol puede ser un medio magnífico para lograr el crecimiento y el bienestar personal de todos sus jugadores.

Iré nombrando todos aquellos beneficios que conlleva la práctica del fútbol (bien dirigida, bien conducida, bien enseñada) En primer lugar debemos saber que el ejercicio físico tiene un gran impacto positivo en las personas que lo practican, ya que mejora el bienestar individual y social.

Dentro de este impacto positivo existen múltiples beneficios en lo que respecta a la salud: física psicológica En un mundo cada vez más tecnológico y con niños cada vez más inactivos el deporte es un medio que les permite activarse, moverse y tener un estilo de vida saludable, esto el entrenador-educador lo debe promover constantemente.

Será tarea del entrenador alentar la actividad física, la buena alimentación, la buena hidratación, chequeos médicos, etcétera ya que de esta manera se previenen numerosas enfermedades médicas como por ejemplo la obesidad, cardiopatías etc.

LA FORMULA DEL EXITO (CONT.) En lo que respecta a la salud psicológica debemos saber que el ejercicio físico, el deporte y aún más el deporte colectivo disminuye y previene problemas de ansiedad y depresión, trastornos muy comunes en la actualidad.

Por otro lado el entrenador debe saber que durante la infancia y la adolescencia se construye gran parte de la personalidad y el deporte puede ser una excelente herramienta para el desarrollo de una buena autoestima y un buen autoconcepto.

El fútbol bien enseñado: mejora el autoconcepto mejora la autoestima mejora la confianza en uno mismo y en los demás brinda estabilidad emocional favorece las relaciones sociales y la asertividad mejora el funcionamiento intelectual enseña a trabajar en equipo, a ser menos individualista y más solidario promueve el esfuerzo y la autosuperación El fútbol enseña a ganar y a perder, a enfrentar las dificultades, a ser responsable, a cumplir un horario, a respetar las reglas, a respetar la autoridad, a respetar al rival, a ser compañero, tolerante, a compartir, a disfrutar, a cuidar el cuerpo y a cuidar la salud.

Por todo lo expuesto anteriormente podemos decir que el fútbol, NO es solo fútbol, es una herramienta muy poderosa para educar personas integras, saludables y con buenos valores.

En la medida que los entrenadores infanto-juveniles se dediquen decididamente a educar a los jóvenes, No sólo en el aspecto deportivo sino también en el aspecto humano estamos contribuyendo a tener una sociedad un poquito mejor, ellos serán los adultos del futuro y nosotros debemos brindarles los recursos para ser personas de bien.

Quizás usted se introdujo a este texto buscando la fórmula para ganar un partido, pero no puedo más que decirle, que es un grave ERROR pensar que el éxito se trata de eso.

Si usted es entrenador de fútbol infantil o juvenil, le puedo asegurar que ser exitoso se trata de lograr que cada niño que usted educó lo recuerde como un maestro que le enseñó cómo jugar y cómo vivir.

THE FORMULA OF SUCCESS

By Cesar Palmieri. Psychology Degree at the Universidad Catolica de Santa Fe (UCSF) major on Psychology applied to Soccer.

Psychologist at Club Atlético Unión de Santa Fe. Argentinian First Division

Soccer is one of the most popular sports in the world: large amounts of people come together to watch the sport and a similar number play soccer now or at some point in their life. This sport unleashed passion, enthusiasm, and integrity to discover the key to become a champion. What do they do? How do they train? What strategies do they use? Big clubs and national teams are always in the spotlight for it.

This article targets coaches, presidents, and parents who analyze and prepare teams to win.

There is a wide trend in soccer to overrate results, victories, a winner’s mentality, and finishing the league as a champion.

I would like to share with you a couple of words about the formula for winning, a guaranteed way to win.

Firstly, we need to understand that professional soccer has nothing to do with the amateur level. They are very different. A youth coach must have different concepts and goals than a professional team’s manager. Working with kids requires more knowledge and preparation as it involves a great commitment and responsibility.

Every youth coach must know that just a small percentage of the players become professional athletes. In Argentina, 1 out of 1000 young soccer players make it professionally and those who make it are not guaranteed to make a living at the professional level. Therefore, if we only coach at a youth level thinking exclusively on the athletic side, to develop players that could succeed professionally, our task and work will be destined to fail. We will be working for just 1 out of 1000 kids that practice this sport. Shall we train them to be better soccer players? Definitely! The problem comes when we exclusively prepare them for that. The development of the player must be “all-inclusive.” What do I mean with this?

We need to educate our kids to be better people, with values worthy to be part of our society regardless of the soccer aspects.

The guaranteed success or victory happens when all the players in the team grow as soccer players, but more importantly, as better humans. Coaches should be educators and understand that soccer can be a perfect tool to achieve the growth and well-being of all their players.

Those benefits carry a well-run soccer practice: First, we must know that physical exercise has a great positive impact for everyone who does it because it improves his or her individual and social well-being.

Inside this positive impact resides multiple health benefits: - Physical - Psychological In a world influenced by technology more and more every day, and with kids being inactive, playing video games, soccer allows them to have a healthy lifestyle that coaches should promote constantly.

It will be the coach’s task to encourage physical activity, nutrition, hydration, medical checkouts… etc. This will help prevent many medical illnesses such as obesity or heart problems, among others.

Regarding physiological health, we must know that sports and even more team sports help reduce and prevent anxiety and depression, common illnesses in our society. In addition, coaches must know that during childhood is when most of the child’s personality is defined and sports are an excellent tool to develop a good self-esteem.

THE FORMULA OF SUCCESS (CONT.) Soccer well taught: - Improve our self-esteem - Improve the confidence in ourselves and others - Provide emotional stability - Promote social relations and assertiveness - Improve our intellectual functioning - Teach us to work as a team, be less individualistic and have more solidarity - Help our self-improvement Soccer teaches you to win and to lose; to face difficulties; to be responsible; to respect rules, rivals, and the authority; to be a teammate; to share; to enjoy; to be forgiving; and to take care of your body and health. As mentioned earlier, we can say that soccer is NOT just soccer, is a powerful tool to educate people in a healthy way using good values.

Once the youth coaches begin dedicating more time to educate the kids, NOT just in soccer, but also on the human side of it, we will have a better society. They will be the adults in the future and is our job to provide them with the resources to be a good one.

Perhaps you started reading this looking for the key to win a game, but I can say that focusing on just winning a game is a huge MISTAKE and thinking that winning is what success is about.

If you are a youth coach, I can guarantee you that being successful is making every kid that you have ever coached remember you as a professor who taught him or her not just how to play, but also how to live.

CORNER The Thorns have been on a tear this month, winning four straight and securing a home playoff game against a to-be-determined opponent.

Christine Sinclair leads the way with the Goal of the Week, as the best supported women’s sports team in the world hits September on a tear!

Everyone is starting to come back healthy, and this can only mean good things for the post season as the ladies look to make right the heart-breaker that was last years

BY THE NUMBERS: Record: 13-5–4

Goals For: 34

Goals Against: 19

post-season campaign.

It’s coming down to the wire but the Thorns have clinched a playoff berth, at home in front of the best fans anyone could wish for!

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT Check out our favorite Thorns videos this month that you may not have seen

NEXT OPPONENT MATCH HIGHLIGHTS Here are the most recent match highlights from our favorite team

Saturday, September 23rd

Orlando City Stadium

12:30pm PST

POSITIVE COACHING ALLIANCE RESOURCES FOR SOCCER PLAYERS, COACHES AND PARENTS

Like many coaches and parents, you probably wonder how to help young soccer players get the most from the sport. Positive Coaching Alliance – a national non-profit organization developing “Better Athletes, Better People” through youth and high school sports – is here to help.

Starting from the premise that youth sports (i.e., organized sports for children from pre-school through high school, whether at a school, a youth sports organization, park-and-rec, or club) should be fun, healthy, competitive, and character-building for youth, Positive Coaching Alliance (PCA) provides training and education for coaches, parents, student-athletes and school/organizational leaders.

Much of the training and education comes in the form of live, group workshops and online courses delivered in partnership with a given school or organization. OYSA member clubs that are among the roughly 3,500 that have partnered with PCA nationwide include Hollywood Soccer Club and Westside Timbers. PCA-Portland, the organization’s local Chapter, launched in 2015 with financial support from the Timbers and Thorns among others.

Live workshops are facilitated PCA Trainers with a deep background in coaching and other related specialties, such as education and sports psychology, and comprise leading research in the field and advice from a National Advisory Board of 100-plus top pro and college coaches, athletes and academicians.

The all-volunteer Advisory Board includes long-time PCA National Spokesperson Phil Jackson, as well as recognizable Oregonian sports figures, such as Lionel Hollins, Mallory Holtman-Fletcher, Rob Mullens, and Mike White. The Advisory Board also includes many soccer luminaries, including those you will see below, who appear within the collection of 1,500-plus free resources at www.PCADevZone.org.

For more information on partnering a school or organization with PCA-Portland, email Jack Hendrickson or phone 503-444-3344.

For now, though, enjoy thee following videos that are rich with information, inspiration, tips and tools to help you make youth soccer great for kids throughout the state!

“I CAN DO BETTER!” YOUTH SOCCER REFEREES NEED SUPPORT - NOT HARASSMENT

“Call it both ways!!”

“You’re blind!!”

“Blow your whistle!!”

“Open your eyes!!”

“You need glasses!!”

Do these phrases sound familiar? They probably do if you’re a referee, or if you’re a parent trying to enjoy your child’s soccer game on the sidelines.

Contempt and disrespect towards game officials continues to plague both sidelines, from disgruntled spectators who feel that everything is being called against their team; to screaming coaches who seem to have a better view from 60 yards away.

Needless to say, there is a very high probability that the majority of these “sideline officials” have never bothered to take a referee class, or made an attempt to read the Laws of the Game.

Being a sports referee is not an easy task; it is something that requires concentration, patience, excellent communication skills, fitness, and most of all judgement based on the rules of the sport. It is this judgement that usually comes under extreme criticism often regardless of the level of competition.

Youth soccer referees arguably have one of the toughest officiating jobs in comparison with basketball, football, baseball, or hockey officials. This is due to the number of players involved (assuming an 11v11 game), the large area to cover, the continuous action, and the split second decisions which are usually correct only 50% of the time based on sideline remarks.

To read the full article, click here.

DESARROLLO O VICTORIA (1) En esta primera edición de Goal Magazine durante la temporada de Fall, tanto mi buen amigo Cesar Palmieri en el artículo que podréis leer a continuación, como nosotros desde OYSA, nos gustaría recalcar la importancia en centrarnos en el desarrollo del jugador por encima de la victoria en el partido.

Al igual que Cesar demuestra porque el desarrollo del jugador es el verdadero éxito, déjame mostraros porque centrarnos en hacer mejor a nuestros jugadores es más importante que cualquier título.

La liga Portland Timbers y Thorns acaban de empezar y nos gustaría recordar a todos los entrenadores en el estado de Oregon que desarrollar jugadores es mas importante que ganar cualquier partido o trofeo. En este articulo analizaremos como los clubes de Europa y Sudamérica y otras federaciones se han centrado en desarrollar jugadores, sus razones para ello, problemas que encontraron y el resultado final después de que se implementara esta sistema.

Oregon, aun siendo un estado pequeño en cuanto a población, todavía puede producir alguno de los mejores jugadores del mundo si todos, Oregon Youth Soccer, clubes, entrenadores, padres y sobre todo los jugadores, remamos en la misma dirección.

Desarrollo de jugadores como solucion a la crisis economica y resultados obtenidos.

Yo nací y me crie en España, un país donde el futbol es el deporte rey, donde el futbol se vive tan intensamente que moviliza masas tanto o más que cualquier protesta o huelga política. Si antiguamente en Roma se utilizaba el dicho “Pan y Circo” en referencia a como el gobierno romano mantenía despreocupado al pueblo mientras el imperio se derrumbaba, hoy en día en sería “Pan y Fútbol”. El país disfrutó de las victorias en la Eurocopa de 2008 y 2012 y del Mundial de 2010 mientras el pueblo sufría de paro y pobreza debido a la crisis mundial que empezó por aquel entonces y que aún no ha terminado de solucionarse.

Debido a estas crisis, los clubes españoles no cuentan con excesivo dinero para invertir en la adquisición de jugadores.

Hoy en día, un recién ascendido de la Premier League tiene tanto o más poder adquisitivo que un equipo de la Liga que está luchando por puestos europeos.

DESARROLLO O VICTORIA (2) Sin embargo los equipos españoles han ganado 6 de las 10 últimas Champions League (3 para el Futbol Club Barcelona y 3 para el Real Madrid) y 8 de las ultimas 15 UEFA Europa League (5 para el Sevilla Fútbol Club, 2 del Atlético Madrid y 1 del Valencia Club de Fútbol). ¿Como combatieron los clubes españoles la falta de recursos? Incrementando el tiempo y dinero dedicado al desarrollo de jugadores.

España se dedicó a vender jugadores a los equipos de la Premier para paliar sus deudas y a reemplazarlos con jugadores de sus propias academias. Como ejemplo, el Valencia Club de Fútbol vendió en 2010 a David Silva al Manchester City por 33 millones de Euros. Su puesto en la mediapunta del primer equipo lo ocupó un Juan Mata que al año siguiente fue vendido al Chelsea por 30 millones de Euros. El puesto de Mata iba a ser ocupado por Isco Alarcón, canterano del Málaga Club de Fútbol pero en los escalafones inferiores del Valencia CF en ese momento, pero el Málaga pago su cláusula de 6 millones de Euros ese mismo verano para recuperarlo.

Estar en un mercado pequeño no es una excusa.

España tenía el ejemplo de que sobrevivir con un modelo basado en el desarrollo de jugadores de la academia era posible gracias entre otros ejemplos, al Athletic Club de Bilbao. El Athletic de Bilbao fue fundado en 1898 y es el único equipo junto con el FC Barcelona y el Real Madrid que ha disputado todas las ediciones de La Liga desde su fundación en 1928. Otra de sus múltiples características es que SOLO utiliza jugadores nacidos o de procedencia (que al menos uno de sus padres haya nacido allí) en la zona de “Euskal Herria” que significa “país del Euskera”. Una zona con menos de 2 millones de habitantes ha sido capaz de producir jugadores de la calidad suficiente para mantener al Athletic de Bilbao en Primera División durante toda su historia. El Athletic no es el único equipo de Primera división de la zona, actualmente Real Sociedad, Sociedad Deportiva Éibar y el Deportivo Alavés también se encuentran en la máxima división española junto con Club Atlético Osasuna, actualmente en Segunda división. Estos últimos cuatro equipos no solo utilizan jugadores de la zona, también cuentan con extranjeros y jugadores nacidos en otras zonas de España pero eso no quita que hayan “robado” talento local que ahora podría estar perfectamente jugando en el Athletic.

El talento esta ahí, solo hay que desarrollarlo.

El talento está ahí, solo hay que buscarlo y desarrollarlo. Estados Unidos tiene a muchos de los mejores atletas del mundo, EEUU ha ganado más de 2500 medallas en 120 años de Olimpiadas de Verano (más de 1000 de ellas de Oro) y 282 en 90 años de Olimpiadas de Invierno. Estados Unidos ha liderado el ranking de medallas en las ultimas 6 ediciones de las Olimpiadas de Verano. En deportes de equipos, EEUU también domina como por ejemplo en baloncesto o béisbol. ¿Si Estados Unidos puede producir alguno de los mejores atletas del mundo, porque no puede producir jugadores de nivel A+ sobre todo en el fútbol masculino? Países más pequeños como España, Alemania, Brasil o Argentina, cuya población entre todos juntos no llega a la de EEUU, con mucho menos éxito en el deporte en general que EEUU ha conseguido producir alguno de los mejores jugadores del mundo por al menos las últimas dos décadas y todo ha sido gracias a centrarse en el desarrollo de los jugadores.

Con una mentalidad de desarrollar jugadores para el primer equipo en vez de adquirirlos, España y Alemania, los dos últimos ganadores del Mundial y únicas selecciones con 3 Eurocopas, han participado en 9 de las 11 últimas finales de los Europeo Sub-17. España junto con Argentina y Brasil (otros dos países con la misma mentalidad) han participado en 12 de las ultimas 14 finales de Mundiales sub-20.

DESARROLLO O VICTORIA (3) El talento esta ahí, solo hay que darle la oportunidad.

El talento esta ahí, solo hay que desarrollarlo y darle la oportunidad, España, Alemania, Inglaterra Argentina o Brasil lo tienen y EEUU también.

Inglaterra este verano 2017: Mundial Sub20 – campeones Euro Sub19 - campeones Toulon - campeones *(Prestigioso torneo Sub-21) Euro Sub17 – finalistas Euro Sub21 – semifinalistas

Las selecciones inferiores de Inglaterra han demostrado una vez más este verano que tienen talento suficiente para jugar en la EPL. Es complicado pedirle a un entrenador que cuenta con un presupuesto para fichajes de +100 millones que le dé la oportunidad a un joven sin experiencia en la categoría, que arriesgue ganar la Premier League por darle confianza a un jugador. Pero nosotros no nos estamos jugando la Premier League, ni la Champions League, ni el Mundial de futbol.

Hacer mejores a los jugadores y a la vez darles una oportunidad de un futuro mejor VS Ganar trofeos En España, no escucharás a ningún entrenador decir “yo he ganado X State Cups (o su equivalente)” o “yo he conseguido X National titles”, sin embargo si escucharas a muchos, los privilegiados, decir “yo he entrenado a Messi, a David Villa, a Iniesta, a Silva, a Xavi, Sergio Ramos, Pique, Casillas, Juan Mata, Isco, Morata, Cazorla, Bellerin…”. Todos ellos están orgullosos de haber conseguido que un jugador de 11, 12 o 14 años se convierta en profesional, viva de su pasión, el futbol.

Todos ellos se enorgullecen de haber enseñado algo, un regate, un ajuste táctico, una nueva posición… a estos jugadores que luego les ha servido para hacer del futbol una profesión. Ese es el mayor título posible.

Como entrenador, pregúntate; ¿merece la pena ganar a cualquier precio? ¿Es ganar un partido más importante que hacer mejor a tus jugadores? ¿Si pudieras ganar un partido con simplemente lanzar balones en largos y hacer que tu jugador más rápido corra a por el y anote… lo harías? O preferirías construir el juego desde la defensa y ensenar al equipo a circular el balón aunque lo pierdas de camino?

Como padres, cuando nuestros hijos vuelven del colegio no les preguntamos cuantos problemas de matemáticas han hecho o si han hecho más que sus compañeros. La pregunta que les hacemos normalmente es; “que has aprendido hoy en el colegio?”. Entonces, cuando nuestros hijos vuelven de un partido, ¿porque les preguntamos cuantos goles han marcado? O si han ganado o no el partido. Preguntémosle la misma pregunta, hijo/a, ¿qué has aprendido hoy?

DESARROLLO O VICTORIA (4) que Argentina y siete más que Brasil. En Europa tenemos el ejemplo de Dinamarca, que con una población actual de 5,7 millones de habitantes ganó la Europa de 1992.

No hay países con un talento especial para el futbol, los argentinos o brasileños no producen miles y miles de jugadores de futbol por que nazcan con un talento innato y exclusivo, lo desarrollan. No hace falta un físico extraordinario o diferente para triunfar en el futbol, los alemanes no ganan Eurocopas y Mundiales por su físico, lo hacen por la combinación de buena técnica, excelente posición táctica, gran físico y una mentalidad ganadora innata y eso se entrena desde pequeño. Uruguay, Dinamarca o el Athletic de Bilbao son claros ejemplos que una población reducida no sirve de excusa.

Oregon, como cualquier otro estado de EEUU, tiene el mismo potencial que cualquier otro país del Mundo para producir jugadores de clase mundial (A+). Oregon tiene una gran cultura de deporte, nuestros hijos disfrutan practicándolo y los padres entienden la importancia de hacer deporte. Si nos centramos en hacer a nuestros hijos mejores jugadores de fútbol en vez de competir por una medalla o un trofeo, Oregon tiene las mismas opciones que cualquier otro estado o país de producir jugadores de un nivel profesional o con potencial para jugar en la selección nacional y eso es más importante que cualquier título o triunfo.

DEVELOPMENT OR WINNING (1) In the first edition of Goal Magazine during the Fall season, my good friend Cesar Palmieri, in his article “the formula of success”, underlined how important it is to focus on player development over winning.

Cesar proves why player development is the real success by showing you why focusing on making our players better is more important than any title.

The Portland Timbers and Thorns League began and we reminded all the youth coaches in the state of Oregon the importance of focusing on developing players over winning any given game or tournament. We will analyze how European and South American clubs and other federations have focused on player development, their reasons for it, their handicaps, and the success they had after the system was implemented.

We argue that Oregon, despite being a small state in terms in population, can produce some of best players in the world if we all - Oregon Youth Soccer, clubs, coaches, parents and obviously the players - push in the same direction to achieve it.

Player development as economic crisis solution and proven results.

I was born and raised in Spain, a country where soccer is the main sport. Soccer’s strength mobilizes the masses as much, or even more than, any political protest or riot. During the Roman Empire they used to say “panem et circenses” which means “Bread and Circus” to allude to how the Roman government keep the people entertained while the empire collapsed. Nowadays it’s “bread and soccer”. Spain celebrated victories in the 2008 and 2012 Euro’s and the 2010 World Cup while the population suffered high unemployment rate and poverty due to the world crisis that happened around that time, and Spain has not recovered yet.

Due to this crisis, Spanish soccer clubs didn’t have money to invest in acquiring new players. Nowadays, a club that just got promoted to the English Premier League has as much purchase power or more than a top tier team in Spain, excluding the big three of Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Atletico Madrid.

DEVELOPMENT OR WINNING (2) However, the Spanish clubs have won 6 of the last 10 Champions Leagues – 3 for Real Madrid and 3 for Barcelona) and 8 of the last 15 UEFA Europa Leagues – 5 for Sevilla Futbol Club, 2 for Atletico Madrid and 1 for Valencia Club de Futbol. How did they stay competitive without resources? Increasing the time and money dedicated to player development at the youth level.

Spanish clubs dedicate themselves to sell their best player to alleviate their debts and replace them with young players from their own academies. For example, Valencia CF sold David Silva for 33M Euros in 2010 to Manchester City. Juan Mata replaced him in the first team before and was sold just one year later to Chelsea FC for 30M Euros. Juan Mata’s spot was then taken by Isco Alarcon (youth academy player at that time) but Malaga CF paid his buy-out clause the same summer that Mata left.

Small market is not an excuse.

Spanish clubs knew they could survive with this development strategy thanks, among other examples, to the Athletic Club de Bilbao philosophy. Athletic de Bilbao was founded in 1898 and it’s the only club along with FC Barcelona and Real Madrid that has played every La Liga season since it started in 1928. Another of their characteristics is that they ONLY use players born in the “Euskal Herria” which means “Euskera’s country”. This population zone of just two million people has been able to produce players with the quality to maintain Athletic de Bilbao at the highest division of the Spanish league their entire history. In addition, Athletic is not the only first division team in the area, Real Sociedad, Sociedad Deportiva Eibar and Deportivo Alaves are also in the same league along with Club Atletico Osasuna who currently play in the second division. Those teams use players from other areas of Spain plus foreigners, but they also have academy players from this area therefore they are limiting the talent that Athletic has access to. Having a small market is not an excuse; Bilbao had a 2 million person population area where to pool players from and four major competitors for it and besides that, with a well-run player development mentality, they have been producing players to play in one of the top 2 best leagues in the world for the last 90 years.

Talent is everywhere just need to be developed.

The US has some of the best athletes in the world, and has won more than 2,500 medals in 120 years of Summer Olympics history (more than a 1000 of them were Gold) and 282 medals in the 90 years of Winter Olympics. The US leads the medal ranking in the last 6 summer Olympics. In team sports, the US has a long tradition of winning as well, especially in basketball and volleyball. So, if the US can produce one of the best athletes in the world, why cannot produce an “A+” player in men’s soccer? Smaller countries such as Spain, Germany, Brazil or Argentina –all of them together have less population than the US - with far less success in other sports have been producing the best players in the world for at least the last 2 decades and it’s all thanks to focusing on a player development strategy.

With a development strategy, Spain and Germany, the last 2 World Cup winners and the only national teams with 3 European Championships, have participated in 9 of the last 11 Euro Under-17 finals. Spain, along with Argentina and Brazil (two other countries with the same mentality) have participated in 12 of the last 14 finals of the Under-20 World Cup.

DEVELOPMENT OR WINNING (3) Talent is everywhere just need to be tapped.

Spain, Germany, England, Argentina or Brazil have it and the US have this soccer talent too.

England National Team Summer 2017: U20 World Cup – Winners U19 European Championship - Winners Toulon tournament – Winners*(Prestigious tournament) U17 European Championship – Finalist U21 European Championship – Semi-Finalist

The players in the England national team youth squad have proven time and time again that they have the talent to play in the EPL. It is hard to ask to a head coach that has a budget of over $100 million to buy superstars, to give a chance to a young, unexperienced player from the youth ranks. It is hard to ask them to risk winning the English Premier League to develop those kind of players. But we, at OYSA are not competing to win the EPL, or the Champions League.

This is not the World Cup. We can do it. We can risk losing in exchange of player development.

Improve player’s performance – and potentially their life in the future – vs Winning trophies.

In Spain, coaches do not say something like “I have won X tournaments (or their equivalent)”, however, they boast about their players. The privileged ones say, “I have coached Messi or David Villa, Iniesta, Silva, Xavi, Sergio Ramos, Pique, Casillas, Juan Mata, Isco, Morata, Cazorla, Bellerin…”. All of them are proud to see the development of children into mature soccer professionals. All of them are proud to have taught something to them, a skill or a new position that those players have used them in their soccer career throughout the years. That is the biggest title achievable for a youth coach.

As a coach, or yourself, is victory worth any price? Is a victory more important than improving your player’s soccer knowledge? If you could win a game by just kicking the ball up the field for your fastest player… would you do it? On the other hand, would you rather build the game from the back and teach the team how to move the ball from defense to offense at the cost, sometimes, of winning?

DEVELOPMENT OR WINNING (4) As parents, when the kids come home from school, we do not ask them how many math problems have they done; or if they have done more problems than their classmates. Normally, we ask them what they learned that day in school. Why then, do we ask our kids how many goals have they scored? Or if they won the game or not. Let’s ask them the same question, “what have you learned today?”

The perception is that if our kids are on a winning team then there will be more exposure to better colleges. Scouts will rank you higher if you are on a team with a chance to win the title compared to a middle-tier team. That’s okay, but scouting begins in the older age groups so until then, let’s focus on developing players more than on winning games.

Let’s teach our players how to win after we teach them how to properly pass, shoot, and dribble. After that they know where to be all the time on the field and to have quick decision making. At school, we encourage our kids to study and to learn, not to pass a test by cheating. At the soccer field, let’s have the same mentality, to learn, to understand soccer more than to win any given game.

Oregon has a population of over 4M people, a small state compared to the bigger ones in the US, but a population big enough to create an entire roster to win a World Cup, a Copa America, or the Euro’s. Uruguay currently have a population of 3.6 million inhabitants and it’s a country with 2 World Cups, the first one in 1930, where the US made it to semi-finals, and the 1950 WC. It is the national team with the most Copa Americas at 15, one more than Argentina and 7 more than Brazil. In Europe, Denmark, with a current population of 5.7 million inhabitants, won the 1992 Euros.

There are no countries with a special ‘talent’ for soccer. Argentinians and Brazilians do not produce thousands and thousands of soccer players because they are born with a special and exclusive talent; they develop this talent. It is not necessary to have extraordinary size to have success in soccer, Germany does not win the Euros or the World Cup because they are bigger, they win because they are great technically and tactically better with development. Uruguay, Denmark, or Athletic de Bilbao are clear examples that having a small population is not an excuse not to produce A+ players.

Oregon, like any other state in the US, has the same potential as any other country in the world to produce those worldclass players. Oregon has a deep sporting culture, our kids enjoy practicing sports and the parents understand how important is to practice. If we focus on making our kids better players instead of competing for a medal or a trophy, Oregon has the same options as any other state or country to produce players good enough to play professionally or make it to the national team; and that’s more rewarding than winning any title.

What are you doing around the state? What does your team look like? Got a crazy picture for us? Want everyone to see what it’s like playing at your club? Well, now’s your chance! Click the submit button and send us your pics.

US Youth Soccer TOPSoccer (The Outreach Program for Soccer) is a community-based training and team placement program for young athletes with disabilities, organized by youth soccer association volunteers.

The program is designed to bring the opportunity of learning and playing soccer to any boy or girl, who has a mental or physical disability. Our goal is to enable the thousands of young athletes with disabilities to become valued and successful members of the US Youth Soccer family.

How do you participate?

Check out the list below of areas where clubs already have a TOPSoccer program running or contact your club about starting one. We can help you, too, to set up and run a program within your club, and ALL FEES ARE WAIVED for the TOPSoccer program by the Oregon

EXISTING PROGRAMS Click on any name to email the director of that program.

Albany

Beaverton

Clackamas

Eugene

Gresham

Medford

Milton Freewater

St Helens

State Chair (OYSA)

Youth Soccer Association.

WHERE’S VINNY? WHAT’S VINNY BEEN UP TO THIS MONTH? Vinny has been all over the place this month. It’s been a resting month for him before the madness of Fall 2017 PTTL gets underway.

He was also at the Mt Hood Challenge and the final phase of the C-License.

This time he had Ashley Holmer in there from the Red Sweater Project, and it’s pretty darn cool!

Check out Ashley, and her love of Africa, helping getting coaches there, and her random love of crab bowls.

ROAD LOG So far this month Vinny has logged over 400 miles visiting different places around the state.

CLUBS/PLACES VISITED:

Scappoose, Liberty Stadium, Lane United

Hillsboro, Providence Park, and Washington Timbers.

FOLLOW VINNY ON TWITTER