Quality in Charlotte Soccer Development
Back in the days of Cheers, television audiences loved the welcoming call of “Norm” whenever the regular entered the bar “wherever everyone knows your name.” Colleges too tout the value of being on a first-name basis with professors. In this increasingly global, digital world, we want to be known. So how do we reconcile that with Charlotte youth soccer development opportunities? It’s not always easy, but it’s worth it.
In the past few years in Charlotte, youth soccer has seen quite a shake up. This August, Lake Norman, Carolina Rapids and Discoveries soccer clubs will all take to the field as part of the Charlotte Independence Soccer Club. The three-club merger, announced in April 2019, makes Charlotte Independence an organization of approximately 12,000 players.
Last season, Charlotte Soccer Academy (CSA) and Charlotte United Football Club also merged. Together they have approximately 6,500 players under the CSA name. CSA added two more locations along with the 2018-2019 season merger rollout.
As the clubs around us grow bigger, where does that leave Queen City Mutiny? We’re sticking with quality over quantity. We’re a club where the coaches can take the time to get to know individual players and plan training to accommodate develop needs as they arise.
Instead of focusing on expanding, we can continue to be highly selective and look for players with raw talent and ambition, who are proactive and always trying to get better, said Academy and technical director Jose Jimenez.
Targeting the Best
Any team that has ever been beaten by a short-sided squad knows that “power in numbers” doesn’t always win the day. A consistent structure and intentional focus have helped our now five-year-old club stand out.
Mutiny coaches can follow a clear training path that focuses on providing certain skills at particular levels of play. Training is focused on meeting objectives for each age’s capacity for learning and physical development. Whereas in a large, sprawling organization any coach can decide what his or her U9s or U11s will be doing, Mutiny has already decided and communicated to its coaches at what ages players should be learning what things.
“You can’t demand that a U9 kid learn the same things as a U14,” said Jimenez. “You need to work on the foundations to then increase the learning.”
Passion can’t be underestimated either. Marijn Beuker, the Head of Performance & Development at Dutch Eredivisie club AZ Alkmaar and its AZ Academy, said as much in a Leadership in Sport article.
His club, which competes in a division dominated by the Netherlands’ big three of Ajax, PSV and Feyenoord, doesn’t have the same size or depth of pocketbook as its opponents. Yet it finished third last season. How? By encouraging adaptability and creativity among its coaches, as QCM tries to do. Beuker said, “The programme doesn’t tell you what to do, it only tells you what has to be done at the end. You are free to come up with creative ideas and ways of training.”
Creativity is What’s Needed
Ultimately, creativity and flexibility are going to bring about change. Not quantity of players wearing the same jersey.
The US Men’s National Team’s failure to qualify for the 2018 World Cup prompted much teeth-gnashing and finger pointing. Everyone wanted to get to the bottom of “systematic failure that is player development in the United States.” One common complaint? That US coaches are too focused on height and strength from a young age and overlook skill and technique.
Another consideration? That the MLS is still only a growing league. While many hope Charlotte will join the host cities, it can’t reach every market and compete with the likes of European academies which have deeper roots and are drawing from smaller, denser player pools.
Mutiny players have tried out for the Youth National squad. Some have gone on to join MLS Academy squads. Two of our ‘08s were selected this year for the US Youth Futsal national team. So, it’s not that a smaller sized club doesn’t get noticed.
And, in the meantime, Mutiny’s players can enjoy the notice of coaches with a player development mindset. Each of our teams is a close-knit cohort of boys who develop together. Better yet, our club is a family with older age group boys knowing all about the younger players looking up to them from the sidelines. One player’s success lifts everyone when quality is emphasized over quantity. As we start into a new season as the David going up against the Goliaths, we’ll prove it once more.
