What's the Real Problem?

When I first started coaching youth soccer, I overheard my director, a very smart and experienced coach, outlining the 4 areas of development that the coaching staff were concerned with.

They were: Technical, Tactical, Physical, Psychological

Just to ensure that everyone is on the same page here, I'm going to briefly describe all four.

"Technical" refers to specific skills that soccer players learn. How to dribble, pass, shoot, receive, shield, head, cross a soccer ball. Many coaches argue that this is the base level of development. If you cannot make the ball do what you want it to, you cannot play the game.

"Tactical" refers to the tactics of soccer. How to defend and attack as an individual, small group of players, and as a team. It also refers to basic and complex movements individuals on the field make in relationship to the location of the ball.

"Physical" refers to physical traits like strength, speed, agility, power, etc. These are attributes that cross over into every sport and truly define someone being "athletic." Remember that word, athletic, because it is going to come up again shortly and will be the crux of the argument today.

"Psychological" refers to a couple of different factors. But here, I believe we can define in two ways: being mentally tough enough to do what is necessary in order to win, and being smart enough to determine what a player needs to do in certain situations. I feel like this one goes hand in hand with the "Tactical" area.

Now, I bring all of this up to illustrate the disconnect between sport coaches (which I myself am) and strength/speed/fitness coaches (which I myself am) and the players/parents who are caught in the middle. I recently had a conversation with some soccer coaches and certain players that we all worked with came up. Upon them stating that certain ones weren't athletic enough, I felt obligated to disagree based on my experiences with them.

I train a large amount of youth soccer players, many who have been lead my way by their coaches who have told them they need to be "more athletic." While I am certainly extremely grateful for the recommendation and referral of my services, there have been times when I feel this has been done for the wrong reasons.

Let's take "Mike" for a second. Mike has been told that he is not athletic enough by his soccer coach and that he should go train with Coach Tim. He is not "good enough" for his current level of play. Now, after a few sessions, I note that Mike seems to pick up rather quickly on all the instruction I am giving him. Even more so, he has decent strength for his age, adequate body control when moving, is fast and powerful, and seems relatively balanced and in control of himself.

The question I ask myself is...How is Mike NOT athletic?

What I feel Mike's issue might be is that he is not tactically good enough, or psychologically strong enough to play at the current level he finds himself. Does Mike have a grasp of his tactical responsibilities on the field? Is Mike brave enough to put in a tackle or close down an opponent? I ask these questions because deficiencies in these areas could certainly lead to a coach thinking that Mike is not "athletic enough."

If he doesn't understand the tactical side of the game, then he will appear slow as he moves around the field. He will not be able to stay with the speed of the game, not because he is not physically fast enough, but because he can't process what needs to happen fast enough. If he isn't mentally tough enough, he will shrink from physical confrontations that will make him appear as if he lacks power and strength.

So, I think the message today is that we need to find out what the real problems and concerns are when we see our youth athletes not performing at the level desired by the coaches and themselves. Because while I feel that all youth athletes need some type and amount of athletic development training, it cannot be used as a "fix-all" for all deficiencies that are not technique-oriented.