INTERESTED IN PLAYING ?
For more information, please contact us at the address above.

INTERESTED IN COACHING ?
We are looking for a couple of coaches to add on staff. Prospective coaches should email a short resume to us at the address above

Our Philosophy

Our focus is on player development. That means we focus on improving a player's skill and creativity in a demanding, competitive, fun, and non-results based environment. Our philosophy is based off the US Soccer Federation document entitled "Player Development Guidelines: Best Practices for Coaching Soccer in the US". Our club's mission is to develop creative skillful players that are intrinsically motivated by the enjoyment of the game. As a result, the best interests of player development are more important than the team's best interests. The following questions are key to understanding our environment:

1. Why is the dropout rate for soccer in the United States 50%-70% when the kids reach 14 years old ?
2. Why in 40 or so years of travel soccer have we not been able to produce a player like Messi, Ronaldo, etc ?

FUN, COMPETITIVE AND DEMANDING: Our players strive for excellence by focusing on task mastery and intrinisic motivation. Afterall, if the environment is not fun, why play? Although our environment is fun, its not easy. Our environment is demanding and competitive. When a kid is older and desires to play beyond the youth level like college soccer, that kid will have the opportunity because of our focus on skills development and intrinsic motivation.

NON RESULTS-BASED ENVIRONMENT: Certainly the objective of the game is to win. However, there is a difference between the objective and the environment. "Winning" and "development" environments are mutually exclusive. In a "winning" environment, players play to their strengths and mistakes are not tolerated. In a "development" environment, players have the freedom to experiment and make mistakes even if goals are conceded and games are lost. We know thru coaching education and the youth system overseas that a "development" environment produces more skillful players that are more intrinsically motivated.

PLAYER DEVELOPMENT: Our club wants to develop the most creative, skillful, and intrinsically motivated players PERIOD. Please understand that development is a marathon and not a sprint. Development and winning are mutually exclusive especially at the younger ages. Granted, the objective of the game is to win. However, we will not sacrifice development in the long run for winning in the short run. Winning is NOT an appropriate metric at the youth level because "winning" does NOT measure player development. The appropriate metrics at the youth level are the attrition rate, the improvement, and intrinsic motivation of the individual players. Although doing the opposite of the following approaches will result in more wins, it does nothing to address the development needs of the player.

1. We will have a high practice to game ratio because it is practice and not games where players improve the most.
2. We will encourage our players to use skill and creativity to solve soccer problems even if mistakes occur.
3. We demand that our players keep the ball on the ground even if we lose possession and give up a goal.
4. We will give players breaks from the schedule to prevent burnout and overuse injuries.

COACHING EDUCATION: All Phoenix coaches were former players, have coaching licenses, and value coaching education. Coaching education is like any profession. One never stops learning and no one ever knows it all. Although it's helpful to be a former player, that in itself doesn't qualify one to "teach", "motivate", or understand the child development issues that coaching education addresses. Coaching courses have nothing to do with "reading a book" or "taking an online course". They are very hands on with 10-16 hour days spent mostly outdoors. You must earn a passing grade to earn the coaching license. Even pro players take the courses because "teaching" is different than "playing". These are the questions that we as coaches address:

1. How to break things down so the kids understand in light of their ability to think abstractly.
2. How to make the environment fun but demanding. Afterall, why play if it isnt fun?
3. How to make practices more efficient and effective so the kids learn more and faster.
4. How to deal with players psychologically based on their age.

Please read through the articles in the Parents Corner section of our website to further understand our philosophy.