Our philosophy centers on long term player development. Player development is a paradigm that focuses on developing each individual to their full potential. It is about developing the person first and the player second. This approach provides a player the best opportunity for growth contingent upon a player's passion for the game. This approach promotes the development of creative, skillful, and intrinsically motivated players. The result is that a player has the best opportunity to make a high school team, play in college, or reach any of their goals.
Winning is important but development is more important. We want a player to not fear failure.
We want a player to take risks and make mistakes in order to improve with the understanding that less mistakes will occur over time.
We want a player to strive for excellence and focus on task mastery.
Winning at the youth level is a by product of development and the players' passion even if it takes a while.
We impress upon our players the following principles.
1. Strive to play the right way
2. Everything is about individual merit & hard work
3. Be the best teammate you can be
4. Play to win but never at the expense of the first 3 items
At the youth level, the player is learning the tools of how to play the game. Therefore, the measurement of success at the youth level is the improvement of a player over time contingent upon the player's passion.
We want each player to have a competitive attitude and strong desire to win. However, winning in itself does not measure player improvement or if a coach is doing a good job.
We do not take shortcuts in youth development just to win. A team can win a lot of games by taking shortcuts in development that results in no player growth. For example:
1. A coach can recruit all the top players onto a team to win. Is success due to a coach being a great recruiter or did the coach develop those kids?
2. A coach can avoid building out of the back or thru the midfield to avoid giving up goals. If the coach doesn't want kids making mistakes, is he really developing kids?
3. A coach can avoid playing difficult competition. Struggle and difficulty is a key component of growth. How is the coach growing the players by avoiding it?
