The letter comes from a friend at Cochrane Minor Soccer (CMS) just west of Calgary, Canada. Her association has eliminated league play at U6 and U8 in favour of a "festival" style format along the general lines of FIFA Grassroots. Not surprisingly, for many parents at the club, it's a radical change from soccer programs they have known before.
Under the new program, the kids show up at the field, the coaches divide them into groups, and the players rotate through different stations to practice different skills before playing small-sided games. For the games, the coaches simply create impromptu teams using coloured bibs or "pinnies". The teams are different every week, even though the kids are always the same.
Sound wacky?
Why don't the kids simply play "real" soccer on "real" teams in a "real" league?
Well, apart from the fact that it's a bit nutty having U6 and U8 kids competing for league standings, CMS has seen how the festival approach is as real as it gets when it comes to delivering skill development and engagement for their younger players.
The association typically only has a few dozen kids spread between each age group, so it has always been a bit of a stretch to build sustainable recreational and competitive programs at each age. Ironically, they have even had to turn kids away occasionally and cut them through tryouts when the numbers haven't added up to form a "real" team.
Furthermore, the competitive teams have typically had to drive an hour to get to most of their games in greater Calgary. This has meant that 7-year-old kids have often spent two hours or more in a car just to play one hour of soccer. (And mom and dad have burned through buckets of gas through the course of the season.)
How was CMS developing soccer players by cutting kids and turning others away? How were the players learning skills by spending hours on the highway? CMS decided they could do better.
CMS picked up a few new directors in 2013 who embraced the precepts of Long-Term Player Development (LTPD). After some animated discussion with the membership during the winter of 2013-14, and some consultation with external advisors (including this coach), they began implementing the new festival-style program in May 2014.
Suddenly, the entire universe had shifted. Kids at CMS were spending more time on the ball than they were in minivans.
What would happen to these poor kids? Where would all of this lead them? Here's a letter that pretty much says it all:
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Hi Jim,
Just a quick email. My son played grassroots soccer tonight and it was the most entertaining and amazing evening of soccer! The skill development of the kids is wild - all U8 athletes. Coach Yo (one of our paid tech coaches who coaching our game this evening) took the ball at one point and threw it up in the air for fun. It bounced once and one of the boys did a World Cup roundhouse kick from midfield and the ball flew perfectly in the air and arched into the net. It was amazing - even Yo was shocked. The kids on the field all nicknamed the boy “Rocket Boy” for his amazing kick. Wish we had it on video as it was so amazing.
We had another play where my son kicked on net and the goalkeeper (a girl as we play coed) stopped the ball with her face. She was laughing after, and I praised her for the fact that she always steps in front of the ball.
Watching the fall athletes really does put things into perspective. We have these amazing athletes who are learning such great skill development through ETS’s (our tech company) tech drills, and they have so much fun putting it all together in a game.
The kids were having so much fun that no one on the field even kept score - the kids were so excited about all of the incredible plays that I didn’t hear one child comment on the score. Every child shot on goal and every child stopped a shot as they rotate all positions. Great passing and amazing soccer.
The other thing I loved is when the coach yelled for a water break, all the kids ran off the field for water and ran back onto the field because they couldn’t wait to get back into the game. Awesome!
The future of CMS is very bright!
Best wishes,
Catherine
