The Game Within the Child

  Your tone sets the tone.  I like to think that I am the face of the recreational program here at Impact, but the reality is that besides for a few emails, some practices if you attend the group sessions and the occasional drop by at your games, the real face of the program is you. When our membership thinks about the program, the first thing they will recall is you and how you helped their child grow and develop as a person.  While most of your interactions with the players happen during practice, there is one time when your interactions are apparent to others as well and that is during the game. Not only is the other team there, but also some collection of parents, grandparents, siblings and friends may also be in attendance. While your parents may be accustomed to your behaviors and what you say, others may not be, especially if they are only visiting our club.  As a long-time teacher I am very aware that even though we are ostensibly there to watch the children ...

  Back in 2017, Atlanta United played their first season and there was great concern that like past professional teams in hockey and soccer it would burn brightly, taper out and then go away. Growing up in S. Florida, I was a Dolphins and Heat fan and thanks to Ted Turner’s Superstation, I was an Atlanta Braves fan. When I moved to Georgia, I never changed allegiances on any of those. Having said that, I also never owned a jersey, t-shirt or other merch from any of my favorite teams in adulthood. Atlanta United was different. I bought merch before the first season and made it a point to attend games. Once I did attend games, I was hooked and even my daughter and wife are fans as well. The experience is simply fundamentally different than at other events and it’s something that we all enjoy.  Having a background in soccer definitely helped me, but where did all of the other fans come from? It turns out that video games like FIFA were a big source of fans not only for AUFC, but ...

 Novice players aren't mini experts I had the opportunity to visit with my nephew recently and he brought his 4 year old son so we could play a little soccer. We went to a local park where it was full of recreational level teams from U8 to U14. I did several of my go-to activities and his initially reluctant son never seemed to run out of energy or enthusiasm for playing everything I threw at him. It was a fun time.  What I observed around me was not fun. Every single practice I observed was straight out of something you would have seen 30-50 years ago. There was lots of kids standing around, dribbling through cones, static passing and running laps. I was honestly surprised that not one of the coaches used anything from the USYS Grassroots program or even the National Youth License program that predated it. The experience did inspire me to write again about how these activities still do not work. This time, I come armed with some additional understanding of why it doesn't work...