Creating Environments for Youth Players that Connect Them to the Global Game

Christian Isquierdo makes his final entry for IMS as he reports on his way back  from South Africa.

I’m on the plane heading back to Minneapolis from South Africa and listening to Brian Quarstad’s podcast on Minnesota Public Radio’s Midmorning Show and thinking about the international game I just experienced. Football is such a unique and global phenomena that competing in the World Cup every four years is a great celebration of the game. I think now that I’m coming home I have a new appreciation for what I have been able to experience as a coach that I will be able to share a global perspective to what I’m doing in Minnesota and how it is related to the rest of the world.

Being able to share with international coaches ideas and practices about training sessions, coaching habits,and player development was a once-in-a-lifetime experience which I hope that I can build on by doing additional travel to learn about the game. I thought I would finalize my experience as a soccer coach down to three parts: the players, the passion and the challenges.

The players:
There is no question that our American teens are not at the same level of play of the rest of the countries’. Yet many of our girls shocked the coaches by their talents, ideas and celebrations. One of the South African coaches told me that we (as Americans) were doing a better job than ten years ago when he was in the States. I would agree that our girls and boys displayed the ability to play on the same pitch, but our technical range and tactical variety was significantly challenged. One of the BestBuy chaperones asked me how I could see this and I pointed to the corner of the dining hall where a girl from Mexico, a boy from South Africa and two older lads, one from Egypt and another from Brazil, were playing a juggling game in the corner where they kept adding tricks to the previous players’ skills. The game went on for a while as we watched and laughed with the kids who didn’t speak the same languages but were bonding with laughter and cheers.

As a coach in the US, my kids probably only do this at practice or before a game, but rarely outside of an environment which is not geared to soccer. As the game continued, it evolved into a little two-touch keep away as more boys joined the game. I told the chaperone, that the hour or so those kids played would be twenty minutes of a session for us in the states and not nearly at the same level of play or range of technique.

The passion:
Some of the best football experiences for our kids and girls was in the multi-national pickup games in the yard between training sessions. The freedom and challenge of just playing with different people, ages and gender was a great time.

During the week, one of the boys, Reece, from North Carolina, commented that the other nations were just so much more passionate about the game then the Americans and for the first time he was a bit envious. The Mexican team of boys and girls were singing and dancing while they watched Mexico take on France. It was a grand party that lasted well past the final whistle and it was fun to be part of the game as a spectator. You could feel the emotion and passion emanate through the hall as they sang as one nation, among the nineteen present. They glowed in the limelight of victory.

The next day in the warmups and game you could see their passion continue as the songs during warmups created a rhythm and energy you just never see in American games. The Mexican girls, the Turkish boys, the Polish and Romanians all partied, sang and danced at some point during the camp. Even the Russians performed a passionate dance at the Celebration ceremony. Our American teens were shy and uncoordinated in their dancing efforts and you could see that the passion of dance –the display of emotions were missing not just in the camp but in their lives.

Soccer is an activity that our kids get involved in, not a game that is held together by the cultural bonds of laughter, excitement, entertainment, and generational guidance. It’s not that our kids are behind or not good enough, but when you can celebrate within the safety of a multi-generational community, dance with excitement and sing with one voice –you’ll never be alone.

The challenges:
One of the great experiences of the camp was the bond of community that was felt among the players and chaperones. Of course it was short lived and based on playing the game, but I did find that when I returned home the connections and passion around soccer didn’t feel quite the same on the Minnesota youth soccer fields. The concept of community in soccer is a bit misplaced.

I’m not advocating geographic community soccer but the feeling of celebrating common bonds and connections within clubs or across state lines is rare. Soccer is for the most part tribal (team based) and some parts national (tribal) in the global sense. What is missing is the connection between genders and ages within the clubs or celebrations of the game regardless of results.

We attach too much value in the youth game to wins and losses, team formation, tournaments, playing time, coaching qualifications, and status. When was the last time your club or any club came together and just had a soccer party celebrating the success of the season, that kids and adults could enjoy themselves, friendships and the game without wondering if they’d be on the team next year? Or that your friendship with your teammates was dependent on what team you are on?

I’ve been advocating to my players and families for years that the players you compete against one day could be your teammates the next season. Now I’m thinking that the next step is creating an environment that connects players across teams and across status levels to support one another and allow them to share that larger sense of community within the global game. The girls and I are already talking about traveling again next season and bringing more of the Lefties in our small academy to other countries to keep those connections to the global game and each other.

From the experience I think we’ve all felt that we were extremely lucky to go to the games and to the camp, our challenge now is to bring back what we’ve learned and share it with our friends and families.

Thank you! And I’ll see you on the pitch!

Christian Isquierdo is a coach for Minnesota Thunder Academy and runs Leftfoot Coaching Academy. He recently won a contest along with four of his students which will fly them to South Africa to attend a game and participate in the Coca-Cola Live Positively campaign soccer camp along with 250 other coaches and youth players from around the world.