Swine Flu Affects Development Academy

After careful consideration and after several conversations with U.S. Soccer and the Columbus Crew it was with little hesitation that we have decided to cancel our trip to San Antonio and Austin to play Lonestar and Classic Elite in U.S. Soccer Development Academy matches this weekend.

U.S. Soccer fully supported the collective decision made by Ohio Elite and the Columbus Crew who is our travel partner in the Development Academy.

The uncertainty regarding the threat of the Swine Flu outbreak in Texas as well as the actions of local officials to close several schools and cancel all school athletics until May 11 weighed heavily in our decision. The risks of going far outweighed the cancellation fees assessed by the airlines and any logistical inconvenience.

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Dealing with Players Returning from Injury Responsibly

It is a fact of life that players will suffer injuries during the course of a season. With limited roster sizes and a crowded schedule of games coaches can feel pressure to rush players back to playing. It can be difficult to watch your teams struggle when the addition of a couple of key players out injured could make the world of difference.

I come at this strictly from a coaches perspective. I have played and coached at the college and youth level and have gained some experience on this subject. I have had short-term and long-term injuries myself. I have also talked to doctors, trainers and players about injuries and how to deal with players returning from them. I try to have an in or out policy. If you can participate in training you can do so at 100% with no restrictions. If you can not participate at 100% with no restrictions you should be limited to running or work on the side if permitted. For me there is no "I can play for 10 minutes" or at 50%, etc...

I look at injuries in two catagories.

1. Short-term Injuries - strains, sprains, mild concussions, etc...

2. Long-term Injuries - broken bones, ligament tears and other serious physical injuries

In the case of short-term injuries I have found that when a player feels 100% they should wait another week or two before they enter training. When first coming back players from muscle strains, sprains and mild concussions players will feel good, but need that additional week or two to help combat a re-aggravation of the injury. It is important that the player gets meaningful full speed training in before returning to game action.

In the case of long-term injuries it is important that you require the player to train for 4-6 weeks at 100% with no restrictions before introducing them into a game situation. This is for physical and mental reasons. Cleared does not mean ready to play. Cleared means ready to return to training. Players should look comfortable and confident before playing in a game. When dealing with female players, ACL and serious knee injuries are a major issue. Re-injury happens, but can be minimized by a proper plan in integrating the player back into your team.

It is the responsibility of coaches in the case of both types of injuries to look out for the long-term well being of the player and not the short-term gain of the team. Finally, I encourage players to be responsible and mature enough to be honest about their injuries and their ability to play at 100%. Unfortunately, sometimes as coaches all we have is the word of the player and the parents to make our decision.

Spring Training

Although the month of Spring Break is for the most part over, the season of rain continues. The past few weeks have been about combining sessions and coordinating with other training groups to make training meaningful for those in attendance.

We are cautious when deciding when to have training and when to cancel. The facility is less than a year into use and is still a work in progress. We also haven't gone through a spring season before so we are learning just how quickly the fields drain. (Btw, it appears as though they drain very quickly, almost too quickly actually.)

That said, our ultimate goal and responsibility is training. Because training is the priority, we will only cancel early in the day when we know the fields will be closed due to an accumulation of rain or a relatively certain forecast that includes dangerous weather. We will often make decisions at the field when weather is predicted, but hasn't yet impacted the fields. On these days we ask that parents remain available in case we end training early due to lightning.

Please continue to check the weather line each and every day during the Spring. DO NOT rely on the Club-wide calling system as your only source for knowing when practice is canceled.

Creating a Culture...

I frequently evaluate and evolve the way we approach things with our teams and our players. When we approach a process of development we prioritize the entities that exist within our club in order of importance.

1. Player
2. Club
3. Team

With this in mind I have come to the conclusion that we are required to challenge our players based on their individual ability. Those challenges may be technical, tactical, physical, mental, social or as leaders. We must create a culture in which our top players set the standard. We must first identify top players that need more than what their team can provide. Then we must provide those top players unique training and competition options. We will continue to achieve this in a number of ways moving forward.

• Offer top players the opportunity to train with older high level teams within the club.
• Offer top players the opportunity to guest play with older high level teams within the club.
• Roster top younger players on older teams.
• Introduce Elite Player Training Program in which top 18-20 player in U11-U14 age groups and U15-U18 age groups come to together to train one time per week. We will also look to have these players play together at a tournament/showcase during the season.

These concepts can only help these players. In addition, they help all of our players by setting a clear standard. It is my hope that this will also motivate other players to strive for these opportunities.

I sat this weekend watching Manchester United v. Aston Villa. Frederico Macheda a Manchester United 17 year old came on to score the game winner in this crucial EPL match. Every first team opportunity can only help this youngster understand what is required to be successful. In the future this young man may star for Manchester United or another club. After the game the Manchester United Manager, Alec Ferguson noted that over 60 players from their youth program have gone on to play for various clubs in English professional leagues. Not a bad track record in teaching young player to be professionals.

Although we are not dealing with young professional players we must continue to challenge our players with unique opportunities.

Blogging from Ohio Elite

This blog was originated about a year ago as a means to communicate our philsophy and highlight Ohio Elite Soccer Academy to our membership and the soccer community. Its important to self-evaluate and toward that end Doug and I have agreed on the following adaptation of this blog.

• We aspire to post a new blog each week, alternating every other. (Doug's up next week!)
• As a general rule we will shorten our blogs to make for an easier read for our readers
• We will allow reader comments, but only after reviewing them and without apology eliminating those that lack a certain decorum and signature (no anonimous posts here)
• While the Development Academy and Elite Clubs National League are unique to Ohio Elite, we aim to provide a broad range of topics from the entire club