Youth Soccer

[icculus]

I am becoming very frustrated with the youth soccer system here in USA.
So if any of you could shed some light on the training of youngsters in your location...it would be very helpful.

1. location -
2. associations - (so i can find their website and gather information)
3. year they start playing organized football & the format?
4. what do they teach?

for me its:
1. eastern pennsylvania/USA
2. us club soccer - us youth soccer
3. we start around 5 yrs old and play 3 v 3 w/out goalies. by 10 yrs old its 11 v 11.
4. we seem to teach individual play, work on technique, however actual game tatics are rarely taught.

thanks

[Kaka1899]

i dont know any of the above apart from number four and thats in my area they teach ball control,passing and genrel team work skills such as running into space to help a team mate make a pass etc etc also we always play 11 v 11 we just use smaller goals for the age rangesuntil you get to 18 and your in full size goals as you have left youth leagues and gone into the adults sunday leagues

[icculus]

My problem is that they promote to NOT teach passing and positioning at earlier ages. the one "A" licesened coach from england actually said the following in a course:
1. in other parts of the world the kids dont play organised soccer until they are 11 or 12 years old.
2. you cant teach kids under 9 the proper way to pass a soccer ball (instep) because most of them cant yet lock thier ankle.
3. emphisize scoring goals, make it so that every kid scores every game. since we play 3 v 3 w/out goalies (4&5 yr olds), it would be inappropriate to play a defender or a diamond shape, because it would limit the other team from opportunities to score!

so now i have to deal with these parent/coaches that have never played themselves, telling me that i should not be showing my kids how to pass, form triangles ect.

i am hoping to get some ammunition to tell them...look... this is how they do it (here) and look how good they are!!! if you have an english accent here, you're automatically an expert. so kaka1999 or jim if your ever looking to start your coaching career...