Welcome to the GP Soccer Podcast! (S14 E10)

                         Welcome to the GP Soccer Podcast!  (S14 E10)

Proud member of the Sports History Network and endorsed by the National                                                  Soccer Coaches Association of Canada.     

Host Giovanni Pacini welcomes his worldwide audience to yet another exciting show. Don't forget this season will feature World Cup "bonus content" throughout the season and beyond!

This week's "Conversation with the Coach" is with Jim Harte, who returns to the show to talk about street soccer. "Coaches Corner" features TJ Kostecky again as he discusses improving group field vision while under pressure. "News and Analysis" will feature Giovanni Pacini with news from the AP and Ralph Ferrigno checks in with the European Soccer Report with the second installment about the Euro teams competing in the World Cup. The "American Soccer Revolution" features an audio clip from "Coerver Coaching" about letting players learn from their mistakes.  

The GP Soccer Podcast features new shows every Wednesday and can be found anywhere you listen to your podcasts. Listeners are encouraged to "Like" and "Subscribe" the GP Soccer Podcast and share the show amongst those within their social media network! Those interested in advertising on the show can contact host Giovanni Pacini at gp4soccer@yahoo.com. And be sure to check out the show website at www.gpsoccerpodcast.com. 

                    GP Soccer Podcast enjoys continued support from-
United Goalkeeping Alliance - Music Meets Sports - National Soccer Coaches Association of Canada - The Sports History Network - Feedspot.com - GP Voice Over Services - Zone 14 Coaching

GP Soccer Podcast welcomes a new sponsor- Zone 14 Coaching! Check it out at Zone14coaching.com. Use promo code GP20 for 20% off!

To purchase a signed copy of Dr. Joe Machnik's book- "From the Sandlots to the World Cup: 7 Decades of American Soccer", e-mail "Dr. Joe" at joemachnik@no1soccercamps.com. Be sure to mention the GP Soccer Podcast!

Enjoy the show!

Transcript

SPEAKER_05 0:00

Frits all! Frivall!

SPEAKER_14 1:20

Well, hey there, everyone. Giovanni Piccini here, your host of the GP Soccer Podcast. Great to be with you once again, talking about all things soccer, all things football, all things college shows, we say, in Italiano. I'm gonna start by venting. All right. One of the great things about doing a show is you you you get to get behind the microphone and you just vent and uh let people know how you feel about some stuff. And I've and this is based upon a number of games that I've watched recently. Like all of you. You're a soccer fan, you're no different than I am. Soccer on TV, you're watching it. Uh, and as we gear up for the World Cup, you end up watching more and more and more because you get more excited about what's what's going to be happening in uh in a mere, I don't know, where we're at now, 40 odd days, 30 odd days before the World Cup. Um so here's what I'm venting, and this is in no particular order, but they all make me crazy. This this flopping stuff that has been so pervasive in the sport of soccer just continues, in my opinion, just to get worse and worse and worse. A player gets breathed on. You know, you you you you barely touch a player, and that player goes down and rolls around like he got shot, not once, not twice, but 20 times. And and oftentimes, you know, when they go down, they haven't quite decided what body part they're gonna grab to indicate, well, this part of my body hurts. It's funny. They go down and they're oh, it's is it my thigh? Is it my knee? Oh, I'm just gonna go for the ankle. The ankle is that is the typical thing to grab on. And when they've decided which part of the anatomy that they they've gonna indicate that they're hurt on, they roll around more times than I can even imagine. It makes me crazy. And it's one of the worst parts of our game. And a lot of people out there who are not soccer fans, they may be casual soccer fans, maybe they tune in on occasion because heck, you know, soccer is here, you know, along with football, basketball, baseball, hockey, yep, soccer is here. And they will say, what's with these players that that go down and they roll around, well, like they got shot. And I don't have an answer. I just throw my arms up in the air. I'm like, yeah, it is indeed the worst part. It is indeed the worst part of our game. I I don't know of another sport that it is just so pervasive that when a player gets fouled, that they they go down. Occasionally you you see it, you know, maybe in basketball, you know, typically it's a it's a player who gets his two feet firm uh firmly planted on the court uh, you know, to try to stop a drive to the basket and the um you know to draw the charge on the attacking player. They go down and maybe they you know they amplify a little bit, but not like in soccer. Not like in soccer. It is just so bad. And it's worse on the men's side. God bless on the women's side. You can watch a terrific women's soccer game, and they get fouled, and invariably they get up. They'll get up. Unless, of course, it's a real injury. Then, you know, they're gonna stay on the ground and trainers will come out and take care of it, which is what should happen. Uh but on the guy side, oh my goodness. Uh it's it's just it's it's a part of the game that's got to change. It's got to change, and I don't know how we do it, uh, but it's got to change. What else makes me crazy? What else do I have to vent about? Surrounding the referee during uh during VAR or on a penalty kick. Let's take VAR, which you know, I think is is has helped the game, but it hasn't quite been uh improved enough that it's a critical part of the game that that's done efficiently. Um it is done anything but efficiently. Anyways, you know, the referee blows a whistle and there's some question uh about a goal scored, and it goes to VAR, and while that's that's that's taking place, all the players are surrounding the referee like the referee is going to have the final say there, unless, of course, he's dictated by the folks in the booth to go check it out on the side of the field. But they they constantly berate the referee while they're waiting for some, you know, waiting for uh uh an opinion to come down from the booth. I have a solution to this one. I have a good solution to this one. If something goes to VAR, the referee has the opportunity to go to either penalty area or the center circle where no players are allowed to enter. The only other people that are allowed to enter with the referee are the ARs. Besides that, you cannot, you cannot go into those parts of the field. That would do away with that constant berating, barrage on a referee while they're waiting a verdict from VAR. Same thing with penalty kicks. You know, referee blows a whistle, points to the spot, it's a penalty kick, and oh my God, he swamped, you know, with all these players that are arguing left and right up and down. Oh, he took a dive. No, that wasn't a penalty. Like the referee is going to change his or her mind. They don't. The only time it happens, they might change their mind, is when they go back to VAR, where the arguing continues. It makes me crazy. It makes me crazy. And then last but not least, like these were in no particular order of importance, this addictive mentality of building out of the back. You know, we all know where this came from. You know, when the goal kick uh rule changed, where you didn't have to play out of the penalty area, you could play to teammates within you know within the penalty area, everything changed. All of a sudden it became like, oh, well, we we can just play the ball real short and keep possession. And all of a sudden you're starting to see, you know, not just a couple passes, but two, three, four, five plus passes happening in the in the uh in the defensive third as they try to make their way up through the mid-third and to the attacking third. And, you know, it's now commonplace where you can see where that sometimes that doesn't really work out. Because uh, surprise, surprise, the one-third of the field where you want to make the least amount of passes is the defensive third. So why this addictive mentality is beyond me. If you see the opposition high pressing, they're sending a boatload of players into your defensive third, then knock it over the top, bypass all of that pressure with one Route 1 pass over the top to a space where someone can run onto or to a player who's a targeting player and they can receive it. Uh a game this past weekend, I'm sure you all saw it. A great match. Manchester United with Liverpool, uh, with Senate Lamens, who's the Manchester United goalkeeper in the match against Liverpool. He was involved with a, you know, a terrible, a horrible pass, um, you know, which led to a goal for Cody Gokpo, and that uh it ended up resulting in a 2-2 score line. Um Manchester United eventually won that game 3-2. But that was a prime example, and I was screaming, screaming at the goal. What are you doing? Why do you have to play it? You know, you're playing it to a player who's right in front of your goal, and it was picked off, resulted in the goal, the worst of all scenarios that can take place when you build out of the back. Now, I can see, you know, uh showing like you're gonna build out of the back, put some players, you put your two outside backs, maybe your center backs who look like you're gonna play two. That in organically, inherently draws some pressure from the opposition whereby you can then knock it up field. Knock it upfield. But if not, just knock it up field. Um again, it's an addictive mentality. It's a drug that too many, too many teams have uh, you know, uh have taken, if you will, and it results in some horrible situations. Well, like this match this past weekend uh with Manchester United. So I had to open the show by venting. So there you have it. I would love to hear your opinions on all this. What your opinions are on this incessant flopping by players uh surrounding the referees when they're you know waiting for a VAR verdict or something wrong with penalty kicks. And then this building out of the back. Now I know this is, you know, people are gonna say, oh, Giovanni, you know, the building out of the back, that's modern soccer. Are you what are you? A dinosaur? No, I'm not a dinosaur. I'm a pragmatist. I'm a pragmatist. I've always coached pragmatically. And when you do pragmatism says, gee, this is the this is the one place where I don't make it one, I don't want to make a lot of passes because any one pass could lead to a disaster, and sometimes it does. A big announcement here, shifting gears, getting out of the venting uh mentality here. Um big announcement on the GP Soccer Podcast. I've put together a terrific, and I do mean terrific World Cup panel, uh, which is going to air on June the 10th, and it will feature uh some terrific, terrific friends of the GP Soccer Podcast. Uh, all of these folks that have uh been on the show. Uh we have Ronaldo Capabianco, a great friend of mine, uh, was a member of the 1994 World Cup team as an assistant coach and as an administrator. Rob Ellis, a terrific friend of the show, um, used to do the European Report, the author of the great book, The Soccer Coach's Toolbook. Um, Ralph Rigno, you know Ralph Rigno. He is here each and every week with the European Soccer Report. And the terrific John De Benedictus, the executive director of the Canadian Soccer Association. That's the four of them, and yours truly, Giovanni Piccini. We will uh talk about all things World Cup as the as the tournament will open up uh shortly thereafter, and you're gonna want to tune in to that episode. Today's show, terrific per usual, conversation with the coach. Jim Hart is back. Uh he was back, he was on last week. Uh we talked about uh the high school champions league, which was a terrific, terrific uh uh effort that he's undertaking. But this week we're gonna shift gears, uh, he and I, because he's as passionate about this as I am. Uh the discussion turns toward the importance of coaching with a street soccer mentality and uh essentially encouraging kids to have fun just playing. Uh we talk a lot about um unstructured free play, and uh you're gonna enjoy that conversation I have with Jim Hart. In Coach's Corner, Coach's Corner, it will be the third installment with the terrific TJ Kastecki, where this week he talks about improving field vision while under pressure. You're not going to want to miss that portion of the show. Soccer news and analysis with yours truly, Giovanni Pacini, and the European Soccer Report with Ralph Rigno, where it is part two, part two of the European Teams in the World Cup. And then the last block of the GP Soccer Podcast in the American Soccer Revolution, it will be from the uh Curve and Curver Coaching Facebook page, and it basically talking about letting players learn from their mistakes. Checking boxes, checking boxes, checking boxes. Some great stuff happening in uh in the world of women's sports. And I pulled some content uh off the Associated Press and off of Reuters, and I wanted to share with you because I want to make sure on this show that we you know we're an equal opportunity show and that uh we highlight not only things that are happening on the men's side, but also on the women's side, because there's some phenomenal things that are happening there as well, um, which only makes the game as a whole that much better. Um the Associated Press, this is this is just some great numbers for women's soccer. Global women's sports revenues are projected to exceed$3 billion in the year 2026, a significant increase of over$2.4 billion generated in 2025, according to a report. The report produced by Accounting From Deloitte said women's sports revenues internationally have increased 340% over the last four years. That has spurred investment in the women's sports ecosystem, which in turn drives further growth, but also raises the expectations of fans, athletes, investors, and business partners. The report looks at three main types of revenue commercial, broadcasting, and match day. Commercial revenue makes up the great greatest share at 45%. Soccer and basketball are expected to be the top revenue generating women's sports, with each accounting for 35% of overall revenue. Most of the revenue globally in 2025 was generated by North America at 53% that particular year. And from Reuters, kind of uh additional information here, uh U.S. women's sports, the sports market, is expected to grow at 16% annually, roughly three times faster than men's sports, to generate about$2.5 billion in annual revenue for rights holders by 2030, according to the consulting firm McKinsey. The gap in growth also fueled by the emergence of women's superstars such as Indiana Fever Guard Caitlin Clark, who's terrific, by the way, is drawing ultra-high net worth investors seeking stronger long-term returns. Uh, long-term returns. Quote, valuations are growing very rapidly, and there's still plenty of room to grow, said Jason Wright, partner at Ariel Investment and a former National Football League executive. Ariel backs the National Women's Soccer League Club, Denver Summit, which debuted this year. Goes on to say rising expansion fees and team valuations highlight demand as the league fee for an NWSL team has surged from$2 million paid to launch the uh Los Angeles Angel City Football Club in 2020 to the$165 million put up by the owners of the new Atlanta franchise launching in 2028, according to consulting firm Navigate. That valuation upside applies to existing franchises as well. Digital sports media platform Sportico estimates that Angel City is now worth$335 million, up 34% from just over a year ago, when the club's controlling stake was sold to a former Walt Disney CEO, Bob Iger, and his wife, uh journalist Will O'Bay. That deal valued the team at$250 million, setting a global record for women's sports, sports franchises at the time, and investors are increasingly underwriting that upside. This is just terrific stuff. It's just terrific stuff uh to see uh people waking up over the fact that um you know women's sports are just uh a wonderful, viable, entertaining um, you know, uh part of our American sporting culture. So that's all all great news. And I want to make sure that uh you know this kind of stuff gets out there. So I'll kind of put up a capper on this one. If you're if you're a young lady playing soccer or you're involved in in sports period, never mind just soccer. What a great time to be to be part of all this. Um you know, you have opportunities to play professionally, like in the NWSL or the WNBA. If you're the parents of a daughter, you should be so excited that they have such a bright future ahead of them because of uh all the things that I just shared with all of you. Terrific stuff, terrific stuff. And last but not least in checking boxes, checking boxes, um, we're gonna do a little bit more of World Cup soccer trivia. I I gotta admit, I'm I'm a little selfish here. I I like probing this stuff and sharing it with you. Uh I hope you enjoyed as much as I uh as I like to share it with you. So, a couple of questions here in terms of the trivia here. Who created the World Cup trophy used in today's competition? Well, when Brazil won the World Cup for the third time in 1970, according to the rules of the tournament, they took permanent possession of the Jules Remette Cup. FIFA opened a competition to design a new trophy, and Italian culprit Silvio Gonziniga won. His design beat out 53 submissions from seven nations. The new FIFA World Cup was cast by Italian trophy manufacturer Bertoni and features two athletes back to back with arms stretched upwards representing the moment of victory. A globe rests on their shoulders. The sculpture measures 14.2 inches high and is made of a solid 18 karat gold and weighs 11 pounds. It sits atop two rows of malachite, where the names of the winning nations are engraved. It could hold 17 names, which means it will be retired in 2038. Unlike the Remet Cup, the trophy is FIFA's permanent property. Winning teams receive a gold-plated replica two key. How about this one? Why were there only four European teams in the first World Cup? Because the Uruguayan government offered to pay all travel expenses. FIFA agreed to stage the first World Cup tournament in Uruguay. The decision was bitterly opposed by many European federations since there was no air travel in the 1930s. Clubs would lose their players for almost three months as they sailed across the Atlantic and back again. As a result, only four European countries participated: France, Belgium, Romania, and Yugoslavia. I did not know that, by the way. And last but not least, um, which team in the World Cup in 1930 was selected by their king? Well, for the inaugural World Cup championship in 1930, Romania's football crazy King Carol II personally selected the players for his nation's team. At his request, each man was granted a three-month leave from their employers with full pay. The Romanians won their first match against Peru, but were knocked out in the second round by Uruguay. So there you have it. A little bit of uh World Cup uh soccer trivia uh as we get closer and closer to the World Cup again, uh 40 odd or 30 odd days away. So there you have it, the opening block of the GP Soccer Podcast. We're gonna break for a couple of commercial messages on the other side. Uh you can look forward to my conversation with Jim Hart, where we talk about uh the importance of coaching with the street soccer mentality and making sure our kids out there are having fun playing the game of soccer. This is Giovanni Piccini, GP Soccer Podcast. Don't you dare go anywhere.

SPEAKER_10 18:38

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SPEAKER_14 19:26

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SPEAKER_03 21:10

Hola, this is Sorry Barrientos. I'm the director of media partnerships at the NWSL, and you're listening to the GP Soccer Podcast with your life.

SPEAKER_14 22:00

Now, last week we had a terrific, and I do mean terrific conversation with Jim Hart, uh, where uh we talked uh extensively about his efforts um and putting together a high school uh champions league. If you have not heard that conversation, for some reason you missed you missed that episode of the GP Soccer Podcast conversation with the coach, go back and listen to that. Um you're gonna you're gonna learn a great deal about his efforts and putting together not just in Florida where he's situated, but uh maybe even around the country. But today we're gonna shift gears. And by way of kind of reintroduction, uh again, our our guest here today is Jim Hart. And Jim is the uh he is the founder of the Tampa Bay Top 10 U.S. High School Soccer Champions League, and he's the former UN U9 and U10 director for Tampa Bay United in the Western Florida Flames. Jim, welcome back to the GP Soccer Podcast Conversation with the coach.

SPEAKER_12 22:51

Thank you so much, Shivani. Love being here with you.

SPEAKER_14 22:54

Listen, if if if this conversation goes as well as last week's, we're gonna do okay, my friend. We're gonna do okay. Um as most people know who listen to my show, and as most people who know me as a soccer coach, a clinician, a coach developer, coach educator, this idea of uh the importance of unrestricted free play, the importance of street soccer, uh, having the capacity to uh coach with a street soccer mentality is near and dear to my heart. And as I I noted last week, and I've noted uh in previous episodes here, I have a book coming out uh uh entitled The Importance of Unstructured Free Play, Coaching with a Street Soccer Mentality, where I combine this notion that the game is the best teacher. I think there's every soccer coach out there would say that the game is the best teacher, but tying it in with the DNA of true street soccer and coming up with a method by which it it can actually be utilized in the coaching environment. Let's go back to you now for a second here. What what was what brought you to this idea of the importance of street soccer? What was were some of your own experiences as to the importance of using this as the cornerstone of how we develop places, particularly at the youngest of ages?

SPEAKER_12 24:10

Well, thank you, Giovanni. And uh, you know, growing up in Chicago, playing without parents involved, uh all kinds of games was was a part of it. But the biggest influence on this was Dr. Tom Fleck. Uh I was fortunate enough to encounter uh Dr. Fleck uh at a very young age, maybe I was 24 when I first met him, and and start listening to him. And he's written books like the one you're about to release. He wrote one called Let Them Play, which is which is uh along the same lines of of the value of free play. And uh he is a great advocate for really that whole philosophy that the game is the best teacher. Uh I also ran across another genius named Nick Zlatar. Uh Nick was uh a guy who came out of the New York area, he was born in Yugoslavia, uh just a really intelligent guy, and he was uh uh an instructor, as was Dr. Fleck, in my uh B and A license courses uh in the 1980s that I took. And I got to know them really well. I for I'm very Dr. Fleck has passed on. I'm very fortunate to remain connected with Nick Slotar to this day. He lives down here in Sarasota. He's a big follower of the high school champions league movement. He's come to our Champions League finals and our Champions League draws, and it's interesting Nick uh has brought in a lot of his old school friends into the movement, people like Bob Gensler, who is a close friend of uh of Nick's, uh, and that Nick has told him about this high school champions league and other people like that, uh, John Kowalski, other people whose names people would recognize from uh a a day gone by, and these old guard people teacher and recognize that there's too much coaching going on sometimes these days, and and uh and get it. They they just get it. These are people that I was fortunate enough, I didn't realize when I was younger how fortunate I was to to come under their spell and to be guided by them. And so that really led me into my teaching and valuing recess and valuing free play. Um so those were the sort of the the buds of uh of knowledge that came in. Jack McKenzie from Quincy College as well. Uh and just learning from these brilliant people.

SPEAKER_14 26:42

So we talk about unsh unrestricted free play for for our audience here who might not be familiar with what that means. Unrestricted free play basically is I'll keep it super simple, is going out to play. Going out to play. Uh we we all have history of when we were youngsters, no matter where you grew up, uh a certain point of the day, you maybe you come home from school and your mom or dad might ask you, hey, is your homework done? And you say yes, and they'd say those magical words, go out and play. And we did. We went out and played. And you know, it might have been maybe organizing a pickup sport, maybe it was, you know, pickup uh basketball, you know, in the in the driveway, or maybe it was flag football, whatever, but you you did things on your own. Unrestricted free play is climbing trees. Uh having relay races and all the things that kids do when they're out there on their own. Um share with my audience, Jim, that how we can tie in this idea of unrestricted free play and morph it, you know, into the soccer world, into street soccer.

SPEAKER_12 27:44

Well, we need to have uh we need to have an open mind. I I I think that um, you know, as advanced as we're becoming in our soccer, we're becoming closed-minded in as well. I'll give I'll give you an example. When I was at Tampa Bay United, uh I was a director of uh the Underdine and Under 10 competitive program. You know, tons of kids, tons of teams, lots of coaches. And one of the things that uh that we did that I said to the staff there was on Tuesday nights, no one can have practice uh on Tuesday night at our field because that's going to be free play night, Tuesday night. Uh make your practices Mondays, Wednesdays, or Thursdays. We had enough field space for coaches to be able to be able to do that. Unfortunately, none of our coaches would come on Tuesday nights, but all of the kids would come. I mean, we would have 75 kids there with their parents, except I say none of the coaches. Let me take that back. One coach came every week. You might have heard of the guy named Martin Grammatica. He used to be a kicker for the Tampa Bay uh Bucks in the Super Bowl in 2002. Well, Martin was born in Argentina, and he's a big fan of Boca Juniors. I think he's in the Boca Juniors Hall of Fame, if I'm not mistaken. And he always wanted to be a soccer player. But when he came to the U.S. at age 11, uh, and uh there was no soccer where he was, but he learned to kick a football and he made a career as an NFL kicker. But his first love is always in soccer, right? Well, Martin put his kids in our academy. And I and I went up to him and I said, Martin, I know your first love is soccer. Why don't you join our coaching staff? He was like humbled, he couldn't believe the opportunity, blah, blah, blah. And he joined in with us, right? Well, as soon as I laid out that free play idea, Martin was like, oh my God, this is great. This is such a great idea. We should be doing more of this. Every one of the other coaches, Giovanni, thought it was a waste of time. And unfortunately, the club thought it was a waste of time. Now, the club didn't stop me from doing it, okay? But they didn't, and it's not that they didn't support it, because obviously we did it. We did this free play for two years, uh, but um, but they didn't, you know, they didn't announce it on the website, they didn't tout it as a great feature of the program. It was just something that the crazy guy did every Tuesday night. We just let him do his thing. And uh so when when these people would come, kids would come, luckily, as you know, there's a lot of parents that played soccer when they were younger, and I had too many kids there to um have them all play in one game. 75 kids, you got to have a bunch of fields with small-sided fields going on. So, what I was able to do was deputize some of these parents who had played soccer themselves and who enjoyed getting out and kicking around with their kids and just spread them out to different small-sided fields so that there was an adult there in case somebody got hurt and let them play with the kids. Well, this was the most popular thing that we did, and I thought it was the best thing we did. Uh, and uh we used to have music blaring, and uh, in fact, this thing started up called Win the Song. So kids would they'd be playing in a game, right? And a song would be playing and it would come to an end, and a new song would start, and so right in the middle of the game, the score would revert to zero-zero. And then at the end of that song, somebody won the song. Because somebody scored during that song, and they won the song, and then a new song would start, and then it the game wouldn't stop. A new kickoff wouldn't happen, it would just happen naturally, just out of the free movement of play. It was amazing how this stuff happens. Well, I left Tampa Bay United, and Martin went into the uh went into the office and said, Who's gonna take up free play? And they told him, we never really liked it, we never really supported it. We thought we were losing too much coaching time, so we're not gonna do that again next year. And I thought, that is what you're up against.

SPEAKER_14 32:12

So it you know, so they didn't realize that the coaching was not in the traditional sense of the human being who's got the whistle around their neck, but the real coaching was the game. Exactly. That's what does all the coaching, and it it is astonishes me. And as I share this with you, Jim, it just blows my mind that you've got people involved in the game that don't understand that that very element. That the coach, and again, I'm gonna beat this dead horse, and I apologize, but the coach is is the game. And you're really a master at this. You're the person that knows how to you know manipulate the environment, change the environment, you know, to make the coach, you know, to make the coach still still be the game. One of the one of the activities I have in my book that I talk about all the time, and I've done I've done youth clinics on this, and this is so simple, this is easy for my my audience to visualize, to kind of um you know, uh expand upon what I'm talking about here. Picture, if you will, it's a four versus four. They're a group of uh, they're eight-year-olds. What I would do is I take the goals off the end line, about six to eight yards, and I turn them around. So the goal, the face of the goals now follow the end line. And you know, one of the premises of of of the way the method that I've kind of espoused here is that kids look at it and they would say, and I've done this. Um they say, Um, Coach Pacini, I think this is yeah. Um the goals are turned around. Yeah, they are. Well, well, well, what do we do? And ladies and gentlemen, here are the magic words. You heard it here first in the GP Soccer podcast. Figure it out. And Jim, you know the answer to all this. You're you know this as well as I do. What do they do? They go and they figure it out. Yes, figure it out. They go and you and they'll sort it out. You know that they have to, at some point, they're gonna have to hit the goal they have to score on, but now they have to go around it to go. And then I'll I'll take it a step further. Then you bring the kids in after a little a little while, you give them a chance to play, you you a little question and answer, a little Socratic method, like, well, what was the challenge? What was the problem that you saw there? Well, the the goals were turned around. Well, what did you do to solve the problem? Well, we did blah, blah, blah. We did this, this, and this. So that's a very long way of me saying, Jim, and you know this, and my audience now knows this. The coach wasn't me. I was just the facilitator of this environment, the facilitator of this ecosystem, to use all the fancy words, but the coach was the game itself. Just the game itself. And I don't understand. I don't understand why why your your your people who run your club uh don't get that, or or people like that don't get that. It's frustrating.

SPEAKER_12 34:49

Well, I haven't been back to Tampa Bay United since 2014. That's when I left and and went over to uh West Florida Flames, who, by the way, embraced wholeheartedly this idea. But that I and I haven't been to West Florida Flames since 2021, so I can't speak to what's happening there today. Uh all I can tell is what this is uh this is it, Giovanni. This is it. What you're talking about, doing something simple like you know, like turning the goals around. I mean, it's brilliant. We I had a soccer game for 39 years, and uh in the afternoons we had free play options, we called them. And two of the options were what we called rulers of the soccer field, five-minute games, winner stays on. If you lose the game, you come off if you get back in line and try to, you know, try to win the next game and stay on, make your own teams. And the other one was something we called old school soccer. And it was uh just a never-ending soccer game with no boundaries, really. I mean, we used to make fun, like the boundary, the boundaries are the oceans. Don't drown, you know. I mean, but but uh, you know, and and no no stopping. Uh Dr. Fleck used to play uh games at the FYSA ODP weekends where he rolled two trash cans out uh and you had to hit the trash can, old school, right? We used to roll trash cans out, hit the trash can, and uh and that was it. Well, kids loved it and they would play it endlessly. If you had to if you had to get water, there's no water break, just go get water. The team will play without you for a minute. And here you have kids running over to get water and running back to join the game because they don't want to miss anything. And the and the and the coaches are just playing with the kids, nutmegging and everything else is going on. It's fun. You know, and and in those environments, that's where the real fun happens. Your you know, nicknames are coming up, and all kinds of all kinds of stuff is happening. That's what it is. Giovanni, I'm so congratulations on writing that book. I can't wait to read it.

SPEAKER_14 37:00

Well, you'll get a copy, my friend. You'll you'll get a copy, no question about it. Share with my audience, you know, predicated on your your your background, your in as a physical education teacher and your extraordinary history as a soccer coach and as a uh player development uh professional. Share with my audience all of the things in terms of let's just let's just talk human development. Let's just talk about that kid or your kid growing up, all the things that that he or she are learning, are developing, just doing the things that you and I have just described.

SPEAKER_12 37:34

They're developing they're basically learning everything you need to function, not only function, but function successfully in society. So when I was at uh Cypress Woods Elementary School and was a PE teacher, one the best thing that I did was supervise recess. And Giovanni, we had this program, we called it the clipboard and the list. Okay? And the clipboard was this. This is what we told the kids. If you mess up, you're on the clipboard. Don't mess up. There were there were no rules. Like, like, just don't get on the clipboard. And if you get on the clipboard, you're gonna have to come over and sit down for a little while. Well, but if you but if you do something you don't have to do, but you go above and beyond what is expected of you, you might get on the list. And if you get on the list, you could be maybe potentially uh in line to win a spirit award or something like that. Well, the thing is, it's everything. It's stay out of trouble, you know, if you want to just if you want to just get along, fine. But if you want to go a little above and beyond, there might be something special in it for you. I mean, that's life, right? That is life. That is life. Don't commit crimes, do your work, but if you get, if you do more than what's expected of you, you might get a bonus or a promotion or a set, whatever the case may be. It is everything. So I found that recess uh was hiding in plain sight as the most important part of school. Uh, that's what I thought. I really came to believe that. And I think you're really on to something, Giovanni. I think this uh this idea of free play, this lost play environment that we used to grow, what we all grew up with, and now everybody's afraid to let the kids out of their sight, which I understand, but uh we've really lost something with that.

SPEAKER_14 39:30

Yeah, in doing research for this book, I I get into recess and the importance of recess. And to the untrained eye, recess is just, well, just let the kids out for 20 minutes and then we'll just bring them back in. And, you know, no, so long as no one gets hurt or we don't lose anybody, it's been a successful, success, uh, successful period of time. Um and the the vast majority of our elementary schools here across this country are terribly deficient in terms of the amount of time devoted toward recess. Um I know I couldn't agree more. You know, you you've got to have, I mean, some of the some of the best, you know, experts in here will talk about having you know recess, you know, every single day, not just once a week or twice a week or Tuesdays and Thursdays, that type of thing. But every single day you have recess, and you have it for an extended period of time. And all the resources out there, of all the benefits, I'm not gonna bore people to death. Uh, you can read it. You can read it in my book when it comes out. But it is it is an important, and it is it is an essential part of your child's day, as important as your child sitting down and learning how to how to read or how to write and that type of thing, um, because all the benefits that are associated with with that type of activity is extraordinarily beneficial. Extraordinarily beneficial.

SPEAKER_12 40:43

100%. And what I what I found is uh just like in society, I mean, if there were no police ever, you know, people would drive the wrong way on one-way streets, they'd speed too much, they wouldn't do what they were supposed to do, they wouldn't mind the basics. And if you're if you don't have somebody like that's almost like a sheriff on the prowl at recess, not a scary person, not a person the kids are afraid of, but uh a figure that everybody knows that, uh-oh, you know, we we can't we can't we can't do that because we'll get in trouble. That's a people need that. That's human nature. They don't need to be frightened by it, but they need it. And uh then if you have something to aspire to, right? If if the best you can do is get back to even at zero, that's one thing. But if you can aspire to something, then that can bring out something in people. That can create, that can foster creativity. Having this idea of getting on, quote, the list, unquote. There was never a list. It was just sort of a designation, like, Giovanni, you're on the list. Good job, man. That's all. That's it. And then you're like, yes, you know, I I've coach said I was on the list, you know. That kind of a thing is it should happen naturally. And if you have those elements in place, if you're not trying to say, okay, the first step, we're going to talk to you. The second step, we're going to do this, the third step, we're that's a game that kids are used to playing and defeating that game, by the way. No, the first step is don't get on a clipboard. If you mess up, you're on the clipboard. That's it. So don't mess up.

SPEAKER_03 42:22

It doesn't take very much.

SPEAKER_12 42:24

No. And then uh, but then when you have that, when you have that going on, a vibe gets created that uh is special. Then the other thing we used to do, Giovanni, is every Friday we would have something called the 10-minute talk. Uh I've had principals tell me you can't talk to the kids for 10 minutes, you're the PE teacher. You have to have them moving it all the time all the time. But the 10-minute talk, what I found was, first of all, any problem that happened at recess, we used to push it to Friday's 10-minute talk and deal with it then. So we don't have to the wheel every time somebody goes, you know, messes up, we just push it to Friday. But the other thing I noticed was uh kids like when we grew up, most people church every Sunday and right and wrong, you know, you didn't really listen to them, but you knew what it was. What I found was that the rhythm of kids' lives has been disrupted because a lot of kids don't have that rhythm anymore. That weekly rhythm of okay, take a breath, sit down, somebody's going to pontificate about you know the right and wrong in world, and then you're gonna get up and play. We did that of our of everything we did, and people, kids really look forward to it. Eventually, kids started giving 10 minute talks to younger kids, and it was just became really something special. And I think we should recognize uh that the key, you know, that people are in a different situation than than the Situation you and I grew up with. We grew up, we knew that our parents weren't gonna get involved too much in our lives, and that if we messed up too much, our neighbors would tell our parents and we'd get in trouble, or our the teachers would tell our parents and we'd get in trouble. There was sort of this shroud of uh consistency in our lives, and then this weekly rhythm of every week having to take a breath, reset, and let's go again. And kids don't have that right now, and they need it. I think it's important that they have that.

SPEAKER_14 44:33

Well, um among the many contributing factors to that point is is you know technology, social media. You know, it's it's just uh it's made its it's made its way into all our lives. Some of it is good, some of it is not so good. But to your point, uh no, it's a contributing factor there, contributing force is is technology and social media. Um that just has you talk about you know just being consumed by this little mechanism, i.e. the phone or their tablet or their computer. And uh, you know, there the research is out there, there are elements there are portions of their brain which are not being challenged, which are not being developed, um, which sets them up for you know the uh incapacity to to to function in in a lot of ways. Um so yeah, your your your point about rhythm is spot on. Uh we had rhythm. You know, you did you you get up and you went to school and you got you came home and you had your dinner, or then you went out to play, and you know, and then yeah, you if there's 10-minute talk on Friday, well, this is what you do. And you sit and you listen and that's it's just it's not there. That's just not there. Let's let's tie this into soccer a little bit. Um in your opinion, what what specific technical qualities, they say, do you believe that street soccer develops better than say traditional drills, and I use that word for a reason, or team training?

SPEAKER_12 45:46

Functional problem solving. Uh and uh, you know, I I like it to to uh I'll tell two quick anecdotes. One it one one is uh I ran into some kids uh in high school. I thought I was gonna be in basketball when I was coming through school, didn't know soccer was in my future. And I ran into some kids that were like, there's one kid I remember particularly, his nickname was Deadeye, and he he was called Deadeye because he seemed to never miss a shot. It's nothing like it was supposed to be. Like no book would teach you to shoot this way, no PE teacher would teach you here is the correct way to let go a shot. But Deadeye, he made almost every shot he took, he had his own technique. And so, and it just came from playing. It just came from it's just how he learned how to do it. When I was uh ODP coach in FYSA, and we would bring in teams for you know, for trials, uh, I became enamored with curver methods, right? And and I still am, I great believer in them. But uh, we used to have all these kids there for state trials and doing curver exercises, and there would be always like five, six, seven kids that were just struggling. But you know what? They were the best players there. They were the best players, and now we're asking them to follow this sort of cookie-cutter movements, which all the rest of the players needed, but the best players don't need, that messes them up because they have a natural way of dealing with the ball. And so I think what free play does is you develop technique not based on following the steps of a drill, like following dance steps or something. You develop a technique that's born out of what's going to win you that game that day or gonna prevent a goal or whatever. And you develop technique that works for you, like those great players in FYSA. They struggled with curver, but they were the best players on the field because they can make things happen. When we don't do fruit relay, what we do is we get a lot of technicians that can put on a an exhibition of skill, but can't really play. Putting plugging that in to actual game situations is everything. And uh, you know, I think that's the big thing.

SPEAKER_14 48:19

You know, one of the things I I I love um what I refer to and I've read about productive chaos. And when you when you put a bunch of kids together, let's do we'll use soccer. This is a soccer show. Uh they're out there playing soccer, it it's obviously, you know, it's it's chaos. But there's something very, you know, productive about it, hence the term productive chaos. What does that look like, you think? And and and share with my audience why that productive chaos is indeed valuable.

SPEAKER_12 48:50

I think it's valuable for a couple of reasons, but one of the most important is the aspect of decisions. So, so, okay, so you've got a kid, right? He's playing a video game, right? And it he doesn't really know how to play that game yet. And things are coming at him left, right, and center. He's constantly losing, you know, and having to start over. But he's just continuing to go at it and work and get better and better, and finally past level one, and finally past level two, and so forth. There's nobody, imagine standing over the kid's shoulder, telling him what button to push when. It would never work. It's like a soccer coach trying to tell kids how to play the game of soccer. No, it's the chaos of that game, that video game, which is completely chaotic and beyond the kid at first. But by but by operating in that chaos, they can, especially if it's if there's the safety of not worrying about if you mess up, then you can learn to operate. You can find your place. You can figure out what works and what doesn't work. I'm not suggesting that this be the prime method of teaching kids how to play. But what I am suggesting is that by not including an element of this, then we are robbing the kids of something essential. I mean, why do we not get players in the top 250 players in the world? I think part of it is part of this, part of what you're talking about. Uh and uh by playing, you know, by just learning by playing, kids are gonna do things that make no sense in games, but you know, they'll try them, they'll try them anyway, and they'll get better. And uh and they would never try them if they were afraid that a coach was gonna be displeased if they tried those things. One of the reasons I think we have robots, uh kids that play like kind of like robots is because of the lack of this chaos in their in their training and in their uh in their soccer lives. You need that. One of the reasons people love recess, kids love recess is it's chaotic. It's like they're in charge of the world. They love that. The fact that it's chaotic is not a problem. What it is, it means they're making the decisions. When you have productive chaos and nobody to teach you to sort it out for you, then you have to make a decision. Well, kids love, they will not put down a video game just because they lost it all every minute. They'll pick it right back up and they'll stay with it. Why? Because they're the one that decides when to push button A or button B. It's their decision, it's their game, it's all up to them. And productive chaos comes down to the decisions. The decisions kids can make. I want to run here. Oh, that was a stupid idea. Well, there's nobody yelling at me because of this, so it doesn't matter. I'll just continue figuring it out. Kids don't lose on purpose. One thing you notice when kids play a game, a pickup game, they don't kick the ball in their own net. They're trying to kick it in the other net. They're trying to win. You know, they're just they're just maybe not doing it in the prescribed manner that the coach has in mind, but they're trying to win. They're trying to find solutions. And that productive chaos, I think, really helps. Because look, we look at a game, right? Comes down to the final 10 minutes of a tie game. This is not as much a tactical battle anymore as it's a war. Uh, or you look at the goal Christian Polistic scored against Iran in the World Cup, where it was a nice buildup, but the ball into the box, Christian Polistic had to give himself up at risk of injury to see that that ball went in the goal. That's that's the productive chaos piece. Here comes the ball, it's gonna be chaotic in the box. Good luck, Christian. You know, go get it. And he scored a goal in the World Cup.

SPEAKER_14 52:49

Yeah. You know, you t you touched upon an extraordinarily important point in your answer there, uh, that is kids being afraid to try something. Um and during that, during those periods of productive chaos where they're sorting, literally sorting things out, um, they may try something that you know didn't work, and all of a sudden you hear screaming from the sideline a coach or a parent up in the stands and why did you do that? How come you didn't pass there? And every time that that transpires, every time that that happens, the the element of fear is increased. One of the chapters in my book, and this is not a shameless plug in my book, uh it's all fresh in my brain, so it's like it's all pouring out of me because of having just finished writing it, I have a whole chapter that it's entitled Less Is More. And it's all about you know lessening the amount of time you literally talk to the players and letting the game be the ultimate teacher. I talk at length about you know uh debriefing. And there's there's four times where you you would deb three times you would debrief in a training session, and it's all done Socratic method. And while the kids are playing, you don't say anything. You you let the game going back to to be the teacher. Um and it's it's my heart breaks. I I'll get emotion, not emotion, but my heart breaks, uh Jim, when I go, and I love go watching, I call them the Munchkins. The U6s, the U8s, I love watching those kids play, and it's yes, it's productive chaos, and it's Amoeba soccer, and they're all clumped together, and you hear these screaming from the side, where are you going? What are you doing? You pass the ball there, and the coach is screaming, the parents are, and my heart breaks for these these kids who just want to go out and play a game and figure things out, and and they find such immense joy when they figure things out, and and a coach or a parent or somebody up in the stands who thinks they know more, they just throw a big wet blanket on it, and you've just diminished and destroyed this newfound bit of joy from the kid. And um, it's just heart-wrenching. It's heart wrenching.

SPEAKER_12 54:50

It is. It is, no doubt about it. You know, the other thing it does too, Giovanni, as you know, is when the coach happens is a good player or two kind of emerges. All of the rest of the kids know that they're the good players. And well, what they do is they begin to sort of copy that player and emulate, try to figure out what that player is doing. And so here, the game, another element of the game being the teacher, is kids learning from each other. And when the overriding influence in the game is the voices of parents, whether they're in a lawn chair six, you know, six inches from the sideline, or the coach yelling, well, even that best player is drowned out by all of that. And you and that best player doesn't emerge or has a harder time emerging anyway. And what if everybody like when we grew up? There was always a best player, it was always the big guy, and everybody rallies around the big guy and kind of learns from the big guy. And so productive chaos, just let this happen. Because what happens is somebody on the other team says, Okay, I've had enough of this big guy scoring, I'm I'm gonna do something about it. And instead of we're just taking the key elements out, we're just crushing them. It is heartbreaking.

SPEAKER_14 56:25

It is. Um couple of last things I know you're gonna let you go. Um as one who's been in coach education, coach development with United Soccer Coaches, NSCA for well, a thousand years, um, we oftentimes talk about what's sexy out there, you know. Uh you know, for example, you know, the the sexy thing recently is uh you know, building out of the back when they changed the goalkeeper handling rule. You know, we can now come out of the out of the defensive third and you know make our way upfield. Um, you know, there's always that pressing became a sexy thing not too long ago. Um and when I go to coaching education courses and I'm teaching something wrong, you're at the convention, I kind of eavesdrop, and you you hear all these coaches moving, you know, the the beer bottles and the salt shakers and talking about this formation and that formation, and that's because that's what's sexy. Yeah. Not you know what's not then they're not talking about that should be sexy, you know, talking about turning the goals around with a group of eight-year-olds and how they figure things out. That should be the sexy conference. Maybe we might want to change the name sexy, um, but you know, cool, whatever. That's what should be the predominance of discussions when you get together for coaching education courses, you go to the convention, you're having coaching meetings, you know, everybody likes to talk about what Barcelona is doing or what Manchester United is doing, what Juventus is doing in terms of you know tactics and strategy and formations and systems and all that kind of stuff. We don't spend enough time. In fact, we spend very little time talking about the real sexy thing or the real cool thing is what do we do? What do we do to make these six-year-olds better, these eight-year-olds better? And I'll stretch it, I could talk about grassroots even to ten. I kind of still see them as grassroots. Um it's gotta be the sexy conversation, right?

SPEAKER_12 58:06

Yeah, yeah. No, it's it's crazy. It's utter craziness. And, you know, the have you talked with Carl DeWazen from California?

SPEAKER_14 58:16

I know of him, but I have not spoken to him now.

SPEAKER_12 58:19

Uh he's he's right on your wavelength, Chio, right on your wavelength. He's pushing an idea called quad goal soccer, which is just basically having four goals on the field as part of regular, you know, recreational soccer league play, introducing that element. And and it's uh so it it when you said, hey, let's talk about ideas like turning the goals around. I mean, Carl is all over that. He's somebody that would be great on your podcast. You and him would click together. And then uh Nick Zlatar, I mean, such a genius. And, you know, there are what it what it reminds me of. Carl is in his 70s, Nick is in his 80s, I'm in just getting ready to turn 70. We've all, you know, we all can come across as a bunch of old farts. But uh I think that there's still an old guard out there, and they're still kicking, that understands this message that you're talking about and that believes in it. And I'm sure there are young people that do as well. Like we have a kid in here in uh Tampa Bay area named Ben Malou, who was in Boston for three years as an assistant, or two years as an assistant coach at Boston University at one point, but they get it, they see it, and they understand it, and these people need to be empowered. But I think the the element of money coming into the game at the youth level has had a detriment effect of, you know, the minute that somebody is now cashing a paycheck to be a coach, isn't that kind of uh an indicator that they're some sort of a quote expert, unquote? But they really aren't. They aren't expert. They don't really understand the issues deeply, and they don't understand the fundamental things that you are talking about, Giovanni. The fundamental harm that is being done by all of these, you know, getting, trying to get kids to quote, build out of the back, unquote, or whatever it is that everybody's focused on in a in a given time. Just the deep simplicity of letting kids play and believing that the game is a better coach than you are. And just, you know, yes, give guidance, yes, give instruction, yes, you know, but find your place in that. Don't take it over. I don't know. That's that's what I think.

SPEAKER_14 1:00:36

Yeah, you hit your spot on. You know, we we talk oftentimes about, you know, the uh coach-centric versus player-centric uh environments. And play, you know, player-centric is well, the the player is the focal point of the environment, the focal point of a game. And coach-centric is the opposite. The coach is the focal point, and we don't want coach-centric people uh, because invariably they're the ones who talk the loudest and you know have the most uh patches on their jackets indicating that their U-10 team won a championship somewhere along the line. Um, you know, and they like they want to just basically say, hey, look at me, look at me, look at me, and they just yell and scream. There's too many of coach-centric people out there involved with teaching the game of soccer versus player-centric coaches. Um until we can make that ginormous shift to getting coaches to shut up a little bit and really embrace this idea that you and I have been discussing over the last half hour or so about letting the game be in the teacher, and then having the ability to know how to manipulate the environments where the game is still the teacher. It's street soccer to, you know, in its purity, but you're you're offering up some funky things, constraints. I'll get technical here, get funky. A constraint in there that changes it changes the way the game is played. Like I know. Turning the goals around is one of the examples I use. They're still playing, they're playing soccer, the DNA of street soccer is still present. Your job as the coach is to minimize how much talk you you you know you actually put out there and let them play and watch and be a good observer. We don't have enough coaches out there at every level. I'll take it from not just the grassroots, I'll take it to the most advanced level. We don't have enough coach who just observes, just shut their mouths and observes. I watch, I'm sure you do, this past weekend. We watched the English Premier League, and you watch, I watched the USA Japan women play, and coaches screaming and yelling and gesticulating with their arms, and you know, put and I'm like, A, if if you knew you had a if you knew any of this, these players really aren't absorbing what you're saying to them. They're involved in the game, and there's tension and there's anxiety, and they're and they're trying to play, and you're yelling and screaming, and they're just not absorbing anything you say. And a six-year-old is not gonna absorb anything you say. You know? Um so again, it's it's one of the one of the many challenges we have here in this country in terms of changing the world. I agree, I agree. So, Jim, if people wanted to learn, oh go ahead, please, please, yes, yes.

SPEAKER_12 1:02:57

No, I was just gonna say coaching from the standpoint of principles and identifying principles and then just adhering to them and seeing that the kids understand those principles, and then letting them work within those principles to find solutions rather than giving solutions and expecting kids to memorize solutions. But uh yeah, we're getting ready to launch a website for the high school champions league. Uh that's gonna that's gonna be coming out very soon. It's almost ready, and uh that, and then uh I mean I haven't really done anything in terms of writing or anything like that about PE since maybe 2021. Uh but um I've got uh well I've got a I've got a YouTube uh channel, and uh there's a lot on there that I did in my PE. We use music a lot. We use music in our training proactively. Kids loved it, absolutely loved it.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:55

I'm sure they did.

SPEAKER_12 1:03:56

I'm sure they did. Uh it was amazing. And so there's that, and uh, you know, anybody's well welcome to drop me uh an email. I'm I'm I'll talk to anybody. And by the way, we're taking Zoom meetings uh all the time about uh the development of the high school champions league. I see the high school champions league being an extension of this conversation, Giovanni, because high school soccer's got some of that productive chaos in it. You know, it's got some of that, it's it's not the prettiest, but it's got that element of deep emotion in it. And the kids really care. And that's what we're looking for. We're that's what the game is missing, I think, uh, in some cases, anyway. So the high school champions league movement is kind of like the uh the final act for me, if you will, to promote these ideas. They all come back to the same thing, though. I congratulate you on this book. Um, I've been trying to think like this for my whole career. Great stuff.

SPEAKER_14 1:04:58

Well, I appreciate that. Uh our guest today, this this week and last week as well, uh, is Coach Jim Hart. Um again, he's the founder of the Tampa Bay Top 10, which has obviously expanded. Uh U.S. High School Soccer Champions League and former U9 U10 director for Tampa Bay United and West Florida Flames. And we've had a spirited discussion, uh Jim and I, these last couple of weeks, about uh high school soccer and uh street soccer as well. So, Jim, many thanks for coming on the GP Soccer Podcast Conversation with the coach.

SPEAKER_12 1:05:26

Thanks, Giovanni. I'm on LinkedIn too. Anybody that reaches out by email or LinkedIn or even X, I will get back to you and we will talk.

SPEAKER_14 1:05:35

Fantastic. Giovanni Piccini here. This is the GP Soccer Podcast. We're going to break for a couple of commercial messages. You know how that works. We'll re engage on the other side. Don't you dare go anywhere. Soccer is known around the world as both a sport and an art, with players of all ages and abilities enjoying the game. Now, the art of the game is only realized after hours. Of mastering ball skills, learning to communicate with your teammates, and receiving support and instruction from the right coaches. With over 100 years of coaching experience, Director John Barada and the coaching staff at the Beautiful Games Soccer Academy are pleased to offer their expertise to the players and their parents. Coach Barada is one of the most decorated and accomplished soccer coaches in the Northeast with a proven track record of developing both talented players and coaches. The Beautiful Games Soccer Academy believes that success on the soccer field reads success elsewhere in a young adult's life. Players who attend learn the importance of forming good habits, attempting new challenges without the fear of failure, and seeking out support and advice from others. The program fosters the creativity within each player and encourages them to experiment, improvise, and problem solve on the fly. At the Beautiful Game Soccer Academy, every day starts with a smile on our face and a ball at our feet. To learn more about the Beautiful Game Soccer Academy, visit www.beautifulgamesa.com.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:07

Hey everyone, this is Dan Abrahams of the Dan Abraham Soccer Academy. I am so thrilled to be speaking with Giovanni Pacini of the GP Soccer Podcast.

SPEAKER_14 1:07:17

And welcome to the GP Soccer Podcast, Coach's Corner, where you'll find great tips and advice on how to teach the great game of soccer. Welcome to the GP Soccer Podcast, Coach's Corner. Today's coaches are TJ Kustecki and Len Villis. Their topic today is Vision Training While Under Pressure.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:38

Hi there, this is TJ Kustecki from Vision Training Soccer. I'm one of the directors. I'm in Tivoli, New York with Len Billis, the other director who's in Hellertown PA. It's our pleasure to be on once again for the GT Soccer Podcast Coach's Corner session two on vision training. That's our topic. Last time we talked about how to improve players' field vision and decision making. We introduced the first part, which was dribbling. Dribbling with your eyes up. And the first steps of building the most important habit is empowering players on the ball to look around. Key things that we talked about is one is to make sure the ball is in front of you far enough where you're looking around and you're looking at the ball from the bottom of your eyes, and able to look side to side, dribble, and change direction, and make real-time decisions. Len also talked about the importance of taking up to five looks every 10 seconds, just like the top players in the world do. The Messies and the Deborah's. Today we're now gonna introduce adding pressure of defender, how we deal with that defender uh closing us down. Glenn, can you share with us the next step, which is the three S's shield scan span.

SPEAKER_15 1:09:04

Strategic uh dealing with pressure. If we use our body to block the opponent from the ball, that will make it much easier for us to continue with the ball. If we expose the ball to the opponent, then it'll be easier for them to snatch the ball from us. So we use the term two-foot block. If your body is sideways, you're blocking the opponent with both of your feet, the ball being furthest away from the opponent in that position. Next is a very critical piece, which is taking a quick scan behind you. We can see what's in front of us, but we don't know what's behind us. There could be another opponent, or there could be a lot of open area to dribble to. So if there's a lot of room behind us, we spin away from the opponent, and if there isn't a lot of room behind us, we dribble away from pressure, giving us an opportunity to keep the ball again.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:05

Thank you, Lance. So we talked about our last episode that uh we could look to dribble away from pressure. So can you give us a game that we can introduce with uh defenders and attackers that uh players have to uh implement this? Uh and is there a way to get them to mentor each other to help each other as another step in the process?

SPEAKER_15 1:10:29

Sure. Uh the the best thing to do is to introduce fewer defenders than there are uh players with the ball. So if there are a dozen players, maybe go with eight players on the ball, four players without. Uh the players without hunt for a ball, and the players, of course, dribbling are looking using the skills they learned in the first lesson, which is scanning to areas where there's more room, going there, and of course if an opponent comes close to them, implementing a three S. And we can do this for maybe 30 seconds a minute, uh, to see if the players are able to survive and keep the ball. If they're not uh as good at it, then we relax and let them train one versus one, matching up with each other and actually receiving a pass from the teammate and then blocking and doing the spin or dribbling away from pressure.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:38

What if they're having trouble with that piece on 100% land? Is there a way that we can introduce uh pure mentoring and pure coaching in this exercise?

SPEAKER_15 1:11:48

Right, so then again we take away the opponents, uh we just allow uh players to match up with another teammate and go through the routine of uh shielding, scanning behind, and dribbling away without the opponent uh practicing uh taking the ball away. So just the opponent applying pressure as opposed to stealing the ball.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:16

So in this exercise, which Len is describing, what we're doing is that we're approaching each other. So if if uh you have the ball and I'm on the defender, I would come and I would pressure you in a situation where you're forced to shield, scan, and spin away, and then I would find someone else and I would pressure them under 50 to 75%, perhaps. So they feel the pressure, but they're able to be successful. That would be the next step to introduce if we're finding that the players are losing all too often. Anything you want to add, Len, before we wrap up our session? Oh, I think you nailed it. Thank you. In our final episode, we're gonna talk about passing and receiving under pressure and how to combine and play in different rhythms. This is TJ Kasnecki and Len Billis, and that's today's coaching tip here on GP Soccer Podcast Coach's corner.

SPEAKER_13 1:13:13

This is soccer news and analysis with Giovanni Pacini.

SPEAKER_14 1:13:26

From the Associated Press, FIFA President Johnny Infantino opened his address at the FIFA Congress in Vancouver by affirming that Iran will participate in the World Cup and that the team will play in the United States despite the conflict between the two nations. An investment group has come forward to buy the Vancouver Whitecaps and relocate the Major League Soccer Club to Las Vegas. The group is led by Grant Gustafson, grandson of B. Wayne Hughes, the founder of Public Storage. United States defender Serginho Dest made his return from a hamstring injury by coming on as a substitute as PSV Eindhovers 2-2-2 draw at IAX in the Dutch League. Dest entered the game in the near-hour mark when the score was at 1-1 for his first appearance since injuring his left hamstring on March 7th against A.Z. Alkmar. He missed two recent, recent pre-World Cup friendlies for the United States, but his return should boost his chances of making the squad for the tournament in June and July. Carlos Heel scored a penalty in the 97th minute to help the New England Revolution make it five straight wins at Gillette Stadium to start the year, beating Charlotte 1-0. The Revolution at 6-3-1, 19 points, are 5-0 at home for just the second time in franchise history, joining their record-breaking 2020 season. After a back-and-forth match, in which each team seemed poised to break through, Charlotte's Morrison Ajimong was called for a handball in the penalty area after deflecting a Peyton Millis cross deep into storage time. Heel stepped up to the spot and shot to goalkeeper Killian Kalinis left for his first goal of the season. The game ended with Matt Turner leaping to block an Ajimong header, and Mamadou Fofanum heading the rebound off the goal line in the final sequence to deny Charlotte at 4-5-2, 14 points. New England is 5-1 in the last six games. That's soccer news and analysis. Next up, the European Report with Ralph Farino. This is the GP's company.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:50

This is the second week that I'm looking at the 16 teams from Europe that have qualified for this summer's World Cup Finals here in North America. And we are starting this time right at the very top with the number one ranked, FIFA ranked France national team. And they will be entering the competition as a top title contender, a country that has immense depth at their disposal. And most pundits do consider them a favourite to reach the final. They won the qualifying group in Europe very, very comfortably and find themselves placed in group I alongside Senegal, Iraq, and Norway. And actually, uh the game against Norway is going to be here in Boston, and it's going to be a very, very hot ticket as it pits together Erling Haaland against a certain French superstar striker, and everyone will be looking to see who will come out on top. I think the key challenge that they are going to face up to is living up to their billing. I mean, everybody looks at them, looks at their team strengths, the unlimited talent pool that allows them possibly to reload rather than rebuild. They just lost Hugo Ekatique, who was impressive here in Boston when the French beat the Brazilians. He's out for the tournament, but they have so much talent to take his place that his absence will probably scarcely be noted. Tactically, they are highly efficient. They play a very, very disciplined 4-2-3-1. They balance immense physical power with a lot of elite technical skill. And on top of that, they have considerable individual balance. Brilliant, sorry. Mbappe and Dembele in particular are widely regarded as two of the world's best and premier attacking threats. Defensively, they have players like William Saliba of Arsenal that provides a sturdy foundation for the cautious, and yet I think that their style is cautious, but on the break, they are devastatingly effective. Key players. Everyone's going to pick up uh Real Madrid's Killian Mbappe, and he unquestionably has the talent, he has the history in the World Cup. He can be a little bit temperamental at times, but he has a strong supporting cast. Besides the Ballandor winner Usamane Dembele, there is Michael Elise of Bayern Munich, who has been sensational this season for the Germans. Defensively, I mentioned Saliba. They also have Barcelona Jules Kunde and the manager Didier Deschamps is in his last tournament with the French, as I kind of suggested. He does have a cautious style, and in the formation, I think that we can look for the Real Madrid pairing of Chuameni and Camavinga to form a very physical and dominant midfield double pivot. They are heavily favoured for the deep run, as I say, and besides the elite talent that I'd mentioned formerly, they have some very talented young stars coming through, such as Barcala and Zaya Emery of PSG, and they are very much a title contender, with the pundits highlighting their numerous strengths and their depth. Next up, we have Belgium who are ranked 9 in the world right now. And I think it's fair to say for the last few tournaments, Belgium has not quite lived up to their billing. And they are currently in a situation where they are navigating a transition from its so-called golden generation with lots of young talent coming through. They are placed in group G with Egypt, Iran, and New Zealand. And really those are teams that shouldn't give them too many issues if they're going to qualify for the knockout rounds. Yes, they are heavily favoured to advance, but they are seen as outsiders for the title, but possibly with enough quality to make a run towards the semi-final round. Now their strength, they still have some of their veterans, and uh as I kind of suggested, they have youthful talent as well. And the veteran experience is going to be primarily in the shape of Kevin De Bruyne, who's now plying his trade down in Italy with Napoli. He is still the creative heartbeat of the team, and everybody knows about his ability to control the tempo of a game and his vision, uh, which not only ensures that the team has possession, but can all of a sudden break out and take advantage of unpredictable wing players like Jeremy Docku of Manchester City. Now Dohou has tremendous speed, skill, unpredictable, as I say. So that means Belgium are going to be dangerous on the break. And in the centre up top, we have another veteran, but one with a great history, and that's Romelou Lukaku. He is Belgium's all-time leading scorer. Even though he's in his 30s now, he still has a physical presence and a proven finishing ability in the big game. The managers, uh sorry, the managership has changed. We have Rudy Garcia now at the reins, and his task is going to be to try to blend his veterans with the new generation. So overall, Belgium is expected to advance but faces pressure to transition from their golden generation to their younger talent. But look out for Doku because, as I mentioned earlier, he is projected to be one of the new stars of the tournament. Up next, Austria, who are ranked 24 in the world. They have been out of the World Cup and European tournaments for some time now, but they are very much seen as potential dark horses following their long absence. They are located for the tournament in Group J with Argentina, Algeria and Jordan, and many many analysts view them as a surprise package team who are very much capable of challenging the top nations. And very, very recently in April, they had a commanding 5-1 friendly win over Ghana, who are no mugs in terms of playing football at high level. Under understoried manager Ralph Orangnik, Austria's identity is built very much on an aggressive, pressing and tactical organization type of system. Many people have labelled it the Red Bull Ball. And they employ, as I say, a very high pressing system. They look to disrupt the opponent's rhythm, and defensively they are extremely disciplined and solid. In the eight qualifying matches for the World Cup, they only allowed four goals. And at the heart of it all, we have key figures like Real Madrid's David Alaba and Conrad Lamir of Bayern Munich. He is in the midfield, and this gives them a tactical flexibility which allows the team to maintain intensity, which is very much a key word for Ragning's system. They also have Marcel Sabitza of Borussia Dortmund. So overall, the core of the team is strong, it's solid, it's experienced, and they could be a tough nut to crack. So for the first World Cup tournament in 28 years, they did win their qualifying group, and they represent, as I say, a potential surprise package team, as they do return to the tournament with a very strong tactical system under Ralph Ragni. Finally, for this week, we have number 38 in the world, Sweden. And Sweden over the years has surprised, well, well, maybe not surprise, you know, but they've gotten as far as the the last four four on a couple of occasions, albeit a long, long time ago. The last time being uh when the tournament was in the USA in 94. They are in possibly one of the toughest, if not the toughest group, which is group F alongside the Netherlands, Japan, and Tunisia. But still, on paper, they should be considered a dangerous underdog, with a squad that many, many pundits feel is, you know, has a lot of value for the players that they have. The greatest asset and their team strength heading into the tournament is they have on paper, in theory, an electric attacking quartet that features some of Europe's most prolific strikers. And yeah, they have Victor Jokeres of Arsenal and Alexander Isak of Liverpool, again, labelled two of the world's deadliest strikers in theory. Creatively, they have support from high-pace wingers like Alanga and Dejan Kolashevsky of Tottenham, and they are players that historically will create a lot of chances for the team. Now, all these players have certain setbacks coming into the season. So Yokarez at Arsenal. Okay, he scored goals and he scored a couple this weekend in the victory over Fulham. He's had an up and down season, but there's no question about it, he is dangerous close to goal. Alexander Isak, who last summer commanded a record transfer fee in England, is unquestionably a top striker, but he broke his leg and he's only just making his way back into the team. Hopefully, from a Swedish perspective, he will be ready and firing on all cylinders when the tournament rolls around. Alanga has had a difficult time at Newcastle, uh a new team for him, while Kuleshevski is a top top player but hasn't played for Tottenham this season due to injury. Will he be ready in time for the tournament? We have to wait and see on that. How much is it going to take to bring him up to speed? Again, a question mark. However, something that may tip the balance for him and also for Sweden is they have some very youthful, energetic midfield players. For example, Lukas Bergval of Tottenham Hotspur and Hugo Larsen of Eintracht Frankfurt. And they have totally revitalized a midfield that seemed to lack a little bit of mobility before. So the last two, Bergval and Larson are potential breakout stars. Can they help the recognized players really play to form? At the helm, Graham Potter was brought in after a very poor qualifying campaign in which they finished bottom of their group. And they were favoured to go out, but thankfully uh because of because of doing well in the Nations League, they got a bye and they were able to work their way through the playoffs. So they are considered very much an underdog in a very strong group. But who knows what can happen, and that's the fun, and that's why we get so engrossed in the sport of soccer, association football, call it what you will. So that's the second week that I have uh looked at teams from Europe, and for part three next week I'll be looking at Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, and last but not least, I'll be looking at the Czech Republic. So until then, enjoy your football, enjoy your soccer, and I will see you then.

SPEAKER_14 1:28:33

Hey there! Giovanni Piccini here, host of the GP Soccer Podcast. And I want to reach out to all of my great listeners who own pets, and even those who don't. Listen, your local animal rescue organization is on a mission to provide loving homes for pets in need and they need your help. Whether through adoption, fostering, or financial contributions, every bit of support counts. Join me in making a positive impact. Visit your local shelter today and help give these wonderful animals to get the second chance they so deserve. Together, we can create a community where every animal is cared for and loved.

SPEAKER_08 1:29:12

Hello, this is Heidi Smith. I'm the author of Play On, and you are listening to the GP Soccer Podcast with Giovanni Picini.

SPEAKER_14 1:29:28

You are listening to the GP Soccer Podcast. And welcome back to the GP Soccer Podcast, the final block of the show. The block of the show that is called the American Soccer Revolution, where I analyze, throw out, dump, blow up, dissect, rethrink, overhaul, scrap, all things having to do with American soccer. If you're a regular listener to the show, you know I really enjoy uh probing the internet, probing out there in social media and getting some great content from some great people uh who are sharing thoughts and messages that I think are worthy uh to share with you. And this is no different. So this is from a Facebook uh Facebook page where it has to do with curver coaching. And if you're a longtime fan of the game or you're a coach, you know all about curver coaching. This is worth listening to.

SPEAKER_09 1:30:25

If you want to win, just get the strongest kid and get your goalkeeper to kick it 30, 40 meters, and probably you will you will win games, right? But you won't improve the players. So where you will improve players is by playing a system where they get more touches, which would be a a possession uh game dominated by passes under 12 yards. Okay. Now you probably lose a lot of games.

SPEAKER_11 1:30:57

Oh, it's it's certainly concede goals, because you're asking your defenders, your goalkeeper to take maybe more risks than the other approach.

SPEAKER_09 1:31:03

So in other words, it's risky, right? So risky. And and and especially in the last third, when you're playing with the goalkeeper, as you rightly say. So uh and that makes everybody not happy, right? I I think it makes the players less happy. I think it's the people that are most happy at those age groups are the parents or grandparents like me and the coaches. The players often kind of say, well, when's the next game, right? So the the idea that mistakes are okay and risk and mistakes are part of learning is something that I think the parents and the coach should support, in my opinion. And and because it it allows the players to try things that they wouldn't try.

SPEAKER_14 1:31:56

So um it begs the question: how many of you out there in my vast listening audience know that, uh know of a coach or coaches who do this very thing, who get the biggest, strongest player, they put them at the at the top, and uh they get the uh another player with the strongest kick, and they just line in the field for that kid to run and get the ball, and he runs past everybody, or she runs past everybody because they're bigger, stronger, faster. Um you know those people still exist. Uh even in this modern era of soccer, where we come so far in terms of you know methods and practices and appropriate ways of teaching the game and that type of thing, there are still people out there that still do this Neanderthal mode of coaching, if you will. Um The analogy that I sometimes use uh when I when I talk about this in a more formal settings, or in this case here, uh, and it's it's I don't know if this is good or not, but I'll I'll let you be the judge. If you're a basketball coach and you had a you had a kid in your team that was tall than anybody else, I don't know. The kid is 14 years old and he's 6'5, right? Would you put him at one end of the court and then you you put uh on an inbounds pass or whatever, your you know, your best pass is just throw it way up in the air for this kid to get it, and he just turns around and puts it in the hoop. Now, might you win a lot of games? Sure, because that kid could, you know, he's taller than everybody else and can put it in the hoop virtually every single time. Again, I don't know if that's an accurate uh comparison here, but it's the best one I come up with. You you obviously wouldn't do that, I guess, you know, is the very short answer here. You wouldn't do that, at least I hope you wouldn't. Well, the same here in soccer. Ladies and gentlemen, you've got to remember that when we're talking about, you know, uh kids, particularly grassroots age kids, and and kids that are getting into the larger, um, larger groups, you get into 7v7s, 9v9s, and eventually senior-level soccer at 11v11. You know, it's imperative that they the kids can go out there and feel comfortable enough to try things and make mistakes. And then learn from those mistakes. And through the helpful guidance of a coach, can help them get through those situations. The last thing that these kids need when they get out in the field and they and they make a mistake, and they will, is a coach yelling and screaming at them, or parents yelling and screaming at them, or both of them screaming, yelling and screaming at them. That's the worst thing they could do. Another analogy I oftentimes use, using a school setting, if your son or daughter was in a classroom and they made a mistake, uh, I don't know, uh, conjugating a verb, would you, as a parent, if you could get in the classroom and yell and scream at your daughter because they couldn't conjugate the verb, would you want the teacher to yell and scream at that child because, oh, you didn't you didn't conjugate that verb correctly? Well, of course you wouldn't do that. You would never do that. So we've got to take that mentality. These are the things that we would not do in an educational setting. Transfer it over to the soccer field and say, well, we wouldn't do it here either, because this is indeed a learning environment as well. And we have to provide the necessary environments, the necessary support where these kids are okay with making mistakes, knowing that someone will be there to help them, guide them, and have them learn to become better soccer players or better at conjugating verbs. So there you have it. Uh, that's my that's my rant today on the American Soccer Revolution. That's our show for today. If you like what you hear, please tell everyone. And remember, those likes matter, subscribes matter, keep pounding those buttons because all kidding aside, it helps me, it helps my sponsors. You can follow the GP Soccer Podcast. All of the social media and new episodes are available every Wednesday morning. Don't forget to check out my website at gpsocopodcast.com. And if you're interested in advertising on this fantabulous show, then email me for goodness sake at GP4Soccer, and that's the number four at yahoo.com. This is your host, Giovanni Pacini, and I will catch you later.