Growing the ‘beautiful game’

St. Boniface

St. Vital

Winnipeg

There are big changes coming to how youth soccer programming is delivered in Manitoba.

The changes come at the direction of Canada Soccer, the sport’s national governing body, and are to be phased in over the next couple years, explained Hector Vergara, executive director of Soccer Manitoba.

The concepts and practices will be introduced to eight-to-10-year-old players this year, and 11-to-13-year-olds in the coming years.

“The idea behind it is to focus on development of the player, to ensure that at the end of the day the people participating in our programs are essentially receiving a consistent, safe, and nationally aligned experience,” Vergara said.

“There is a training philosophy that will be consistent across the country.”

The idea, Vergara added, is to keep more kids playing soccer longer, while acknowledging that kids learn and develop at different rates and with different priorities.

“There are players who want to play less time during the week versus players who have more interest because they really love the game and want to excel and challenge themselves,” Vergara said. “We have to ensure everyone has the opportunity to grow as they see fit.”

Coaches from three Winnipeg soccer clubs have taken big steps this year to help them prepare the next generation of the city’s soccer players, while aligning with the goals of Canada Soccer.

“There are big grassroots changes coming this year,” said Kristjan Nordman, a coach with Bonivital Soccer Club. “This course is meant to go hand in hand with some of those changes.”

Nordman is one of four local soccer coaches, along with Enrique Garcea from 1 v 1 Futbol Dreams Academy, James Silva from Winnipeg Phoenix FC and Jean Berchan, also from Bonivital, in the final stages of completing their children’s diploma certification through Canada Soccer’s child licence program. The year-long program, which wraps up Jan. 31, focuses on creative ways to coach young children.

Nordman explained that a shift from the “two practices and a game model” for eight-to-10-year-olds toward more of station-based learning model will take place this season, with festival style game play encouraged, as opposed to one weekly game. Rosters will also be more fluid, with tryouts eliminated for younger ages. The idea is to provide any child who wants to play an opportunity to do so.

“The idea (is) that when we play games, we’re going to play a lot of them and maybe mix up the teams more regularly,” Nordman said. “We’d be looking to modify those (teams) as you go, based on a lot of different factors — age, size, talent.”

“We want it to be inclusive, we want it to ensure it is based on the game itself, and that it is age appropriate for the kids,” Vergara said. “The festivals will replace the league play, but there will still be games within that festival format. The Winnipeg Youth Soccer Association is working with us and the clubs to provide dates during the week for consistent training, while providing match days for different age categories.”

Nordman said he has heard some apprehension from parents, but he noted that the station-based learning model of the training sessions is meant to reflect game play.

“I think there’s a fear out there that we’ll be playing loosey-goosey all the time, that there won’t be enough learning, but that’s why we’re taking the course, to look at different ways to get those learning intentions out of the kids,” he said.

“The approach is more how do we introduce skill and tactics at the same time, and always have it relevant towards the game, rather than doing things in a vacuum, as we have done…in the past. We’re trying to find creative ways to include our learning intentions within the game itself. Kids learn a lot better when its fun, when it’s a game.”

“Change is never easy,” Vergara said, noting Bonivital ran a pilot project last year, based on the changes to come, and that response was mostly positive.

“We understand that. But those people who are open minded have seen that this will be a positive change for the province.”