Long gone are the days when soccer in the USA existed on the fringes. Its massive popularity among the nation's youth, among other factors, moved it deep into the American mainstream. So it's easy to forget there are still battles to be won.

By Mike Woitalla (from Soccer America Magazine's Youth Insider)

When U.S. Soccer President Sunil Gulati announced the hiring of Claudio Reyna as Youth Technical Director, they spoke much of learning about player development from foreign clubs. That's the least crucial element of Reyna's quest to improve the youth soccer environment in the USA.

By Mike Woitalla (from Soccer America Magazine's Youth Insider)

By Mike Woitalla (from Soccer America Magazine's Youth Insider)

By Mike Woitalla (from Soccer America Magazine's Youth Insider)

If you've been wondering why tournament play has become such a major part of the youth soccer experience, follow the money.

By Mike Woitalla (Soccer America Magazine)

By Mike Woitalla (from Soccer America Magazine's Youth Insider)

It seems to be conventional wisdom that scrimmaging - letting children actually play soccer - is something that should happen only at the end of practice. It's promised to them like a dessert, the reward for eating the broccoli.

By Mike Woitalla (from Soccer America Magazine's Youth Insider)

This column is for the kids. Adults can stop reading now

The first season of the Women's Professional Soccer league produced smaller crowds and bigger financial losses than anticipated. Of course, the nation's economic downturn has been blamed, and the analyses of the league's struggles have focused on off-the-field issues.

By Mike Woitalla (from Soccer America Magazine's Youth Insider)

The game will always be played on the field, but everything that leads up to it has become easier thanks to high technology.

By Mike Woitalla (from the September 2009 issue of Soccer America)

The age at which players are being offered college scholarships is getting younger and younger. Not everyone believes it's a healthy trend.

By Mike Woitalla (from the August 2009 issue of Soccer America)

In an era when so much of youth soccer has become profit-driven, the 45-year-old American Youth Soccer Organization continues to provide low-cost play for children thanks to its steadfast belief in volunteer coaches.

By Mike Woitalla (from the July issue of Soccer America)

The story of this year's winner of "Sueno MLS," soccer's answer to "American Idol," underscores how high the odds are stacked against low-income children in American youth soccer.

By Mike Woitalla (from the June issue of Soccer America)

Anson Dorrance, the USA's first world championship coach, and Pia Sundhage, its latest, share their views on how American girls soccer can keep getting better.

By Mike Woitalla (from the May issue of Soccer America)

North Texas provides an example of how the youth landscape is changing now that MLS has entered the fray.

By Mike Woitalla (from the April issue of Soccer America)

Soccer camps are a big part of the nation's multi-billion dollar summer camp business and impact several levels of the American game.

By Mike Woitalla (from the March issue of Soccer America)

Is the USA's ability to produce great goalkeepers threatened by early specialization?

By Mike Woitalla (from the February issue of Soccer America)

There's universal agreement that a results-driven approach to youth soccer is a detriment to player development. And although ignoring the scoreline is easier said than done - it's worth the effort.

By Mike Woitalla (from the December issue of Soccer America)

Soccer America columnist Paul Gardner comments on the ever-increasing involvement of British clubs in American youth soccer: "There is something distinctly offensive about this attempt to palm off on U.S. coaching systems and 'methodology' that have failed to measure up in England."

Read the whole column HERE.

By Mike Woitalla (From Soccer America's Youth Soccer Insider)

Brian Hall became a referee at age 13. He earned his FIFA badge at age 31, officiated at a World Cup and numerous major international tournaments, and earned MLS's Referee of the Year honor four times. But most teens who take up refereeing don't last very long.

By Emily Cohen(From Soccer America's Youth Soccer Insider)

My daughter comes bursting through the door after soccer practice and exclaims, "Mom! We had so much fun! Maya and Natalie and I got to be on the same team!" "Did you win?" I ask. She replies, "I have no idea."

By Mike Woitalla from AYSO's PLAYSOCCER Magazine.

Imagine you're undertaking a fairly difficult task: assembling a piece of furniture with hieroglyphic instructions, filling out IRS Form 4562 on April 14, or standing on the highest rungs of a ladder painting the crown moulding in your living room with 14-foot ceilings. Think it would help if someone yelled at you during the process? Of course not.

Yet when a child tries to control a bouncing ball in a crowd of other kids, adults often believe it's perfectly acceptable to scream "advice." The shouting at America's soccer fields is so epidemic one wonders if adults ever reflect on their behavior. Adults who would never shout at children while they're enjoying the playground, drawing in a coloring book, or rearranging their dollhouse, loudly instruct from the sidelines without hesitation.

As U.S. Soccer works on improving the nation's refs, their job isn't made any easier by coaches, parents and TV commentators.

By Mike Woitalla, Soccer America Magazine

Of course, it's wonderful that there's so much soccer on American television. Young players watch high-level soccer, then take the field trying to emulate it.

Let's just hope they're not listening too closely to the commentary, which frequently encourages the kind of soccer that we don't want from our young players - or from any players, for that matter.

Foreign clubs are getting involved in American youth soccer, which makes one question what they're after and whether we want what they're offering.

By Mike Woitalla, Soccer America Magazine

The annual Dallas Cup attracts top youth clubs from around the world, but it's not always easy to tell from which country the teams hail, based on their name or uniform.

What makes the epidemic of sideline shouting particularly egregious is that the instructions are usually misguided.

By Mike Woitalla (Soccer America Magazine, June 2008)

What better venue for an endless array of amusement and bemusement than the youth soccer field? Much is predictable, like the adult sideline behavior, but the unexpected never ceases.

Soccer shed its reputation as a foreign sport thanks to the youth participation boom that started in the 1970s, but new waves of immigrants continue to enrich the game.

By Mike Woitalla (Soccer America Magazine, May 2008)

What will the effect be on U.S. soccer as young Mexican-Americans continue to find opportunities south of the border?

By Mike Woitalla (Soccer America Magazine, May 2008)

MLS expansion challenges American youth soccer to produce exceptional players at a higher rate.

By Mike Woitalla (from Soccer America Magazine, March, 2007 issue)

Major League Soccer, aware that it must raise the caliber of its play as it enters its 13th year with 14 teams, increased the limit of foreign players allowed on each team's roster to eight.

There will always be sound reasons for a healthy presence of foreign players in MLS. The diversity adds spice, attracts global interest and helps raise the level of domestic players. Italy, Spain and France, for example, produce brilliant players at an impressive pace yet their leagues are brimming with foreign players.

But MLS's current need for imports has much to do with the fact the USA isn't developing enough players to meet the demand. The challenge of filling rosters with high-quality players will grow as the league does, to 15 teams in 2009 and 16 in 2010.

Lifting the cost burden off players remains the big challenge for elite youth clubs.

By Mike Woitalla (from Soccer Magazine, February, 2008 issue).

A replica of the French federation's youth development program may not be feasible in the USA, but some key aspects of the system are worth considering.

By Mike Woitalla (from Soccer Magazine, February, 2008 issue).

When should coaches start assigning specific positions to young players?

By Mike Woitalla (from Soccer America Magazine, January 2008 issue)

We see it so often one wonders whether American youth coaches are getting their soccer advice from Garry Kasparov.

"Kids come up to the halfway line," says Sam Snow, U.S. Youth Soccer's Director of Coaching Education, "and actually balance themselves not to go past it, because they suddenly realize, 'Oh my god, there's the line that I'm not supposed to go past.' Their arms are swinging, it's almost like they're on a balance beam or something."

It's a prime example of overcoaching - prevalent even though it's generally agreed that pickup games or street soccer spawned the world's greatest players.

By Mike Woitalla (from Soccer America Magazine's Youth Insider)

It's one of the most common screams heard on the youth soccer fields of America: "Pass it! Pass it! Pass it!"

Unfortunately, parents and coaches often aim their shouts at young players who are at a stage of their development when they should be encouraged to dribble.

Becoming a confident dribbler is the first step to developing a comfort on the ball necessary to be a good passer and shooter. Discouraging young players from dribbling is like telling toddlers to shut up when they're learning to speak.

By Mike Woitalla (Soccer America Magazine, 2002)

Near my house, there's a wonderful park with two playgrounds and a pond with geese whom you shouldn't feed, because they get aggressive and chase toddlers in hopes of a handout. There's a meadow large enough to handle three soccer practices for young children.

Here come the coaches and the cones. Not a few cones for goalposts, but orange funnels everywhere. What will they do with them?

Interest from foreign clubs in teenage American players is at an all-time high and an increasing number of youngsters are considering leaving their homes to pursue their soccer dreams aboard.

By Mike Woitalla (from Soccer America Magazine, November 2007 issue)

By Mike Woitalla (from Sept. 28 SoccerAmericaDaily)

Regardless of which keeper stood between the U.S. posts, what mistakes Coach Greg Ryan made or the red card to Shannon Boxx, the difference between the teams in Brazil's 4-0 rout of the USA was skill. Dribbling, trapping, shooting, passing. Brazil topped each category. And Brazil entertained.

Click HERE to read my column in the New York Sun on the USA's performance at the Women's World Cup.

By Mike Woitalla (Soccer America Magazine)

Whether to pursue entry into U.S. Soccer's Player Development Academy wasn't an easy choice for many of the nation's top clubs, particularly in areas like North Texas and Southern California, where clubs are already entrenched in highly competitive leagues. Don Ebert, Director of Coaching of the Irvine Strikers, explained why his club decided to enter the U.S. Soccer league for U-16 and U-18 boys.

Edgar Castillo, who was born and raised in the USA, debuted for the Mexican national team on Aug. 22. The 20-year-old explained why he chose to represent his ancestral country rather than the USA: "I have dual citizenship. I am a Mexican-American. And I decided to play for Mexico because the other side never called me."

When Edgar was a young teen growing up in Las Cruces, N.M., his Strikers FC coach Linda Lara scraped up money to send him to ODP tryouts. She said the response she heard from ODP coaches was, "He's so small. He's so small."

But Castillo, now 5-foot-9, tried out for Mexican First Division club Santos Laguna in 2005 and has been a starter since January of 2007. Still, he received no contact from the U.S. national team program.

The U.S. national team fields players who are subs on their European clubs or see no league action at all. Yet its coaches don't even show interest in a Mexican First Division starter.

That just doesn't make sense.

(I wrote about Castillo and other Mexican-Americans heading south in the May issue of Soccer America: Young U.S. Talent Heads South).

By Mike Woitalla (from Soccer America Magazine's Youth Insider)

What's really important about the U.S. Soccer Federation's ambitious move into youth soccer isn't just the U-16 and U-18 boys leagues of its new U.S. Soccer Development Academy.

For sure, taming the wild west of youth soccer that overburdens elite teen-age players is a crucial part of steering player development in a better direction. And expanding the player identification process by incorporating the nation's elite clubs into the national team program should decrease the chances of missing young talent.

But what will make the most profound impact is whether U.S. Soccer succeeds in its stated goal to change the approach to how the nation's very young players are coached. The Academy launch, stress its architects, is only the first step in their quest to change the youth soccer culture in the USA.

Specifically, U.S. Soccer aims to have youth coaches adopt the Federation's Best Practices Player Development Guidelines.

Creating the U.S. Soccer Development Academy is the USSF's first step in trying to take advantage of the strengths of American youth soccer while tackling its flaws.

By Mike Woitalla (From Soccer America Magazine)

If boys youth soccer continued along its current path, it's safe to say we'd be getting more of the same. Lots and lots of decent players, and a handful of brilliant players. Is that acceptable?

It shouldn't be. The USA is a giant country with tremendous resources and millions of players. There's no reason why it shouldn't be churning out world-class players the way countries like Brazil and Argentina do. But with all the growth at the grass-roots, with all the self-proclaimed highly competitive leagues and tournaments that spread through the nation like kudzu, with thousands of youth coaches earning good money to "teach" our kids how to play, how often do we produce the truly exceptional player?

Click HERE for a piece I wrote for the Oakland Tribune on pro soccer in the San Francisco Bay Area and marketing to the youth soccer crowd.

By Mike Woitalla (from Soccer America Magazine's Youth Insider)

Some of the things I've heard adults yell at children at soccer games are just downright hilarious. Like the coach who yelled at a 6-year-old, "Give him a target on the flank!"

Oh, how I wish the kids would start shouting back. Go ahead and give an earful right back to the loudmouths on the sideline.

From Soccer America's "Youth Insider:"

By Mike Woitalla

What's really important about the U.S. Soccer Federation's ambitious move into youth soccer isn't just the U-16 and U-18 boys leagues of its new U.S. Soccer Development Academy.

Convincing parents to pay for professional coaching is like picking low-hanging fruit. So what does that mean for the children and how this country is developing players?

By Mike Woitalla (From the June 2007 issue of Soccer America Magazine)

The next time you attend a youth soccer practice or game, pay close attention to how much time passes without hearing at least one adult telling the children what to do and how to do it. Also, time how much actual soccer the children play during a practice session.

By Mike Woitalla (From the June issue of Soccer America Magazine)

Let's look into the future of American soccer, shall we?

The year is 2012. Major League Soccer had been going strong until the coaching shortage, the top guys having moved to youth soccer, because that's where the real money is.

The Dallas Diaper Demons won the first Under-2 U.S. National Championship in a hard-fought victory over the Chicago Crawlers, whose star playmaker was ejected at halftime for tossing his sippy cup at the referee.

"He didn't deserve more than a two-minute timeout!" complained the Chicago coach. "The cup was empty!"

The Dallas coach was unavailable for comment because the Diaper Demons had to catch a flight to the West Coast, where they're competing in the College Coaches Super Showcase Invitational. But the club's director was on hand to praise the new national championship.

"Without the incentive of a national crown," he said, "a lot of these kids would just keep playing rec ball. Then they arrive at our club with all sorts of bad habits that are hard to un-teach when a child is already 3 years old."

In fact, there are few recreational leagues left around the country, having been replaced by Soccer Academies, Soccer Schools and Soccer Factories.

The number of volunteer coaches has dwindled to 18. Some cite the new requirement of completing an 82-hour H license course to coach above the U-5 level. Others credited the demise of the volunteer coach to the good sense of parents who really care and love their children.

"Parents have finally comprehended the fact that it's foolish to trust their children's soccer development to someone they're not paying lots of money," said the director of the Super Star Soccer Factory for Infants & Toddlers, one of the 191,870 professional trainer programs for kids around the nation.

The impact of the booming U.S. youth soccer business has been felt globally. The migration of British coaches to the USA leaves so many UK kids un-coached that Prime Minister Richard Branson has asked the U.S. government to cap H1-B work visas. U.S. Congress responded with a curt "no way," citing a new surge in demand for coaches to fill positions in the rapidly expanding Prenatal Soccer Camp industry.

(This article originally appeared in the June 2007 issue of Soccer America Magazine.)

The U.S. Soccer Federation looks set to dramatically decrease its dependence
on the Olympic Development Program, which is run by the state associations and
U.S. Youth Soccer. According to Washington Post reporter
Steven Goff, the Federation is creating a nationwide academy program and a national youth league for teenage boys that will involve up to 2,400 players at both the U-15 and U-18 age groups. "The federation plans to identify 60 to 80 youth clubs across the country," reports Goff. "Those clubs will then select players from the under-15 and under-18 age groups to participate in the academy."

Academy teams will play in a regionally structured national league in which the U-16 national team will compete. Goff reports that the plan,
reportedly approved by the U.S. Soccer Federation's board of directors, encourages each MLS club to field teams; that national team coaches will scout the games; and that teams will play a 36- to 38-game schedule, plus friendlies.

America's youth soccer landscape already includes national championships run by
U.S. Youth Soccer (cup and league), U.S. Club Soccer, the Super Y-League, and
Red Bull -- plus a myriad showcase tournaments. The USSF's ambitious move
into the grassroots level of player development has long had many advocates, but it will also further heat up what we call American youth soccer's Turf War.

"When play becomes beset by rules ... kids can lose their natural enthusiasm and willingness to try new things" is the response exercise physiologist Michael Bergeron gave when The Los Angeles Times asked his opinion on organized soccer programs for 3- and 4-year-olds. Reporter Jeannine Stein, who even tracked down soccer classes for 18-month-olds, noted that AYSO lowered its starting age to 4 in 2004. A Herald Community newspaper report on a "pro" coaching program for children as young as 2 quoted one of the coaches as saying, "It teaches them discipline." One mother described the lessons: "It's non-stop, they're always doing drills back and forth."

-- Mike Woitalla

How over-coaching and the emphasis on winning stifle young American talent.

By Mike Woitalla, Soccer America Magazine

The little boy dribbled and kept dribbling. He had taken the ball away from the midfield pack and zoomed toward his own goal. This surprised the other children and allowed him to keep the ball to himself for much longer than any player had managed during this U-8 game.

Having put some 15 yards between himself and the other players, he slowed down and seemed to marvel at all the territory he now had to himself. He started making a wide U-turn and flashed a big smile.

He moved down the sideline and back into the other team's half, then put his foot on the ball and stopped. When a couple of his little opponents approached, he accelerated toward their goal and took a shot that nearly scored.

What creativity, improvisation and savvy! And in his smile was the joy of soccer.

So how did his coach react?

The rise of paid coaches is just one reason why it commonly costs an American child thousands of dollars a year.

By Mike Woitalla, Soccer America Magazine

There are a lot of ways to spend lots of money on youth soccer.

You can send your 3-year-old to soccer ''classes'' for $30 a session -- if they don't conflict with his Ring Around the Rosey and Duck Duck Goose lessons.

For $75 an hour, a coach with licenses from three different countries can teach your 8-year-old ''technical ball skills in a nurturing one-on-one environment'' at a park near your home.

Got a spare $180? Hire a ''fully qualified coach'' to come to your kid's soccer game and produce a thorough evaluation of her talent.

Parents can eschew such expenses and kick the ball around in the backyard with their children. But other costs are unavoidable for the parents of children involved in competitive youth soccer.

Elite soccer clubs charge as much as $2,000 just to cover coaches' salaries and the club's overhead costs. On top of that are uniform and travel costs, and league registration fees.

A typical annual expense for a 13-year-old playing for an ambitious travel team is about $3,500.

By Mike Woitalla (From the April 2007 issue of Soccer America Magazine)

LEADERS OF THE NSCAA Black Soccer Coaches Committee hail the increase of black players in mainstream American soccer -- but now await an increase in opportunities for black coaches. Hylton Dayes, the chairman of the BSCC, is the head coach of the University of Cincinnati and a Region II ODP coach.

The USA, with its ever-changing demographics, is too big and too diverse to believe the current system can uncover all the soccer talent. ...

So does MLS's Youth Development Initiative signal the great new era of American soccer?

Read Mike Woitalla's Soccer America Magazine article HERE!

By Mike Woitalla

Do players benefit when an increasing number of organizations compete for a piece of the American youth soccer pie?

Taking the drilling and screaming out of youth soccer will make the game more enjoyable and create better players.

By Mike Woitalla, Soccer America Magazine

Let's take the approach so many adults bring to youth soccer to other children's activities.

Take a bunch of 6-year-olds to the playground, but don't let them scamper off to explore the different structures. Make them all line up and wait patiently to take turns on the monkey bars. If one of them wanders off toward the swings, scream at him.

Be sure to tell them exactly how they should climb. Yell at the slow ones to go faster. While they're hanging from a bar, shout at them to ''grab the next bar!''

By Mike Woitalla

Nearly three decades since the creation of the Olympic Development Program, the question remains: Are we finding the best players that this huge nation has to offer?