I’m the head coach of LA Galaxy South Bay, coaching Boys U10 and U11 and Girls U17 and, from the time I started, I told them that I wasn’t going to teach them soccer; we were going to be playing football.
There’s a difference. There’s a difference in attitude, the way people move on the ball, the way people move off the ball, the way you kick, the way you act, the way you talk…
One thing this city has over pretty much all of the others is its diversity of people. I’m from Jamaica, and on our coaching staff, there are only a few Americans: everyone else is from somewhere else. The experiences of different countries and cultures are really valuable. Football is not just a recreational game; when I train my teams, they train to win.
The education in the sport, the community and camaraderie is all important, but in football, as in life, you need to work hard and do things in the right way to achieve your goals and be successful. Sometimes that means going back and re-teaching kids how to kick a ball, how to move, and how to think about football, helping them to unlearn bad habits that were a holdover from a previous generation’s interpretation of the game.
Part of what this new soccer culture is about is the re-education of the parents. Just because you want your kid to play in a youth team, doesn’t mean they deserve the spot over someone else. It’s a system of support and dedication, understanding the flaws of our players and enhancing their strengths, teaching them to play their positions, to spread out and express themselves, to not be afraid to do things the ‘wrong’ way to achieve what you need to.
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It’s a process, a long-term project, but the difference is already huge. Clubs like ours—along with others—are doing everything to ensure these kids have a proper development of love and passion for the beautiful game. They’re getting an introduction to what football is like outside of the US, making them better players and better people.
It’s a whole new ball game.
