College Soccer....Lets See Where the Game Takes Us? - Chris Kranjc, Hastings College

Today's Blog entry comes from Chris Kranjc, the head men's soccer coach at Hastings College.  Chris shares his reflections on coaching soccer in the GPAC and NAIA.  Kranjc has led the Broncos to 15 straight GPAC regular season titles and the NAIA National Championship in 2010.   I thank Chris for sharing his insight and reflections with us this week.

As a small college coach, I have been able to witness the game at all different levels. I have seen U6

teams train and play as well as national teams train and play. Now, I will say I have done little research for this topic as many of the questions I will pose come from observations from the last 17 years of my coaching. We are getting better with our methods of coaching, we are becoming more aware of the development of the player but yet we still have not made the strides necessary to elevate the coaching and development of our players as we tend to emulate other countries or styles to create our own. So, let’s start with this hypothetical thought…..Go tell the DFB (German Soccer Association) that you like all their work. Then tell them Germany has expanded size wise to now include 7 time zones, you have added 200+ million people, soccer is now the #5-8 sport in the public attention and the Latino and African American populations are not really integrated into the mix. My point is we are so unique, HS soccer is a reality, pay to play is a reality, college soccer is a reality, etc, etc. We have the resources, we have the demographics but yet we still tend to follow the leads of other countries without creating our own brand, or have we?  What about curriculum vs player needs?

Let’s consider this excerpt from Soccer American where they interviewed Garces….

The club coaches say the Federation doesn’t dictate to them how they should coach their youth, or what formations to play, but Pachuca’s Sporting Director Marco Garces says there’s a general agreement of how Mexican soccer should be played. Soccer America August 2012.

“I think there’s an overall respect for the game, for the ball,” Garces said. “We all try to play out of the back. We try to play a more sophisticated type of soccer in the sense of having the ball, not losing possession. In general, there are always clubs that try different things. But overall the style of play in Mexico is to try and hold possession and to try and create chances. It’s positive for development."

Does our curriculum address this? More important does our environment address this? Is there any way to incorporate this line of thinking into how we “conduct business” in this country? While I truly believe soccer continues to rise in the USA, we still have issues at the grassroots level. Too much emphasis on winning, “levels”, and money rather than the focus on development of the player and person. At the college level, we continue to see players not prepared with the skills necessary to compete and even lead from within their team. Even though we have moved in a good direction with our academy teams, it also has seen ripple effects on the non-academy groups. What is our mission within this country to better promote the game, promote development, and develop positive interactions?

Now, here is passage from Ian Barker, DoC of the NSCAA…
“Collaboration and consolidation. The leaders in all the constituent groups need to come together and work in the best interest of not only their constituents, but also the development of the game. There needs to be common ground and healthy respect for where there is agreement to disagree. The game could also be empowered and invigorated at a youth level if some of the acronyms partnered or merged.” Soccer America October 2012
Interesting thought as we have too many “rival” organizations vying for numbers. It is about money, ego, and wins as discussed above. If we are to develop the game and the players, should we consolidate clubs, leagues, etc? We know high school soccer is a reality. Are we taking those opportunities away for kids to play for their high school? Does it seem the USSF is solely focused on the academy player rather than the whole? How do we collaborate and consolidate for the betterment of the game and for the total development of the player?
Follow or Lead?
Every time someone thinks they have the answer and it is Brazil, or Spain, or an “academy”, or a better youth organization than the next we get distracted from creating the US brand of soccer. We have best sport sciences in the world, we have vast network of coaches and scouts, we have some great minds….how do we take the lead in forging ahead with the development of our players? Should we continue to emulate Spain, Barcelona, Germany, etc. or develop our own methods, our own ways, our own brand? Discuss…..
Development of Coaches and our brand – Let’s get talking!
Steve McClaren, article in the December 2012 edition of the Guardian,-‘Dutch have a different agenda. Everybody here wants to get the ball out, they want to be a coach. They discuss with you not winning or losing, they discuss tactics. ‘Why did you play that team? Why did you make that change?” It is not about: “Win, you’re the hero; lose you’re the bum; draw, you’re somewhere in between. It’s a football nation, a coaching nation. The develop coaches here.’

How we develop this in our country? Conventions? Coaching schools? Surely those 2 avenues cannot be enough? How do we as coaching professionals bring this into our communities as we know in order develop players, we develop ourselves? Coaching Education is vital to the development and success of the game. Coaches need to be instructed on teaching of skill, strategy, physical, and pedagogical side to coaching. We also need parent education to be installed in communities to discuss the value of sportsmanship and bought into what development entails. Character education must be also be considered in grassroot programs and coaching education.
Training Environments for Player Development:
At my A license in 2004, Coach Arena said something very profound to our group that has had an everlasting impression on me: “To get better at soccer, you must play soccer.” Simple, right? I know. Also, at a NSCAA Symposium in 2002 Coach Gansler stated, “In order for technical development to occur, there must boundaries, pressure of opponent/time/space, and ball.” Ok Chris what is your point…my point is how can we simplify our training environments but yet make them more constructive, competitive, and economical for our players? How do we produce intelligent, technical players? And ultimately what are we developing for? I see so many players who are not technically proficient as our mindsight is to win, win, win. So players are taught to run, run, run. Kick, kick, kick. Even at D1 programs, the object is not on the game but the result. I see more NAIA, D3 teams that play soccer. Can we change this? Can we implement more competition in training and take away the need to win before U16? Absolutely. Lets see where the game takes us.

-Chris Kranjc

Learn more about Chris Kranjc HERE

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