Editor's note: In the wake of the Canadian Women's collapse at the World Cup and the discussion that has ensued on how to fix our game from the grassroots up, Canadian Soccer News has been accepting guest columns from influential members of our community. Last week, the owner of Milltown FC, Dino Rossi spoke about why the CSA needed to face the cold hard truth. This week, we were approached by the CEO of Oakville Soccer, Paul Varian, to address some of those talking points and to outline what they're doing to make a difference. This is his take on what needs to be done.
By: Paul Varian
With Canada’s women’s national team back home from the World Cup far earlier than expected or desired, the post mortem is well underway in the online chat rooms around Canadian soccer.
Of course, the role of the amateur soccer club has rightly been thrown into the debate. What is the role of a youth club in building a competitive national team program? It seems sensible for the largest club in the country, Oakville Soccer Club, to weigh in on this. So here I go.
This week, our Technical Director Jason deVos wrote a blog for CBC cutting to the heart of the matter. In it, he argues that the failure of the current set of national team players is due primarily to a flawed youth soccer system.
He’s dead right. To create a winning national team we have to start focusing on the most important years of a player’s development - the formative years of age 8 to 12. It's time to face up to the truth and start teaching our kids the game properly, at ages when they need to learn it most. And the key agents to deliver this have to be youth soccer clubs.
Of course, doing this won't be easy.
Part of the problem is that winning commonly defines success in youth soccer. It's easier for parents to understand than the technicalities of long term player development. So clubs tend to just let the kids play to win rather than risk upsetting parents who, for the large part, fund the club game in this country.
But we can’t go on like this. We have to start developing players the right way, and at the right age. I know it’ll take a while to produce results on the national stage. But there really is no quick fix. We have to start at the bottom and do it right. And we have to start now.
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This week, Oakville Soccer Club released its new Techincal Development Plan. It’s been quietly crafted by Jason deVos over the last six months and the club finally unveiled it this week.
Crucially, the plan puts the development of the player at the centre of everything the club does. It focuses technical investment at core age groups when kids can be best developed. There’s no mention of winning or losing. There are no targets around trophies or cups. Rankings mean nothing to the club. Instead, the plan intrinsically adopts Long Term Player Development principles and focuses on where the club’s technical development should be – youth soccer.
Central to the plan are ambitious targets in coach development. We're aiming to make the club the top centre of excellence for coach development in the country by 2015. And with the resources the club will be committing to this important area, expect this goal to be reached. It starts this summer with the recruitment of team of 16 professional head coaches for each age group, from U11 to U18. The further addition of a full-time Coach Development Manager to join deVos and his team of full time staff and contract coaches will mean Oakville Soccer Club will have a strong faculty of over 25 full time, part time or contract professional coaches.
Through this group of professionals, we’ll develop and support the club's 900+ volunteer coaches like never before. With better base level coaching standards, we'll ensure that every player that comes through our system is taught the fundamentals of the game, and properly assessed and developed. Not every kid coming out of Oakville will be a great player. But they will all have the chance to be technically proficient in the fundamentals of the game.
And here’s the kicker. We ideally want our best players to leave. That’s right. We want all our players to advance to be the best they can be. And we know this means the best of them will graduate up and out of our programs. Some will move into academies at professional clubs such as Toronto FC. Others may become part of the youth national team program at the National Training Centre and go on to represent Canada. And others may win scholarships to universities in Canada and the United States and progress their soccer development that way. Players leaving the club in this way is actually the name of the game for us.
Some clubs see players leaving as a threat or failure on their part. But to us, it defines success. If we're passing our best players on to bigger and better things, we're doing our job.
Is our plan perfect? Probably not. Are there going to be challenges implementing it? Without doubt. Does that mean we shouldn't take the task on because it’s so daunting? Absolutely not. We're fully aware that this is a long road. Our goal is to have at least four Oakville players competing for Canada at the World Cups of 2019 and 2022. We know this is a long term project.
But we’re starting. And we'd rather not be alone.
So anyone in authority in the Canadian soccer club community who is reading this, I speak to you now. I urge you to join us. The time for talking is over. The time for action is now. The system can't change without you taking a bold leap with us.
Start by committing yourself to getting our national teams to the World Cup, as we have in our new Strategic Plan. Yeah, I know. How can a club be responsible for qualifying national teams to the World Cup? I get that no club can do that on their own. But neither can the CSA, you know. We all have to take responsibility for this goal. And if clubs don't take it seriously, who will?
Analyze your club's role in soccer development. Simplify it. Channel your resources into your core activities. Partner with others for everything else. It's working wonders for us.
Show leadership in your Boardroom and have the courage to cast parochialism aside. Put your players' development ahead of your club's trophy cabinet. You'll be amazed how quickly it'll start to fill up anyway, if you do. Understand that doing the right thing doesn’t mean all your players will leave.
Coaches, know your role as educators. Be bold enough to embrace it. Join us in putting the player first, not the result. Speak to parents. They may not be as technically knowledgeable about the game as you, but don't resent them for that. They have a right to ask questions - they only want what’s best for their son or daughter. And when you explain how what you are doing will help the overall development of their child, you’d be surprised how they will support you.
And finally, a call to everyone - let’s get behind our governing bodies. Parking every problem in the system at the door of Place de Soccer in Ottawa or at the Soccer Centre in Vaughan is not reasonable, nor productive. No, the CSA and OSA are not perfect. They need to be accountable too. But their job isn’t as easy as it may seem. Fighting with them and working against them clearly isn't working. Let's see what happens if we work with them, for a change.
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Paul Varian is the Chief Administrative Officer of Oakville Soccer in Canada, the largest soccer club in North America. He was previously President & CEO of Sport BC in the period building up to and during the 2010 Vancouver Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games and was Chief Executive of the Irish (Field) Hockey Association from 2004 to 2007.