How to Grow a Super-Athlete

[Jerzy]

Really interesting article from the NY Times.

Any thoughts, from those who can read a 19 page document???

[74offsuit]

very interesting.

If Preobrazhenskaya's approach were boiled down to one word (and it frequently was), that word would be tekhnika — technique. This is enforced by iron decree: none of her students are permitted to play in a tournament for the first three years of study. It's a notion that I don't imagine would fly with American parents, but none of the Russian parents questioned it for a second.

and

The reasons that the United States is losing ground on the talent map have less to do with training mechanisms and more to do with bigger factors: a highly distractive youth culture, a focus on the glamour of winning rather than on the brickwork of building technique and a sporting environment that is gentler than those found in many of the world's harder corners.

Ideas that have been discussed on this forum. I am a firm believer in the emphasis on technique, but I also agree with some of the other points like a love for the sport and discipline. To push beyond comfort zones and the enthusiasm and drive to improve.

We have also discussed competitive play, and at what age players should take part in leagues etc. As I have stated before I think it is good for young players to compete, but a victorious result should be low or even almost irrelevent to our coaching motives. I believe we need (in the UK and US and internationally) a much higher coaching/training to match ratio. In the UK it is commonly 1:1. I think it should be at least 3:1.

I enjoyed the article, thanks for posting.

[ian.curry]

Haven't read it yet but, I believe certain countries are not losing ground on others, its simply there are more countries getting involved in each particular sport - as the world becomes smaller through transport ease.

Its like there being too many foreigners in the Prem, but its not all one country, its Spain, France, Holland, Ivory Coast, Australia, Argentina, Peru.........thus English player aren't always the best, because they aren't the only ones.
I think Val mentioned something about something similar happening in the NBA?

[scooge]

74-
Your assesment of why the US is losing ground is dead on.

Originally Posted by 74offsuit

very interesting.

If Preobrazhenskaya's approach were boiled down to one word (and it frequently was), that word would be tekhnika — technique. This is enforced by iron decree: none of her students are permitted to play in a tournament for the first three years of study. It's a notion that I don't imagine would fly with American parents, but none of the Russian parents questioned it for a second.

and

The reasons that the United States is losing ground on the talent map have less to do with training mechanisms and more to do with bigger factors: a highly distractive youth culture, a focus on the glamour of winning rather than on the brickwork of building technique and a sporting environment that is gentler than those found in many of the world's harder corners.

Ideas that have been discussed on this forum. I am a firm believer in the emphasis on technique, but I also agree with some of the other points like a love for the sport and discipline. To push beyond comfort zones and the enthusiasm and drive to improve.

We have also discussed competitive play, and at what age players should take part in leagues etc. As I have stated before I think it is good for young players to compete, but a victorious result should be low or even almost irrelevent to our coaching motives. I believe we need (in the UK and US and internationally) a much higher coaching/training to match ratio. In the UK it is commonly 1:1. I think it should be at least 3:1.

I enjoyed the article, thanks for posting.

[coachstars98]

Very enlightening, and shed's some light on how to deal with the problem I'm getting now that my u10 girls soccer team are about to move to U12. Here's to hoping I find a solution here.