Identifying and Watching A Developmental Saboteur

This is a must read for any parent who kids love soccer. There are so many of these jokers out there preying on our kids its important to recognize it for what it is and the clubs who promote these type of coaches.

http://goalnation.com/identifying-watching-developmental-saboteur/

A little taste of the article to interest you on clicking on the link:

"Developmental saboteurs look the part and act the part, and they certainly talk the part. They wear the newest tracksuit, they drop catchy buzzwords, and they advocate a “style like Barcelona” (or whoever the latest, greatest team in the world may be).

In club soccer, developmental saboteurs usually coach primarily at the U10-U14 age groups. They pick these age groups carefully for two reasons. First, they involve parents and players that are frequently new to the game, and therefore uneducated about the soccer world. Second, these age groups are “sweet spots” for winning without teaching. At this age, the recipe for competitive success is relatively simple for anyone with basic soccer knowledge and poor motives: recruit 1-2 technically or physically advanced players, put them up front, be marginally organized, and play low-risk soccer (code for “kick the ball forward”) everywhere else.

Developmental saboteurs use one or two players as their weapons and tools. They identify the best players at a young age (9-13 usually), those players who are already either physically advanced or technically advanced, (neither of which occurred with any aid from the coach), and then begin to become exceptionally close to their parents.

…

through misunderstandings in the community of the truths of what development actually looks like, developmental saboteurs are often regarded as “good coaches,” even as they quietly and competently destroy the long-term potential of their players.

They create a fake developmental environment with competitive success and little teaching, little learning, and little progress. The talents of their top recruits are carefully milked for short-term wins as the “coach” gets as much as possible from the advanced ability levels of the top players while rarely raising any player’s ability level an inch.

Developmental saboteurs use the game for their own benefit, and destroy the potential of the game to benefit their players. They do this by selling promises they can’t keep, and misleading parents and players with ambiguities laced with buzzwords. They are successful just long enough in one generation in order to move on to the next one with their artificial track-record of success.