Revo Elite FC

News Detail

20

Jan, 2018

10,000 Hours ... 10,000 Miles ...10,000 Dollars. SERIOUSLY?

The Hours

The "10,000 Hour-Rule," the idea that becoming world-class in something requires 10,000 hours of dedicated practice. This is a common theme mentioned in the book Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell as he references the original study by K.Anders Ericsson. "Deliberate Practice" is an important component - practicing in a way that pushes your skill set as much as possible.

The math behind 10,000 hours would be around 90 minutes a day for 20 years or just under 3 hours a day for a 10 year period. Of course there is no guarantee that one will be world-class after 10,000 hours.

The simple message to be extracted from all this is simply that if you want to do something well the chances will increase if you invest your time honing your craft. More time will create more skill.

Most soccer players spend less than 3 hours a week honing their craft. Two practices and a game on the weekend? Maybe an additional hour as they get older ... so 4 hours a week? This needs to change drastically if we want to create competent players. Not athletic players playing soccer but actual competent soccer players. There is a difference.

Adding more games and tournaments increases the hours but works in an opposing manner when we consider the "deliberate practice." This is because games offer the least amount of touches ... the least efficient way to improve ones skills. In soccer its simple realizing there may be 14 - 22 people on the field and one ball. Games offer lots of running, a small number of touches for the overall time involved and a huge amount of pressure since its a game. If it's a game ... this pressure always exists. Paradoxically, increasing the number of games for players usually decreases a players passion for the sport and tournaments can have the worst effect. The United States Soccer Federation (USSF) is on record stating that "excessive tournament play is detrimental to long term development."

There is something to be said for full sized games on occasion but in the earlier years there are far too many games played with far too few skills. Are low skilled games really beneficial and are they enjoyable for the players?

How can we increase the number of hours for young players? By helping develop a young persons natural PASSION!

One crucial Revo difference is that we believe there is a certain skill set desired to create productive games. WITHOUT this level the games are often counter productive AND actually work against the goal of creating passion. If we're brutally honest ... how many young players are forced to play those ugly early games where very few have very few skills. The few slightly more athletic players simply have an advantage that appears ... and someone will eventually win. These are called "SCRUM" games and we want to totally avoid these games. There's a much better way to start and it's a lot more fun.

Instead its possible to have higher quality training sessions mixed with numerous activities that can be done with the ball. Replacing full sized games with these game activities will dramatically enhance a players overall comfort on the ball and a higher level game can be played at an earlier stage than what one would typically experience. Small games are phased in when appropriate in this process. Through this process, a variety of activities create better skills which create more confidence and comfort on the ball. This will lead to more fun which is the beginning of creating passion. Scrum games do the exact opposite!

THE MILES

Simply put, there is an unnecessary amount of driving to play all those games. The amount is greatly increased going to tournaments in distant states. Often times a Club team will be playing a local opponent as they are in the same tournament and sometimes there are several local teams playing in the same distant tournament.

For a family weekend get-away these work as a social event but when considering that dozens and dozens of players spend 10 - 12 hours or more sitting in a car seat traveling to play less than two hours on a field then this is a developmental problem. Actually, in playing 4 games a player will spend less than twenty minutes touching the ball.

As players get older and if truly playing at a very high level then this is justifiable. Sadly, very few players ever get to this level precisely because this was being done in the early years.

If a child has to get into a car to get touches on the ball then they have a disadvantage. If total time in a car seat traveling to the fields is greater than the time on the field with a ball ... then they don't have a chance.

Although European ... a relevant study discussing this issue.

THE $10,000

If it only cost $10,000 to play Club soccer over a typical players duration that would actually be a relief for most. It can cost two to three times this for many families when all expenses are tallied if a player plays for several years. Elsewhere the dismal return on investment (ROI) for the great majority will be discussed.

It's unfortunate that the US might possibly spend more on Soccer that the rest of the world combined and we have made it an elitist activity. In many places around the world the kids have nothing and often times with shoddy shoes or none they play on horrible surfaces with a self made ball and many develop into very high level players. Many often play a very little skills and they still play for years and years because of a love for the game and a high degree of passion for the sport.

MAYBE ITS TIME TO ADMIT THAT THE CURRENT DEVELOPMENTAL MODELS THAT EXIST ARE FAILING MOST YOUNG PLAYERS. MAYBE IT'S NOT THEIR FAULT THAT 70% QUIT BY THE 7TH OR 8TH GRADE.

MAYBE THERE IS A REASON EVERYTHING ABOUT REVO IS DIFFERENT THAN TRADITIONAL CLUBS.

REVOLUTION ... EVOLUTION ... BELIEVE IT!

Website Manager

Revo Elite FC

News Detail

20

Jan, 2018

10,000 Hours ... 10,000 Miles ...10,000 Dollars. SERIOUSLY?