Wellness to the World Cup Examined

[Sam]

The Canadian Stretford End has changed locations to canadianstretty.com and to open things off I'm looking at the CSA's Wellness to the World Cup document here:

http://canadianstretty.com/2009/12/14/wellness-to-the-world-cup-the-document/

[DJones]

When examining our flaws with our programs, it would be foolish to not be aware of development or change of philosophy in other countries similar to ours.

Here is a good article on the problems with the US soccer program - very reminiscent of the problem in Canada with our Select/Metro/Provincial/NTC programs.

Hog the ball, kid - The Boston Globe http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2009/12/20/hog_the_ball_kid/

Below is a very true statement that reflex's our provincial and NTC program out here in BC. Not sure if this is the same in other provinces:

quote:As soccer became the United States’ most popular participatory youth sport, leading American coaches like Marshall began to wonder why the large, well-funded, athletic-minded country had not found success at the international level. A look at the US men’s national team roster pointed at one problem: a generation of players who are physically strong and competitive but never developed the sophisticated skills needed to move the ball creatively across the field. Americans could occasionally overpower top-flight European and South Americans teams with a direct style, but would rarely dominate a match.

“Some of our kids play like hell, run like hell, and do things that don’t make them better soccer players,” said Jay Martin, the editor of Soccer Journal, a publication of the National Soccer Coaches Association of America. “We’re developing a country of people that depend on a level of athleticism to win, but don’t know how to play the game.”