Following their historic Colorado Presidents Cup victory, the Steamboat Soccer Club’s U18 boys are heading to Boise for the Far West Presidents Cup Regional Championship, and this article delves into the innovative training ideology that fuels their success. Discover how the Steamboat Soccer Club’s “learning by doing” approach, rooted in games-based training, is developing smarter, more adaptable players ready for the challenges of high-stakes competition. Learn how this unique method, prioritizing decision-making and in-game scenarios, sets them apart.
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This is the second part of a series covering the Steamboat Soccer Club’s U18 boys journey to the Far West Presidents Cup Regional Championship in boise,Idaho in mid-June.
The basics of the Steamboat Soccer Club training methodology can be narrowed down to ‘learning by doing.’
at the start of the month, the SSC U18 boys team was crowned Colorado Presidents Cup champions, becoming the first team to do so in club history.
The team won the cup championship game 2-1, scoring both goals off of set pieces – something the team does not technically run specific drills for, but the players see naturally through the club’s philosophy of games-based training.
Early soccer training philosophy took a physical-centric approach. Soccer was thought of primarily as an endurance sport, so running was the focus in training.
By the 1980s adn 90s, soccer transformed into a technical-centric approach where ball control became the focus in training.
Steamboat Soccer Club takes pieces of those methods and incorporates it into the new-school style, games-based training.
“Running is an element of soccer. Certainly you need that and you need a certain level of aerobic fitness. Ball control is also an element of soccer, but the biggest element within soccer, or what people refer to as invasion games, we are starting to learn that another element involved is decision making,” said club coach Hobey Early.
“When you start to think about the best way to incorporate all of those pieces, the best way to do it is to play games,” he added.
When running drills, players often get caught up standing in line and it becomes easy to detach from the task in front of them. Ball work in a drills-format can help players get better at manipulating the ball, but not necessarily in the condition of having teammates, opponents and in-game moments.
“We try to do it all within the context of the game,” Early said. “We encourage our teams that everything they do in training should have teammates, opponents, a way to score, boundaries and a ball.”
The club takes pieces from U.S. Soccer’s play-practice-play methodology as well as Todd Beane’s TOVO training.
Early’s belief is players develop players. Coaches are not meant to fix or improve players, they are there to simply guide them toward advancement.
As the season slowly comes to a close, the coaches have had to get more and more creative with their practice plans.
On Thursday, coach Doug Klingemann was in charge of running practice for the U18 boys who are preparing for the Far West Presidents Cup Regional Championship, held June 13-17 in Boise, Idaho.
in practice, Klingemann wanted to keep things fun and engaging while focusing on finishing shots.
“The goal for today is to keep it light and fun but we are always working on something,” Klingemann said. “Every time we train these boys we want them working on something. Intelligence is the thing we want to coach the moast within this club… Provided that the boys are thinking about something, you develop their intelligence. That is what separates good teams from great teams.”
Thursday’s practice featured a build-up to full 11 versus 11 games.It began with 3-on-3 games on small fields with mini goals, giving players many chances to shoot.
Next was 4-on-4 on a slightly bigger field with bigger goals and more scoring chances.The trend continued until finally practice ended with an 11-on-11 scrimmage, similar to what the players will see during games on the weekends.
The club began funnelling this philosophy into its programs with this U18 team when it was a U11 age group.
Nolan Laird, a player on the team, said the games-based training brings out the moments that can not be captured in simple passing drills. It has helped with his decision making the most.
“Drills are so technique-based that you don’t see those moments when you look to dribble, look to shoot, look to pass or look to play smart,” Laird said.”Getting in a lot of game time and seeing the whole field really helped me with decision making… There’s no better way to practice any sport other than playing the game.”
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