Although Newport News has traditionally produced some of the finest young players and teams in Hampton Roads, most have failed to reach their potential because parents and players tend to put individual success ahead of team success. A quote I recently found says "There are no short cuts to "being the best", it always involves big dreams and the unwavering commitment to pay the price." The "price" that successful youth soccer teams pay is sacrificing individual glory for the sake of the team. During each game your child will play this season a "winner" and "loser" will normally be declared at the final whistle. However, what will matter to the players more than the score will be how the coach and parents will react to the outcome. Consequently, I believe that one of the most important things we can do for the players is teach them that they can achieve individual and team success regardless of the final score.

So what makes soccer players successful? Is it the number of goals they score, the number of minutes they play, if they are selected captain, or if they play their favorite position? In my experience parents who have defined success in this manner do more harm than good to the player and their teammates. For example, if a player associates game success with goal scoring the child adopts the attitude that the game was unsuccessful because they didn't score and they can become jealous of the players who did. For this reason alone, I think it is important that every player understands that the contributions they make during the games are equally important.

How we define team success is equally important. I define team success as the quality of individual and group decision making that occurs during a game and the overall skill level that is demonstrated by the players. Individual skill determines what a player can do with the ball at their feet, i.e. dribble, pass, or shoot. Group decision making incorporates what the players around the ball do which in soccer is equally important to overall team success. In general, for teams to play at a high level, players need to make good decisions and have the individual skill necessary to carry those decisions out.

As the Director of Coaching, I suggest the benchmark we use as a club to determine if a player or a team is successful is whether or not growth takes place from the beginning to the end of the season; in simple terms, if the players and teams improve each week. In closing, if all club members are sensitive to the needs of each player to feel valued, adopt consistent expectations of success, help players understand the importance of putting team success first, do what we can as to keep our teams and players together, then we will be well on our way to giving them the framework they need to become champions.

Al Cousineau, Director of Coaching