Dear U13 – U18 Players and Parents:
Over the last few years our summer program has been composed of our
players playing in the USL Super Y League. The purpose of participating in
the league was to give our player’s the opportunity to play soccer year
round in hopes of enhancing their development. This summer we have decided
not to participate in Super Y league. The main reason is to allow our players
some down time, especially our u15-u18 age groups. These age groups are
now participating in high school soccer so they are actually playing soccer
year round with minimal down time. With the amount of overuse injuries in
youth sports today we have decided to give our players more time to rest
and recover from all the soccer activity they partake in throughout the year.
After evaluating the impact of development playing super y league for
the last few years, we have decided to take a different approach. One
of the misconceptions that parents and players have is “the more games
I play, the better I will get.” This is not the case. The US Soccer
Federation has developed the Academy League in recent years in order to
reduce the amount of games played and increase the amount of times
players actually train. The US Academy has cut down the number of games
that academy teams participate in to about 30-40 games in one season.
In youth soccer today, players are almost up to 100 games per year.
Players are playing just as many games as they practice. The US academy
recommends 4 training sessions for every game and the games are set up
so the level of competition is equal between the teams participating.
This is the formula proven most effective not only by our federation
but federations throughout the top-level soccer countries around the
world.
This summer we want our players to have a chance to take 2-3 weeks of
rest/ recovery. In the middle of June we will start a 6 week program
that will be put together by PFC and Excel Sports Training System. The
program will implement a combination of the technical and physical
components involved in the game of soccer. ESP will offer a program to
enhance the players speed, coordination, and strength and PFC will
develop a program in correspondence with ESP to improve the players
technical ability. ESP will initiate the program with testing for each
individual participating in the program and track their progress
throughout the summer leading up to the early season.
The focus of the summer will revolve around improving each individual’s
physical and technical component. If we can make the player stronger,
quicker, and fitter then they will be able to contribute more to their
team. The summer is the best time since players are not overwhelmed
with games and it gives us a chance to create a plan with the proper
training to rest ratio to maximize each player’s physical potential.
In addition to training, PFC may set up a series of friendly games or
look at playing in a summer tournament in order to get a few games in
for the summer. However, the main focus will be training to improve
each individual. We are working to develop elite players and elite
athletes. Below are some of the details of the program.
Thanks for your attention,
John Ramos
Director of Coaching and Player Development
Plantation Football Club
954) 448-3571
