The announcement of changes in Russell Soccer Club’s House League (HL) program has caught some people by surprise, and this message will provide some clarity as to why changes were made to a program that many families have been accustomed to, and enjoyed for many years.
First, as many people know already, this is not Russell Soccer (RSC) implementing changes for the sake of change. RSC, like all sanctioned soccer clubs, have in our constitution that we will follow the FIFA rules. Our club must register under the local Eastern Ontario District Soccer Association, which in turn falls under the Ontario Soccer Association and finally the Canadian Soccer Association at the national level. We cannot pick and choose what rules we follow as a club.
Changes in the game of soccer have been in motion since before the current crop of 5-6 year olds were born, but have just caught up with Russell’s HL program. About seven years ago word began to flow down to the districts of upcoming changes in soccer that were based on a different model of learning. Five years ago the first changes took effect in what is now known as the developmental stream for one age group, the U9 players. The following year the same changes included U9 and U10 players. Over the first four years of program implementation the foundation was set for players from U9 to U12. This was all mandated for what at the time was known as “Competitive” teams, or as Russell referred to as “rep” teams. Like the changes to HL this year, these early changes were OSA mandated, and it was painful in many regards. It was change, and people resist change, and there were many lessons and tweaks to the system along the way. With several years of operation under the new development model, the rules are still being modified when time has demonstrated a need for change, but the model has been fully implemented. It required five years to accomplish this enormous shift in youth Grassroots soccer and the work continues.
All sanctioned soccer Clubs running HL programs were mandated to make programming changes, but were allowed a longer period of grace to make those changes. Change is difficult to manage, not just to accept. For a number of reasons, not the least of which are facilities and equipment, RSC did not begin to phase in the changes until 2016, and must be fully compliant in all our programs by the 2017 season. Like the developmental programming that began under this new model five years ago there will be challenges.... some changes will work well and others will require more work. RSC will be working to help manage the transition... it is not only change for the parents and players, but for the RSC HL volunteers who manage the programming. The club will work with the coaches, conveyers and other volunteers to assist in the transition on the field that will make the 2016 as successful as previous years.
The RSC soccer season is just over three months away and we at RSC are preparing for the upcoming outdoor season. A new task begins now in our preparations for HL soccer.... providing more information to you our members to assist in adapting to the change that all sanctioned clubs and leagues have already implemented or will shortly implement. The information in this letter so far has stated that RSC like all Ontario clubs has been mandated to affect the changes, which is true. What we all need to discover is the answer to the underlying question, which is “Why is Soccer Changing”? At the end of this message are links to online resources that have the ability to state with better clarity and far greater credentials in psychology, development, and youth physiology the reasons for these changes. I had previously mentioned that soccer changes were based on a different model of learning. That is the crux for the rational of changes in youth sport. You may be surprised to find out these changes did not come from the soccer world. This is not a new soccer model, but simply Soccer Canada’s acceptance and adaptation of what is referred to as “Physical Literacy”. Many sports have accepted this new age appropriate developmental model and are in various stages of implementing changes in their respective sports. Likewise you will find more progressive school boards embracing the development model in their activities. To the credit of our sport, soccer was an early adopter of the model; on the downside, as beta users we experienced the growing pains of being one of the first out of the gates.
Within Physical Literacy literature you will recognize the terms used in soccer for the early development of players... terms like Long Term Athlete Development (LTAD) which is sometimes interchanged as Long Term Player Development (LTPD). It’s all about providing appropriate training and encouragement for youth that is aligned with age. There are volumes on this subject online and you are encouraged to query soccer’s version of LTAD. You will discover that many people have raised similar questions to your own. In the end, the goal of Physical Literacy is to set an age appropriate beginning path that will lead youth to play soccer... or football, or hockey into adulthood. And for that 0.1% there is also a defined path to elite level play if their talent and determination are aligned.
We are committed to supplying more information prior to and as we enter the 2016 HL season, to this we plead guilty to not communicating more information in advance. As previously mentioned, this is not only a change for parents and players, but for coaches, and RSC will be working together to share the information gained by our teams who have only known play under this system. I would encourage you to speak to friends who have had sons or daughters involved in U9 to U12 development stream teams over the past few years and ask of their experiences under LTPD.
We will continue to post links on the RSC website that contain information on Physical Literacy and soccer’s application of LTPD. There have been links to LTPD for several years on our club website and I would encourage you to look at the content under the LTPD tab.
It’s not new, it’s just new to RSC HL and we are here to assist where there are program transitions.
Yours in soccer,
Pat Hunter/President RSC
http://www.ontariosoccer.net/images/publications/2014/governing-documents/Recreational-MATRIX-Dec-8th-14.pdf
http://www.ontariosoccer.net/images/publications/2015/player/grassroots/1901-Game-Organization-Guide.pdf