What our Striker / GK camp was all about
Big success as we tried something different; we’ll be doing more of these
I find myself saying this a lot about some of the boys and girls I see as they get to the Pleasant Grove high schools:
“There is talent here. Some of these kids can move a soccer ball! They can ping a pass. They can hit a shot. They can tackle and fight and defend. But you know what a lot of them can’t do? … They can’t play soccer.”
Coach Daniel Rivas leads the morning’s first striker session as FC Dallas and former U.S. international defender Omar Gonzalez (far left) and Skyline High School coach Francisco Chavez look on
That’s a bit of an exaggeration, of course – but it’s meant to make a point: They DO have talent, albeit across a fairly wide continuum of skill levels. And the desire to play burns, for sure. But they often lack a higher level of application of those basic skills. Reason: generally speaking they haven’t been integrated into the club soccer system and exposed to higher level coaching.
By the time they get to high school they are behind. Not in how to manipulate a soccer ball; that part is OK. But what does the keeper’s footwork look like in diving? Do center backs understand proper body shape in dealing with crosses? Are midfielders developing an understanding of playing between lines? Do they receive with the proper foot? Do forwards understand how to angle certain runs or how to properly time those runs?
Down the road, it subtracts opportunities, which is the real shame.
Coach Raul Herrera, from FC Dallas’ academy, running the ‘keeper sessions
Can they learn that stuff in high school? Maybe. Coaching in public schools gets better and better all the time; some of the coaches are seriously on top of things. But even the best coaches are stretched for time and resources. Plus, as one coach told me about drilling deeper on individual skills: “Our practice time is limited, and we’re busy trying to win games.”
Economics and geography prevent most of the players in Pleasant Grove – remember, a lot of them love the game and crave higher levels of training and competition – from participating in the club soccer system that teaches some of this stuff. Even if they could afford it at $9,000-$10,000 a year, commuting on the regular from Southeast Dallas out to the northern parts of the Metroplex, where most of the clubs operate, is practically impossible.
Long story short: the game’s pay-to-play system shuts out families from lower income, underserved areas like Pleasant Grove. We can’t fill all the gaps, of course – but we can plug a few here and there.
That’s what we started endeavoring to do last Saturday with an activation I’ve wanted to try for a while: we held a (FREE!) higher level camp for Dallas ISD varsity high school players.
Our first Striker / Goalkeeper clinic for varsity level boys and girls from all over the Dallas ISD drew about 60 kids. (Available to all schools, but we held the clinic in Pleasant Grove, and I made sure to bug our primary high schools in that area – Samuell, Spruce and Skyline – about the clinic. Not that I needed to; we had good turnout from all three schools.)
Our lead coaches, Daniel Rivas, Omar Gonzalez and Omar Gonzalez
I think everyone got a lot from it. Raul Herrera, the FC Dallas Academy goalkeeper coach, ran our ‘keeper sessions. Daniel Rivas, coaching director for East Dallas FC, ran our striker sessions. And former U.S. international Omar Gonzalez, who attended Skyline High School, was our special guest coach.
As Herrera told me: “A lot of these kids have probably never had a goalkeeper session.”
Well, they have now! I think they got a lot from it. The forwards, too, from their sessions with Rivas and Gonzalez. Hopefully they’ll get more in the future.
The full coaching staff for Saturday’s Striker / GK clinic in Pleasant Grove