Author Note

We think it's important to share that no AI was involved in the making of this blog post. This is 100% our voice.

The Long Game

A defender struggles with the pressure from the other teams striker, their fastest and strongest player. A turnover ensues in our own box and bang...an easy goal for the other team.

As we wrap up our opening weekend of tournament play, this short story encapsulates a theme we see often with our developmental teams (3rd to 5th graders).

Parents, players and coaches take a collective deep breath. Ugh. Nobody likes to give up a goal.

But we do, more than we like, and it's all part of the long term plan.

Inspiration

We were listening to a golf podcast, of all things, when we incurred a light bulb moment. You can listen to the full audio clip below. One of the hosts, who happens to have played D1 basketball and coaches his sons AAU teams is talking about the importance of long term development goals vs short term wins. 4th grade basketball teams playing a zone when the opponent isn't strong enough to throw a skip pass to beat it. Might be awesome if the goal is to win a 4th grade basketball game. But what kind of players are those kids going to be when everybody is strong and quick enough to beat a zone and they never worked on the man to man defensive fundamentals?

Building out of the Back

We feel this conversation at Ignite FC. We have a simple philosophy: Skills over Scores.

Building out of the back is a possession style of soccer that starts with the goalie playing a pass to a close by teammate, usually a defender, and then the team methodically connecting passes to beat the first line of the other team.

The problem with building out of the back is that it requires a team that is fundamentally sound on the ball and requires all players to be ready and involved in a given build up. At a young age, players aren't necessarily in a position with their skills or their decision-making to execute that style of play.

The result, a lot of times, is an opportunistic opponent who applies pressure, creates a change of possession in dangerous areas that lead to easy goals.

But yet, we continue to play that way even when it costs us goals and games.

Why? Because we have a focus on long-term development vs short-term results.

Building Grit

Dr. Sandra Duckworth is a leading child psychologist who is famous for her work on grit. She defines grit as passion and perseverance towards long-term goals.

In her best-selling book Grit, she uses a lot of research to layout why the development of Grit is so critical for children. The more grit developed, the more likely a child is to have long-term success.

Building out of the back philosophy is one of the ways we help our girls develop grit.

Yes, losing the ball sucks. Yes, giving up a goal sucks. But if our long-term goal is to develop grittier players, we can't steal the struggle.

We put our kids in difficult positions, help them understand their options for getting out of those difficult positions, and sit back and watch them start to solve the problem themselves.

When the light bulb goes off, and the passes start to connect, it is a beautiful thing for players, coaches and parents to experience.

4th Grade All Stars

The shortcut if you wanted to build a championship winning 4th grade team would be to find a few more developed; bigger, faster, and stronger players and play "kick-and-run" soccer. Have one strong player kick the ball over the top of everybody to the fastest player who scores a goal.

Of course that is if your goal is to build a championship 4th grade soccer team!

That's not our goal at Ignite FC.

Begin With the End in Mind

We start with the long-term focus: Give our girls the skills, confidence and passion for the game of soccer to make and have an impact on their varsity soccer team.

With that end in mind, everything we do with a 9 year old is about building towards that goal.

Even if it means sacrificing some 4th grade soccer results along the way.

Connect With Us

Like what you heard and have a young girls soccer player that you'd love to be a part of our program?

Come join us at one of our open training sessions to see us in action.

https://www.ignite-fc.com/open-training-registration.

Send us an email at [email protected]

Based in North Plainfield, we serve Plainfield, Naperville, Oswego, Aurora, Bolingbrook, Romeoville, Joliet, Shorewood, Yorkville and the surrounding area.