Do you remember when most all Americans, coaches included, thought ‘rondo’ meant this: Now we’re a bit more educated, but still have a long way to go on the rondo front. Today I want to introduce another topic, that of ‘checking your shoulder‘. Many have been saying that phrase quite often but, much like the rondo, most are missing a ton of depth and nuance. As a result, we’re not correctly identifying this player attribute. By far, most players [outside elite pros] you identify as ‘checking their shoulder‘ are doing it to see if there’s pressure nearby. By far, they are n ..read more

Player development can be broken into 5 major components: The household/parent/family influence. The playing on your own influence. The pickup game influence. The structured club training influence. The personal training influence. Each taps into a piece of the puzzle. Some may be more important than others. There’s definitely overlap between each. And finally, in the end, there are still matters of circumstance that can make or break you. All that complexity is what leads to differing opinions, nitpicking, and of course many thinking they’re an expert. In the American soccer envir ..read more

It’s well known one of the advantages players outside the US have is pickup ball. Across the globe, players of all ages from 7 year olds to adults benefit from the street game – that informal pickup culture the American player lacks. The barrio, as hispanic/latino cultures call it, is where strong mentalities, ball skills (of the smooth, not mechanized variety), and the dark arts of the game are forged. This is something you can’t get at your club. This is something you can’t get with personal training. And this is something that is critical to top-level player development, perhaps most crit ..read more

If you’re coming to the NSCAA convention in Los Angeles (or you’re already local), we’re hosting a 3 hour meet-up just a few blocks away. Date: January 12 from 5-8pm Location: The Fine Arts Building in downtown LA. The room we’ve secured is beautiful. Bring your own beer? Forget that, we got you covered! Everyone in the soccer community from coaches to media to businesses are welcome. Get your ticket now free of charge (as soon as we reach room capacity, no more tickets): Like our facebook page to stay aware of future events. We’ve called this meet-up “The Clubhouse”. It is a concept and part ..read more

Hi guys, John Pranjic here; I had the rare opportunity to record a conversation with LA Galaxy academy coach, Brian Kleiban. And it’s pure gold. Listen to this 3four3 Podcast below … Brian touches on a lot of important topics in a short amount of time, including: International youth competition Why forging an identity is important And how to develop a winning culture during training (example in the video below) Here are two links for the top-level international matches mentioned in the podcast: Man City vs LA Galaxy FC Barcelona vs Chivas USA Want to see and hear more from Brian? Ch ..read more

Hi guys, I opened up quite a bit in an interview, but that’s where John Pranjic – host of the 3four3 podcast – led me at times. I’ll be happy to engage with any of your thoughtful follow up comments, questions, ideas. Listen to the episode here. Last thing, if you appreciate the work John is doing by interviewing great people like Bob Bradley, Hugo Perez, among many others, please subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or Stitcher and leave him a 5 star rating and a stellar review. You guys are awesome ..read more

First, I want to applaud both Colin Cowherd and Jason Whitlock for bringing an important truth about the state of American soccer to the masses. It speaks volumes that these sports generalists call it like it is, while entrenched American soccer media doesn’t. American soccer media, hence its consumers, coddles our players. You don’t hear much public criticism for a variety of reasons 1) Incumbent American soccer media has been practically curated by the establishment. An establishment that naturally doesn’t want to be critically examined, particularly not at the foundational level. Hen ..read more

So, I’ve harped on the fact that competition in the US isn’t a good gauge of where we’re at. International competition is the barometer. As such, the past 5 years we’ve gone on international trips with a group of players to play in legitimate competitions against the best academies in the world. Full matches vs FC Barcelona and Man City, among others, have been captured. The latest installment was with our neighbors down south, Mexico. The top 4 Mexican teams joined 4 MLS sides in a round-robin at #LigaMXInternacional. Our first 3 games were vs MLS sides. All of them were won with 6 GF, 0 ..read more

“It’s just a game”. No, it’s not. It’s an economic market like any other. There are businesses in play, livelihoods at stake, communities to consider, and consumers that should be looked after. This is an ecosystem with real people, with real consequences, who depend on responsible governance. Clubs (independent businesses) get affected. People working with or for those clubs get affected. Members and customers of those clubs get affected. Every community and the general consumer gets affected. While the relative magnitudes vary, anyone who has an economic touchpoint with this market gets a ..read more

We love to share what matters. Going into this match, this team, our team, the LA Galaxy U14 team was undefeated with a 19-0-2 record in the US Soccer Development Academy with 101 GF and 12 GA. You rarely, if ever, see us publish or mention our domestic exploits (we could be doing it weekly), because that doesn’t really matter. What matters is the global context. We are helping drive the state of the art in the United States, and the benchmark is the best in the world. That’s the measuring stick. It’s why we’ve published our matches versus FC Barcelona in years past, and now Manchester City ..read more