#440 – What Does It Actually Take to Develop a Soccer Player? (Part Two)

For generations of players, pickup soccer wasn’t a development program. Nobody had to manufacture it. You found a park, put two shoes down for goals, picked teams, and played.

And you figured things out.

There was no coach stopping the game. No parent protecting you. No age bracket ensuring everyone was at the same stage of development. You might be 13 playing against an 18-year-old who was bigger, faster, stronger, and considerably better than you.

That environment develops things organized soccer struggles to reproduce.

In Part 2 of our series on the five components of player development, we break down the pickup influence: what it develops technically, tactically, physically, and psychologically—and just as importantly, what it does not develop.

We also discuss why pickup culture has declined, both in the United States and abroad, and what parents can do if those environments no longer exist naturally in their communities.

Then there’s futsal. It has real developmental benefits: touches, experimentation, quick decisions, different forms of ball control, and constant involvement. But selling futsal as the answer to player development misses the point. It’s one ingredient.

We also take on “let the kids play.”

Pickup is precisely where kids should be allowed to play, experiment, compete, organize themselves, and solve their own problems. The organized club environment serves a different purpose. That is where players should be taught the team game. Turning club training into manufactured pickup gives players neither the genuine pickup experience nor the structured football education they need.

Ultimately, that brings us back to the central argument of this series: there is no single environment that develops the complete player.

Club training, the household, playing on your own, pickup, and personal training all contribute something different. Ignore one of them and something will be missing.

00:00 Intro
02:50 Early Experiences With Pickup Soccer
04:52 Realizing How Pickup Helps Player Development
08:50 Why Didn’t the White “Suburban” Players Show Up to Play?
10:02 Defining What “Pickup” Means
12:30 What Attributes Can a Player Gain From Pickup?
16:01 The Incentive to Be at Your Best
19:49 The Old Pickup Culture Doesn’t Exist Anymore
20:24 What If There Is No Pickup Soccer in Your Community?
22:52 The Worldwide Decline of Pickup Soccer
24:42 Pickup Is Where You Should “Let the Kids Play”
27:17 Is Our Current Lack of Talent a Result of “Letting the Kids Play” in the Team Training Environment?
32:40 Not All Logic Is Created Equal
35:13 The Benefits of Futsal
37:04 The Problem With How Futsal Is Sold
39:13 How Often Should a Player Play Pickup?
42:57 By What Age Do You Need to Have “It”?
44:15 Fans and Media Hyping Up American Players as “World Class”
51:28 Should Coaches Add Pickup to the Team Environment?
58:35 3four3’s Attempt to Create a Pickup Environment
01:00:58 Should You Play Your Main Position in Pickup?
01:03:13 Recap
01:05:02 How Pickup Develops Each of the Four Components of a Player
01:09:47 Rant on Research
01:14:00 We’re All Dependent on Experts

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