The Inside Scoop with Anytime Soccer Training - Discussing Youth Soccer from Around the World

Every coach will tell you the answer “depends.” I’m not buying it. In this episode of The Inside Scoop, I ask a question that makes a lot of people uncomfortable: if a team can’t string passes together, what is that telling you about the coaching? I break down why anything you want players to do consistently can be measured, and why those of us with a fiduciary duty to player development owe parents clear numbers and film, not vague answers. You may not like where this goes, but you’ll never watch a youth game the same way again. I’m also sharing a free PDF on what to look for at the individual and team level, so check the show notes.https://www.anytime-soccer.com/soccer-development-scorecard

I wish someone had shared this with me when I was 16. In this short episode, I sit down with my son Adam, who's at an MLS academy, and give him his first task in our mental skills series. I introduce the "magic wand" method: imagine your ideal life a year or two from now, with no limits on money, time, or practical obstacles. Taking those limits away is how you find out what you truly want. Then I walk Adam through turning that vision into a simple board with three to five images, each paired with a short phrase. It doesn't need to be elaborate. My other son and I will make our own boards at home, and I'll bring Adam's to Charlotte on my next visit. This is about life skills that will serve him whatever he chooses after soccer. Want to try it with your child?

Last weekend, a parent on the sideline criticized my son's team for not keeping the ball after scoring. That got me thinking: what if the game itself were designed to demand it? What if neither team could win by more than one goal? Coaches already use constraints like this in small-sided games, but touch the "real" match and suddenly it's heresy. In this short episode, I ask why we treat official matches as sacred, what we might be missing, and what Norway's decision to stop keeping score for young players tells us. Is a rigid game holding our players back? Or is the pressure of a real match something no constraint can replace? My answer might surprise you: I want both.

A rec program can have high standards and an elite one can have low ones. I explain how standards can fall short at the regional, national, or international level, why reform gets pushback, and why any fix, like pro-rel, has to consider supply, demand, and culture.

Everyone's arguing about whether all US youth soccer is "just rec." But what if that's the wrong question?In this episode of The Inside Scoop, I break down why the loudest voices in youth soccer content keep missing the point, and why their moralistic tone and "we're the exception" claims push parents away from a legitimate concern.Instead, I share the four layers of standards I use to evaluate any club: industry, organizational, team, and personal. You'll learn why a recreational program can hold high standards, why a top-level badge can hide low ones, and which layer may matter most for your player.Before you sign your kid up, or stay another season, ask the questions in this episode.

I dig into why just telling players to practice a skill — like passing with their weak foot — rarely leads anywhere. Sending home a drill or a video isn't the same as creating real behavior change. That takes documented expectations, showing the process, and clear consequences for meeting or missing them. It's the gap Anytime Soccer Training tries to close with fully follow-along videos instead of the usual PDF-and-YouTube-link approach.

In this episode of The Inside Scoop, I sit down with Carlos Mojica— author of Goal: Awesome Soccer Stories and Fun Facts for Kids — to talk about career paths in soccer that don't involve playing on the field. Carlos and I dig into his path from El Salvador into a career in sports communications, what a Venue Press Officer actually does day-to-day, and the advice he'd give students who want to break into the sports industry. We also announce a free giveaway of an autographed copy of Carlos's book, exclusive to our Facebook groups, just in time to get kids excited for this year's World Cup.

I hear this all the time from soccer parents: "If my kid really loved the game, they'd practice on their own." I used to believe it too. But here's the problem — it's backwards.I'm going to break down why competency, not love, is what actually drives a kid to keep playing. Why waiting for your child to "show love" before you step in might be costing them years of development. And why the love you're waiting for might never show up... unless you're the one who builds it.If you've got a kid who says they love soccer but won't touch a ball outside of practice — this episode is for you.