PILLARS OF PLAYER DEVELOPMENT

Technical

Referring to an individual player’s ball skills, we place a strong focus on technical abilities, particularly for our younger players. Technical skills, including ball mastery, 1v1 skills, shot finishing, passing, and awareness, are the core foundational skills that must be mastered before a player or team can expect to find consistent success competitively. At ETFC, our players move through fast-paced circuit training that guarantees thousands of proper touches on the ball. We use the word “proper” intentionally because how the player executes skills matters, and we teach them proper technique for every skill. Our skills motto is “repetition establishes rhythm and consistency creates confidence.”

Tactical

Referring to the player’s ability to understand the game from any position. This includes decision-making, spatial awareness, defensive awareness, moving and playing the ball into space, creativity, and mental competitiveness. Each training session ends with small-sided games (“SSGs”). The 11v11 environment is a relatively poor way of learning, and SSGs are considered the most effective way to develop youth soccer skills. With SSGs, players get 5x more touches on the ball, are constantly involved in the play, are forced to make rapid decisions, and get opportunities to score more goals (which is more fun!).

Fitness

It is important for the wellness of the player to maintain fitness both in and out of season. Injury is more likely to occur when muscles fail, and any weakness in the cardiovascular or musculoskeletal systems increases the risk of injury. Our practices include opportunities for strength and conditioning, fitness development, SAQ (speed, agility, and quickness) and injury prevention.

Fortitude

In addition to developing soccer players, we are equally responsible for developing young persons of character. This includes psycho-emotional health and well-being. We provide parents and coaches with tools to ensure post-practice and post-game conversations remain objective, reflective, and positive.