This is a real-life, true story of what is possible with great coaching. I feel fortunate to have been close enough to some of the parties involved to understand how the story unfolded. Frankly, knowing what was possible in the right circumstances renewed my passion in youth sports.
The normal path towards travel soccer is AYSO success > kiddie travel club training > travel team. I was in the kiddie travel club stage with either my son or daughter, I don’t quite remember, minding my own business when I see this little mohawked kid that was probably 4 or 5 years old. He was like a kid you would see on Instagram reels from Spain or Brazil. Spectacular technique, stepovers, scissors at full speed, rocket shots with his laces, landing on his shooting foot. Clearly a kid that has spent his short time on Earth playing soccer everyday. I remember thinking, huh, that’s pretty rare. I approached the dad to see what his story was cause I love seeing these type of things, but he wasn’t very interested in any banter. I later found it was his like 7th or 8th kid and one of them was already in the MLS so baby training soccer wasn’t as exciting for him as it was for me.
The prodigal kid signed up for the travel team that was hosting those trainings which happened to have my nephew on the team. They were a new team, they had good players, everyone involved assume they would be a top team. How could they not be? They had a coach that was/is well-respected and still coaches some solid teams. However, they weren’t very good, nowhere near the best team in the state. At one point they were even losing to bridge teams – teams between rec and travel. Totally unacceptable given the talent and amount of training that the travel kids would have over the other non travel kids. It’s like if a G-League team beat an NBA team or something. Even looking back now, the results they had seem impossibly bad knowing how good some of those kids would become.
At some point during the second season, the dad of the prodigal kid gets frustrated. He can’t take it anymore takes 5-6 players off the team adds a few new players and forms his own team. He tells the parents – we are gonna train like crazy, we are gonna travel like crazy, but we’re gonna be really good. If you stick with me they will be choosing their colleges when they are done. Without foreshadowing too much, I remember thinking that was a WILD claim at the time, but also greatly underestimated the commitment that these kids and parents would be taking on.
In 1.5 years they went from like #3000 in the country to the #1 team in the country. In hindsight, the dad/coach probably got lucky with some of the athleticism the kids he brought had (or some very good foresight), but essentially it took 18 months of training for them to go from mediocre in the state to the best team in the country. They held this spot for roughly three years falling at worst falling to at worst around number five. Over that span they were clearly the best team and held number one for the longest periods. In addition, almost all of the top national “teams” are essentially big city All-Star teams. They don’t play or practice together regularly. Miami, Dallas, NY, they just pick their best players and make a “team.” In LA, it’s the Eddie Johnson Academy (former National Team Player), and if your kid is really good you can play in a tournament on their “team.” Those teams never have to worry about not having a good goalie or player injuries like my nephew’s team. They would just send out the bat signal and get the next superstar guest player at any position and not miss a beat. My nephews team was a true team, and they annihilated everyone. Currently in non-gate kept leagues, they are the only team in Michigan in the top 10 nationally – that’s how rare they are.
So, back to coaching: a full-time coach being paid a salary at a top club couldn’t get the same players to top 15 in the state, but in 18 months, a “dad” (I use that term liberally cause he is obviously and amazing coach) was able to take those players to #1 in the country. This is the start of a long point and multiple blogs about how much coaching matters and what good coaching actually means. So what did the dad of the prodigy do differently than everyone else? Stay tuned for part 2!
Video of one the young kid probably right before they started the journey to #1. The competition might look soft but they are super young and this is actually at the biggest tournament in the Midwest.
justinsadauskas 
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