My name is Alex and I’ve been with We Make Footballers for 2 months completing an internship as part of my studies. I’m a college student in the U.S.A and I’ve always been fond of the UK and its football culture. I got the opportunity to gain further coaching experience with We Make Footballers at their recent Holiday Camps in West London and I had an amazing time!

ENGLAND VS THE U.S.A PLAYING STYLE

One of the things I noticed was the difference between British and American coaching and playing style. From the training sessions at a holiday camp that I experienced, the drills were more individually technical than those in the United States. The foot skills that the youngest age group of students were possessing was far off of what was taught in drills in the United States when I was growing up and playing at that age. However, drills such as one vs. one, calling out numbers, and set-piece style drills were similar to training camps in the U.S.

Coaches were present for the kids which allowed for a greater amount of focus to be given to each individual player. I think the importance of development at that early age is what separates the difference in football training here compared to back home when children typically start playing at the age of 6-8 instead of earlier where a headstart on development can be had. Therefore, the drills and method of teaching were similar, but in the UK, these seem to happen at an earlier stage in the child’s life; time is important in everything and the more time you have to develop your skill set, the more advanced and better off you will be. That separation of two years advantage will benefit the player in the future in their teens when the curve for soccer players in America is farther back than football development here, due to the amount of quality time spent in training that they did not receive.

SEASONAL VS YEAR ROUND

In the United States, children typically grow up playing four or five sports in their childhood and each sport is for a specific season. For example, I played soccer in the fall, baseball in the spring, basketball in the winter, and swimming in the summer, so the time spent is not year-round until you get to roughly eleven or twelve years old and decide which sport you want to pursue further. I focused on soccer and baseball and therefore juggled the craft of learning two very different styles of sport and the time I lost learning one took away from the other. At We Make Footballers, it strikes me that this may be different due to the year-round training that is offered and provided. Thus, no skill set is lost in times of downtime and not playing the sport because development is continuous and that is as important an element in the development of their skill set as any. With children developing by training both indoors and outdoors at We Make Footballers, they become more rounded players with a strong technical ability. With more hours dedicated to football at camps and children learning through repetition, the coaching team were certain that camps are when they see the most development in players.

ENGLAND HAS THE EDGE

Overall, the difference in training and development for me in terms of England vs. the United States is the amount of time put forth. The earlier start on training and higher quality training at a young age mixed with year-round training gives the edge to football in England over the United States because practice makes permanent and the more time you have, the more permanent it will become.

By Coach & Intern Alex