“We are going in a direction that will see top individual and team talent come through here at Elk Grove over the long term. We are excited for the future” – Dan James – Director of Coaching, Elk Grove Soccer.

We met our Director of Coaching, Dan James, to ask him about his assessment of how things are going at Elk Grove Soccer. Here is what he had to say: 

What is your assessment of the last year at Elk Grove Soccer? 

We had a great year. We always want to improve and keep moving forward. We want to improve our players, our standards, and our coaches. 

 We have made incredible strides over the last few years and are far more advanced than most clubs. 

 We have grown again this year. We now have over 70 competitive teams, and we continue to help players reach their goals. Last season, we had over ten players move on to play in college, and two signed professionally in Mexico. We were the most represented club at the EA National Championships (5 teams) and won a National title in the DPL (2010G). Our U17 boys reached the State Cup final, and our second U17 boys team reached the semi-final, knocked out by our other team. 

 Our U16 boys reached the Final four at nationals and the final four in the State Cup. Winning isn’t everything but these results in the older age groups are a sign of years of hard work with players from a young age. We are averaging a 96% retention rate of players year after year. This gives us the time we need for development to happen. We are very proud that our families return year after year so we can help the kids in our community. 

What can we expect this coming year? 

More of the same! We are constantly evaluating our methods. The game moves on, and if we don’t, we will become stuck. We will continue to develop young players and help them reach their goals. We want to see results in the older age groups that show we can compete on the field with anyone, but that’s a long process. It takes time. We have already had one kid commit to UCLA this year. Another player is on trial with LA Galaxy.

 People are beginning to recognize what we are doing at Elk Grove Soccer. We want to be known for developing players. We want the country to understand who we are and the hard work of the players, families, and coaches are doing.

What is Elk Grove Soccer doing differently compared to other clubs? 

I’ve spent much time working away from Elk Grove, educating clubs and coaches nationwide. We are so much more advanced here, but that didn’t happen over night. It has taken time. We needed to ensure we had all our coaches on the same page. Coaches that bought into what we were trying to achieve. We cannot achieve anything without us all pulling in the same direction. 

 This is set from a young age. We have the U9, U10, and most U11 teams training together, and all the coaches know all the kids in each age group. We meet weekly as a staff to talk about players and their progress. We have coaches that put kids first. Coach’s egos and winning is set aside because we see the bigger picture, and we now have proof in those older age groups that what we do at the younger age groups is working. 

We all buy into helping the players reach their goals. 

 We have a defined methodology. We have set training sessions that all the coaches follow, that parents and players can view under the club resources tab on Playmetircs. These are set weekly for each age group. This is unique. Most ‘clubs’ are individuals and coaches wearing the same badge, doing their own thing. This is bizarre to us. Walk the fields at BSP, and you will see our teams following the same sessions and learning the same things. So, if they move from one team to the next, the coaches know what the kids have learned. Watch other clubs out there. Groups of people are doing whatever they want. Those kids then move to a new team or get a new coach, and nobody knows what they have been taught. The coaches at Barcelona don’t do whatever they want, and school teachers don’t do whatever they want, so why should our club be any different? We must create an environment where young players can flourish, express themselves, and be comfortable on the ball. We believe in Teaching games for understanding approach rather than the old-school individual technique work. 

 We believe our coaches should focus on coaching soccer and not worry about other areas they aren’t experts in, such as strength & conditioning or fitness. We hired an outside coach for this. Charlie from WarriorZ. His gym has been voted the best in Elk Grove for the last two years, and he is trusted to train our fire dept, our police, and our city workers. We partnered with Elk Grove Charter School for our top players to attend to increase the number of training hours so they are comparable to kids in Europe’s top academies. We are constantly exploring and keeping up to date with the latest training methods. We can’t stand still, and we won’t stand still. We are going in a direction that will see top individual and team talent come through here at Elk Grove over the long term. We are excited for the future.