Fort St John Soccer Club is committed to being at the forefront of the Long Term Player Developement Model. As a small club in a community with many athletic programs to offer, it is necessary we are always building individual players to be their best, and retain players. The LTPD concentrates on indiviual skill building rather than a standard match form. I like to ask this question of parents, "Would you send your kid into a boxing ring without learning how to throw a punch and block thier face?". We forget for a kid to thrieve in match play they must first learn to shoot, pass and dribble.
While running around is great exercise, many kids become bored and frustrated by lack of ball time during match play. Lets break down the math, in a fairly even 90 minute match both teams will have possession for approximently 45 minutes. With 11 players this is approximently sharing equal time on the ball that is 4 minutes per player. Your child will get almost a full session of ball possesion in the LTPM, this means more time to build personal skills.
One way we can ensure the best use of training time and space is using the Prefered Training Model or PTM. This is a station rotation inspired training method. Essentially, we take the fundamental skills (General Movement, Coordination, Soccer Technique, and Small Sided Games) and create stations. Small "teams" of individuals will go from station to station. This is benefical to players in terms of learning skills with a specific goal, and parents/coaches as there is only one station they need to learn and can do it over and over rather than having to learn 4-6 activities per session. We also will often reuse the same activities, especially with younger kids so they can improve over time. The small improvements help them create confidence!
