BEAVERTON, OREGON – Telling a room full of USSF Academy coaches “we have to look at ourselves” in order to address the gap between America and the world in player development, U.S. Soccer Technical Director Claudio Reyna presented a new coaching curriculum here today at a national soccer summit meeting.

Speaking to approximately 200 coaches of academy clubs, youth national teams and others, Reyna said the challenges facing the country in its effort to be among the world’s best at soccer are numerous.

“There’s no magic wand. It will take a long time,” Reyna said on the campus of Nike at the event arranged by U.S. Soccer. “But we need to do the right things now to bring the changes we need over the long haul.”

The curriculum is intricately detailed and broken down into four age groups. Reyna said he drew largely from his travels overseas both as a professional player and since he’s been named technical director. He mentioned being at academies in top academies in Italy, Germany and Spain as well as in South America.

The complete document is available at U.S. Soccer’s web site and will be integrated with the U.S. Soccer coaching education, according to coaching director Dave Chesler.

In the accompanying presentation, Reyna stressed four areas of focus for youth coaches, including the emphasis of development over winning, providing truly quality training, age appropriate programming and inspiring players to keep having fun as they develop.

{mosvideo:350}Afterward Reyna mentioned that as a coach he would be embarrassed to list state and regional cups on his resume as a proof of ability, saying players placed at higher levels was far more important. He reiterated that while American soccer has made strides in the past 20 years, there was still a long way to go in terms of producing more and better high-quality players to excel at both the club and international levels.

At TopDrawerSoccer.com these issues have been important to us for a long time. We will be detailing the presentations and a number of coaching interviews, including with Reyna, over the next several weeks as we look critically at where we are in terms of player development. Look for the first installment next week.

This week the curriculum unveiling is the centerpiece of the summit meeting. Coaches also went through field sessions with former Liverpool and Valencia assistant coach Paco de Miguel, and heard presentations from others. On Thursday they will receive an update on the findings of the  SPARQ physical fitness program used by the Academy, and have breakout sessions to further discuss the direction and future of the Academy.

A question and answer session inside the Tiger Woods center also provide an opportunity for coaches to interact with national level staff about matters. We will have a full report on that session as well in coming weeks.

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