Player Development

Introduction

It is the belief of this club that one key ingredient in the success of competitive team sporting endeavors is clear, consistent communication between coaches, players and parents. This document is one way of explaining in detail the expectations competitive soccer will place on you as a member of NEU.

It will help clarify some areas of potential confusion and at the same time answer questions about the club and team's decision-making process.  As you have committed to become a member of NEU, please take the time to carefully read this handbook.

The club and each team’s success are dependent on a dedicated, knowledgeable and licensed collegiate, high school, and certified staff. The extent of each team's success depends on the work and dedication of the Players, Team Administrators, Parents, and the Coaches. Talented players alone will likely achieve minimal results. It takes a combination of talent, hard work, and a little luck.

Club Philosophy

We believe that putting our players in a competitive but fair training and game environment will accelerate their skills and learning process. We take this stance in the levels of competition we choose to engage in and also in the tournaments we attend.

We realize, acknowledge, and accept that the learning curve is different for everyone and as coaching staff and an organization we will continue to do our best to give players the best opportunity to succeed and to learn. We do so while also realizing that sometimes difficulties and struggles will lead to greater learning and success.

NEU strives to attend tournaments that will challenge their teams to grow both individually but also as a team. Each tournament may serve a different purpose, some will be used to challenge the level of our players/teams, some will be used to display our talent to collegiate coaches, and some may be used to bond a team together. In every case, each tournament provides a new and challenging task for each team.

As a club we believe in playing possession-style soccer while emphasizing speed of play, technique, tactics, support, and balance in all aspects of the game. We believe in developing the imagination and love of the game of our younger players, building and instilling the technical and tactical aspects of the game into our young-early adolescent players, and challenging our older teenage players to play the game at a high level of speed and competence.

Please click here for the Player Development Manual.