Anson Dorrance Interview

[Unregistered]

Interesting observation. Despite all the time and money being spent, the average players have improved, but not the top level players.

http://www.socceramerica.com/article...t-practic.html

SOCCER AMERICA: What differences do you see in the players coming to college soccer compared to 10, 20, 30 years ago?

ANSON DORRANCE: The top players are similar. But the average players right now are so much better than they were.

While the average player is much better, I would be hard-pressed to tell you that players coming into college are more effective than April Heinrichs, or Michelle Akers, or Carin Jennings-Gabarra. The truly elite player we had back in the day would still, if they were young enough, be able to compete as starters on our full national team today.

[Unregistered]

Interesting observation. Despite all the time and money being spent, the average players have improved, but not the top level players.

http://www.socceramerica.com/article...t-practic.html

SOCCER AMERICA: What differences do you see in the players coming to college soccer compared to 10, 20, 30 years ago?

ANSON DORRANCE: The top players are similar. But the average players right now are so much better than they were.

While the average player is much better, I would be hard-pressed to tell you that players coming into college are more effective than April Heinrichs, or Michelle Akers, or Carin Jennings-Gabarra. The truly elite player we had back in the day would still, if they were young enough, be able to compete as starters on our full national team today.

the truly elite players are just that. they are superior athletes.

dorrance's observation suggests the "time and money spent" has improved many players.

[Unregistered]

The first wave of US women stars grew up playing with boy's. They honed their skills in an environment with faster, stronger players, so the early WC games were a step back. The segregation of top players into female only teams starting at the youngest ages has been a huge negative and is the largest single reason our very top end players are at the same level as 30 years ago.

[Unregistered]

Wonder if the same would be said about other women's sports? My sense is that the best female basketball players are better than 20 yrs ago. Same with women's ice hockey?

[Unregistered]

Wonder if the same would be said about other women's sports? My sense is that the best female basketball players are better than 20 yrs ago. Same with women's ice hockey?

Haven't seen a better womans basketball since Cheryl Miller, who was the 1982,1983 and 1984 Naismith Player of the Year. Another one who played during the same time as Miller was Teresa Edwards. She was the Michael Jordan of women's basketball during her time... Don't follow womens hockey , so I couldn't tell you who played 20 years ago...

[Unregistered]

the truly elite players are just that. they are superior athletes.

dorrance's observation suggests the "time and money spent" has improved many players.

So obviously you don't get it and didn't read the whole article.

[Unregistered]

Haven't seen a better womans basketball since Cheryl Miller, who was the 1982,1983 and 1984 Naismith Player of the Year. Another one who played during the same time as Miller was Teresa Edwards. She was the Michael Jordan of women's basketball during her time... Don't follow womens hockey , so I couldn't tell you who played 20 years ago...

Were these women really that god or did they just stand out because there were so few others of equal ability? I suspect that to be the case.

[Unregistered]

Were these women really that good or did they just stand out because there were so few others of equal ability? I suspect that to be the case.

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Only relatively recently have there been sufficient numbers to field all girl youth hockey teams. Elite female players still practice with males regularly to prepare themselves for top competition.

[Unregistered]

Were these women really that good or did they just stand out because there were so few others of equal ability? I suspect that to be the case.

Dorrance knows his stuff. The top few he mentioned were exceptional and would star still today.

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"Back in the old days, the European basketball coaches used to come over to this country and see the Dean Smith and all the great coaches. They’d ask, “What should we do in our practice sessions?” -- and Dean Smith would tell the European coaches, “Work on the fundamentals. … dribbling, shooting, etc, etc.”

So these European coaches went back within the confines of their unique player development environments -- which were not like the American playgrounds. And they developed players who are now complete players in the NBA."

[Unregistered]

The first wave of US women stars grew up playing with boy's. They honed their skills in an environment with faster, stronger players, so the early WC games were a step back. The segregation of top players into female only teams starting at the youngest ages has been a huge negative and is the largest single reason our very top end players are at the same level as 30 years ago.

Some of this is true but mainly they were just earlier and better athletes than the rest of the world. Anson is the poster child of whats going wrong with womens soccer. We have no one at the pro level as good as the top players in the world now. Marta, Kelly Smith, we arent even close anymore, fortunately we are still the best athletes but that will only take you so far..

[Unregistered]

The first wave of US women stars grew up playing with boy's. They honed their skills in an environment with faster, stronger players, so the early WC games were a step back. The segregation of top players into female only teams starting at the youngest ages has been a huge negative and is the largest single reason our very top end players are at the same level as 30 years ago.

Playing against boys is a great way to improve the speed of play, but what do you think the other countries that are catching up doing that we aren't? Girls certainly aren't playing on boys teams, because in most of these countries girls playing soccer is not culturally accepted.

Dorrance understands the reasons, but it has to be said that he has been the biggest contributor to the mess the US women find themselves.

SA: Why are the U.S. women’s and girls national teams no longer as dominant?

ANSON DORRANCE: We’re not as slick as we should be. We’re not as technical as we should be. We’ve relied on the classic American mentality and American athleticism because our genetic pool is so large, but we’re just not as polished and not sophisticated enough.

As a result these other countries, who could never get on the field with us, like a Mexico, now actually can steal a game from us. We have to get back to work.


SA: It seems to me that relying on size and athleticism to win seems to be an even bigger problem on the girls' side than on the boys’ …

ANSON DORRANCE: Yes, it is. And a part of the reason is the girls don’t watch the game. And honestly not too many of their coaches do either.

And the game they should watch, in all deference to where ever our top women’s teams are, is the men’s game. The men’s game is the university for the women’s game. We should be studying the men’s game the way anyone would study at an institution of higher learning.

We’ve got to learn from the men and part of the way to learn is to watch. But we don’t and as a result we lack sophistication, we lack problem-solving, we lack ideas in the final third.

And the way we survive in the women’s game is with raw athleticism. We overpower another player and blow it into the goal -- and that’s not going to cut it anymore.

[Unregistered]

Dorrance knows his stuff. The top few he mentioned were exceptional and would star still today.

I was talking about basketball, not soccer. No doubt the players mentioned by Dorrance would still play, because our NT haven't changed in the last 20 years. What has changed is the competition who have gotten better technically and tactically and now many are catching up athletically.

[Unregistered]

Does anyone really think Marta grew up on an all girls team practicing twice a week for an hour and a half? US tactics and play is often rudimentary and unsophisticated because even our top players don't have the ball at their feet enough during their formative years. The boom and growth in soccer has improved play for the majority, but it has not trickled up to our top player's.