Erimus Soccer

10/31/2024

"He continues to play hard regardless of score or circumstances," Tom Brady recently describing Dallas Cowboys safety Donovan Wilson.

Powerful compliment and a great lesson for young athletes, particularly those in the college recruiting window. Try not to waste your limited exposure minutes underperforming because you're in your feelings team is losing on the scoreboard or may not win the league. Maybe you can't win the game, you CAN display your strengths, always.

Decide what you're good at and take responsibility for consistently displaying that every opportunity you get. All the emails, calls and visits amount to very little without this.

Go out and shine!

10/16/2024

Erimus Psychology client Oscar Boyle. A ‘25 CF who grew up playing in Ireland, now playing NEPSAC. Has great technical ability in tight spaces, very advanced in linking play. Learning the ‘target man’ role. DMs open to interested schools.

10/14/2024

Pictured is Erimus Psychology client Ian Press enjoying his Post Grad year with Kimball Union Academy. I am a big fan of Post Grad and/or Gap Year programs and have seen many successful examples of utilising them with my clients past and present.

For those considering them, I've listed benefits I've seen first hand below. In this example, Ian is starting on an undefeated 9-0-1 NEPSAC team and continuing his development (which includes a positional change) under Charles Muhlari, a man with years of experience coaching the senior Zimbabwe national team.

PLAYING LEVEL - The right program will give you a level of competition above club ball. NEPSAC has a lengthy list of playing alumni competing not only in all three divisions of NCAA, but also in the MLS and EPL. Other programs may offer competition in elite amateur, open age bracket leagues such as the NPSL or UPSL. The increased physicality and intensity of play only serves to showcase the right player better to college coach eyes. In some cases, you will be trading off and deciding whether the academics or playing level is the priority. There is no right or wrong answer here, simply decide your priorities and move forward accordingly.

ACADEMICS - Particularly in the Prep School world, the academic profile can be boosted by solid performance at school's proven to have high academic rigour. Many examples I saw of this included kids with a high surface GPA but lack of AP and Honors level classes. In some cases as a supported athlete, you will be told what you would need to hit academically during the PG year to move from a rejection/waitlist to an acceptance.

PHYSICAL - An extra year of competition, especially if with a good coach who provides guidance in terms of the dietary and weight room habits needed to succeed at the college level. It's common for players who are gifted technically but not physically to get caught in a victim mindset of "people don't want me to be small." It's more effective to maximise the physical traits you do have, and a year of focus on this area can improve every player. Yes, college rosters have 'small' players. Yes, sometimes these players have to work a little harder off the field, PG years offer a chance to do this.

MATURITY - Whether players realise it or not, the structured home life offers many comforts both physical and emotional that disappear when college begins. In my 16 years as a college coach, every year at least one freshman took a few months to adjust to the difference of living away. PG and gap years can help in this area massively.

TECHNICAL AND TACTICAL - Like in the case of Ian, you may find some extremely high level coaches in the post grad world. Consider the feedback you get from coaches and colleges as time passes, while criticism is not fun to hear at times, this can be an opportunity to focus in on certain areas of the game and evolve with guidance before embarking on your career.

Good options with researching are the elite academic Prep School scene (e.g. NEPSAC), PCDA, IMG Academy and Tiki Taka College Prep.

DMs open if anyone strongly considering a gap year and wants to chat further.

10/09/2024

THE TRANSFER PORTAL ERA

We’re in the immediate impact era. It’s impacted recruiting and made it harder for high school seniors to find a destination.

Reasons for this lay on both ends, coaches want the more ‘college ready’ plug and play athlete, and kids are being advised to go ‘where they can play’ and not sit the bench.

In the next 2-3 years you’re going to see a separation occur in coaches who teach their system well in layers, and those who don’t.

You’re going to see a separation in the players
That can work on their development if on the bench, and those who cannot.

If a coach is a quality teacher, a true developer of players then those who have been in the system for 2-3 years will have an inherent advantage over newcomers, even the ‘portal kids.’

For players on these teams who stay the course, they will likely reach a higher ceiling than they would simply transferring away to play right now. It will likely be hard for a portal newcomer to brush you aside in the fight for a starting spot.

Sometimes you’re not the player you want to be today, but the right environment can make you better. And yes, some of those may have you starting your journey on the bench.

If 3 years from now, a coach and team are still perennially cycling players through on effective one year loan deals, I predict the results of those teams will not match the teams with a core of 3-4 year veterans. Yes all coaches will use the portal, but it should be to build on a quality foundation. If this isn’t happening, it’s worth thinking about why not.

10/01/2024

Erimus Psychology client Claire Anderson, '25 forward Claire Anderson. Claire has really managed to be aware of and magnify her strengths, making herself a class target style forward with uncommon physical strength. DMs open to interested coaches;

Highlights of '25 forward Claire Anderson, a talented prospect coming off a 14 goal, 7 assist season with the Harker School. Claire will be playing the upcom...

09/18/2024

Watched the impressive Denver University Men's Soccer team win at Stanford earlier this fall. Winning goal scored by a freshman which wasn't the only common narrative smasher about this Denver team who are currently unbeaten and ranked #3 in the country.

36 man roster, of which 32 are domestic players, only 4 internationals and 13 players from their home state of Colorado.

As always, more than one way to do things and succeed.

09/17/2024

What do College Soccer coaches look for in a defender?

Paolo Maldini once said "if I have to make a tackle I've already made a mistake."

While I've never advised kids to aspire to never make a tackle, there's a good lesson in this statement. Often in the showcase years defenders feel pressure to stand out and make highlight plays.

Spectacular reaching tackles, running out of position to make plays, unnecessary risk can all enter their play but fundamental defending is really the key.

The question a college coach asks is not just can you defend well, but how well you can defend well for. As a result, good positioning and fundamental defending wins out over time.

A succession of solid plays like in the clip below will make a good portion of a highlight video. Goal side, use body, tough to beat.

At times in a showcase environment, anxiety can cause defenders to run out of position trying to make 'highlight' plays. Truth is, repeated incidents of qual...

09/17/2024

'25 CD with strong grades uncommitted for the college coaches out there. As the video shows, Chris has good positional discipline, strength and the added element of long throw and set play ability. DMs open to those interested.

09/04/2024

How do you measure love of the game? You won't find hard data, but I always saw it as a very small gap in performance and attitude whether circumstances were in your favour or not.

When coaching college I recruited many players who played well while their team was comfortably beaten and still managed to stand out (note for players if you're in the youth showcase years and a given game isn't going your way, don't fold).

Another good example I saw recently was Middlesbrough midfielder Aidan Morris. Subbed on to play 17 minutes in an EFL Cup game with his team 5-0 down. He produced his typical high energy performance, and had only 1 less ball recovery than two of the other midfielders who started the game and played over 70 minutes.

Such players have greater levels of resilience and coaches find more reliable over the long term. Playing high level isn't just about if you can do the job, it's about how long you can do the job well for.

Any playing career has a finite amount of games, don't waste any (or waste as few as you can) sulking about circumstances. A key reason for this consistency is I have so often found that the same player to fold and underperform 2-0 down, will be the same player taking their foot off the gas and underperforming when 2-0 up.

If you love it, prove it. Every time.

08/25/2024

"If a team plays all over the pitch 1v1, do not always play the ball short constantly." - Liverpool manager Arne Slot

If you're developing players for the college or pro game, avoid becoming obsessed with style and system. Teach DECISION MAKING. What do they see and how they do they process that information. Make the right decision and execute from a place of technical ability, this is the end goal.

To teach a player only one way to play, is to make their chances of real life high level success very small.

08/24/2024

"Messi wouldn't have played pro in America."

"DI College teams only pick the athletes."

Amazing how the kid pictured played top end DI college and retired this week after a magnificent 546 game pro career.

If you coach or parent a young player who isn't the biggest or fastest. Maybe studying a man like this, his movement and his game is better than teaching a kid to cry that the 'system' is holding them back?

08/20/2024

Drafted in 2023, moves to French first division in 2024.

“No good players in college soccer” though, right?

Any coach that spews that narrative can’t help the late bloomers or players missed by the traditional scouting system.