In this episode of Soccer Geeks we sat down with Larry Draluck, of the Southern California Blues. With such longevity in the game of soccer, Draluck was a wealth of knowledge. If you’re interested in how we teach soccer to players and kids, you won’t want to miss listening in.
Growing up in Southern California, Draluck learned how to play South American style, and his collegiate and playing
career was heavily influenced by his teammates. Today, what he learned there is the foundation of his approach to
coaching at SC Blues: a heavy focus on camaraderie and technique, not on winning. In his own words, “I asked them to
maximize their repetitions of receiving, passing and dribbling, not necessarily in that order. And by doing that, we, the
players under pressure, have an opportunity to use that as like a classroom, if you will. The game would be the test, the practices, the classroom.”
Even though you can’t necessarily see changes happening all the time, Draluck believes that learning isn’t a plateau—
chemically and electrically, connections are being made, breakthroughs are finding their footing, and growth is being
nurtured.
There’s No Way to Develop a Player
Although some might find this controversial, Draluck also stands by the premise that it’s not possible for coaches to
develop players. Players develop themselves, and they do that, in Draluck’s opinion, because of a passion for the sport.
This passion changes how players approach the work of improvement—it becomes enjoyable. He sees the role of
coaches as critical in creating an environment where practice and work are enjoyable. An example Draluck shared was
playing trashcans soccer, which he learned while playing on an Israeli team. Games like this create opportunities for
players to learn creativity and imagination in how they play the game of soccer.
If you want to learn more about what is involved in trashcans soccer, you’ll have to check out the full episode. You can
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