Technical Program

The Victoria Soccer Club will adopt the following guidelines where it pertains to our youth program:

Guiding Principles

“Technique before Tactics”, this simple term essentially will drive our youth program and its proper age-appropriate development based on the CSA’s Long Term Player Development model. I honestly believe that within a youth program, winning comes at the expense of player development. Often young children are put into positions based more on their physical maturity than their soccer development. Coaches as well often feel that they can control the game by coming up with a better system or formation than their opponent and rely more on the system than the principles of play. At Victoria, we are going to treat player development within our youth system no different than the professional teams’ overseas do. With this in mind, our attitude should be to develop the player to the point that they are now too good to play for our team.

• Technique before tactics
• Age appropriate training as outlined in the CSA’s LTPD model
• Development over winning. Development must happen before winning and not the other way around. If we do our job and develop players when they are young, the results on the pitch will come.
• Develop a club mentality; players play for the club, not individual teams
• Build a culture of excellence and respect. This covers training expectations, player attitudes, coach’s attitudes and respect amongst all stakeholders
• Push players into the Provincial and National training programs, post-secondary opportunities and the Victoria senior program.
• Cooperation amongst coaches; will always act in the best interest of the player and for the Victoria Soccer Club

VIC ACADEMY

We at Victoria are very pleased to announce the launching of the Victoria Academy.

The Academy will get its official launch in November 2011 as we start our winter program, but we will be running some aspects of it this summer. Once in full swing we will be running two sections for the Academy: May-July then again from November-April.

This Academy will be staffed by licensed coaches, most of which holding their National B License. Adhering to the Canadian Soccer Associations Long Term Player Development model as outlined in the Wellness to World Cup program, our Academy will strive to deliver age appropriate player development. Concentrating on individual player technical development, players in the Academy can expect to learn and master the technical skills required to play this game at the highest level. As players progress through the Academy, they can expect to learn to advance through the attacking and defending principles of play. Concepts of full-team play will be taught consistently throughout the program whether that is small number combination play at the youngest ages to functional and phase of play sessions for the oldest players.

As seen with the success of our current U-17 men's national team where the majority of the players have come from the academy systems of Toronto FC, Montreal Impact, and the Vancouver Whitecaps. Further to that, 17 of the 20 players on that roster have been involved in our National Training Centers. It will be the goal of the Academy to push players to achieve the highest they can and certainly we will measure our success by the number of players moving on to represent our province at the provincial and national levels.

This Academy will only be open to Victoria players and combined with the work of our team coaches, we expect to give our athletes every opportunity to develop to their fullest potential. Further information will be available soon.

Finishing School / Keeper Training

Finishing school is into its second season this winter and will continue throughout the winter. While many coaches and players are comfortable moving and keeping the ball in the defending and middle thirds of the field, it is the attacking third that proves to be the most difficult. This program will work with players on the technique of shooting and finishing plus teach players the types and patterns of movement that are necessary to find success in the most challenging part of the pitch. This course will be ideal for strikers and midfield players.
This program is currently running as an after-school program on Monday and Wednesday's from 4:30-5:30.

Full Academy
The Academy will get its official launch in November 2011 as we start our winter program, but we will be running some aspects of it this summer. Once in full swing we will be running two sections for the Academy: May-July then again from November-April.

This Academy will be staffed by licensed coaches, most of which holding their National B License. Adhering to the Canadian Soccer Associations Long Term Player Development model as outlined in the Wellness to World Cup program, our Academy will strive to deliver age appropriate player development. Concentrating on individual player technical development, players in the Academy can expect to learn and master the technical skills required to play this game at the highest level. As players progress through the Academy, they can expect to learn to advance through the attacking and defending principles of play. Concepts of full-team play will be taught consistently throughout the program whether that is small number combination play at the youngest ages to functional and phase of play sessions for the oldest players.

As seen with the success of our current U-17 men's national team where the majority of the players have come from the academy systems of Toronto FC, Montreal Impact, and the Vancouver Whitecaps. Further to that, 17 of the 20 players on that roster have been involved in our National Training Centers. It will be the goal of the Academy to push players to achieve the highest they can and certainly we will measure our success by the number of players moving on to represent our province at the provincial and national levels.

This Academy will only be open to Victoria players and combined with the work of our team coaches, we expect to give our athletes every opportunity to develop to their fullest potential. Further information will be available soon.

FINISHING SCHOOL / KEEPER TRAINING
While many coaches and players are comfortable moving and keeping the ball in the defending and middle thirds of the field, it is the attacking third that proves to be the most difficult. This program will work with players on the technique of shooting and finishing plus teach players the types and patterns of movement that are necessary to find success in the most challenging part of the pitch. This course will be ideal for strikers and midfield players.