The Methodology used to develop players at Olentangy United works through our Phase Model, where players will move from phase to phase and train with a new team of specialist coaches every 3/4 yrs.

This system provides for players to work with a team of coaches during their time developing. All focused on the same age of development and curriculum, however exposing players to a number of voices and personalities to help them reach their greatest potential.

The OUFC Developmental Phase Model:

• Foundation Phase (FP)
  • Ages: U8 - U12  - "Train to LOVE the game."
• Youth Development Phase (YDP)
  • Ages: U13 - U15 - "Train to UNDERSTAND the game."
• Senior Prep Phase (SPP)
  • Ages: U16 - U18 - "Train to WIN the game."

At the front of what we do, we are trying to help build a love and passion for the sport we all love so much. This is especially true in the Foundation Phase as we focus on ‘training to love the game.’

As a club, we strongly promote training our players in age/skill level appropriate development training. Focused on players 8-12 years of age, we develop this love by encouraging creativity and rewarding risk-taking (and creative failure) in a fun environment. 

Overall, our coaching approach is similar to gardening — ‘we cannot force plants to grow, all we can do is provide the conditions for the growth, and they will flourish.’ Our soccer practices are the same way and revolve around a simple checklist of must-haves: Does it look like the game? Is it fun? Does the session inspire players to train outside of practice?

As a coaching staff, we are here to educate the players and guide them through their soccer journey to help them become the best player they possibly can. We use a guided discovery approach and, even at such a young age, want players to take ownership of sessions, their development, and helping each other to develop (everyone plays a role in the development process). 

In the Foundation Phase, we highly value technical skill development.

It is our goal to make our players a master of the ball and give them the confidence to be calm when challenged with the ball at their feet. We have a modern football philosophy and approach to how the game is played today, not 40 years ago. Certain aspects of the game will remain constant, but the game is adapting and changing. So we continue to ask: What is working at the top academies around the world? What are the best practices for developing players in the 21st century?

We do not have to reinvent the wheel but can manipulate how it goes round.

Individual Player Focus

Every player is different. This doesn’t change what we are teaching but the approach, speed, and expectations we have for each individual player in an attempt to meet everyone’s development needs. Grouping players in ability-based groups gives players opportunities to play and develop at the right level so they’re not overwhelmed.

In the Youth Development Phase (YDP), we see kids who are going through the biggest period of ‘change’ that they will experience. Physical, cognitive, and emotional maturity plays a huge part in terms of soccer development. It’s our role in the YDP to help players navigate this. 

In a soccer sense, players at U13 move to the full format of the game, creating new challenges and opportunities for players. As a club, we focus on long term player development. Within sports training, there is a specific model that applies. 

With a focus on training to understand the game for our 13-15-year-old players, here’s how we go about that in the YDP:

It is expected that the players coming into the YDP from our FP are already capable of executing the basic techniques necessary to play the game. The main difference between the training at the FP and the YDP is at U8-U12, the focus is mostly on the “what” (dribbling, passing, shooting, etc.), then once they’re in the YDP we delve more into the “why,” “where,” and “when” of these skills.

Regardless of what the focus of the training session is each week, we always try to structure training activities so that it looks as much like the actual game as possible. This means adding pressure whenever possible and utilizing a variety of small-sided games and rondos. 

Small-sided games can be any game played with less than 11 players on each team. The incorporation of these small-sided games into our training environment allows us to recreate moments within the game that will help us to improve our players tactical understanding, decision making, and overall development, while also keeping them constantly engaged by giving them more opportunities to get touches on the ball and to be involved in the play. 

Rondos are a training game in which the team in possession has numerical superiority over the team out of possession. The objective is for the attacking team to maintain possession of the ball, while the defenders try to win the ball back.

Utilizing rondos gives our players the chance to work on their technique, decision making, problem-solving, tactical knowledge (rondos happen all over the field during games!), and creativity, all within a competitive setting. Rondos are incredibly versatile training tools and can be manipulated in an infinite number of ways based on the level of the players, what the training topic is, and what we’re trying to achieve with the activity.

Player-Coach Relationship

Olentangy United is a player-centric club, meaning that all of the decisions we make are to benefit each individual player and their development. Over time, this will develop great players, teammates, and teams. 

One way we help empower our players to take responsibility for their training and their development is by creating an environment that has the right balance of fun and discipline, with the understanding that we must cultivate a love for the game above all else.

The greatest players in the world are the best decision-makers. Soccer is a fluid game where players are constantly experiencing new situations and facing new problems that need to be solved. With this in mind, our coaching style is predominantly a mixture of guided discovery and questions and answers. This means instead of always giving players the answer or telling them what to do (autocratic), we are encouraging them, as well as providing varying levels of guidance, so that they can work out the answer for themselves. This coaching style develops a deeper understanding of the game and creates more well-rounded players.

We are believers that there’s no “right” way to play the game. There are loads of different styles of play, all of which can be effective if coached properly. However, having a set style of play that our whole club utilizes allows us to keep the focus on the long term development of our players.  This consistency enables our coaching staff to layer on new ideas each year, and throughout each phase, relative to the players’ age and learning ability. Our goal is for all of our players to reach whatever they want their highest level to be. 

Our style of play promotes creativity, decision making, discipline and creates game savvy players. This helps our players to be more versatile (we try to develop all players in a primary and at least one secondary position as well) and allows them to adapt to different styles that as they enter high school, go through our Senior Prep Phase (SPP), and onto college, they’ll continue to be successful in the game they love. 

The Long Term Athlete Development (LTAD) model is a framework based on the Japanese concept of ‘Kaizen’ meaning ‘improvement’ or ‘change for the better.’ National governing bodies around the world, covering multiple sports lean towards this model when considering the way an athlete should approach their sporting journey. The framework provides scientifically proven guidelines as to how we should train athletes based on their age and stage of development, taking advantage of ‘windows of trainability’.  

In the Senior Prep Phase (SPP) we look to challenge our players individually and as a group. With long term player development at the front of everything we do as a club, in the Foundation Phase (FP) we were teaching the players in a fun yet challenging way to ‘train to love the game.’ In the Youth Development Phase (YDP), our U13-U15 players start to advance their tactical knowledge around the game as the ‘train to understand the game.’ Now in the SPP, we ‘train to win the game’, 

As players get to the 16-19-year-old ages, each needs to be challenged to push themselves further for their teammates and as an individual. As players are moved to new positions, away from our traditional 4-3-3 formation, and overall playing time awarded to players is adjusted based on the competitive edge. 

As the SPP coaching staff, we work closely with our players and with the phase coaches within the club to continually adjust our approach to development to ensure each player coming through the full OUFC pathway is prepared to reach their highest potential and goals within soccer. 

Our aim is to create a whole person, whether they decide to try-out for their High School Varsity team, play in college, or stop playing altogether. No matter what path they take, we want to be there to support their ambitions. Here’s how we do that for our 16-19-year-old players:

Senior Prep Phase Focus

The Senior Prep Phase is the final phase in the OUFC developmental cycle following the Foundation Phase (FP) and Youth Development Phase (YDP). During this phase, players are in their high school program and begin training to compete and ultimately prepare for college or professional playing opportunities.

Our main aim at this phase is to aid the players to get to the desired level of their choice. At this point players usually know if they want to play collegiately. It’s OK if a player does not, and as a coaching staff, we ensure we know each individual’s goals so we can continue to aid in their development to meet those goals.  

The Critical Training Essentials we instill at the Foundation Phase are the essentials that we expect of all players and what they should expect of themselves. 

1. Work Rate 
2. Effort 
3. Focus 
4. Attitude 
5. Responsibility

Every player wearing a Olentangy United uniform is representing our Club. We expect players to conduct themselves in a manner that represents the OUFC core values of Character, Commitment, and Community at all times.

Firstly, development is winning. Seeing players grow, develop their skills/game, and passion for the game is a big part of winning. Undoubtedly, we all want to win games. Winning and losing is a part of development, and of course – how do we react and respond to both sides of the coin.  

We have team targets and goals for our players in training and games. These are the things we are always looking for our players to do well every time they step foot on the pitch. We believe in not sacrificing our development goals/targets to win a game in a style that doesn’t relate to our game model.

As a Growth & Development Club...we do NOT believe that only selecting the biggest, fastest, and strongest players is the right way to grow the game and develop players. We do NOT believe that enticing players/families to participate in leagues that require a significant amount travel and a massive financial expense is the correct approach to preparing players to become the best they can be. Bringing the Global game to ones local extended community, what we call a "Glo-cal" approach, is the best way, we feel, to efficiently and effectively teach and grow the game.