Phases of Competition
Competition and the desire to “win” is incredibly important, and is encouraged at every phase throughout Paramus United Soccer Academy’s Player Development Framework. However, through the Paramus United Soccer Development Framework, competition is channelled differently at various phases of a players’ development and is very different to the “winning at all costs” that many teams, coaches and parents expect from their child’s participation in youth sports.
PHASE 1
Internal Competition
Players need to first learn how to compete against themselves. This socializes a strong training ethic and motivates players to train harder and train on their own.
PHASE 2
Team Competition
Players then need to learn to compete against their team-mates. This ensures a daily training environment that constantly pushes players out of their comfort zones and raises the level of training, and thereby the rate of development, across the entire team.
PHASE 3
Game Competition
Finally, players learn to compete against opponents. This is the easy part and comes as players get older and more mature in understanding their roles as competitive athletes.
