Individual Practice is Old School
By Joe Ulm

When I was growing up, practicing on your own or with friends was the way to get better. If you wanted the starting spot on the team you were a gifted athlete or you figured out a way to practice on your own. That often included being creative with what you had and talking siblings and friends into practicing with you. Whatever it was, it was up to you – you took the initiative and figured out ways to get better. I still think there’s enormous value in that type of creative, self-initiated effort, but I also see why it’s rare today.

For most grade school kids today, parents actively participate in the activity with their kids, whether playing or practicing, instead of leaving it to them to figure out the best way to practice. Additionally, parents often help organize time with friends for their kids.  In this way, parents have largely replaced “friends and siblings.” High Schools have their own programs for older kids (many of which now provide options for middle school kids) and, of course, clubs play a huge role throughout. And let’s not forget the nearly endless entertainment options kids have today. All told, it’s a fundamentally different environment than it was when I grew up. The question is… is that a good thing? I think it is. Mostly.

When I look back at the way I grew up, the creativity and initiative needed to get better taught me some essential lessons – lessons which are still valuable even now. Yet, I wonder how much more I could have learned if I had the type of dedicated, knowledgeable, instruction available to kids today. Or how much better I could have been if I hadn’t spent time practicing the wrong things or practicing the right things the wrong way. The most poignant example of this dichotomy between structured practice and self-initiated practice is the way Lati grew up. It’s a story I can’t do justice to here, but I can tell you that our Street Soccer program was born from his experiences growing up. Literally.

Ultimately, I believe that today’s environment can be better for kids. It can provide the structured, knowledgeable instruction kids need to reach their potential. But only if we surround them with coaches and people who care about them, who are knowledgeable in what they’re teaching, and who teach in a way that helps players learn the sport AND the underlying lesson. Simply put, even though the structure of youth sports – and the world our kids are growing up in – have both changed, the lessons are still as valuable as they were all those years ago when I grew up. 

So, individual practice is old school. I get it. I guess we’ll just have to create an environment that provides both great coaching and opportunities for players to learn those valuable lessons. Easy stuff. Because it’s all doable when we do it together. United.

New Year, New Opportunities

By Joe Ulm

For many of us, the New Year is a time to look ahead and hope for good things for the next year. The start of a new year often feels fresh and full of opportunity, and it’s fun to see ourselves through the lens of our hopes and expectations fulfilled. This has never been more true than this year as so many of us look to leave 2020 and all the challenges that came with it behind. However, at the risk of being a bit contrarian, I’d like to suggest another approach.

Last year when I was given the privilege of becoming the President of our Club, I sent out an e-mail. In that e-mail, I shared some information about me, and I talked about the future success of the Club. Two months later, COVID-19* hit, and a month after that our spring season was cancelled. It definitely wasn’t the start I was hoping for. However, as I look back on 2020 and all the challenges we faced as a Club throughout the year, I firmly believe that each challenge also provided us with an opportunity; an opportunity to learn and grow, to try new ideas, and to share and communicate in ways we never would have considered without those challenges. 

It’s with this in mind that I would like to reaffirm my belief in the success of our Club. Together, we’ve done much more than weather the COVID* storm – we’ve grown – and if a world-wide pandemic can’t slow us down, it’s hard to believe much else will. In this way, I’m choosing to be thankful for the many lessons I learned throughout 2020. It wasn’t easy, but the most valuable lessons never are. 

So, as I enjoy friends and family on New Year’s eve, I’ll look forward to good and positive things in 2021 right along with many of you… but I’ll do so with a bit of respect for 2020. Because without 2020, I wouldn’t come into 2021 with some of the skills and abilities I learned this past year; skills I fully intend to use to help our Club see an amazing and prosperous 2021. 

Of course, none of these lessons and opportunities would even be here without all of you. So allow me to express my sincere thanks to all of you for your support this past year. I hope 2021 brings you every hope and expectation you desire. As for our Club… here’s to 2021. I’m ready. Let’s make it great together.  United.

*Please know every reference to COVID was from the perspective of how COVID directly affected PSU this past year. In no way am I discounting the very real difficulties many of our members faced due to COVID over this past year. Rather, for everyone who experienced deep personal hardships or severe health issues due to COVID, my heart goes out to you.

A Moment for the Holidays
By Joe Ulm 

“…enjoy every moment of the journey, and appreciate where you are at this moment instead of always focusing on how far you have to go.”

― Mandy Hale, The Single Woman: Life, Love, and a Dash of Sass

For many of us, Christmas is an incredibly busy time. All those wonderful traditions and thoughtful gifts take a ton of work. Who knew? Oh yeah, that’s right, every parent – that’s who. And let’s not forget about everything that needs to be done to prepare the house for guests. After all, “clean” is only a relative term on normal days – not holidays 😊. Yet, for all the effort we put into the holidays, they can pass us by in a blur, leaving us with few memories and little enjoyment if we’re not careful. More concerning, however, is how this type of hustle can often feel like the norm, not the exception. Although this experience is different for each of us, it’s something I’m all too familiar with myself. 

So, it’s with this in mind that I encourage you to take a moment and look around; breathe it all in, enjoy. Because it’s not the clean house or the perfect gift that makes the holidays so special. It’s the time we spend together. And just maybe… this special time we spend together is what keeps us united.

Merry Christmas, everyone.

With All Due Respect…
By Joe Ulm

I have conversations with other soccer clubs and youth sports organizations regularly. In those discussions we share ideas, knowledge, and talk about ways we can lead our respective organizations well. In a recent conversation with the President of another youth organization we discussed member surveys – how to structure them, how often to do them, what to ask, etc. As we got deeper into our discussion, he revealed that his organization limited how often they asked the opinion of their members to just once per year. His reasoning was that he didn’t want to inundate members with questions, polls, and surveys; that it would be bothersome to his members if he did so. I don’t personally know his members, so his approach may be right for his organization. I’ve thought about our discussion quite a bit since we spoke, and with all due respect to him and his organization, I disagree with his general premise. Here’s why:

1. You and your kids are the ones we serve. To try to do so in the best possible way without asking for your opinion would be presumptuous – maybe even arrogant. Every leader here at PSU – Lati, Cari, Erin, Mark, me, and the Board – works hard to know every coach, parent, player, program, and event in our Club well. Yet for all of our effort, it will never be a replacement for your direct opinions. 
2. Sharing your opinion doesn’t need to be bothersome. Yes, here at PSU, it’s true we request that every member respond to our fall and spring surveys. And the feedback we receive from those is incredibly important. But I disagree that participating in a survey has to be bothersome. Rather, shouldn’t surveys be created in a way that isn’t bothersome? 
3. There’s more than one way to receive feedback. To me, this is the crux of the matter – how members can provide their opinions.

Specifically, for us to receive your opinions in a respectful way that’s convenient for you, I believe we need to:

1. Provide multiple and diverse options for you to share your opinion
2. Provide those options often
3. Provide those options with no expectations

In this way, if you have an opinion on a topic you would like to share, you have the opportunity to do so. If not, then just let it pass. No pressure.

So, as we move forward into 2021, we’ll provide multiple avenues for you to share your opinion on a variety of topics, and we’ll do so regularly. But please know that we don’t expect you to take the time to provide your opinion unless it works for you. We’ll do our best to make it easy for you to share your opinion, and you can do what works best for you. No bother. 

Because as always… we’re better together. United.

The Compelling Relationship between Youth Sports and Success as an Adult

Success, however we define it, is something we all want for our kids. We encourage our kids to participate in sports for lots of reasons, but one of those reasons is because we see a relationship between youth sports and how it helps our kids’ social, psychological, and physical development. But does participation in youth sports really relate to success? Or is it just some nostalgic feeling we have based on our own past experiences?

Over the past decade or so, some significant studies have been performed that provide good, reliable data on that relationship. As expected, there IS a relationship between participation in youth sports and success as an adult, and although the relationship isn’t absolute, the correlation is compelling. Here are some examples:

A study from AthleteAssessments.com found:

• 95% of Fortune 500 executives participated in high school athletics.
• 96% of dropouts in 14 school districts in seven regions of the nation were not participating in an athletic program.

A 2018 Whitehouse Study concludes:

“A growing literature evaluates the impact of various childhood interventions on children’s long-term outcomes. Examples include early education programs, increased access to safety net programs, and moves from public housing to higher opportunity neighborhoods (Heckman et al. 2010; Hoynes and Schanzenbach 2018; Chetty et al. 2016). These interventions, in some cases, are shown to improve the long-term health and economic and social wellbeing of children upon reaching adulthood.”

This study from Cornell University shows a correlation between youth sports and career success concluding:

• “Past participation in competitive team sports marks you as a winner in the competition for better jobs.”

Indeed, there are still a bevy of challenges in youth sports, but too often we only hear about the challenges. As real as those challenges may be, the benefits youth sports provides our kids is significant.

Even better is that we get the opportunity to address those challenges and build something that helps them achieve their own success. And from what the data shows they probably will. We just need to build it right. Together. United.

“Change is inevitable. Growth is optional.”   – John C. Maxwell

Responding to Change

      I believe we can be more than just a soccer club; that we can provide a positive, meaningful, lifelong impact on kids. By now, that’s no secret. It’s also no secret that I believe our players will be more successful on the soccer field and in other areas of their lives as we continue to transform our club in this way. Yet, even though there’s a growing body of evidence that supports that belief, making it a reality won’t be easy. How do I know? Because it will require change.

    Change is interesting for lots of reasons. It can create a greater good or it can make things worse; it can disrupt and destroy or it can innovate and empower. In fact, there’s not much change can’t do – except one thing – it can’t take away our ability to choose. Whatever change brings us, we can always choose how to respond. That’s particularly relevant to me now because November is when we start looking at how we can improve things for spring and next fall. Now is when we start making decisions on what to change. And all of you will have the ability to choose your response.

    One of those changes is what you’re reading right now. Each Monday, you’ll receive an article from me on a variety of topics: what’s happening around the club, news in the soccer community, new ideas we’re considering, and yes, upcoming changes, as well. So please keep an eye out for it, and if you’re so inclined, read through it from time to time. Because many of the changes we’ve made over the past six months have started from ideas you’ve provided and from changes you’ve suggested. We hope we’ve responded in a way that makes you proud to call our club home. And we’ll work hard to keep it that way because as you know… we’re stronger together. United.

Joe Ulm
President
Pewaukee Sussex United