The View from Vermont

Soccer Specialization: Good for the Game or Bad for the Athlete?

By Ben Hardy

March 20, 2009

Here in Vermont, we youth soccer mentors have ourselves an issue.

We don’t all get out much, but rumor has it coaches in other states are scratching their heads over this one, too.

I’m talking about specialization. It’s a dirty little word. It’s not spoken out loud too much. In its place we often use a euphemism: commitment. Our players are not committed enough, we say. They play too many other sports; engage in too many time-consuming activities. They don’t get enough touches on the ball.

This is why soccer in Vermont is behind everyone else. This is why the US is behind other countries. Our soccer players need to specialize.

I’m going to throw this out there: Vermont has it worse than others. Why? Here are the some reasons:

- Our winters are LONG. Kids are forced indoors for over half the year. Basketball, hockey, and track - these sports rule the snowy months. The soccer ball is often left in the closet to hibernate from November to April, sometimes May. (We don’t do Spring. Here it’s called “Mud Season.”)

- There might be a few facilities where indoor soccer can be (and is) played throughout the barren months, but even there the space and time is limited. “Open time” doesn’t really exist, as the organizations running (read: leasing) the facilities have to fill the fields with leagues (read: paying customers) in order to keep the lights and heat on.

- Over said winters, kids ski and snowboard, and rightfully so. Vermont boasts plenty of well-known resorts. This is one of the reasons families choose to live and raise families here. Even the “committed” premier club soccer players hit the slopes. Sometimes they do this on weekends, during scheduled training sessions.

- Vermont has a small population (about the same as Boston’s). That means there aren’t as many athletes vying for coveted varsity or premier team roster spots. Thus, the pressure isn’t there for the talented, multi-sport athlete to drop all other sports in favor of soccer just to make the team.

- Our winters are LONG.

This issue of “commitment” doesn’t just rear its ugly head in the winter months. There are premier club players competing for their high school baseball, softball and lacrosse teams in the Spring (er, Mud Season), which also takes them away from club training and touches on the ball.

The question, then: Should we be expecting players be dropping these other silly pursuits to focus on our Beautiful Game? What is at stake?

A Specialization Success Story

Kristi Lefebvre is a known entity in the Green Mountain State.

Once a Colchester High School soccer standout, Lefebvre went on to compete for four years as a scholarship player at the University of Connecticut. Now back as assistant coach for the University of Vermont women’s soccer program, Lefebvre has time to reflect on her soccer career, particularly those pivotal early high school years when she chose to give up basketball and track to focus solely on soccer.

“I definitely missed out on opportunities, especially with basketball,” Lefebvre said. “That was a different group of friends, and we had been playing together in 6th, 7th, and 8th grade.”

In her first year at Colchester High School, Lefebvre decided on soccer as her main pursuit. To improve her game, Lefebvre played in the men’s leagues during the indoor season and traveled out of state to play with the Boston Bolts club during her first two years of high school. In her junior and senior years, she went all the way to Maryland to join the Bethesda Fury.

“There’s no way I could have done a spring sport like track,” she said.

Lefebvre insists that the Division I college opportunity would not have been there had she not chosen to specialize in soccer.

“It’s about exposure as much as experience,” she said. “The college recruiting calendar has been pushed up. Coaches are looking at younger players at these big tournaments.”

The multi-sport athlete with spring obligations might have a hard time making it to showcase tournaments - the lack of exposure means a lack of college interest.

Compounding that issue is the inferior abilities of the multi-sport athlete attending a showcase event compared to those opponents comprised of soccer specialists. The well-rounded but soccer-deficient participant won’t “show” as well as his or her specialist counterparts.

“I never would have played at UConn if I hadn’t committed to soccer when I did,” said Lefebvre.

Specialization: Not the Only Solution

Lefebvre represents a minority: athletes who went on to receive a scholarship to play Division I soccer. While hers is without question a soccer success story, it is not the only one.

Kyle Dezotell also grew up in Vermont. Raised in Derby - way up in the Northeast Kingdom - he played soccer, basketball and baseball, and he also did Nordic skiing.

“As a youth in the late 80’s and early 90’s, specializing in soccer wasn’t really an option,” Dezotell said. “You could only play soccer in the summer and fall.”

As he progressed through high school, Dezotell began to gravitate toward soccer and Nordic skiing, two sports he excelled at. By the time he graduated, he held the North Country High School soccer program’s all-time scoring record and was the state champion in Nordic skiing.

From there he matriculated to Middlebury College, also in Vermont, where competed on the soccer field and the Nordic skiing course for four years.

“I definitely would have missed out on skiing if I had specialized in soccer,” said Dezotell.

Now the men’s soccer head coach at Norwich University, Dezotell has a strong opinion about specializing.

“I am not a fan of it,” he said, adding, “unless soccer is clearly your best talent, you’re a Division I prospect, and a scholarship is likely. Then maybe it’s a good idea to focus on soccer.”

That opportunity to play soccer year-round - which wasn’t available to Dezotell when he was growing up - is available now in Vermont.

“If I were growing up in Vermont now, I definitely would specialize in soccer, because that was my favorite sport,” said Dezotell. “And it wouldn’t be the right decision.”

Dezotell believes his two-sport athletic background might have helped him get admitted to Middlebury. “Small liberal arts colleges like well-rounded athletes,” he said.

Then there’s the notion that competing in one sport can improve performance in another.

“There’s so much to be gained by cross training,” said Les Johnson, former head coach at Saint Michael’s College and veritable father of recreational soccer in Vermont. “Players experience different coaches, different teammates and different environments… The learning experience is transferable.”

Dezotell agreed, saying, “I learned a lot about the ‘team’ aspect through soccer, things like leadership, team-building and motivation. And in skiing I learned about personal responsibility and accountability. You really had to dig within yourself.”

The question of specialization should most likely be answered on a case-by-case basis. No two youth athletes share the same abilities, dreams and passion for the same sport. While pressuring more players at younger ages to specialize in soccer may result in more success for Vermont ODP and greater numbers of athletes going on to play in college, it could also backfire, causing burnout and resentment in those who might otherwise have found the love and passion for the Beautiful Game.

Only when a player decides to specialize in soccer on his or her own terms, following his or her own dreams, will they be able to look back as Lefebvre can and say, “I don’t have any regrets.”

Ben Hardy is an assistant coach and former player for the Middlebury College men's soccer team, and director of coaching for Far Post Soccer Club, also in Vermont