Local Manchester United camps
put emphasis on skills, creativity
By Matt Le Cren
NAPERVILLE -- Anyone driving past Nike Park in Naperville last week would have seen it.
About 40 kids of varying ages were taking part in a soccer camp under the guidance of three coaches.
It is a common enough summer scene in many suburban neighborhoods.
Yet upon closer inspection, this gathering was a little different.
The camp, sponsored by the Naperville Soccer Association, was run by three coaches from the world-renowned Manchester United Football Club. Danny Byrne, Gary Sampson and Zeki Istanbul all played for the famed English Premier League team at various levels and now serve as coaches in the team’s youth academy.
“Man U like their coaches to be former players. So when they’re coaching kids, they’ve already been through the system. They know the Man U history,” said Kieren Keane, the NSA’s Director of Coaching and Marketing. “Gary has been there 21 years.”
Thanks to Keane, Man U has had a presence in Naperville since 2015, when the first camp was held.
It was the England-born Keane, who enjoyed a 12-year pro career in England, Scotland, Germany and the U.S., who first invited the English coaches to Naperville.
“I used to play with Danny Byrne,” Keane said. “We knew each other when we were young.
“He was at Chelsea, and he signed with Manchester United. We’re both from London, and we’ve just remained friends ever since.”
Byrne signed with Man U at age 14 and turned pro at 17. He spent six years with the club and played for Ireland’s U-19 national team.
Sampson also turned pro at 17 after eight years in Man U’s youth program and is in his sixth year of coaching. Istanbul is a former youth player with the club.
The trio focuses on different age groups. Istanbul guides the youngest and prepares them for 11-on-11 play, which starts around age 11. Sampson and Keane, who assists the Man U U-18 team, work more with middle school-age players.
They reprised their roles at the Naperville camp, which introduced the campers to Man U’s developmental philosophy of four phases.
In the "Foundational Phase" (U-9 to U-11), the focus is on technical development with an introduction to a basic understanding of the game. Free play and enjoyment of the game are the key aspects of this phase.
The "Youth Development Phase" (U-12 to U-15) sees an increased emphasis on technical development under progressively intense situations. Players are taught about understanding scenarios recreated in practices and position-specific coaching that aims to inform players on their roles and responsibilities.
That is followed by the "Learning to Compete and Professional Development Phase" (U-16 to U-19), which entails further progression to improve technique, and positional and tactical understanding at increased physical intensity. Coaches teach about the transitional phase to the professional ranks at Manchester United. During this period of the training, there is a strong emphasis on creating competition.
The "Final Phase" is everyone's goal: playing as a professional for Manchester United's first team and continuing its history of success.
The Naperville campers got a small taste of that philosophy during the five-day camp at Nike Park. The coaches were met with enthusiasm.
“It’s really cool,” said camper Brinkley Douglas. “They’ve been talking to us about different techniques, and they’ve been showing us different things and games that are really fun but also (make) us work on stuff.”
Douglas, 11, will be entering sixth grade at Highlands Elementary School in Naperville in the fall. She plays for Keane at NSA and aspires to play professionally.
“(Keane) is a good coach,” Douglas said. “He’s really supportive.”
Douglas, who participated in the inaugural camp last summer, roots for the U.S. national team. Her favorite club teams are Man U and the Chicago Red Stars.
What does she like most about the camp?
“We get to work on stuff and then implement it into the games, so that’s good,” she said. “Then it’s good on working on fast touches and different types of plays and being creative.
“Like today we’ve been working on good defense and staying low and also we’ve been doing creative passing and moving.”
Creativity is something that often is lacking at the lower levels of the sport, especially in America. Keane and Byrne agree that the emphasis on winning at the youth level has hindered soccer’s development in this country, and they are working to change that.
“I’ve worked in America for quite a while now,” said Keane, who counts Jay DeMerit, the former UIC star who played for the U.S. in the 2010 World Cup, among the players he has trained. “I’ve got players into the national teams and (worked with) a lot of elite collegiate players getting into the core of the development of these players to create talented players, which I think America lacks a little bit.
“Even though Manchester United is such a prestigious club, they go against the grain as well. They go against the system because they believe in developing individual players over wins and losses at a younger age. We’re trying to do the same thing in Naperville, develop real talent.”
As Byrne pointed out, Man U’s academy players do not participate in a league until the U-18 level. Before that, training focuses on skill development and intrasquad scrimmages. Winning and losing play no part, unlike in America, where children as young as 6 are playing in leagues and keeping score.
“I was taking all the top collegiate players to Europe,” Keane said. “They were good athletes, and they work hard. But I think the talent and technique was always holding some of the American players back.
“It’s really at the younger ages where it should all be about fun and technique and developing. Once they get to 14, 15, 16, then you’re focusing more on structure. At the younger ages, it’s all about creating individuals.”
That sentiment is shared by Byrne and his colleagues across the pond, and it provided the impetus for the Man U coaches to come to Naperville and other Chicago-area communities.
“(Keane and I) spoke a lot about the philosophies that we use at Man United and how we develop our players,” Byrne said. “We had a chat about it and found we had similar views, so we said, ‘Why don’t we come out and show you some of the stuff that we do to develop our players?’ and help Kieren.
“Our sole focus is on player development and not winning. We felt that here it was more towards winning with little kids here, giving them the mentality that they have to win.”
While victory is the ultimate goal at the highest levels of the sport, a win-at-all-costs approach is counterproductive at the youth level.
“We try to get across that developing players is more important at younger age groups,” Byrne said. “It’s about having fun. If we can get them to enjoy soccer at young age groups, winning comes later.
“Like with the age groups (ages 6-17) that we have here today. We’re just having fun. And they’re smiling when they come off the pitch, and they’ve enjoyed it regardless of the results.”
Max Fitzekam was one of those campers. The 10-year-old, who is home-schooled, was participating in his first Man U camp.
“Manchester United is my favorite team, so my dad looked into it,” Fitzekam said. “I’m really happy.”
Fitzekam, who has been playing soccer for five years and wants to play in college, said he learned a lot.
“We learned about defending, and we learned about passing and how to position,” he said. “I like the fact that there are lots of people (playing soccer) and you can be creative.”
And the best part of the camp experience?
“That there are real coaches from Manchester United, and they teach you cool stuff,” Fitzekam said.
Making soccer cool is the overarching goal for coaches like Byrne and Keane. They want to grow the sport and know the best way to do that is attracting kids while they are young.
That’s not as easy in the age of smart phones and video games. It’s a problem on both sides of the Atlantic.
“In England we have the same problem; kids just don’t play in general,” Byrne said. “So a kid will come home from school and go on the computer, whereas 15 years ago a kid would come home from school and go out with his friends, and they’d play soccer in the street.”
The Man U coaches try to replicate that unstructured play in their camps. They break the kids into three age groups, with one coach leading each group.
After giving instructions, the players are sent out to play on their own so they can learn to solve problems themselves.
“We’re sending a message out to as many kids as we can,” Byrne said. “We don’t necessarily do a lot of drills. It’s more them playing so all the stuff you’d get from a drill, you see on the pitch, making those decisions on their own.”
In England, there is a game called Wembley, where there is one goal set up and instead of teams, it is every man for himself. Byrne said that teaches kids with the ball how to dribble and go to goal, while children who don’t have the ball learn how to tackle.
That, in turn, allows the creativeness and skills to blossom. If a player makes a mistake and it leads to a goal, it doesn’t matter.
“We want them to enjoy themselves,” Byrne said. “We want them to try things without worrying that they’re going to be told off because they give the ball away. That’s not what children want to play (soccer) for.”
Developing star soccer players, Byrne said, is a long process.
In any given year, Manchester United has about 200 children ages 6 to 8 enter its academy. Players can sign with the club at 9, by which time the number has been reduced to 25. Of those, perhaps 10 will stay long enough to reach the parent club, which then recruits additional players from around the world.
While the youth talent in the Chicago area isn’t at the level in Man U’s academy, the coaches have seen improvement.
“This is our second year here,” Byrne said. “We’ve seen a difference in the young kids.
“You can see that they’re trying things. It’s good to see that someone like Kieren is out here trying to implement that into the kids.”
Keane, who has been with the NSA for 18 months, is just as committed to working with young kids as he is to training collegiate and professional players.
“We so often find that the players that Kieren’s been working with at younger age groups, we see a massive difference in goals and their mentality than some of the older ones that haven’t had that development side of it,” Byrne said. “They learn to express themselves freely, where if (they) try something and give the ball away and the other team scores, it doesn’t matter.
“(They're) trying to do things. We’re trying to get the kids to have a mentality where they’re not scared to try a trick. (If they are scared), you’ve never going to produce those players like your Messis and Ronaldos because you’re just producing players that care about winning and are scared to express themselves.”
Producing top-tier talent takes time and effort. Keane and his English cohorts are determined to do it.
To meet demand, a second half-day camp has been added July 5-8 at Nike Park. The Man U coaches, who are in the country for three weeks, also will host a full-day camp in Barrington this week as well as half-day camps July 5-8 in Evanston and Palatine (in the evenings).
“We could ... get 100 kids here, but we keep it small,” Keane said. “We want to keep the price lower and have functional learning, more 1-on-1 instruction.
“(The coaches) want to know each kid’s name, and they want to have a coaching moment with each kid. You’re not just a number; they want to be able to touch base with every player. That’s important.”
If interest remains high, Man U wants to make the camps an annual event.
“We’re hoping so,” Byrne said. “Obviously we’ve got a great in with NSA now.
“We’re looking to get in with as many teams as we can. It’s good for us to come out and see the kids and work with them. We really enjoy coming out here.”
For more information, visit www.prounitedsoccer.com or www.napervillesoccer.com.
put emphasis on skills, creativity
By Matt Le Cren
NAPERVILLE -- Anyone driving past Nike Park in Naperville last week would have seen it.
About 40 kids of varying ages were taking part in a soccer camp under the guidance of three coaches.
It is a common enough summer scene in many suburban neighborhoods.
Yet upon closer inspection, this gathering was a little different.
The camp, sponsored by the Naperville Soccer Association, was run by three coaches from the world-renowned Manchester United Football Club. Danny Byrne, Gary Sampson and Zeki Istanbul all played for the famed English Premier League team at various levels and now serve as coaches in the team’s youth academy.
“Man U like their coaches to be former players. So when they’re coaching kids, they’ve already been through the system. They know the Man U history,” said Kieren Keane, the NSA’s Director of Coaching and Marketing. “Gary has been there 21 years.”
Thanks to Keane, Man U has had a presence in Naperville since 2015, when the first camp was held.
It was the England-born Keane, who enjoyed a 12-year pro career in England, Scotland, Germany and the U.S., who first invited the English coaches to Naperville.
“I used to play with Danny Byrne,” Keane said. “We knew each other when we were young.
“He was at Chelsea, and he signed with Manchester United. We’re both from London, and we’ve just remained friends ever since.”
Byrne signed with Man U at age 14 and turned pro at 17. He spent six years with the club and played for Ireland’s U-19 national team.
Sampson also turned pro at 17 after eight years in Man U’s youth program and is in his sixth year of coaching. Istanbul is a former youth player with the club.
The trio focuses on different age groups. Istanbul guides the youngest and prepares them for 11-on-11 play, which starts around age 11. Sampson and Keane, who assists the Man U U-18 team, work more with middle school-age players.
They reprised their roles at the Naperville camp, which introduced the campers to Man U’s developmental philosophy of four phases.
In the "Foundational Phase" (U-9 to U-11), the focus is on technical development with an introduction to a basic understanding of the game. Free play and enjoyment of the game are the key aspects of this phase.
The "Youth Development Phase" (U-12 to U-15) sees an increased emphasis on technical development under progressively intense situations. Players are taught about understanding scenarios recreated in practices and position-specific coaching that aims to inform players on their roles and responsibilities.
That is followed by the "Learning to Compete and Professional Development Phase" (U-16 to U-19), which entails further progression to improve technique, and positional and tactical understanding at increased physical intensity. Coaches teach about the transitional phase to the professional ranks at Manchester United. During this period of the training, there is a strong emphasis on creating competition.
The "Final Phase" is everyone's goal: playing as a professional for Manchester United's first team and continuing its history of success.
The Naperville campers got a small taste of that philosophy during the five-day camp at Nike Park. The coaches were met with enthusiasm.
“It’s really cool,” said camper Brinkley Douglas. “They’ve been talking to us about different techniques, and they’ve been showing us different things and games that are really fun but also (make) us work on stuff.”
Douglas, 11, will be entering sixth grade at Highlands Elementary School in Naperville in the fall. She plays for Keane at NSA and aspires to play professionally.
“(Keane) is a good coach,” Douglas said. “He’s really supportive.”
Douglas, who participated in the inaugural camp last summer, roots for the U.S. national team. Her favorite club teams are Man U and the Chicago Red Stars.
What does she like most about the camp?
“We get to work on stuff and then implement it into the games, so that’s good,” she said. “Then it’s good on working on fast touches and different types of plays and being creative.
“Like today we’ve been working on good defense and staying low and also we’ve been doing creative passing and moving.”
Creativity is something that often is lacking at the lower levels of the sport, especially in America. Keane and Byrne agree that the emphasis on winning at the youth level has hindered soccer’s development in this country, and they are working to change that.
“I’ve worked in America for quite a while now,” said Keane, who counts Jay DeMerit, the former UIC star who played for the U.S. in the 2010 World Cup, among the players he has trained. “I’ve got players into the national teams and (worked with) a lot of elite collegiate players getting into the core of the development of these players to create talented players, which I think America lacks a little bit.
“Even though Manchester United is such a prestigious club, they go against the grain as well. They go against the system because they believe in developing individual players over wins and losses at a younger age. We’re trying to do the same thing in Naperville, develop real talent.”
As Byrne pointed out, Man U’s academy players do not participate in a league until the U-18 level. Before that, training focuses on skill development and intrasquad scrimmages. Winning and losing play no part, unlike in America, where children as young as 6 are playing in leagues and keeping score.
“I was taking all the top collegiate players to Europe,” Keane said. “They were good athletes, and they work hard. But I think the talent and technique was always holding some of the American players back.
“It’s really at the younger ages where it should all be about fun and technique and developing. Once they get to 14, 15, 16, then you’re focusing more on structure. At the younger ages, it’s all about creating individuals.”
That sentiment is shared by Byrne and his colleagues across the pond, and it provided the impetus for the Man U coaches to come to Naperville and other Chicago-area communities.
“(Keane and I) spoke a lot about the philosophies that we use at Man United and how we develop our players,” Byrne said. “We had a chat about it and found we had similar views, so we said, ‘Why don’t we come out and show you some of the stuff that we do to develop our players?’ and help Kieren.
“Our sole focus is on player development and not winning. We felt that here it was more towards winning with little kids here, giving them the mentality that they have to win.”
While victory is the ultimate goal at the highest levels of the sport, a win-at-all-costs approach is counterproductive at the youth level.
“We try to get across that developing players is more important at younger age groups,” Byrne said. “It’s about having fun. If we can get them to enjoy soccer at young age groups, winning comes later.
“Like with the age groups (ages 6-17) that we have here today. We’re just having fun. And they’re smiling when they come off the pitch, and they’ve enjoyed it regardless of the results.”
Max Fitzekam was one of those campers. The 10-year-old, who is home-schooled, was participating in his first Man U camp.
“Manchester United is my favorite team, so my dad looked into it,” Fitzekam said. “I’m really happy.”
Fitzekam, who has been playing soccer for five years and wants to play in college, said he learned a lot.
“We learned about defending, and we learned about passing and how to position,” he said. “I like the fact that there are lots of people (playing soccer) and you can be creative.”
And the best part of the camp experience?
“That there are real coaches from Manchester United, and they teach you cool stuff,” Fitzekam said.
Making soccer cool is the overarching goal for coaches like Byrne and Keane. They want to grow the sport and know the best way to do that is attracting kids while they are young.
That’s not as easy in the age of smart phones and video games. It’s a problem on both sides of the Atlantic.
“In England we have the same problem; kids just don’t play in general,” Byrne said. “So a kid will come home from school and go on the computer, whereas 15 years ago a kid would come home from school and go out with his friends, and they’d play soccer in the street.”
The Man U coaches try to replicate that unstructured play in their camps. They break the kids into three age groups, with one coach leading each group.
After giving instructions, the players are sent out to play on their own so they can learn to solve problems themselves.
“We’re sending a message out to as many kids as we can,” Byrne said. “We don’t necessarily do a lot of drills. It’s more them playing so all the stuff you’d get from a drill, you see on the pitch, making those decisions on their own.”
In England, there is a game called Wembley, where there is one goal set up and instead of teams, it is every man for himself. Byrne said that teaches kids with the ball how to dribble and go to goal, while children who don’t have the ball learn how to tackle.
That, in turn, allows the creativeness and skills to blossom. If a player makes a mistake and it leads to a goal, it doesn’t matter.
“We want them to enjoy themselves,” Byrne said. “We want them to try things without worrying that they’re going to be told off because they give the ball away. That’s not what children want to play (soccer) for.”
Developing star soccer players, Byrne said, is a long process.
In any given year, Manchester United has about 200 children ages 6 to 8 enter its academy. Players can sign with the club at 9, by which time the number has been reduced to 25. Of those, perhaps 10 will stay long enough to reach the parent club, which then recruits additional players from around the world.
While the youth talent in the Chicago area isn’t at the level in Man U’s academy, the coaches have seen improvement.
“This is our second year here,” Byrne said. “We’ve seen a difference in the young kids.
“You can see that they’re trying things. It’s good to see that someone like Kieren is out here trying to implement that into the kids.”
Keane, who has been with the NSA for 18 months, is just as committed to working with young kids as he is to training collegiate and professional players.
“We so often find that the players that Kieren’s been working with at younger age groups, we see a massive difference in goals and their mentality than some of the older ones that haven’t had that development side of it,” Byrne said. “They learn to express themselves freely, where if (they) try something and give the ball away and the other team scores, it doesn’t matter.
“(They're) trying to do things. We’re trying to get the kids to have a mentality where they’re not scared to try a trick. (If they are scared), you’ve never going to produce those players like your Messis and Ronaldos because you’re just producing players that care about winning and are scared to express themselves.”
Producing top-tier talent takes time and effort. Keane and his English cohorts are determined to do it.
To meet demand, a second half-day camp has been added July 5-8 at Nike Park. The Man U coaches, who are in the country for three weeks, also will host a full-day camp in Barrington this week as well as half-day camps July 5-8 in Evanston and Palatine (in the evenings).
“We could ... get 100 kids here, but we keep it small,” Keane said. “We want to keep the price lower and have functional learning, more 1-on-1 instruction.
“(The coaches) want to know each kid’s name, and they want to have a coaching moment with each kid. You’re not just a number; they want to be able to touch base with every player. That’s important.”
If interest remains high, Man U wants to make the camps an annual event.
“We’re hoping so,” Byrne said. “Obviously we’ve got a great in with NSA now.
“We’re looking to get in with as many teams as we can. It’s good for us to come out and see the kids and work with them. We really enjoy coming out here.”
For more information, visit www.prounitedsoccer.com or www.napervillesoccer.com.