example is a kid playing two games a week and training with his or her high school team , while also training with a club team — basically , trying to be committed to two teams at the same time . But this issue comes in so many shapes sand sizes .”
Gabarra recognizes these situations are further complicated by the competing agendas that come with our more mature soccer ecosystem : the often-fractured working relationships between club and high school coaches , for example . Or parents pushing kids in pursuit of adult goals , their own returns on investment ( read : college scholarships ).
“ The bottom line is , coaches need to be more open to limiting their own time demands ; they need to make the most of their time with players and let kids learn from whatever form of the game they ’ re playing at the time ,” Gabarra argues . “ Each player is different and that transition from outdoor to indoor — or from another soccer team , even another sport — is going to vary for each one of them . And maybe this kid who ’ s just finished a high school season just needs a week off . He or she can come to training and be part of the team , but you probably shouldn ’ t be grinding that kid with fitness testing and double sessions like the kid who ’ s just had a month off .
“ I believe it ’ s important for coaches to have that understanding of transition periods , and what the indoor game does for outdoor players , and vice versa . I think a lot of coaches have figured this out because they ’ ve had to . I don ’ t like the stories of kids who can ’ t play high school soccer or other sports . I believe everyone has good intentions , but I don ’ t agree with the reasoning . I don ’ t think a truly elite U . S . soccer athlete is going to be a three-sport kid in a high school setting . But maybe 98 % of those high school kids can and should play indoor / futsal and other sports .
“ Parents , kids , and coaches all need to find the middle ground , the balance . Playing multiple sports trains the body and mind in different ways . There are so many benefits — and this applies to those transition periods , too . I think almost every coach will run a segment of training with a handball session — or kickball or basketball or soccer volleyball — to accommodate that change of environment . Because it ’ s differential — and not so intensive . And it promotes growth in players physically , emotionally , even tactically .”
•••
Overuse issues in 2023 are inextricably tied to the dedication issue . Today , it ’ s accepted as conventional wisdom that players are better off concentrating on soccer 10 months a year , to the exclusion of other sporting pursuits . Yet if that sort of option is only practical for true elites — a population Gabarra pegs at maybe 2-4 % of 16 year-olds — to what exactly are all these kids really dedicating themselves ?
Back in the 1980s and ’ 90s , when year-round , for-profit premier programs and MLS- or Federation-affiliated academies did not exist , no one thought twice about playing multiple sports , or spending a winter indoor / futsal season on either side of an outdoor campaign . What ’ s more , questions about the developmental utility of indoor soccer were perhaps more open to debate .
When Gabarra turned pro in 1982 , the North American Soccer League was teetering on the brink . When it did fold , in November 1984 , the entire outdoor professional infrastructure collapsed . I write about this pivotal moment and its manifold effects on U . S . soccer culture in my new book , Generation Zero : Founding Fathers , Hidden Histories & The Making of Soccer in America ( Dickinson-Moses Press , 2022 ).
Because NASL was gone , the 1985 U . S . Men ’ s National Team , for example , was stocked almost exclusively with indoor players — because the Major Indoor Soccer League had not folded ( not yet ). In May 1985 , when that national team crashed out of World Cup qualifying , many — including future USMNT captain Mike Windischmann — blamed the indoor game for degrading the outdoor skills of an entire generation of U . S . players .
“ Yeah , I read that in your book , and I understand where Mike is coming from ,” Gabarra says . “ But I don ’ t think there is an exclusively wrong way or a right way to train players . Yes , it takes a little while to adjust to the outdoor game after an indoor season . You don ’ t want guys flying straight from an MISL playoff situation to an outdoor qualifier , as we did [ prior to the Olympics ] back in 1987 . But a lot of what I saw then , and what I see today , is the demonstrable value in playing different forms of soccer . Purely from a tactical perspective , the indoor game creates 200 times the decision-making challenges . For me , it ’ s always been about taking the best from both , achieving that balance .
“ But then , when it came to soccer , I ’ ve always been an outlier .”
The man makes as fair point : Born in 1959 , Gabarra is a Baby Boomer , whereas all his national team colleagues in 1989-90 were GenX , born in 1963 or later . These relative youngsters were all introduced to soccer at early ages , during the Youth Soccer Revolution of the 1970s . Not Gabarra . He didn ’ t touch a soccer ball until he was 13 . While Windischmann and his contemporaries were all products of the Olympic Development Program and Division I college soccer , Gabarra arrived at D3 Connecticut College the year ODP was founded ( 1978 ). Upon graduation , he went straight to the pro indoor game via open tryouts — not NASL , not even the more established MISL , but rather the rival American Indoor Soccer Association .
I interviewed a dozen different members of the 1990 USMNT for Generation Zero , but I didn ’ t speak to Gabarra — because I worked backward from the final World Cup roster , and Gabarra had been one of coach Bob Gansler ’ s final cuts .
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