Below is a link to an excellent article recently posted on www.cantpasscantplay.com, a soccer blog.  It contains an interview with Tony Strudwick, Head Strength and Conditioning Coach for Manchester United Football Club.  Among the points Mr. Strudwick makes are that young players need “multi-sport athleticism”, which can only be obtained by participating in other sports in addition to soccer.  This approach is certainly not unique to Manchester United (or many other European clubs, for that matter), however, often times in North America we adopt an “early specialization” model, which may force young athletes to forego the benefits of “multi-sport athleticism”.

Here is the link to the article:

http://www.cantpasscantplay.com/blog/2015/2/11/manchester-united-youth-development-philosophy

I’d love to hear your thoughts about this topic.  Drop me a line here to get the conversation started.