Who We Are

At STA we have a very particular way of working that is centred around the game. In order for players to excel and develop the necessary technical, tactical, physical and psychological skills and competencies to play the game at the highest level, they must, simply, learn to play the game through playing the game.

Across all of our fields you will therefore see players competing in practices that look like the game. Naturally there will be different formats used dependent upon the age and level of the players, designed to ensure that necessary opportunities are presented to first acquire and later master the skills referenced above.

Central to our philosophical approach to training is the concept that soccer, unlike some of the more traditional US sports, requires the players to be responsible for their decision making while in the flow of the game, and as such, exposing them to the necessary opportunities to develop a high degree of contextually relevant knowledge in order to become the best they possibly can at this is essential.

From a theoretical perspective, parents are encouraged to explore the concepts of Ecological Dynamics and the Constraints Based Approach to coaching as an insight into why and how practices are manipulated and how and why coaches interact in the way do with their players to facilitate this.

Don’t expect practices here to look like soccer is a sport taught by running around cones or standing in lines. It wont.