Soccer’s Transient Player Problem & 5 Ways It Impacts Development

Read on my website / Read time: 5 minutes

Today’s player (and parent) is now a transient one, motivated by improved access, increased security, and the false promise of a better future.

Improved Access: They want better leagues, bigger stadiums, more recruitment opportunities, or anything related to improved infrastructure.

Increased Security: They want assurances like promised playing time in the position of their choice in the way they want it.

False Promise of a Better Future: They expect the current place to be a means to a greater end.

They want more but don’t want to be challenged. 

They want safety at the expense of fortitude. 

They want outcomes void of a process. 

This is every level of our soccer culture, from youth to professional. The player empowerment movement has morphed into a transient player problem, a culture filled with people seeking a shortcut to success, avoiding the challenges and processes necessary for growth.

But players (and parents) did not come up with this playbook on their own.

They were reacting to a soccer culture where its coaches overwhelmingly could not promise more than improved access, increased security, and the false promise of a better future. Non-Developers take the shorter road, and its players have been conditioned to do the same. This means that today’s player, despite all the improvements in infrastructure, is not developing nearly as much as players did in the past.

Here are 5 ways the transient player problem affects player development.

1. Sustained Iterations are Impossible

You can’t grow within a vision if you always have one foot out the door. 

How can you improve if you aren’t committed to the current environment you are in? If salvation is just a club away, then players are disabled from giving their best today. 

Development is in the iterations, and the transient player never really iterates.

2. Small Wins are Not Valued Over Resume Building

Today’s players are building a resume for a future level. 

On its face, that doesn’t seem completely detrimental. You inevitably will have to achieve something to graduate from level to level, but a focus on outcomes over process will drain a player over time. 

Small wins are the everyday process wins that keep us motivated to stay on our trajectory instead of being a slave to a future we can not control.

3. Scarcity Mindset Overwhelms

Development is transformed into a zero-sum game with only winners and losers. 

Everyone has potential, yet we treat it like a finite resource. A player in the optimal environment who doesn’t start every game (or win every game) will grow beyond the player who jumps to a different team each season and starts/wins more games. 

Trying to “win” at development means you lose long-term.

4. It Diminishes Love for the Game

We start as fearless artists only to become scared contractors. 

When development becomes a means to some greater future, players unconsciously protect the image of the good player they were instead of just doing the necessary work of becoming a great player. When players are scared to be vulnerable, there can be no growth. 

And the sport the player used to love can transform into one they loathe.

5. It Doesn’t Prepare Them for the Next Level (or a Developer’s Environment)

And even if the transient player gets to that higher level, they won’t be prepared for it. 

What’s the point of getting to that higher level if you aren’t prepared to take the next step developmentally? When a player is completely outcome-focused, they become mentally conditioned, incapable of embracing a vision or adapting to a different way of working.

This will inevitably force them to search for a new environment with improved access, increased security, and the false promise of a better future.

Final Words

As a Developer, this problem can make you question why you became a coach. 

But you must continue on. 

Combat the problem by consistently educating your people on what you and your environment provide. Have your work and the environment do the talking. And when players and families move on, wish them luck and accept it with grace. 

You can learn from each situation, but more than anything, learn to accept that the transient player problem is an inevitable consequence of being a Developer in a soccer culture not navigated by development. 

Your vision will not be for everyone, and that will hurt from time-to-time.

But remember, there is a dedicated group of players who believe in your vision and have chosen to return for more.

Give them all you have.

Thanks for reading!

This article first appeared in my free weekly newsletter (Nate Baker’s Newsletter), where I share insights like this every week. Don’t miss out—subscribe at this link to get these articles delivered straight to your inbox before they’re published anywhere else!