Joy of the People

Always no cost, monitored, safe enviroment to play soccer.  Games may be played on grass, street courts, futsal etc.  Come ready to have fun.

Free Play is kid driven unstructured play.  While this sounds idle and simple it's not.  JOTP has created a unique environment, grooved and fine tuned by the kids and leaders over time to really bring back the lost language of unstructured play as the best learning environment. Best practice of small sided, equalized games, different balls and different surfaces create a fun involved climate for accelerated learning.   Must be seen to be believed.  We encourage JOTP kids to put in lots of hours of this type of play and offer times at the center for kids to meet and engage.

Feel free to drop off kids, or hang out at the center during FP times.  There is always games on TV and complimentary WiFi.  If you have game get involved.  Kids not in the JOTP program need a signed waiver. 

Healthy kids, Healthy sport experince, Lifelong love of the game

Joy of the People is introducing PLAY 365, an initiative to encourage healthy lyfestyle.  JOTP will offer soccer opportunities 365 days this year and 1000 hours of available free play time.  Kids keep a journal of their time, awards will be given next Dec 31 at our year closing party for kids who meet theirs goals.

Come enjoy the amazing soccer experienced at Joy of the People. But no matter what, Play Everyday!

"My position is this: street soccer is the most natural educational system that can be found."
--Rinus Michels

Read about what they are saying about player development.  While others are out there doing more of the same--we have decided to change things.  We work harder to get it right.  We are building passion, and joy through innovative ways.  We are following best practice of deliberate practice balanced with free play.  Kids touch the ball more, solve more problems and with focused training aimed at technical excellence, kids are defining a new level of skill.

Youth soccer development is only going to get better when someone, somehow, provides the right kid, with the right environment, training, and passion needed to give the U.S its first ever world class player.  When this happens, people will start asking, how was this done, how come no player like that is coming from my neck of the woods etc. Its a painful process, but someone will get it right, hopefully soon.

--from an anonymous comment to the Boston Globe article Hog the Ball, Kid

From Boston Globe 

NY Times on Ajax

A star is made

Over four years, between the age of 12 and 16, a French boy attending an academy receives 2304 hours of training, twice as much as in England. But it’s not just more quantity, there’s quality too. “It was Gerard Houllier’s idea to introduce what is known as ‘preformation’ training,” says Andy Roxburgh. “The idea was that between the ages of 13 and 16 most of the coaching should concentrate on individual work and developing technique. Gerard believed that if a player got to the age of 16 and his technique wasn’t up to scratch there was no way of ever catching up.”

Of course, academies aren’t the only place to play football – Johan Cruyff and George Best didn’t learnt in an academy, they learnt on the street – but cultural changes in Europe have seen street football decline for 20 years. “Marcello Lippi is always bemoaning that kids are playing far less street football today,” says Roxburgh. “In central and northern Europe we really need to try and recreate an environment where there is more spontaneity and freedom of expression with a football. They play a lot of futsal in Spain and Portugal, which is what the Brazilians do, and it’s great for the grass roots, but it’s not so big in Europe. In the past, there were plenty of kids playing in the street so there were plenty of lads to choose from. Now, though, there have to be structures in place in order to find the best players.”
  - August, 2007

The best way to learn soccer, or any sport for that matter, is through free play. The best players from around the world have inspired us through skills learned on their neighborhood courts. Like pond hockey or street basketball, true skill and creativity are born in that unstructured time.

Why, with all the options in soccer programming should kids spend time at free play?

•  It's healthy, it allows you to enjoy the game for life, studies have shown that kids without a foundation of free play hours kids are more likely to suffer burn out. Building the hours of Joy, kids with lots of pick up time were better able to cope with the sometimes more difficult Deliberate Practice required later. 
  
• It's safer, because kids set the level and standards of the game, the movements are more wide ranging building movement and skill literacy. A more balanced physical development takes place with less chance of repetitive stress. The problem is not too much soccer, it's too much pressurized soccer.
  
•  It is the best developer, kids at JOTP will touch the ball more, make more mistakes, learn, have more fun, and attain the appropriate skill levels faster then their traditional travel soccer colleagues not because they are special or gifted, simply because of a better method.
  
• It's more fun.  Have a great coach train kids and they are exhausted in 75 minutes, traditionally free play has no time limit., kids play until dark because they enjoy it more.  This gives them still more touches and builds motivation internally.  Of course kids benefit from coaching, at JOTP we provide age appropriate challenges and then send kids out to play.  A much greater amount of a player's overall time is spent in free play, especially when they are young.
  
• It's free. This year JOTP  will offer 1000 hours of free play and many surfaces and courts, including street, grass, dirt and futsal.  As always  open to players of all ages and levels.

• Soccer's most inspirational players credit free play as the key to their skills
• Studies show with more free play there is less chance of burnout
• Builds self respect. Builds REAL leadership skills
• Without it there is no elite development
• You can play for hours
• Builds long ranging love of the game
• it's fun, healthy, builds happiness
• Joy

Hooray for Free Play
A couple of prominent members of the Twin Cities’ soccer scene are making a play that may completely change how Minnesotans view and participate in the world’s most popular sport. Ted Kroeten and Victor Kasanezky have had long and impressive careers as players and coaches whose passion for the sport is palpable when you meet them. They are launching a club—really, a concept—called Joy of the People. Hoping to create a unifying force that attracts soccer lovers from all ages and backgrounds to promote the simple concept of free play that they feel is missing in America. That’s right; simple pick-up games where players of all ages can hone their skills and play just for the sheer fun of it. They have recently launched an important collaboration with the St. Paul Park and Recreation system, which is offering its South St. Anthony Rec Center and Park for their use. The idea is to create a branded clubhouse and play fields and provide youngsters with a safe and secure place to play and learn. We think they are on to something exciting and hope that the idea of free play spreads like wildfire across all sports and parents can quit slicing oranges and driving to Menomonee for 90 minutes of little Johnny’s or Annie’s competitions. If you are interested in helping launch this exciting effort, contact Ted at Joyofthepeople.org