The Eyes Have It: Why Reading & Understanding the Game is Our Top Priority

As we approach our upcoming player assessment window, it’s the perfect time to reflect on what truly matters in player development—not just what players can do, but how they see and understand the game.

At Colorado Rapids Youth Soccer Club, our commitment to holistic player development is at the core of everything we do. It’s in our purpose to be “The Heart Behind the Crest,” and it comes to life through our club-wide focus on developing self-regulating players who can think, adapt, and thrive in game environments.

One of the most important—and often most overlooked—skills we seek to develop is a player’s ability to read and understand the game. It’s not just a buzzword. It’s a fundamental component of the player’s development journey and the number one Key Quality in our coaching framework.

Our Technical Plan: One Club, One Community identifies game understanding and decision-making as the centerpiece of our developmental model. This quality connects directly to our Game Model, Game Idea, and Main Principles, which shape how we want our teams to play—and how players are expected to behave within the game.

A player who sees the bigger picture—space, timing, positioning, pressure, and options—is a player who can:

• Solve problems independently
• Adapt to challenges
• Make teammates better
• Connect training to performance

And as we begin our player assessments, our Key Qualities will be at the heart of our evaluation process. We have created a “learning line” for players to progress through different program areas regarding the development that should occur at at each level.

Game understanding isn’t just a standalone trait. It’s deeply intertwined with the rest of our Key Qualities:

• Game Understanding & Decision-Making: Are players scanning before they receive? Are their decisions purposeful? Can they recognize and respond to tactical cues?
• Responsibility & Initiative: Do players take charge of their learning? Are they asking questions, seeking feedback, and experimenting with new ideas?
• Growth Mindset & Competitive Mentality: How do players respond to setbacks? Are they resilient and reflective, or reactive and results-focused?
• Technical Execution: Are their technical actions appropriate to the situation? Do they choose the right skill at the right time?
• Physical Execution: Are they physically ready to apply their decisions at game speed and intensity?
• Learning Ability: Are they curious learners who adapt and grow across the season?

Each of these qualities shapes how we evaluate players—not just based on outcomes, but based on how they go about solving problems and evolving in their role on the field.

Rising Rapids
Competitive
Tiers 1-3

Our Game Model and Learning Plans are more than documents—they’re tools that help coaches foster these qualities every day. Whether you’re working with U9 players learning to spread out and support, or U13 players mastering switching the point of attack, it’s about creating game-realistic problems and guiding players toward thoughtful solutions.

Three essential takeaways from our plan:

• Game Understanding must be trained, not just expected.
• Reality-based training connects decisions to performance.
• Inquiry-based coaching creates thinkers, not followers.

This means fewer static drills and more dynamic problem-solving. Fewer commands, more questions. And always, always tying moments back to the Game Model and Key Qualities.

As player assessments approach, let’s remember: evaluation is not about labeling players—it’s about identifying where they are in their journey and how we can best support their next steps.

Use the Key Qualities to frame your assessments. Consider:

• What has this player learned over the course of the season?
• How have they responded to adversity or new challenges?
• How well do they understand and apply our Game Model principles?

The more specific, objective, and learning-focused your observations, the more helpful they become for player development. Assessing “game understanding” isn’t easy—but when you break it down into observable actions, it becomes clearer.

Here are a few ways to build game understanding in training this month:

• Use scanning prompts (e.g., “What did you see before that pass?”)
• Run conditioned games that reward good decision-making
• Design constraints that connect to Game Model behaviors
• Encourage self-assessment—ask players to reflect on their decisions

For more guidance, revisit:

• Age Group Learning Plans (send request to access) for tactical objectives within our Game Model

Parents and guardians play a powerful role in this process. Instead of focusing on goals scored or games won, ask your player:

“What did you learn today?” or “What was the hardest part, and how did you respond?” or “What was the most fun part of today?”
Helping young athletes reflect on their game understanding builds self-awareness, resilience, and long-term love for the game.

As we close out the spring season and begin the player assessment process, let’s recommit to what matters most: growing players who see, think, and play with intention. Game understanding is our foundation—not just for performance, but for shaping lifelong learners of the game.

If you’d like support in designing training sessions that build game intelligence or using Key Qualities in your evaluations, reach out or explore the Learning Management System. Our staff is here to help.

Let’s keep growing together.

-ZC

Colorado Rapids Youth Soccer Club (CRYSC) serves approximately 10,000 players ages three through 19, beginner to elite, in year-round leagues, camps, and tournaments. As a recognized 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, CRYSC has been named a top 15 youth soccer club in the U.S. by Soccerwire and the top youth soccer club in Colorado by Colorado Parent Magazine. CRYSC’s mission is to provide an environment where young soccer players from diverse backgrounds are guided and inspired to reach their full potential, both on and off the field.