Episode 55: Interview with Ted Kroeten, an evangelist for free play in youth soccer

Ted Kroeten is the founder of Joy of the People, a non-profit in the Twin Cities focused on free play as a way to develop more instinctive, resourceful soccer players (and people). A former player, long-time coach and current soccer parent, Kroeten now believes that up to at least the age of 14, the best way for kids to improve is by playing for fun with their friends, with minimal coaching and supervision. It's an interesting idea, one that a lot of people don't accept, and I tried to ask Ted as many good questions about it as I could. Roughly 3,000 children participated in some kind of free play soccer at Joy of the People last year. Two players who grew up in the program trialed at Werder Bremen in the fall. https://twitter.com/JOYofthePEOPLE https://www.joyofthepeople.org/ Skip the ads! Subscribe to Scuffed on Patreon and get all episodes ad-free, plus any bonus episodes. Patrons at $5 a month or more also get access to Clip Notes, a video of key moments on the field we discuss on the show, plus all patrons get access to our private Discord server, live call-in shows, and the full catalog of historic recaps we've made: https://www.patreon.com/scuffed Also, check out Boots on the Ground, our USWNT-focused spinoff podcast headed up by Tara and Vince. They are cooking over there, you can listen here: https://boots-on-the-ground.simplecast.com And check out our MERCH, baby. We have better stuff than you might think: https://www.scuffedhq.com/store Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.