The Cruyff Approach Thrives Today With TOVO Training & TOVO Academy
Todd Beane — Founder of TOVO Institute and TOVO Academy Barcelona — is a dedicated, committed and remarkable soccer professional who knows we can do a better job developing youth players in America.
Soccer News: Todd Beane launches his TOVO V1 Online Course today. The founder of TOVO Institute and TOVO Academy Barcelona will also be visiting NC and NYC in June for courses.
TOVO is based on Total Football, played and taught by the famous Johan Cruyff, the famous Dutch professional football player and coach. The winner of Ballon d’Or three times, in 1971, 1973 and 1974, he is the father of the football philosophy known as Total Football.
Cruyff is widely regarded as one of the greatest players in soccer and was voted European Player of the Century in 1999.
The Johan Cruyff style is a team-oriented style of play where eleven players pay together, contributing systematically to both offense and defense. This style reflects a ‘thinking’ and creative, solutions-oriented style of play and each player needs advanced skills as well as a deep understanding of the beautiful game.
In TOVO, Beane has combined proven pedagogical practices with the visionary components of the total football legend into a dynamic and practical training methodology. For 14 years, Beane worked with the legendary Johan Cruyff to create the Cruyff Institute for Sport Studies and to deliver total football training programs to professional clubs worldwide.
“Todd is a natural teacher. He has clear ideas and presents them in a way that people enjoy and understand.” – Johan Cruyff (1947-2016)
Now, Beane is bringing the Cruyff legacy to the modern age with the launch of the online TOVO V1 course which introduces the TOVO Training Methodology through online coursework, videos, and interactive webcasts.
The goal is Educating Athletes and Coaches Worldwide
SoccerToday Interview with Trailblazer Todd Beane
Diane Scavuzzo: What is the TOVO V1 Course?
Todd Beane: The course is called TOVO V1, or Virtual 1, and it is a self-paced, 45-day course with live, interactive web sessions reviewing with the online course material.
The methodology works for a broad range of coaches where ever they may be in the world and the material serves the needs of youth coach who coaches a U11 team as well as a collegiate coach.
We want to make this methodology available to club coaches everywhere.
Diane Scavuzzo: How is the launch of TOVO V1 going?
Todd Beane: The response has been incredible.
It has already exceeded our expectations by far.
The response within the first 24 hours tripled our expectations. Our first course is filled. We hope to reach hundreds if not thousands of coaches over the next year or two.
Diane Scavuzzo: In your TOVO material, you frequently refer to developing intelligent players – what do you mean when you say intelligent?
Todd Beane: In the USA, we generally focus training on the ball. In Spain, training is focused more on space and how to use it intelligently. As much as we, in America, talk about playing like Barcelona, very few individual coaches have any idea what that means.
You have to think first and execute after.
Diane Scavuzzo: What is one of the biggest differences between the development of youth soccer players in Spain and the USA?
Todd Beane: The environment in Spain is more intense.
You have to take into account culture and here the culture breeds soccer.
In terms of passion, Spain lives football while the USA likes it. Spanish children are years ahead in their capacity to play the game intelligently. In terms of organization, in Spain it is simple and in the USA, it is bewilderingly complex.
Diane Scavuzzo: In America, what needs to change to raise the bar in player development?
Todd Beane: We need to change the paradigm upon which we have built our training. We have been profoundly misguided, believing that the fundamentals of soccer are its technical components. This model has led us from mediocrity to futility.
Football is a game requiring great cognition, competence, and character and we should nurture this in our players starting from their first touch on the ball. Our young soccer players are phenomenal, but the way we train them is woefully inadequate.
Diane Scavuzzo: You also have the TOVO Academy – can you tell our readers a little bit about what you do there?
Todd Beane: We created the TOVO Academy Residency Program in Barcelona, Spain to help players reach their goals.
Players from America now have a private “Masia” dedicated to pure and holistic development.
Our student-athletes have accomplished a great deal in a short period of time. That is what inspires us – these brilliant kids. They are so eager to learn.
Diane Scavuzzo: What advice can you share with players who dream of becoming their best?
Todd Beane: We want all players to reach their personal best.
Maybe their best leads them to adult recreational leagues. Maybe their best leads them to university or perhaps their best is to represent their country on an international stage. Regardless of their ambition, we ask three things from each player who comes to the TOVO Academy.
Do your best. Have fun. Behave.
If you do this day in and day out, good things happen. Training should be an extraordinary journey.
As an athlete, Todd Beane played NCAA Division I soccer at Dartmouth College before turning professional. Beane holds a U.S. Soccer “A” License and has coached collegiately and professionally. He has been on the faculty of Johns Hopkins University as Director of the Native Vision Program and as Director of the Cloud Forest School in Costa Rica.
Although Beane lives in Spain, he is never out of touch with what is happening in American youth soccer and he believes there has never been a better time to bring the TOCO methodology to the USA. When Cruyff passed away on March 24th, 2016, at the age of 68, his legacy continues to thrive through Beane’s leadership.
