The Massapequa Soccer Club prides itself on player development.  We work to instill what psychologist Carol Dweck calls a 'growth mindset' in our players where learning and skill development are paramount.  We do not believe in fixed ability.  Players may begin their journey in the game with differing amounts of athleticism and skill, but our job is to cultivate the growth mindset and a love of the game so that players forever seek to improve themselves both in this wonderful game and as human beings.

We are advocates for risking-taking, failure, and struggle.  Expression, risk-taking, and yes failure, are massive factors in skill acquisition.  If we only practice what we are good at, then we are stagnant and fail to approach what is possible.  Struggle, tiny failures on the edge of one's ability lead to the greatest improvement. 

We seek to inspire our players, to cultivate more opportunities for our players to experience 'ignition.'[1] Daniel Coyle defines ignition as "the famously potent moment when a young person falls helplessly in love with their future passion."  We can't force these moments, we simply create an environment that cultivates what psychologist Mihaly Czikszentmihaly [2]  observed and identified as the commonality between individuals who became serious artists or in our case, serious artists with a ball;  namely, JOY, a love for the game.

An ignition moment often comes from a young player emulating an older player, a hero of sorts for them. We set the stage for this through our vertical training and in our weekend in-house games for our Core Development ages where our senior players assist our professional training staff.