I would like to look at David Beckham's signing with L.A. Galaxy from a soccer coaching perspective. Will David Beckham be beneficial to soccer coaches at the grass roots level and will his move help your team?
Beckham's trade mark are his crosses, diagonal (long) passes and free kicks. He can and does switch play. So you can tell your team to watch him play and look at his skill elements. And that's about it. Beckham is far from being a complete soccer player. To see that, I would tape Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Robben, Deco and many others. So his coaching value from a soccer purist point of view is limited.
Beckham will draw media attention in the U.S. and that will be the biggest benefit. Soccer will become more popular, more kids will be attracted to the sport and registrations at club level will rise. So coaches will have the opportunity to turn more kids to the greatest sport on the planet. And that will be your challenge. To retain the wave of newcomers as a result of Beckham, to teach them, turn them into future stars.
So all in all, the answer is YES. Beckham will help U.S. soccer, the coaches, the teams and the players. It's up to all of us to make it endure past the time he plays.
