Welcome to Part II (click here to read Part I) of our interview with U.S. Youth National Team coaches Jill Ellis (U20 WNT) and Dave Chesler (U18 WNT).

Today, the coaches discuss what makes National Team players special, and what it’s like to be in charge of such a group of committed and passionate players.

Youth players: take note.

TopDrawerSoccer.com: What is the biggest thing separating National Team players from other talented players who haven’t made it to that level yet?

Dave Chesler: Their attitude, their passion. They don’t get too high up feeling special about themselves when they play well, or too low if there’s some external negative thing. They’re driven to be the best player they can be. Even if they’re working with a less experienced coach, they’re still going to pull something valuable from that coach.

And none of these National Team players seem to have a sense of entitlement. They’re all hard-working athletes who have a passion for the game. There are plenty of players who are gifted physically or technically, but often they have an attitude problem that holds them back. Humility, confidence and a good attitude are the biggest factors to their success.

TopDrawerSoccer.com: What is one thing players should keep in mind if they haven’t been “discovered” by the National Team yet?

Jill Ellis: The door never closes. Persistence and commitment pay off in the end. Someone like [current U20 Goalkeeper] Adrianna Franch was never seen at an early age, and now she’s on a World Cup team. And I always tell players: [U.S. Senior WNT star] Abby Wambach got cut from her youth national team, and now look at her. Sometimes players don’t get invited to a National Team camp at the U15 or U17 age level. And that’s where they just have to continue to believe in themselves and work hard.

But the great thing is we’ve got a national team at every age group. You see people like Kayla Grimsley, who get their first shot at a national team when they’re 19, 20 years of age. So the door of opportunity really never closes.

TopDrawerSoccer.com: Sometimes you see coaches on their feet all game long, shouting instructions to their players. What’s the best way to handle National Team players at games?

Jill Ellis: I was in the PanAmerican games in Brazil with our U20 team a few years ago, in front of 70,000 people, and the great lesson for me was that, in those environments, the players can’t hear you. And National Team players don’t need constant instruction anyway.

You really do need players to be able to problem solve and think on their own. You can’t give directions all the time – it’s really about the players thinking out the game. We expect players to be advanced to the level where they can do that on their own.

If they can’t hear us in the game, what do we do as coaches? Even in training, I try to put them in environments where they have to problem-solve.

We’ve got film now, and players can see and analyze themselves, and they can self-correct. That’s a much more effective way of learning. A coach can hold players accountable, but the players need to inspire themselves, problem-solve, and read the game. Give them some direction before the game, but then throw them in there. If you’ve done your job, they’ll hold up well enough.