"Late" convert to soccer - skill development

[Anonymous]

My 11 year old rejected soccer in her very-young years and embraced other field sports. Over the last two years, she has fell into soccer and wants to stay with it and has stated hopes of playing through high school.

She has some skill deficiencies that are apparent now. Any suggestions on a crash course to push her forward (rec league coach is a fellow parent who is a saint for coaching but admits a lack of ability in developing the finer skills)? Her parents never played past YMCA leagues, so we're worthless.

I have no illusions of grandeur here; just want her to be competitive in a sport that she enjoys.

Happy to entertain an in-person group camp or a YouTube channel and anything in between. If it matters, we live in the District.

[Anonymous]

Download the Coerver app and work on those skills.

Find a place where she can kick against a wall or practice shooting.

[Anonymous]

Find a coach on coachup that will work with her for a few sessions with the goal of introducing her to individual skills exercises she can eventually do on her own at an effort level that she can emulate when she’s by herself.

Have her juggle daily. Put a timer on for however long she can tolerate and have her juggle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Find a coach on coachup that will work with her for a few sessions with the goal of introducing her to individual skills exercises she can eventually do on her own at an effort level that she can emulate when she’s by herself.

Have her juggle daily. Put a timer on for however long she can tolerate and have her juggle.

+1 on the juggling. Have her watch videos and learn more juggling tricks. That will help her touch more than any drill.

[Anonymous]

Amanda in the Golden Boot Soccer office here. Registration is open now for our winter indoor skills classes; within each class players are further grouped by level. If Fairfax is too far for you, we also offer private one-on-one training, and can send a trainer to you.

Our group classes are here: https://www.goldenbootsoccer.com/winter

Info on our private training is here:
https://www.goldenbootsoccer.com/Private

Please reach out if you have any questions! We’re happy to talk further about the best placement for your daughter.

[Anonymous]

She will never be able to catch up even if she was natural gifted. What happens at u12(and younger) is the girls are put in to a field position that best suits their abilities.
If you are not good with the ball the coach will not want you having the ball a lot. The players becomes a roll players usually tied to a physical trait- physicality or speed. They will usually be placed in a forward or defensive roll.
The skilled players will receive the ball more and develop with the exception that they get the ball in games. The non skilled players will told to play their roll and get the ball to the skill players.

Most of girls/women soccer is about physical play and speed. Have her workout and put on muscle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:She will never be able to catch up even if she was natural gifted. What happens at u12(and younger) is the girls are put in to a field position that best suits their abilities.
If you are not good with the ball the coach will not want you having the ball a lot. The players becomes a roll players usually tied to a physical trait- physicality or speed. They will usually be placed in a forward or defensive roll.
The skilled players will receive the ball more and develop with the exception that they get the ball in games. The non skilled players will told to play their roll and get the ball to the skill players.

Most of girls/women soccer is about physical play and speed. Have her workout and put on muscle.

Catching up to an elite level, at the local level, is not the immediate goal but I completely agree with the consequence of deficient footwork/ball skills. If i able to show her how to be the an effective distributor to the more skilled players, I will have met my goals.

Thankfully, she’s a push-up and sit-up queen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Find a coach on coachup that will work with her for a few sessions with the goal of introducing her to individual skills exercises she can eventually do on her own at an effort level that she can emulate when she’s by herself.

Have her juggle daily. Put a timer on for however long she can tolerate and have her juggle.

+1 on the juggling. Have her watch videos and learn more juggling tricks. That will help her touch more than any drill.

Proving that a broken clock can be occasionally correct, juggling - along with quick stop drills and toe taps - have been my guidance so far.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:She will never be able to catch up even if she was natural gifted. What happens at u12(and younger) is the girls are put in to a field position that best suits their abilities.
If you are not good with the ball the coach will not want you having the ball a lot. The players becomes a roll players usually tied to a physical trait- physicality or speed. They will usually be placed in a forward or defensive roll.
The skilled players will receive the ball more and develop with the exception that they get the ball in games. The non skilled players will told to play their roll and get the ball to the skill players.

Most of girls/women soccer is about physical play and speed. Have her workout and put on muscle.

NP. We’ve been told by knowledgeable coaches that the key years for skill development are 8-12, so the window may be closing for OP’s DD, but it hasn’t necessarily yet. If she is a good athlete are devotes time every day to ball work, she has a shot. Agree with others that individual training is also a good idea.

[Anonymous]

Take the time to watch this video from a club in Kansas City. Some really good catch up techniques. It made me think particularly of your daughter in trying to catch up - but really worth watching for all players who would like to improve. Warning: it takes a minute to get to the crucial part - how do you create an environment in the American suburbs to match a San Paolo slum? (Which ends up producing more pro players than here). Granted, it’s Ghana where the coach had his insight, not Brazil.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uBZkNonnS2k&embeds_euri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.kclegends.com%2F&source_ve_path=MjM4NTE&feature=emb_title

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:She will never be able to catch up even if she was natural gifted. What happens at u12(and younger) is the girls are put in to a field position that best suits their abilities.
If you are not good with the ball the coach will not want you having the ball a lot. The players becomes a roll players usually tied to a physical trait- physicality or speed. They will usually be placed in a forward or defensive roll.
The skilled players will receive the ball more and develop with the exception that they get the ball in games. The non skilled players will told to play their roll and get the ball to the skill players.

Most of girls/women soccer is about physical play and speed. Have her workout and put on muscle.

This is total BS. “High level” youth soccer in the US is low on technical ability. If she is willing and able to put in 30-40 minutes of quality skill work every day on her own outside of practice, working with intensity and staying engaged, she can still become a very good player. I coached a few players that were rec level at 10/11 and, 10 yrs later, were playing in college. One signed a pro contract at 20.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:She will never be able to catch up even if she was natural gifted. What happens at u12(and younger) is the girls are put in to a field position that best suits their abilities.
If you are not good with the ball the coach will not want you having the ball a lot. The players becomes a roll players usually tied to a physical trait- physicality or speed. They will usually be placed in a forward or defensive roll.
The skilled players will receive the ball more and develop with the exception that they get the ball in games. The non skilled players will told to play their roll and get the ball to the skill players.

Most of girls/women soccer is about physical play and speed. Have her workout and put on muscle.

Please never comment on a soccer forum again wearing the hat of knowledgeable expert.

"Have her workout and put on muscle" 🤣🤣
(wait, were you being cynical?)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:She will never be able to catch up even if she was natural gifted. What happens at u12(and younger) is the girls are put in to a field position that best suits their abilities.
If you are not good with the ball the coach will not want you having the ball a lot. The players becomes a roll players usually tied to a physical trait- physicality or speed. They will usually be placed in a forward or defensive roll.
The skilled players will receive the ball more and develop with the exception that they get the ball in games. The non skilled players will told to play their roll and get the ball to the skill players.

Most of girls/women soccer is about physical play and speed. Have her workout and put on muscle.

Note to self. Watch the Alex Morgan story on Youtube again. Alex may not be very technical but she does OK with soccer, starting club, where all the big clubs turned her down.

I like the suggestion above about Coerver. My daughter also used soccer videos on Youtube from a channel called Progressive Soccer. Multiple coaches/trainers told me and my daughter to simply go to a wall for 30 minutes a day. For the people above who said practice juggling, I agree. My daughter got better on the ball, the more she's able to juggle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She will never be able to catch up even if she was natural gifted. What happens at u12(and younger) is the girls are put in to a field position that best suits their abilities.
If you are not good with the ball the coach will not want you having the ball a lot. The players becomes a roll players usually tied to a physical trait- physicality or speed. They will usually be placed in a forward or defensive roll.
The skilled players will receive the ball more and develop with the exception that they get the ball in games. The non skilled players will told to play their roll and get the ball to the skill players.

Most of girls/women soccer is about physical play and speed. Have her workout and put on muscle.

This is total BS. “High level” youth soccer in the US is low on technical ability. If she is willing and able to put in 30-40 minutes of quality skill work every day on her own outside of practice, working with intensity and staying engaged, she can still become a very good player. I coached a few players that were rec level at 10/11 and, 10 yrs later, were playing in college. One signed a pro contract at 20.

+1. I completely agree. The best age to develop soccer skills (footwork, first touch, etc.) is 10-12 years old. I’ve seen countless players on “top teams” that are pretty athletic but have terrible foot skills, etc. Please completely disregard anyone that tells you/your DD it’s too late. The only time it’s too late is if she’s 30 years old. LOL

Remember, all it takes is desire, determination and dedication to put in the necessary hours of practice at home and/or with a private trainer. Practice with both feet. YouTube should be her best friend to learn various foot skills as there are countless soccer training videos on there.

[Anonymous]

our daughter didn't play much before that age and excelled. Many of the the kids that are the top players today have reached their peak and get passed over by players like your daughter, they will be tired of playing and stop playing soon after 8th grade while the kids late to the game excel. how their bodies develop becomes a factor as well.

It happens all the time in all sports so don't buy into the hype that she missed her prime training years.