Ball hog question

[Anonymous]

Honest question for coaches out there. Why do coaches love the kids who dribble up the middle? Yes sometimes they score from distance, but wouldn’t a team do better as a whole if the passing game were there? Every full game player on our last couple of teams, both club and HS, team, are central dribblers who generally won’t pass past midfield. Each is capable of scoring, but I will guess that for every goal scored by one of them, we could have 2 or 3 with a well executed team play.
So… why are they permitted to keep doing this from a coaches perspective?

[Anonymous]

Most players are passive and unselfish. You need aggressive players to make things happen. Aggression is hard to teach.

[Anonymous]

Ive seen the opposite too much on my daughter's club team, where players seem to be unwilling to take on defenders in 1v1 situations because they might be scolded for losing possession of the ball.

Also I think its very hard to connect passes in the opponent's third of the field because the field gets more compact with players closer together. Players just need to learn when to hold on to it and when to pass.

[Anonymous]

Passers make Scorers rich

[Anonymous]

Younger kids that can dribble through a team can be taught at older ages that when defenders commit to them there are open teammates. Hard to teach older passive kids how to be creative and aggressive .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Younger kids that can dribble through a team can be taught at older ages that when defenders commit to them there are open teammates. Hard to teach older passive kids how to be creative and aggressive .

+1

[Anonymous]

I hated the ball hogs too when my son was younger. He is a great passer and he'd drop a great ball to them that they'd waste dribbling into traffic.

Now though, you realize that you need a kid or two like that and they've all vanished or had that instinct beaten out of them.

[Anonymous]

Some coaches do love ball hogs and encourage them to dribble as much as possible in order to get better. Some kids are encouraged to work on their dribbling skills at the expense of the rest of the team. Some coaches say any kid can pass the ball, it's boring and won't make your kid stand out. Therefore they encourage kids who want to be brave and take kids on 1 on 1 over making a simple pass.

The 2 kids on my kids team who over dribbled at U12 were promoted last year to the top team. Now our team moves the ball around better without them, but those kids were promoted. So yes Coaches sometimes do want to develop dribblers in an effort to get them greater opportunities. But that does not occur without sacrificing team play.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some coaches do love ball hogs and encourage them to dribble as much as possible in order to get better. Some kids are encouraged to work on their dribbling skills at the expense of the rest of the team. Some coaches say any kid can pass the ball, it's boring and won't make your kid stand out. Therefore they encourage kids who want to be brave and take kids on 1 on 1 over making a simple pass.

The 2 kids on my kids team who over dribbled at U12 were promoted last year to the top team. Now our team moves the ball around better without them, but those kids were promoted. So yes Coaches sometimes do want to develop dribblers in an effort to get them greater opportunities. But that does not occur without sacrificing team play.

Teams don't develop, individuals do
Teams don't get scouted or recruited, individuals do

Ball hog doesn't equal kid who has technical dribbling skills.
There are ball hogs with bad skills

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Honest question for coaches out there. Why do coaches love the kids who dribble up the middle? Yes sometimes they score from distance, but wouldn’t a team do better as a whole if the passing game were there? Every full game player on our last couple of teams, both club and HS, team, are central dribblers who generally won’t pass past midfield. Each is capable of scoring, but I will guess that for every goal scored by one of them, we could have 2 or 3 with a well executed team play.
So… why are they permitted to keep doing this from a coaches perspective?

you are at a wrong club if your child's coach does that. good coaches focus more on switching the field and make players figure out attack points to either pass or dribble.

[Anonymous]

It's a numbers game, it's that simple. Good players know when to keep and when to pass. There aren't many coaches in this area that can teach that in game IQ, look for space to either pass the ball or dribble into, if you keep, make your moves early and at pace.

What you actually get is the scared player that passes when they should have kept or the one that dribbles without purpose. Make them watch film.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's a numbers game, it's that simple. Good players know when to keep and when to pass. There aren't many coaches in this area that can teach that in game IQ, look for space to either pass the ball or dribble into, if you keep, make your moves early and at pace.

What you actually get is the scared player that passes when they should have kept or the one that dribbles without purpose. Make them watch film.

Good and qualified youth coaches create scenarios in practice that forces players to make good and quick decisions
They guide and teach, not coach

They can't give a kid good IQ.
That's up to the kid being a student of the game on TV, video or watching live in the stadium

[Anonymous]

¿Cómo es que todo se elimina de este blog?

[Anonymous]

PP: Nothing is deleted, it just fizzled out.

[Anonymous]

Depends on age. U-little? They are the only worthwhile investing in because you can't teach that easily but if a kid is willing to work on footskills and shooting they can be great.

Older 11v11? The fall off quick. If you can't pass and play well with others you can't play the games at a higher level.