High play level catch up

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes yes and yes.
But there is something about the national level play that I can’t put my finger on. Like it’s super high intensity to every ball but somehow they all know who is responsible for that ball. My DD can hold the intensity but would end up on a double team, for example. Then next ball she might not commit because someone else is going for it. It’s like an unwritten language that the ECNL girls have and RL or GA don’t. (Not to pick on any league, this is huge generalities).

Leagues are irrelevant, once you understand that then you will begin to answer any other questions you clearly need to continue asking. Like any sport, players have to learn to things with technique and then repeat, repeat, repeat; that tech might look different from player to player, because of body size, coordination, hip spacing, leg length etc.. but the technique once perfected will seperate any player on trial period. Coaches see that, not your crest.

[Anonymous]

I don't see where you mention position. One question is what position she plays, since situational awareness / decision-making is much easier in some positions than others.

My U14 DS is transitioning to a more central position this year, after only playing in wide positions since the switch to 11v11, and it's quite challenging despite playing at the top level forever. He looks slower and more hesitant, and he's debating whether to ask the coach to go back to a wide position (which I think would be a shame, but I'm just an observer now).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:She needs to make a good connection with another top player, where she can always link up on plays. Top players will feed off each other and they will both learn more, read each others plays and movements and shine on the field more... shake and bake! She has time, the season just started. Try to find out what, if anything, the other top players are doing outside of practice... skills clinics, camps, ID sessions, training sessions... perhaps she can bond and start picking up on their plays in any setting as well. I think there is time. We had a few 15 year olds really pick it up after a season. Kids grow a lot in 1 season, no one mores than the new players!

This might be the issue. She watches soccer ALL the time, it’s not intelligence, speed, or skill. I was trying to put my finger on what was missing and if there is time to find it. Reading this, I think you are right: the other players at this level aren’t working with her. She does clinics and some other key training and trains on her own too. Trust me, it’s not skill or exposure, or even work ethic, it’s something else, something that the ECNL1 girls simply seem to have, that knowing where to be for each play and each player. Maybe she will figure this out as the season goes on. Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't see where you mention position. One question is what position she plays, since situational awareness / decision-making is much easier in some positions than others.

My U14 DS is transitioning to a more central position this year, after only playing in wide positions since the switch to 11v11, and it's quite challenging despite playing at the top level forever. He looks slower and more hesitant, and he's debating whether to ask the coach to go back to a wide position (which I think would be a shame, but I'm just an observer now).

Yeah so she is a CAM. That might be another issue. Shines against 2nd tier players but it gets that much harder at the top level.

[Anonymous]

Several coaches have told us that CAM is the hardest position to play.

It requires great situational awareness, fast decision making, technical skills (first touch, dribbling, passing and shooting with either foot), positioning, speed of play and self-confidence. (The opponents are 360 degrees around the player the minute a CAM receives a ball.)

Speed of play is faster at the higher levels as defenders are typically faster and stronger too.

[Anonymous]

Agree. Hard to build all of that at the highest levels without having played at those levels… hence the catch up question!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She needs to make a good connection with another top player, where she can always link up on plays. Top players will feed off each other and they will both learn more, read each others plays and movements and shine on the field more... shake and bake! She has time, the season just started. Try to find out what, if anything, the other top players are doing outside of practice... skills clinics, camps, ID sessions, training sessions... perhaps she can bond and start picking up on their plays in any setting as well. I think there is time. We had a few 15 year olds really pick it up after a season. Kids grow a lot in 1 season, no one mores than the new players!

This might be the issue. She watches soccer ALL the time, it’s not intelligence, speed, or skill. I was trying to put my finger on what was missing and if there is time to find it. Reading this, I think you are right: the other players at this level aren’t working with her. She does clinics and some other key training and trains on her own too. Trust me, it’s not skill or exposure, or even work ethic, it’s something else, something that the ECNL1 girls simply seem to have, that knowing where to be for each play and each player. Maybe she will figure this out as the season goes on. Thanks.

One of the major last pieces for a player, and a major difference between each level of any sport, is speed of play and reading the field of play. Speed of play is not just how fast the player and other players are moving. It's how fast a player makes a decision, and if that decision was a good or bad decision.

As you move up every level of play in soccer, (from second team to first team, from ECNL-Regional to ECNL-National, from Travel to College, or from D3 to D1) the game moves faster, players don't make as many bad touches, passes are little crisper to the correct foot, and basically the margin for errors keeps narrowing. Players have got to make decisions in milliseconds rather than seconds and those decisions have got to be consistently good. Players have got to be observing the field constantly, have their head on a swivel, and they need to know where other players are located in relation to themselves before they every receive the ball. How many times have you seen a player receive a pass and then look around to find someone to pass to then decides to dribble up the field?

There are a lot of players who have some combination of speed, physicality, have ball control and/or intelligence, but fewer and fewer can keep up with the "speed of play" as they move to higher levels of play.

Another example of this is QBs. Many of them have the 'tools' needed to excel in college and the pros, but they just can not adjust to the speed of play and make the correct decisions. For every Tom Brady or Patrick Mahomes, there are 10 players like Zach Wilson, Trey Lance, Sam Darnold or Josh Rosen. All of these QBs had the physical tools to succeed, but it was the QB, Tom Brady, who was considered to have 'marginal' skills and was passed over multiple times by every team is now considered The GOAT. Besides his work ethic and dedication, he could read a defense like few others.

[Anonymous]

Wow, finally, a good post. Excellent advice here. I wish we had more posts like this.

[Anonymous]

In youth soccer - 90 percent of “speed of play” is first touch.

1. You have to have positional awareness. Where are you. Where are your teammates (in the immediate vicinity). Where are the players on the other team (in the immediate vicinity). That isn’t that difficult but it takes practice, because you have to “know” those things before, and when, the ball is coming to you.

2. You must use your positional awareness to make an effective first touch. What’s an effective first touch? One that gives you control and helps what’s next. It might be a first touch pass, a first touch shot, a first touch dribble that possibly gets you away.

What first touch you can effectively do depends on several things. Where you are. Where your defenders are. Where your teammates are. What the ball is doing (hard, slow, bouncing, high, low) and what your team has been working on (got a wing sprinting up the side?, need to pass back and release? Etc).

But, it all starts with the first touch.

The biggest difference in the level of play at the teen ages is the number of decent athletic kids who have a good first touch. They know where players are whether that’s a 3v3 drill or an 11v11 game. They can effectively handle and control balls sent their way however they come, at least 80-90 percent of the time. And, they can keep play moving effectively with their handling of the ball - dribble, pass or shot.

What happens if you do not play with or against athletic players who also have been, and continue to work on, these first touch skills is you fall behind. You can be very effective against weaker competitors if you are fast/quick with okay ball skills. Opposing defenders on lower level teams likely won’t make you pay for a bad first touch. But, bump up levels and now your bad first touch means you lose the ball. How many times can you lose the ball before your teammates keep the ball away from you? Before you are pulled off after minimal playing time minutes?

Can you get better? Sure. But, your teammates and your opponents are all also working to get better too. Your line to “catch up” is constantly moving forward.

Years ago I followed a coaching website with some youth player discussions. One long thread was a discussion about what was the oldest age could you get a girl youth player and trainer her up so that she could be a good D1 candidate. The thread went on for quite awhile. The issue quickly came down to; could they catch up at all? I recall the consensus being - in the end - that if you had a fast athletic kid who was willing to work hard on their own in addition to practices you could maybe make it work if they started when they were 11.

First touch being the key. The nice thing is you can work on your first touch by yourself. Ball and a Wall and Juggling. If a coach tossed your kid a ball and said show me how you juggle - could they flick it with their foot and get it going? Could they do 50 plus with no problem?

Want to make the top level girls team in your area? Be comparatively fast and quick. Show up an hour early for a tryout. Check in and then find an out of the way, but still very visible place to warm up and juggle. Have 1 or 2 basic “tricks”. Juggle to warm up. Be friendly when others arrive but stay focused on juggling until the coach calls people together to get things started. The assessing coaches will all have seen you juggling and will be watching to see if you are otherwise reasonable good on the field. Coaches are always looking to replace the bottom 5 kids. They will take a chance on a kid with potential over returning a kid they don’t see getting better. Be the kid with potential.

[Anonymous]

I agree to a point. My DD, age 13, can easily do 1000 juggles and can juggle any ball that comes… IN PRACTICE. In a game, with pressure, it’s a different issue, due to exactly what you said: awareness and decisions. And this is where all the trainers in the world won’t catch her up. She hasn’t been forced to play like that yet, and it’s not clear now that she is, that she can handle it. It’s not ball skills, it’s the rest of it in a game situation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree to a point. My DD, age 13, can easily do 1000 juggles and can juggle any ball that comes… IN PRACTICE. In a game, with pressure, it’s a different issue, due to exactly what you said: awareness and decisions. And this is where all the trainers in the world won’t catch her up. She hasn’t been forced to play like that yet, and it’s not clear now that she is, that she can handle it. It’s not ball skills, it’s the rest of it in a game situation.

+1 No matter how much private coaching and small group sessions a player goes to, to develop and hone their technical skills, they can never maximize those skills if they don’t play on a team that will utilize them. But because the focus is on winning for most clubs, the style of play used is never going to give players the opportunity to execute those skills under pressure.

[Anonymous]

And that is where not heading to ECNL 1 team by U13 hurts. It was a big mistake.

[Anonymous]

Son Heung-min confirms

[Anonymous]

^???

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Serious question, if you want to be snarky please go elsewhere. DD is U15. Has been a very good 2nd level player for a few years. Has worked insanely hard recently and is much better in multiple ways.
Watched a scrimmage today and what I noticed was that the best girls weren’t necessarily faster, stronger, or more skilled—they just knew what to do in any situation. They are the top level girls. You can see the years of top level coaching and playing quality teams in HOW they approach the game.
As much as my DD has improved, there is a long way to go if she wants to be recruited.
Is catch up possible?? Or is this kind of a lost cause?

What's the goal? Catch up to the top team players from your current club? Make it to D1? Is that what she wants?

Players improved based on their environment. All aspects of it. Better teammates, better coaching, better competition, better training etc. etc. all adds up. You only get so far on your own.

Can she catch up? Sure if the potential is there. The question is how long of a time frame are you looking at? Hell there are young professionals who improve dramatically as young adults when playing in higher leagues. Think of the young superstars who've only gotten better with time and it isn't until their body starts to slow them down that you see a decrease in performance (but not IQ).

So I'll say again, catch up? sure, but compared to what? and to what end?