Suplemental leagues for extra playing time

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you're serious about his soccer development, you would be much better off finding some supplemental trainings on the weekends rather than looking for extra games.

This is crazy, how can people say that training alone is better than playing a game? Soccer is a game in which skills matter a lot, but understanding of the game and speed of play matter so much more. Watch any pro game any time and you'll see that the skills most players on the field use are minimal, but the decisions they make and the speed with which they make them are absolutely critical.

Soccer players hone their skills at practice, but don't know they'll work until they're in games- moreover, they have to be able to make decisions quickly and without thinking and this can only be learned in a game. If the kid's willing to apply what he knows in games, then it's great training. And while driving to travel games is a bad deal around here, a pickup game would do wonders for his confidence and skill development. There should be a multitude of adults playing pickup all over the city every weekend. You just need to find a regular game where Jr. fits in and likes the speed/skills/vibe and he'll do great.

No one is saying to not play games, just that given limited time focus on skills training may provide more benefit than extra games. Still need to play games. I actually would argue that pickup games are very valuable, possibly more valuable than a formal match in that the young player can be creative and try out “under development” offensive and defensive techniques that they’d normally not risk in a real game. Anyhow, none of this extra work is bad, it is all good ... but no one has unlimited time so figure out the right balance for your kid and go for it.

Exactly. I would never advise a kid do only training and not play games. But this is a kid who is already on a travel team playing games every weekend. His dad was asking about getting him on another team to play additional organized games on the weekend.

Additional individual or small group training, futsal, and pick-up games would be much, much better options.

Case in point:

"At the age of 10, 11 and 12 he was getting offers from all over the place to play in three or four travel teams but his close circle of father figures steered him in the right direction. Train more and play less was the simple mantra."

“The one thing I would say for sure about his dad, mom and the family, he never played for multiple soccer teams. A lot of these kids, and this is something we struggled with at our soccer club a lot of times, kids just want to play so much, so many games and guest for so many teams. They never did that.

“We never had him playing for two teams in the club. He would play for an older age group and we never put him down into a younger age group just to win a State Cup. He would get opportunities to go and play at the Dallas Cup with teams from other states but he would never do that. I would say he played a ton of soccer but all the extra was on his own in his backyard. He played a lot but he was not playing on two or three teams.”

Did that lack of playing games help Pulisic develop his sublime first touch, passing and dribbling skills?

“For sure. That’s what we try to tell people in our club. You tell them you don’t need to play for multiple teams. You can play every day but it needs to be on your own terms, at home doing stuff on your own,” Klein said. “Kids get burned out when they play on multiple teams. They don’t necessarily get burned out when they’re playing every day. If the kid is going into the backyard to do something, that’s because he wants to do it. You know he is choosing to do that. Kids aren’t always choosing when their parents are driving them to places. They are just going along for the ride.”

https://soccer.nbcsports.com/2016/11/10/how-was-the-next-star-of-american-soccer-christian-pulisic-made/

Agreed and great cited example. It is also so true that clubs/coaches will try to leverage the better players across teams to notch wins on their belt. It does lead to burnout, often with little to no benefit for the player.

[Anonymous]

Agree with the training over games with the exception of a goalie. All the training in world doesn't compare to live game action for a goalie. Learning to control the defenders and be a coach on the field can only be mastered in live game action.

[Anonymous]

We had a private trainer that trained in small groups of 4. This allowed our boys to practice some game-like scenarios (i.e. making a triangle, defending 2v1, 1-2s etc) but didn't waste time waiting, like you would in a game when the play was beyond you or in a large group drill when you had to wait your turn.

It was also the best shooting practice our kids had ever had. They spent the last 20 minutes in shooting and passing drills, but with individualized attention given to each kid by the coach on posture, stance, foot placement, etc. They'd shoot 40 shots a practice under the coaches careful eye instead of maybe 3 or 4 during a team drill.

Unfortunately, we haven't found a coach here in DC that offers similar yet. We're actually trying to get our previous coach to relocate but getting a visa to be a soccer coach is tricky (he has a Nigerian passport).