Athleticism

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All Pro level players are superior ATHLETES first that learned technical skills. Never do you see a technical player learn to be a superior athlete. With that said Ill take my chances developing the kid who's an athlete over the the skilled kid with mediocre genes.

No, develop them all and let time sort it out.

God people are so dumb.

[Anonymous]

It is a false dichotomy. You will not succeed in pro or college sports (Or high level youth sports) unless you are an excellent athlete. You will also need a high degree of skill. As a PP said, the least athletic person you see playing sports on TV is a vastly better athlete than almost any you will encounter in your local community, no matter how large your local community is.

But you don’t need to look or move like LeBron James to be a phenomenal soccer athlete. That seems to be where people get confused. The average American might not be able to tell what an athlete Messi or Modric is because we are used to thinking of football/basketball/track athletes. Also, you may not be able to tell whether your young child has athletic potential, and there is no reason you should. But a skilled Soccer talent evaluator typically can, based on coordination and other factors that parents generally aren’t trained to see.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All Pro level players are superior ATHLETES first that learned technical skills. Never do you see a technical player learn to be a superior athlete. With that said Ill take my chances developing the kid who's an athlete over the the skilled kid with mediocre genes.

1000% yes, Mark Rippetoe was spot on with this as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is a false dichotomy. You will not succeed in pro or college sports (Or high level youth sports) unless you are an excellent athlete. You will also need a high degree of skill. As a PP said, the least athletic person you see playing sports on TV is a vastly better athlete than almost any you will encounter in your local community, no matter how large your local community is.

But you don’t need to look or move like LeBron James to be a phenomenal soccer athlete. That seems to be where people get confused. The average American might not be able to tell what an athlete Messi or Modric is because we are used to thinking of football/basketball/track athletes. Also, you may not be able to tell whether your young child has athletic potential, and there is no reason you should. But a skilled Soccer talent evaluator typically can, based on coordination and other factors that parents generally aren’t trained to see.

Your genetic code decides your athletic level. Messi and Modric also do have great explosive speed, enough to open enough space. Every player has their strengths and the best ones learn how to use it in their game

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s like technical skills and intelligence. If you don’t have it, you won’t get to next level

Maybe in the pro leagues but for youth travel soccer you do not need to be a complete player. You do not need to be technical or have a high soccer IQ but you have to have something. You can be very one dimensional(not even that dominant like fast but not elite speed)and get a lot of playing time. It is so easy to just get by on athleticism at that level. Just run at the player or the ball and you are good to go. Speed let’s you make mistakes and recover(until you reach a certain level). How many easy balls does that fast striker mess up each game? Does it matter? Not really. Eventually he/she will push the ball past the defender and get lucky. What about that big athletic defenders with a first touch like a rock? Just get to the body of the offense player and you are fine.

Technical kids are born with it. They have to develop their skill but some players are just better at it. Train a 100 kids, all work hard, put in the same amount of time and there will be a few that just excel at it. It’s the same with soccer IQ, physicality, touch, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s like technical skills and intelligence. If you don’t have it, you won’t get to next level

Maybe in the pro leagues but for youth travel soccer you do not need to be a complete player. You do not need to be technical or have a high soccer IQ but you have to have something. You can be very one dimensional(not even that dominant like fast but not elite speed)and get a lot of playing time. It is so easy to just get by on athleticism at that level. Just run at the player or the ball and you are good to go. Speed let’s you make mistakes and recover(until you reach a certain level). How many easy balls does that fast striker mess up each game? Does it matter? Not really. Eventually he/she will push the ball past the defender and get lucky. What about that big athletic defenders with a first touch like a rock? Just get to the body of the offense player and you are fine.

Technical kids are born with it. They have to develop their skill but some players are just better at it. Train a 100 kids, all work hard, put in the same amount of time and there will be a few that just excel at it. It’s the same with soccer IQ, physicality, touch, etc.

in youth travel soccer, yeah up until the field exposes you (11v11). you can be the slow kid with no burst on 9v9, but the field basically doubles and you only add two more players and you extend the game.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All Pro level players are superior ATHLETES first that learned technical skills. Never do you see a technical player learn to be a superior athlete. With that said Ill take my chances developing the kid who's an athlete over the the skilled kid with mediocre genes.

No, develop them all and let time sort it out.

God people are so dumb.

This is what 99% of travel parents want to hear . "develop them all". Reality is its only the 1% that will actually develop to a high level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s like technical skills and intelligence. If you don’t have it, you won’t get to next level

Maybe in the pro leagues but for youth travel soccer you do not need to be a complete player. You do not need to be technical or have a high soccer IQ but you have to have something. You can be very one dimensional(not even that dominant like fast but not elite speed)and get a lot of playing time. It is so easy to just get by on athleticism at that level. Just run at the player or the ball and you are good to go. Speed let’s you make mistakes and recover(until you reach a certain level). How many easy balls does that fast striker mess up each game? Does it matter? Not really. Eventually he/she will push the ball past the defender and get lucky. What about that big athletic defenders with a first touch like a rock? Just get to the body of the offense player and you are fine.

Technical kids are born with it. They have to develop their skill but some players are just better at it. Train a 100 kids, all work hard, put in the same amount of time and there will be a few that just excel at it. It’s the same with soccer IQ, physicality, touch, etc.

in youth travel soccer, yeah up until the field exposes you (11v11). you can be the slow kid with no burst on 9v9, but the field basically doubles and you only add two more players and you extend the game.

it depends on the position and the formation - you can't hide a truly slow kid, but you can probably hide a kid who is well conditioned but not fast (i.e. a kid who constantly trains, but just doesn't have a burst) if they are sound enough and valuable enough in the rest of their game. A well conditioned kid who has a great feel for the game and a great touch, but who doesn't have great speed can probably play attacking mid

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s like technical skills and intelligence. If you don’t have it, you won’t get to next level

Maybe in the pro leagues but for youth travel soccer you do not need to be a complete player. You do not need to be technical or have a high soccer IQ but you have to have something. You can be very one dimensional(not even that dominant like fast but not elite speed)and get a lot of playing time. It is so easy to just get by on athleticism at that level. Just run at the player or the ball and you are good to go. Speed let’s you make mistakes and recover(until you reach a certain level). How many easy balls does that fast striker mess up each game? Does it matter? Not really. Eventually he/she will push the ball past the defender and get lucky. What about that big athletic defenders with a first touch like a rock? Just get to the body of the offense player and you are fine.

Technical kids are born with it. They have to develop their skill but some players are just better at it. Train a 100 kids, all work hard, put in the same amount of time and there will be a few that just excel at it. It’s the same with soccer IQ, physicality, touch, etc.

in youth travel soccer, yeah up until the field exposes you (11v11). you can be the slow kid with no burst on 9v9, but the field basically doubles and you only add two more players and you extend the game.

it depends on the position and the formation - you can't hide a truly slow kid, but you can probably hide a kid who is well conditioned but not fast (i.e. a kid who constantly trains, but just doesn't have a burst) if they are sound enough and valuable enough in the rest of their game. A well conditioned kid who has a great feel for the game and a great touch, but who doesn't have great speed can probably play attacking mid

the field will expose you no matter where you are, and if you're willing to see fewer game minutes as you develop athletically, the game by U15 will begin to expose you

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would rather have an athletic kid over a technically sound kids 9 out of ten times . The people who say otherwise usually have very un athletic kids. Even when they point out pros who are so technical they forget to acknowledge that less athletic pros are 10 times the athlete most kids would ever be. So give me the athlete all day everyday.

This is dumb, pure and simple. Your kid needs to be technical and fast. And the parents who say otherwise have kids who dribble past the touch line on breakaways and cannot handle then all on their first touch. Quickness and acceleration are more important for some players than raw breakaway speed. Saying speed matters more than anything is as dumb as saying you would choose basketball based on height alone. But saying speed doesn’t matter is as dumb as saying you would take height into account when choosing a basketball team.

I'm glad my kids dont play sportsball, because I literally have no idea what the underlined part means

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would rather have an athletic kid over a technically sound kids 9 out of ten times . The people who say otherwise usually have very un athletic kids. Even when they point out pros who are so technical they forget to acknowledge that less athletic pros are 10 times the athlete most kids would ever be. So give me the athlete all day everyday.

This is dumb, pure and simple. Your kid needs to be technical and fast. And the parents who say otherwise have kids who dribble past the touch line on breakaways and cannot handle then all on their first touch. Quickness and acceleration are more important for some players than raw breakaway speed. Saying speed matters more than anything is as dumb as saying you would choose basketball based on height alone. But saying speed doesn’t matter is as dumb as saying you would take height into account when choosing a basketball team.

I'm glad my kids dont play sportsball, because I literally have no idea what the underlined part means

He means that the kid has little control of the ball and can't keep in inside the field of play under pressure to advance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s like technical skills and intelligence. If you don’t have it, you won’t get to next level

Maybe in the pro leagues but for youth travel soccer you do not need to be a complete player. You do not need to be technical or have a high soccer IQ but you have to have something. You can be very one dimensional(not even that dominant like fast but not elite speed)and get a lot of playing time. It is so easy to just get by on athleticism at that level. Just run at the player or the ball and you are good to go. Speed let’s you make mistakes and recover(until you reach a certain level). How many easy balls does that fast striker mess up each game? Does it matter? Not really. Eventually he/she will push the ball past the defender and get lucky. What about that big athletic defenders with a first touch like a rock? Just get to the body of the offense player and you are fine.

Technical kids are born with it. They have to develop their skill but some players are just better at it. Train a 100 kids, all work hard, put in the same amount of time and there will be a few that just excel at it. It’s the same with soccer IQ, physicality, touch, etc.

in youth travel soccer, yeah up until the field exposes you (11v11). you can be the slow kid with no burst on 9v9, but the field basically doubles and you only add two more players and you extend the game.

it depends on the position and the formation - you can't hide a truly slow kid, but you can probably hide a kid who is well conditioned but not fast (i.e. a kid who constantly trains, but just doesn't have a burst) if they are sound enough and valuable enough in the rest of their game. A well conditioned kid who has a great feel for the game and a great touch, but who doesn't have great speed can probably play attacking mid

the field will expose you no matter where you are, and if you're willing to see fewer game minutes as you develop athletically, the game by U15 will begin to expose you

at what level, most people on here don't have kids worried about national team appearances.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s like technical skills and intelligence. If you don’t have it, you won’t get to next level

Maybe in the pro leagues but for youth travel soccer you do not need to be a complete player. You do not need to be technical or have a high soccer IQ but you have to have something. You can be very one dimensional(not even that dominant like fast but not elite speed)and get a lot of playing time. It is so easy to just get by on athleticism at that level. Just run at the player or the ball and you are good to go. Speed let’s you make mistakes and recover(until you reach a certain level). How many easy balls does that fast striker mess up each game? Does it matter? Not really. Eventually he/she will push the ball past the defender and get lucky. What about that big athletic defenders with a first touch like a rock? Just get to the body of the offense player and you are fine.

Technical kids are born with it. They have to develop their skill but some players are just better at it. Train a 100 kids, all work hard, put in the same amount of time and there will be a few that just excel at it. It’s the same with soccer IQ, physicality, touch, etc.

in youth travel soccer, yeah up until the field exposes you (11v11). you can be the slow kid with no burst on 9v9, but the field basically doubles and you only add two more players and you extend the game.

it depends on the position and the formation - you can't hide a truly slow kid, but you can probably hide a kid who is well conditioned but not fast (i.e. a kid who constantly trains, but just doesn't have a burst) if they are sound enough and valuable enough in the rest of their game. A well conditioned kid who has a great feel for the game and a great touch, but who doesn't have great speed can probably play attacking mid

the field will expose you no matter where you are, and if you're willing to see fewer game minutes as you develop athletically, the game by U15 will begin to expose you

at what level, most people on here don't have kids worried about national team appearances.

at any level realistically by NCSL Division 1 you'll see them getting exposed. reaction speed, speed to react, quickness to accelerate/decelerate/change direction, and top end running speed are all factors, and most importantly power. to play in NCSL Div 1, you don't need all of that but certainly some things will help. by CCL, you certainly need a combo of those. by DA/ECNL, you surely need almost all of it. collegiate/pro, all, and the ones with the best of everything are the ones that excel.

if when an academy sees a raw kid but had the athletic genes, they'll nurture the kid along along because he's already got it in his nature.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All Pro level players are superior ATHLETES first that learned technical skills. Never do you see a technical player learn to be a superior athlete. With that said Ill take my chances developing the kid who's an athlete over the the skilled kid with mediocre genes.

No, develop them all and let time sort it out.

God people are so dumb.

This is what 99% of travel parents want to hear . "develop them all". Reality is its only the 1% that will actually develop to a high level.

So first off you do develop them all because you are starting before puberty. A fast athletic u17 player will run circles around a fast athletic u10 player. You just do not know what a player will look like after puberty - some small slow players growth and become fast big player. Many of those great athletic u10/u11 players just do not develop physically and are slow and small by u17. They just developed early but are over taken.

Secondly you can be a great athlete and not develop technically. There is a misperception that anyone can develop technical skill if you just work at it. It’s not true or all players would be very close technically- specially in the pros. Each player’s technical abilities has a floor and a ceiling. It is very similar to other traits like speed, quickness, physicality, spatial awareness, etc. Everyone has a range in which it can be improved to a certain level. You can not make a slow payer fast and you can not take a bad technical player and make them technical. It just does not happen. Go ask Jozy Altidore.

It’s like this a fast kid without technical ability = role player. A slow kid with technical ability = role player. All of them could start in travel soccer at the highest level. Many will play in college but not the pros. A fast kid with technical ability = solid payer. A fast kid with technical ability and high soccer IQ = all star.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All Pro level players are superior ATHLETES first that learned technical skills. Never do you see a technical player learn to be a superior athlete. With that said Ill take my chances developing the kid who's an athlete over the the skilled kid with mediocre genes.

No, develop them all and let time sort it out.

God people are so dumb.

This is what 99% of travel parents want to hear . "develop them all". Reality is its only the 1% that will actually develop to a high level.

No, you can develop every player to their potential. That is why we have A, B and C teams. But those early team designations should not be a sentence