Ball Hog

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:idk. my kid was a major ball hog for years and her coach never really stopped her. I'm glad though in retrospect because she developed incredible ball handling skills. she moved clubs at 13 and had to learn a whole different way of playing. her new coach loved her skills but was able to teach her when and where to dribble and show her skills.

I think this is the concern others have - the ball hog is hogging most of the development. So at 13 their kid can't make a better team as they've been sitting around watching another kid dribble for years. If everyone tells their kid to be a ball hog, there's no passing at all. Then it comes down to who recovers the ball from the other team defensively. Everyone wants to recover it, and now we're playing bunch-ball like 5 year-olds.

If you are giving this much credit to a players ball-hogging for your child’s potential ability to make a better team at 13, you are completely focusing on the wrong thing.

Your 13 will not make a better team not because of the coaches “team tactics” or another players ball hogging, its their lack of technical skill. Before 13, focus on individuals skills and learning to use it in a game. Have you thought that the ball hog doesn’t want to pass to other players bc all the other players have shitty touches?

This isn't wrong, but it is pretty selfish. Sometimes the best development path for your own kid is to also be extremely selfish. In the presence of a single ball hog, other parents will start advising their kids to also ball hog. The ball hogs will move up and learn to pass, and the current passers will stay on crappy teams.

I’m going to assume the ball hog refered to by the OP is not very good. That is, they are trying to develop/hone their individual skills during game time and prob not doing much outside of game time.

Because most players don’t really complain about a ball hog that is more successful than not because parents and kids like to win.

My kid was a ball hog. Played striker for years and was never coached at all on what to do with the ball. But no one complained because they were effective. And they were effective because they practiced their passing, dribbling, juggling on their own time whenever there were no games or practices and also watched pro soccer all the time so eventually learned when to pass, take on a 1v1 or dribble
and carry, etc.

All of that a kid can do in their own time to get better (assuming they want to).

FWIW, my kid no longer plays striker because when they moved to a better team, the coaches could tell he had the skills and confidence to play any position. Being a ball hog was essential for them to develop the confidence to use skills they were learning on their own.

So I say work on your individual skills first before becoming a ball hog.

Ball hogs and apparently thier parents too never think they do anything wrong and think they are the only one that puts in the work and have the skills. Most forwards want touches and don't just want to make run after run and never see the ball because no one ever tells their 'skilled ' teamate to pass to the open man. If it was child that put in the work and never saw the ball you would think differently winning or not.

I would never put my kid in a situation where they weren’t seeing the ball. If ur kid puts in the work and doesn’t see touches, move clubs and find a different coach.

My kid and I aren’t responsible for your kids development. And frankly, clubs aren’t either despite what they say. Use the club as tool for their development but parents and players should always take charge of their own development. That’s the only think you can control when it comes to soccer development.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:idk. my kid was a major ball hog for years and her coach never really stopped her. I'm glad though in retrospect because she developed incredible ball handling skills. she moved clubs at 13 and had to learn a whole different way of playing. her new coach loved her skills but was able to teach her when and where to dribble and show her skills.

I think this is the concern others have - the ball hog is hogging most of the development. So at 13 their kid can't make a better team as they've been sitting around watching another kid dribble for years. If everyone tells their kid to be a ball hog, there's no passing at all. Then it comes down to who recovers the ball from the other team defensively. Everyone wants to recover it, and now we're playing bunch-ball like 5 year-olds.

not really. my daughter (the one referenced up top) was one of only a couple players on the team that really wanted the ball. might have been the make up of the teams she was on, but the teams' tactics were to try and get her the ball. until she switched clubs at 13.

one of my other daughters was the kind of player that just wanted to make a good pass and get rid of it. she never wanted to carry the ball.

and fwiw, no one told my ball-hog daughter to be a ball hog. if i had told my other daughter to hog the ball, she would have said absolutely not.

i think there is too much focus on passing and sharing the ball at too young an age and players aren't encouraged to be creative and fail to develop comfort on the ball.

Sounds like it may not be totally fair to call her a "ball hog" from this. Teams need risk-takers who occasionally beat some defenders on the dribble. A true ball hog imo is one that goes well past what the team needs and what that player is actually capable of.

My daughter played on a team that had no dribblers. Like you said, there was probably too much emphasis on getting rid of it and no one wanted to be a star. It was frustrating, for parents and for the kids. We would get pinned in our own half way too often, making only safe passes. Eventually I told my daughter to beat some people on the dribble no matter what on the first possession in the offensive half, don't stop until you score or it gets taken. She argued against it adamantly, but agreed. Beat 2-3 players and almost scored. It was funny to see the light bulb go off that maybe she could dribble more. Even the coach, who praised good passes, was like "YES!" She probably started overdoing it for a season, but it helped the team do much better, and she settled down into a better balance of dribbling vs passing. She got a lot better after having a brief period as an arguable ball hog. She also realizes now that every good team needs some risk-takers.

I know a dad of a very good player, dad also played at a high level, who challenges his own son in some games to always take 7+ touches for a half, 1-touch, or 2-touch. I'm sure in the 7+ touch halves he looks like a ball hog, but he's generally a distributing CM and whatever he's doing is working.

I had a kid in a team like your daughter’s team. It was like 80 minutes wasted in safe passes, slowly playing the ball by the back line, and losing the ball when hen they suddenly decided to send to the mid. 80 mins wasted, they then after 80-85 mins wasted, started playing more direct in the last 10 minutes when they were already losing. It was frustrating to watch the game because my kid was used to play for a team that was more effective (combination of direct, dribbling, possession). I am not pro the ball hog player when is one that slowdowns the game.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If the coach isn’t concerned, you shouldn’t be either. Perhaps your child needs to be more aggressive.

OP here
This kid is a striker, was a superstar from 2nd team last year, and got moved up to the top team with a big ego in her head.
Tall and fast but will steal the ball from their teammate, never stays where she is supposed to be, either come steal the ball from wings or CM or offside.
Other teammates yelled at her a couple of times but nothing changed.
Thank you for all your advice, I will just be more focused on my dc.

[Anonymous]

More stupid parents complaining about dumb shat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:More stupid parents complaining about dumb shat.

did your mommy let you stay up late tonight?

[Anonymous]

NP. Leave the the team. My DD had to play with one for 2 seasons ages 8-9 or so, then another one from ages 10-11. Because my DD is small and a quick pass player, it hurt her development for sure. Those other two ball hogs are now on tippy top teams here, there were good, but it didn’t allow my DD to grow. And because they were effective at scoring, given they had 10x the shots of the rest of the team, they were never subbed. The effect was that the midfield literally never touched the ball, and also if anyone did get the ball, the coach wanted them to get it to Larla immediately. It stunk. I don’t know enough then to know how harmful that was at that age. My DD is a good player now but will never have the confidence she should after being yelled at to get it to Larla for 4 years. Honestly I feel U11 should not have score, wins, or losses to allow coaches to actually develop players.

[Anonymous]

Edit, Didn’t know enough, not don’t.

[Anonymous]

My daughters team broke this pattern by stealing the ball from the hog - even during games.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How do you help your child deal with a teammate who is a ball hog? 9v9

Take out their knees, no more ball hogging.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do you help your child deal with a teammate who is a ball hog? 9v9

Are you the team coach?

This. It's for the coach to deal with.

When my kid complained, i told them not to pass to them. Play someone else on the team to spread the field and to give others a chance. I’d never coach another person’s kid. As others have said, kids figure this stuff out and typically just start avoiding passes to the ball hog.

[Anonymous]

I find it insane that adults pressure their kids to not pass to their teammate because that player dribbles more than the parent (who know nothing about soccer or development) would like. Do you also pressure her to not pass to the kids that pass it’ll directly to the wrong team or dribble out of bounds under no pressure? Or is it just the dribblers that you don’t want her to pass to?

Parents are the worst, purposefully creating a toxic environment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I find it insane that adults pressure their kids to not pass to their teammate because that player dribbles more than the parent (who know nothing about soccer or development) would like. Do you also pressure her to not pass to the kids that pass it’ll directly to the wrong team or dribble out of bounds under no pressure? Or is it just the dribblers that you don’t want her to pass to?

Parents are the worst, purposefully creating a toxic environment.

Natural consequences. Play as a team or get off the field.

You can throw your shade to the parent who is telling their kid to be selfish and hog the ball.

[Anonymous]

It’s the coach, which is why I say leave the team. A coach must step in and allow everyone to develop at 9v9. If this question is being asked by OP, you know that their kid is already feeling the impact. If the coach won’t see this or step in, leave and find a better coach. It won’t get better, especially if the ball hog is relatively effective.

[Anonymous]

Hopefully the coach handles it. When DS was u9 he played in a game where the ball hog on his team scored several goals and played his best game ever. After the game, the coach met with the kids and praised my DS for his passing and a few other players for various things. He said nothing about the ball hog. He didn’t say a word about all the goals scored. You could tell the kid who was a ball hog was expecting praise for the win. It seems to work because he passed the ball more after that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hopefully the coach handles it. When DS was u9 he played in a game where the ball hog on his team scored several goals and played his best game ever. After the game, the coach met with the kids and praised my DS for his passing and a few other players for various things. He said nothing about the ball hog. He didn’t say a word about all the goals scored. You could tell the kid who was a ball hog was expecting praise for the win. It seems to work because he passed the ball more after that.

They don't. They enjoy winning. If they hated it they'd bench the player and take to them. This isn't rec soccer. The coaches at most clubs are just there to get wins to keep parents happy and their free thousand dollar fees paid to then a year.