Most important skills for soccer?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What's the most important skills you think for an athletically gifted player that will separate him/her from average good players? And how to obtain such skills?

Speed Speed Speed

(and the ability to place a pass to another players feet - not kick as hard as you can from the back)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's the most important skills you think for an athletically gifted player that will separate him/her from average good players? And how to obtain such skills?

Speed Speed Speed

(and the ability to place a pass to another players feet - not kick as hard as you can from the back)

Not only does this board confirm that posters know very little about soccer, but they also seem to understand very little about what "skill" means. Saying that speed is a skill in soccer is like saying height is a skill in basketball, or a strong arm is a skill for a baseball. It is an attribute, not a skill. The original poster already assumes athleticism and asks what skills help an athletically gifted player the most. Is this such a difficult question for people to answer?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:On the girls side, speed and size work like this. It allows you to make many mistakes and recover. So you have a bad touch. You receive a ball and it goes 10 feet away from you. If the closest defender is 20 feet away, you have just created a 50/50 ball. The player who is the fastest, strongest and most aggressive will win the ball. Select for those type of players.

A player with a good touch, vision and technical skills will pass the ball to the open player. Passing the ball is seen as non aggressive. An aggressive player will put their head down and dribble.

A player(specially early on) with good touch and vision really gets you nothing. You need two or three to have an impact. So most coaches will select a fast aggressive player over a fast player with touch and vision.

At the u littles, very few players have a good touch, vision and technical skills. The ones who do are odds balls. These players do not fit in.

In the older age groups within a range, top teams are fairly equal in size and straight line speed. Now touch, vision and technical skills matter(because this allows faster speed of play) but you have been selecting for 5-6 years for speed and aggression. This selection happens in middle school before puberty.

Touch and vision is like speed. You either have it or you do not. It is very important for the later year(lol 16 years old ...later years), but not used as selected criteria in the younger years.

This is a very true and insightful post. Unfortunately, my 2008 DD has good first touch, technical skills and vision but doesn’t have blazing speed. You’re right about having at least 2-3 other players with good skills for it to be effective. Players that are not in position, don’t get open and/or doesn’t have a good first touch impacts the rest of the team. But the most frustrating thing is when a player just aimlessly kicks the ball as hard as they can and then some parents (and her parents) would yell out “good kick”. LOL.

Passing a ball to an extremely aggressive player is like passing to a black hole though. This type of player typically put their heads down and just dribble the ball and eventually looses it. This is frustrating for the rest of the team and sometimes causes resentment.

I don’t necessarily agree with “Touch and vision is like speed. You either have it or you do not.” I think this can be learn with practice while pure speed is hereditary. I also think a player with good skills & vision sometimes don’t use their speed as much due to them constantly looking for an open player to pass instead of putting their heads down and just dribble the ball away.

No it can be improved/train it but it is a physical things. Tough and vision are about how the brain is wired, the ability of the eye to interpret a higher frame rate, interpret feed back from all your senses, processing information and taking action. Everyone has a base line spatial intelligence. People with high spatial IQ read a situation with fewer visional cues, have a high consistency in visional search, views cues in the same order(prioritization), accurate interpretation of those clues, look at only relevant clues and have a consistent eye routine. They also have a high frame rate and track things better. This also applies to how you process other senses like feel/touch. It’s why some people can hit a baseball(seeing the seams) and other can not. It is also why some QB can read a defense and make the right throw or the soccer player with great vision can make the passes before the defense is set.

You can try to teach these things but it will not work. Jozy Altidore has been working on his touch for and it is just not there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's the most important skills you think for an athletically gifted player that will separate him/her from average good players? And how to obtain such skills?

Speed Speed Speed

(and the ability to place a pass to another players feet - not kick as hard as you can from the back)

Not only does this board confirm that posters know very little about soccer, but they also seem to understand very little about what "skill" means. Saying that speed is a skill in soccer is like saying height is a skill in basketball, or a strong arm is a skill for a baseball. It is an attribute, not a skill. The original poster already assumes athleticism and asks what skills help an athletically gifted player the most. Is this such a difficult question for people to answer?

Speaking for myself, I don't say that speed is what we should be selecting for. What I'm saying is that here in the US, speed is what actually is being selected for. If that can be combined with technical skill, all the better. But I have seen players with incredibly poor technical skill yet amazing speed make every type of top program. The American assumption is that if they are very fast, that's what you need. Skills can be acquired later.

[Anonymous]

Part of the reason US players are a little behind the rest of the world is because we value the wrong things in players and select based on those misplaced values. Speed is the perfect example. Coaches here look at running speed and think that translates to game speed. But most footraces in soccer are less than ten yards and in a ten yard footrace the winner is the one who takes the first step first, not the faster runner. Speed of thought is much more important than running speed in soccer and speed of thought it what dictates speed of play. And regardless of how much speed you have, if you don't have the touch you can't play at that pace anyways. At the higher levels if your trap leaves you taking an extra step to get to the ball or if your pass is off and leaves your teammate taking an extra step away to get to it, it's too late the defense is there. Soccer is a game you play with your feet but win with your brain.

[Anonymous]

Speed and size are attributes that cannot be trained. That is why they are valued. If you are a slow or undersized player, there is a ceiling. That is true in any sport. It is a bitter pill to swallow if your kid is slow or small but that is the reality.

[Anonymous]

I believe that speed can be greatly increased especially at the younger ages...U14 and younger. The running techniques when they are young ate usually horrendous. Coordination is often horrendous. Kids would benefit from running some track and getting some running coaching. I've seen where a few sessions with a running coach make huge improvements. Speed also improves with strength.

As to the people saying clubs mostly select on speed...again...state your ages and club because I can guarantee that I know many teams at the youth ages that have tiny kids that aren't the fastest but have great skill and play on their club's top teams.'

The people that just project this stuff because their kid is TOO slow ruin these discussions. You need some speed! Fact.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Speed and size are attributes that cannot be trained. That is why they are valued. If you are a slow or undersized player, there is a ceiling. That is true in any sport. It is a bitter pill to swallow if your kid is slow or small but that is the reality.

I agree that slow and undersized are problems. That is also why playing up too many years is such a problem. It makes that player slow in comparison (assuming they are fast when appropriately played). It also makes them tiny in comparison.


BUT, so is a lack of technique. I never see those fast players improve their technique. They just continue on thinking they are doing a good enough job because they keep making teams. An average speed player is more effective if they have excellent technique because they can control the ball. Those fast players as juniors and seniors continue to turn balls over becuase it bounces several feet from their heavy touch.

[Anonymous]

People especially kids and people learning tend to focus on what comes quickly and they do well

So a slow kid with skill gravitates tonthat And a fast kid gravitates to that. Both are typically complimented by others for their strengths.

Simple example: this Sunday group training session focused on dribbling. The trainer complimented my son for his dribbling. I reminded my son that he has 2 feet to dribble with and a defender will take 1 away so I was not impressed that he just did what he was already good at. He is there to learn and improve not just his strengths but his weaknesses

I would say the most important skill is touch. But more important than that is developing desire to improve and compete. Ronaldo’s greatest attribute is constant striving to improve. Same for Messi.

It’s not wanting the ball more in the moment. It’s wanting to be your best and grind over years. Not a season not a summer or a Sunday. It’s falling in love with the game and giving her your heart and soul

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Speed and size are attributes that cannot be trained. That is why they are valued. If you are a slow or undersized player, there is a ceiling. That is true in any sport. It is a bitter pill to swallow if your kid is slow or small but that is the reality.

I agree that slow and undersized are problems. That is also why playing up too many years is such a problem. It makes that player slow in comparison (assuming they are fast when appropriately played). It also makes them tiny in comparison.


BUT, so is a lack of technique. I never see those fast players improve their technique. They just continue on thinking they are doing a good enough job because they keep making teams. An average speed player is more effective if they have excellent technique because they can control the ball. Those fast players as juniors and seniors continue to turn balls over becuase it bounces several feet from their heavy touch.

And the slow midfielders (with many many touches as they try to impress the crowd with their amazing repeated pull backs) lose the ball every single time. It's a one or two touch game people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Speed and size are attributes that cannot be trained. That is why they are valued. If you are a slow or undersized player, there is a ceiling. That is true in any sport. It is a bitter pill to swallow if your kid is slow or small but that is the reality.

I agree that slow and undersized are problems. That is also why playing up too many years is such a problem. It makes that player slow in comparison (assuming they are fast when appropriately played). It also makes them tiny in comparison.


BUT, so is a lack of technique. I never see those fast players improve their technique. They just continue on thinking they are doing a good enough job because they keep making teams. An average speed player is more effective if they have excellent technique because they can control the ball. Those fast players as juniors and seniors continue to turn balls over becuase it bounces several feet from their heavy touch.

And the slow midfielders (with many many touches as they try to impress the crowd with their amazing repeated pull backs) lose the ball every single time. It's a one or two touch game people.

Forget about slow anything, and let's not focus on positions. Average speed with great technique versus extremely fast with little technique and poor touch.

[Anonymous]

The OP asked for "the most important skills...for an athletically gifted player". So let's accept that they are athletically gifted--that is important and not that teachable, and does imply speed to some degree.

The short answer is "touch"--make the ball do what you want. Receiving, first touch, dribbling, passing, short/long, left/right, inside/outside. That is what tells a coach (or any savvy viewer) that someone is a legit player in the first few minutes of watching them. And the best part is this is the easiest thing to practice. You can do it on your own (juggling, wall, rebounder, dribbling cones, etc.) or with a non-player (like a parent) who can feed to balls to receive and do something with. Almost any kid who is obsessive about this kind of practice early enough in their soccer can become a very good player.

Obviously, you need to combine this with some tactical acumen, vision, workrate, defense, etc. And, all things equal, size, speed and athleticism are better.

But the idea on here that an "athletically gifted player" should work on their "speed" is misinformed. Yes, you can improve speed on the margin, and you should try to do so. But the fastest guys out there don't spend any time on their speed, specifically. "You can't teach speed" is a maxim not because it is 100% true, but because it is mostly true.

Have your player spend every available minute working on their touch, and the earlier the better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The OP asked for "the most important skills...for an athletically gifted player". So let's accept that they are athletically gifted--that is important and not that teachable, and does imply speed to some degree.

The short answer is "touch"--make the ball do what you want. Receiving, first touch, dribbling, passing, short/long, left/right, inside/outside. That is what tells a coach (or any savvy viewer) that someone is a legit player in the first few minutes of watching them. And the best part is this is the easiest thing to practice. You can do it on your own (juggling, wall, rebounder, dribbling cones, etc.) or with a non-player (like a parent) who can feed to balls to receive and do something with. Almost any kid who is obsessive about this kind of practice early enough in their soccer can become a very good player.

Obviously, you need to combine this with some tactical acumen, vision, workrate, defense, etc. And, all things equal, size, speed and athleticism are better.

But the idea on here that an "athletically gifted player" should work on their "speed" is misinformed. Yes, you can improve speed on the margin, and you should try to do so. But the fastest guys out there don't spend any time on their speed, specifically. "You can't teach speed" is a maxim not because it is 100% true, but because it is mostly true.

Have your player spend every available minute working on their touch, and the earlier the better.

At a developmental level agreed.
At a point when you are trying to make it stay on a pro or college team
Then you will and need to work on speed speed endurance and speed with and without the ball
To also does it
Rose Lavalle does sprints after every practice
There’s a reason and a need
But you are right all that speed doesn’t help if your touch lets you down or your anticipation has you running the wrong direction

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The OP asked for "the most important skills...for an athletically gifted player". So let's accept that they are athletically gifted--that is important and not that teachable, and does imply speed to some degree.

The short answer is "touch"--make the ball do what you want. Receiving, first touch, dribbling, passing, short/long, left/right, inside/outside. That is what tells a coach (or any savvy viewer) that someone is a legit player in the first few minutes of watching them. And the best part is this is the easiest thing to practice. You can do it on your own (juggling, wall, rebounder, dribbling cones, etc.) or with a non-player (like a parent) who can feed to balls to receive and do something with. Almost any kid who is obsessive about this kind of practice early enough in their soccer can become a very good player.

Obviously, you need to combine this with some tactical acumen, vision, workrate, defense, etc. And, all things equal, size, speed and athleticism are better.

But the idea on here that an "athletically gifted player" should work on their "speed" is misinformed. Yes, you can improve speed on the margin, and you should try to do so. But the fastest guys out there don't spend any time on their speed, specifically. "You can't teach speed" is a maxim not because it is 100% true, but because it is mostly true.

Have your player spend every available minute working on their touch, and the earlier the better.

I mostly agree with what you put. Except a player can work on speed. Ask track runners. There is another 10-15% that almost any player has not tapped into. But your soccer club won't teach it. And there is a difference between stamina and sprint speed. A lot of players and coaches think they are working on speed, and they are just improving stamina. Stamina is more of a midfield skill. Sprint speed is more for that amazing centerback or dangerous forward.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Speed and size are attributes that cannot be trained. That is why they are valued. If you are a slow or undersized player, there is a ceiling. That is true in any sport. It is a bitter pill to swallow if your kid is slow or small but that is the reality.

I agree that slow and undersized are problems. That is also why playing up too many years is such a problem. It makes that player slow in comparison (assuming they are fast when appropriately played). It also makes them tiny in comparison.


BUT, so is a lack of technique. I never see those fast players improve their technique. They just continue on thinking they are doing a good enough job because they keep making teams. An average speed player is more effective if they have excellent technique because they can control the ball. Those fast players as juniors and seniors continue to turn balls over becuase it bounces several feet from their heavy touch.

And the slow midfielders (with many many touches as they try to impress the crowd with their amazing repeated pull backs) lose the ball every single time. It's a one or two touch game people.

Forget about slow anything, and let's not focus on positions. Average speed with great technique versus extremely fast with little technique and poor touch.

By the time the kids get to high school the extremely fast girls have great touches and fabulous technique. They are highly sought after by colleges.