Girls Soccer - at what age does possession style overtake physical style?

[Anonymous]

In baseball we don’t expect little league coaches to teach kids how to throw and catch a ball either. It is expected. Coaches teach the game, even at young ages.

The only “skill” somewhat developed is batting and pitching as they are progressively implemented.

That we have an expectation that skill building should be a part of the club process is the problem but it is not unexpected considering the number of parents who never played the game themselves and lack the ability to pass the skills on at early ages.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In baseball we don’t expect little league coaches to teach kids how to throw and catch a ball either. It is expected. Coaches teach the game, even at young ages.

The only “skill” somewhat developed is batting and pitching as they are progressively implemented.

That we have an expectation that skill building should be a part of the club process is the problem but it is not unexpected considering the number of parents who never played the game themselves and lack the ability to pass the skills on at early ages.

Exactly.
I recall helping coach Tball and a kid on the team missed the first practice and showed up for the game with batting gloves.
I asked him if he is left or right batter and he didn’t know. I asked have you ever batted before and he said no.
I just thought his parents were great for signing him up. And I thought they can buy batting gloves but not time to teach their kid to play.
It ain’t always about knowing the game. Just time.

And yes at the end of the season the parent asked what he should do that summer tomfet better as he wanted to play for the Yankees.
I told her he should go have fun take the summer off and be a kid. She was disappointed in my answer and felt I was keeping some secret about training from her.

I see these parents in soccer all the time except they think they know more

[Anonymous]

Coach here. There's a lot of assumption and variables based in the thread's initial question. Generally, you teach young kids how to play with the ball. Control receiving it from any direction and send it in any direction to a specific place. As they get older, well it's a players game. Some kids don't like combining or possessing and want to take on defenders. Some just like latching onto a through ball. It's a players game, so 'teaching possession' (using that moniker) to me is limiting. I teach them how to attack, different ways to transition (namely pressing), and principles of defending. Possession should be a tool in the game, not an end-all-be-all assessment.

Some coaches will agree with me, others won't. But I try to ensure, even when we do possession games in training, the purpose is attack-minded. And if they don't want to possess in a game, they better get a third lung because they'll be owning the game less.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In baseball we don’t expect little league coaches to teach kids how to throw and catch a ball either. It is expected. Coaches teach the game, even at young ages.

The only “skill” somewhat developed is batting and pitching as they are progressively implemented.

That we have an expectation that skill building should be a part of the club process is the problem but it is not unexpected considering the number of parents who never played the game themselves and lack the ability to pass the skills on at early ages.

Exactly.
I recall helping coach Tball and a kid on the team missed the first practice and showed up for the game with batting gloves.
I asked him if he is left or right batter and he didn’t know. I asked have you ever batted before and he said no.
I just thought his parents were great for signing him up. And I thought they can buy batting gloves but not time to teach their kid to play.
It ain’t always about knowing the game. Just time.

And yes at the end of the season the parent asked what he should do that summer tomfet better as he wanted to play for the Yankees.
I told her he should go have fun take the summer off and be a kid. She was disappointed in my answer and felt I was keeping some secret about training from her.

I see these parents in soccer all the time except they think they know more

Why didn’t you tell her that if her son loves baseball so much, she should sign him up for baseball camp? Not to pick on you, but just curious why you didn’t give her a few tips.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I see the same old clowns are posting about how poor US soccer is. Your dull.

Anyhow, the answer depends on the coach. I’ve seen girls at U10 possess the ball and seen U18 play kick ball. It’s all about the coach.

Completely agree. There is a group of people here that criticize the WNT for not playing a possession style, while singing the praises of a more possession-based or technical team like Brazil on the men’s and women’s side. Of course, those people seem to forget that, in the last 20 years, the Brazilian women finished in the top 3 of a World Cup only once (2nd in 2007) and same for the Brazilian men (1st in 2002).

At the end of the day, it is about winning, and there are a variety of ways a soccer team can do so. Give me UNC’s titles in college soccer or the WNT’s domination in WCs, vs watching Spain play 1,000 back passes and square balls and lose to a pathetic team like Russia in the first knockout round of the 2018 World Cup.

That’s not exactly a brave position to take in this country or area. And no. At earlier ages it is not about winning exclusively or primarily. This is the garbage that gets taught at clubs like Arlington in younger ages and holds kids back. Clubs should produce kids who are comfortable in possession even when it costs games, at least on top teams. Otherwise you are teaching them nothing but cowardice. I don’t believe in tiki-taka or any system dogmatically. But the crap we see from many top teams who could do better with younger teams is truly remarkable. So yes, WNT should play to their strengths now and develop kids who can continue maintaining athletic superiority while striving for something closer to technical parity. You do the latter by developing your kids properly.

I’m tired of the maligning. Arlington does not teach garbage long ball soccer. check out any of the highlights at the link. Not all but most of these girls have played for Arlington their entire soccer careers and for Mo the last couple of years. https://www.hudl.com/team/v2/351021/Arlington-Girls-U16-04s/team

This is just for the girls idea. It’s a structural problem at Arlington. At the younger ages, you need a lower coach to player ratio. One coach and an assistant with 24-26 players u12 and under does not work. You lose too many potentially good players and many players do not develop properly. You see consistent sloppy or bad technique which is not corrected. At that age, it should be one coach for 8-10 players. You just can not teach technical skills in a big group like that.

U12 and under is about individual skill development. The majority of practice should be about building technical skill and small side games working on those skills. It is bullsh#t to say you have to get that outside the club at that age. U13 and up the emphasis changes to team development. Coaches are not teaching technical skill and the coach to player ratio should increase.

Arlington has a huge pool of players at u9. This pool is not developed well. By u12/u13 the average level of technical skill is well below where it should be.

Spanish clubs do not spend time on skill development, it is expected. This is why we are a terrible soccer nation. We honestly believe that starting skill training at 8-9 years old three hours a week is enough to develop players who are fluent with the ball is ridiculous.

No travel program should spend time on skill development. The practices should be challenging enough to improve technical skills but not be the focus of practice.

Possession tactics can be implemented at much younger ages without it being obvious that tactics are being taught.

No. Practice under u12 should be about individual technical skills development and small side games. This is reflected in the guideline of every soccer organization including in the US. The kids do not have the cognitive development to practice 3-4 hours a week at u9 and train outside the program. Also spatial awareness is just starting to develop in kids at age 12. There is little benefits teaching them certain parts of the game at this age. They need to be taught by a coach the proper techniques and drilled in these techniques at each practice. They should be getting 100’s of control touches each practice. You pay the coach to make it fun and entertaining. It is shocking how much players at this age improve over the course of a season when the practices are mainly about developing individual skill.

You might want to research how the Europeans and Latin Americans develop players before saying they do not spend time developing individual skill at practice. Specially in the younger ages. The Brazilians do not even play soccer till 12-14. They play futsal- small side game with an emphasis on ball control in tight spaces.

I work with many women college soccer players. You know what they tell me? They wish they had had more technical training when they were younger. It is not hard to pick out players who got technical training in the u littles vs the ones who received it later.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In baseball we don’t expect little league coaches to teach kids how to throw and catch a ball either. It is expected. Coaches teach the game, even at young ages.

The only “skill” somewhat developed is batting and pitching as they are progressively implemented.

That we have an expectation that skill building should be a part of the club process is the problem but it is not unexpected considering the number of parents who never played the game themselves and lack the ability to pass the skills on at early ages.

Exactly.
I recall helping coach Tball and a kid on the team missed the first practice and showed up for the game with batting gloves.
I asked him if he is left or right batter and he didn’t know. I asked have you ever batted before and he said no.
I just thought his parents were great for signing him up. And I thought they can buy batting gloves but not time to teach their kid to play.
It ain’t always about knowing the game. Just time.

And yes at the end of the season the parent asked what he should do that summer tomfet better as he wanted to play for the Yankees.
I told her he should go have fun take the summer off and be a kid. She was disappointed in my answer and felt I was keeping some secret about training from her.

I see these parents in soccer all the time except they think they know more

Why didn’t you tell her that if her son loves baseball so much, she should sign him up for baseball camp? Not to pick on you, but just curious why you didn’t give her a few tips.

Because the kid was 6 and parents are adult and they need to make their own choices.
Suggest baseball summer camp? Good grief

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I see the same old clowns are posting about how poor US soccer is. Your dull.

Anyhow, the answer depends on the coach. I’ve seen girls at U10 possess the ball and seen U18 play kick ball. It’s all about the coach.

Completely agree. There is a group of people here that criticize the WNT for not playing a possession style, while singing the praises of a more possession-based or technical team like Brazil on the men’s and women’s side. Of course, those people seem to forget that, in the last 20 years, the Brazilian women finished in the top 3 of a World Cup only once (2nd in 2007) and same for the Brazilian men (1st in 2002).

At the end of the day, it is about winning, and there are a variety of ways a soccer team can do so. Give me UNC’s titles in college soccer or the WNT’s domination in WCs, vs watching Spain play 1,000 back passes and square balls and lose to a pathetic team like Russia in the first knockout round of the 2018 World Cup.

That’s not exactly a brave position to take in this country or area. And no. At earlier ages it is not about winning exclusively or primarily. This is the garbage that gets taught at clubs like Arlington in younger ages and holds kids back. Clubs should produce kids who are comfortable in possession even when it costs games, at least on top teams. Otherwise you are teaching them nothing but cowardice. I don’t believe in tiki-taka or any system dogmatically. But the crap we see from many top teams who could do better with younger teams is truly remarkable. So yes, WNT should play to their strengths now and develop kids who can continue maintaining athletic superiority while striving for something closer to technical parity. You do the latter by developing your kids properly.

I’m tired of the maligning. Arlington does not teach garbage long ball soccer. check out any of the highlights at the link. Not all but most of these girls have played for Arlington their entire soccer careers and for Mo the last couple of years. https://www.hudl.com/team/v2/351021/Arlington-Girls-U16-04s/team

This is just for the girls idea. It’s a structural problem at Arlington. At the younger ages, you need a lower coach to player ratio. One coach and an assistant with 24-26 players u12 and under does not work. You lose too many potentially good players and many players do not develop properly. You see consistent sloppy or bad technique which is not corrected. At that age, it should be one coach for 8-10 players. You just can not teach technical skills in a big group like that.

U12 and under is about individual skill development. The majority of practice should be about building technical skill and small side games working on those skills. It is bullsh#t to say you have to get that outside the club at that age. U13 and up the emphasis changes to team development. Coaches are not teaching technical skill and the coach to player ratio should increase.

Arlington has a huge pool of players at u9. This pool is not developed well. By u12/u13 the average level of technical skill is well below where it should be.

Spanish clubs do not spend time on skill development, it is expected. This is why we are a terrible soccer nation. We honestly believe that starting skill training at 8-9 years old three hours a week is enough to develop players who are fluent with the ball is ridiculous.

No travel program should spend time on skill development. The practices should be challenging enough to improve technical skills but not be the focus of practice.

Possession tactics can be implemented at much younger ages without it being obvious that tactics are being taught.

No. Practice under u12 should be about individual technical skills development and small side games. This is reflected in the guideline of every soccer organization including in the US. The kids do not have the cognitive development to practice 3-4 hours a week at u9 and train outside the program. Also spatial awareness is just starting to develop in kids at age 12. There is little benefits teaching them certain parts of the game at this age. They need to be taught by a coach the proper techniques and drilled in these techniques at each practice. They should be getting 100’s of control touches each practice. You pay the coach to make it fun and entertaining. It is shocking how much players at this age improve over the course of a season when the practices are mainly about developing individual skill.

You might want to research how the Europeans and Latin Americans develop players before saying they do not spend time developing individual skill at practice. Specially in the younger ages. The Brazilians do not even play soccer till 12-14. They play futsal- small side game with an emphasis on ball control in tight spaces.

I work with many women college soccer players. You know what they tell me? They wish they had had more technical training when they were younger. It is not hard to pick out players who got technical training in the u littles vs the ones who received it later.

For all the points you gave I basically agree with you; granted if you want to play like Brazilians might as well go to Brazil. Their style of play is also based on their culture and day-to-day lives. It's a very expressive sport, and a million ways to play it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I see the same old clowns are posting about how poor US soccer is. Your dull.

Anyhow, the answer depends on the coach. I’ve seen girls at U10 possess the ball and seen U18 play kick ball. It’s all about the coach.

Completely agree. There is a group of people here that criticize the WNT for not playing a possession style, while singing the praises of a more possession-based or technical team like Brazil on the men’s and women’s side. Of course, those people seem to forget that, in the last 20 years, the Brazilian women finished in the top 3 of a World Cup only once (2nd in 2007) and same for the Brazilian men (1st in 2002).

At the end of the day, it is about winning, and there are a variety of ways a soccer team can do so. Give me UNC’s titles in college soccer or the WNT’s domination in WCs, vs watching Spain play 1,000 back passes and square balls and lose to a pathetic team like Russia in the first knockout round of the 2018 World Cup.

That’s not exactly a brave position to take in this country or area. And no. At earlier ages it is not about winning exclusively or primarily. This is the garbage that gets taught at clubs like Arlington in younger ages and holds kids back. Clubs should produce kids who are comfortable in possession even when it costs games, at least on top teams. Otherwise you are teaching them nothing but cowardice. I don’t believe in tiki-taka or any system dogmatically. But the crap we see from many top teams who could do better with younger teams is truly remarkable. So yes, WNT should play to their strengths now and develop kids who can continue maintaining athletic superiority while striving for something closer to technical parity. You do the latter by developing your kids properly.

I’m tired of the maligning. Arlington does not teach garbage long ball soccer. check out any of the highlights at the link. Not all but most of these girls have played for Arlington their entire soccer careers and for Mo the last couple of years. https://www.hudl.com/team/v2/351021/Arlington-Girls-U16-04s/team

This is just for the girls idea. It’s a structural problem at Arlington. At the younger ages, you need a lower coach to player ratio. One coach and an assistant with 24-26 players u12 and under does not work. You lose too many potentially good players and many players do not develop properly. You see consistent sloppy or bad technique which is not corrected. At that age, it should be one coach for 8-10 players. You just can not teach technical skills in a big group like that.

U12 and under is about individual skill development. The majority of practice should be about building technical skill and small side games working on those skills. It is bullsh#t to say you have to get that outside the club at that age. U13 and up the emphasis changes to team development. Coaches are not teaching technical skill and the coach to player ratio should increase.

Arlington has a huge pool of players at u9. This pool is not developed well. By u12/u13 the average level of technical skill is well below where it should be.

Spanish clubs do not spend time on skill development, it is expected. This is why we are a terrible soccer nation. We honestly believe that starting skill training at 8-9 years old three hours a week is enough to develop players who are fluent with the ball is ridiculous.

No travel program should spend time on skill development. The practices should be challenging enough to improve technical skills but not be the focus of practice.

Possession tactics can be implemented at much younger ages without it being obvious that tactics are being taught.

No. Practice under u12 should be about individual technical skills development and small side games. This is reflected in the guideline of every soccer organization including in the US. The kids do not have the cognitive development to practice 3-4 hours a week at u9 and train outside the program. Also spatial awareness is just starting to develop in kids at age 12. There is little benefits teaching them certain parts of the game at this age. They need to be taught by a coach the proper techniques and drilled in these techniques at each practice. They should be getting 100’s of control touches each practice. You pay the coach to make it fun and entertaining. It is shocking how much players at this age improve over the course of a season when the practices are mainly about developing individual skill.

You might want to research how the Europeans and Latin Americans develop players before saying they do not spend time developing individual skill at practice. Specially in the younger ages. The Brazilians do not even play soccer till 12-14. They play futsal- small side game with an emphasis on ball control in tight spaces.

I work with many women college soccer players. You know what they tell me? They wish they had had more technical training when they were younger. It is not hard to pick out players who got technical training in the u littles vs the ones who received it later.

Nonsense.

Brazilians absolutely play soccer as well as futsal before 12-14. At 14 they are brought into them main clubs for 11s. Argentina even earlier.
If you look at Europe as you suggest Ajax and Barcelona emphasize the creative thinking and tactics almost every session Not to exclusion of technique. In tandem. The training sessions are designed to show patterns and develop problem solving naturally in small sided games and translate to larger.

There are many approaches and that is good. The all knowing edict givers such as younsaying U12 should be all technical is prettt conceited and proven wrong by the world

[Anonymous]

Brazil youth play not just futsal and they do learn tactics.
Flamengo: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-yQ3Wx575Kk
Watch you how Flamengo play possession v direct opponent

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I see the same old clowns are posting about how poor US soccer is. Your dull.

Anyhow, the answer depends on the coach. I’ve seen girls at U10 possess the ball and seen U18 play kick ball. It’s all about the coach.

Completely agree. There is a group of people here that criticize the WNT for not playing a possession style, while singing the praises of a more possession-based or technical team like Brazil on the men’s and women’s side. Of course, those people seem to forget that, in the last 20 years, the Brazilian women finished in the top 3 of a World Cup only once (2nd in 2007) and same for the Brazilian men (1st in 2002).

At the end of the day, it is about winning, and there are a variety of ways a soccer team can do so. Give me UNC’s titles in college soccer or the WNT’s domination in WCs, vs watching Spain play 1,000 back passes and square balls and lose to a pathetic team like Russia in the first knockout round of the 2018 World Cup.

That’s not exactly a brave position to take in this country or area. And no. At earlier ages it is not about winning exclusively or primarily. This is the garbage that gets taught at clubs like Arlington in younger ages and holds kids back. Clubs should produce kids who are comfortable in possession even when it costs games, at least on top teams. Otherwise you are teaching them nothing but cowardice. I don’t believe in tiki-taka or any system dogmatically. But the crap we see from many top teams who could do better with younger teams is truly remarkable. So yes, WNT should play to their strengths now and develop kids who can continue maintaining athletic superiority while striving for something closer to technical parity. You do the latter by developing your kids properly.

I’m tired of the maligning. Arlington does not teach garbage long ball soccer. check out any of the highlights at the link. Not all but most of these girls have played for Arlington their entire soccer careers and for Mo the last couple of years. https://www.hudl.com/team/v2/351021/Arlington-Girls-U16-04s/team

This is just for the girls idea. It’s a structural problem at Arlington. At the younger ages, you need a lower coach to player ratio. One coach and an assistant with 24-26 players u12 and under does not work. You lose too many potentially good players and many players do not develop properly. You see consistent sloppy or bad technique which is not corrected. At that age, it should be one coach for 8-10 players. You just can not teach technical skills in a big group like that.

U12 and under is about individual skill development. The majority of practice should be about building technical skill and small side games working on those skills. It is bullsh#t to say you have to get that outside the club at that age. U13 and up the emphasis changes to team development. Coaches are not teaching technical skill and the coach to player ratio should increase.

Arlington has a huge pool of players at u9. This pool is not developed well. By u12/u13 the average level of technical skill is well below where it should be.

Spanish clubs do not spend time on skill development, it is expected. This is why we are a terrible soccer nation. We honestly believe that starting skill training at 8-9 years old three hours a week is enough to develop players who are fluent with the ball is ridiculous.

No travel program should spend time on skill development. The practices should be challenging enough to improve technical skills but not be the focus of practice.

Possession tactics can be implemented at much younger ages without it being obvious that tactics are being taught.

No. Practice under u12 should be about individual technical skills development and small side games. This is reflected in the guideline of every soccer organization including in the US. The kids do not have the cognitive development to practice 3-4 hours a week at u9 and train outside the program. Also spatial awareness is just starting to develop in kids at age 12. There is little benefits teaching them certain parts of the game at this age. They need to be taught by a coach the proper techniques and drilled in these techniques at each practice. They should be getting 100’s of control touches each practice. You pay the coach to make it fun and entertaining. It is shocking how much players at this age improve over the course of a season when the practices are mainly about developing individual skill.

You might want to research how the Europeans and Latin Americans develop players before saying they do not spend time developing individual skill at practice. Specially in the younger ages. The Brazilians do not even play soccer till 12-14. They play futsal- small side game with an emphasis on ball control in tight spaces.

I work with many women college soccer players. You know what they tell me? They wish they had had more technical training when they were younger. It is not hard to pick out players who got technical training in the u littles vs the ones who received it later.

You have confused when a player picks up their technical ability easiest with the focus of a soccer clubs practices. Three practices a week is just not enough time to teach the technical fundamentals to players in a group setting.

You build your technical skills on your own. Skills are individual and cannot really be left to a group setting to solve. Some kids get bored, others get left behind. The club's role is to group similarly skilled players together and teach them the fundamentals of the game. Some of that will of course build skills but kids should be expected to build their skills on their own.

[Anonymous]

Same in Europe https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=eobV47ddduE

America can keep coaching soccer while rest of world coaches football.
Future v past

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In baseball we don’t expect little league coaches to teach kids how to throw and catch a ball either. It is expected. Coaches teach the game, even at young ages.

The only “skill” somewhat developed is batting and pitching as they are progressively implemented.

That we have an expectation that skill building should be a part of the club process is the problem but it is not unexpected considering the number of parents who never played the game themselves and lack the ability to pass the skills on at early ages.

Exactly.
I recall helping coach Tball and a kid on the team missed the first practice and showed up for the game with batting gloves.
I asked him if he is left or right batter and he didn’t know. I asked have you ever batted before and he said no.
I just thought his parents were great for signing him up. And I thought they can buy batting gloves but not time to teach their kid to play.
It ain’t always about knowing the game. Just time.

And yes at the end of the season the parent asked what he should do that summer tomfet better as he wanted to play for the Yankees.
I told her he should go have fun take the summer off and be a kid. She was disappointed in my answer and felt I was keeping some secret about training from her.

I see these parents in soccer all the time except they think they know more

Why didn’t you tell her that if her son loves baseball so much, she should sign him up for baseball camp? Not to pick on you, but just curious why you didn’t give her a few tips.

Because the kid was 6 and parents are adult and they need to make their own choices.
Suggest baseball summer camp? Good grief

Well. You did not indicate it was a 6 year old. Seriously, why do you bother using an example of a 6 year old TBall?

[Anonymous]

But shouldn’t I be able to buy the best coach and experience for my child and then sit back and watch them excel
When my child does not see me play as an adult and I do not play with them every week just for fun and love of the game?
Can’t they watch GOAL for inspiration and motivational videos to creat desire ?
I do not want them to have to grow up in a barrio in Brasil or a cage of London having to fight older players and men for the playing time and winners and losers. I want to buy that for them. Can’t I just but a McLean house and go to Langley TJ etc and then they will go to Ivy League school? So much I can buy I should be able to figure out which club is the Mercedes that will get my child to their dream.
And when it doesn’t work I can be snide about other clubs on DCUrban
Because it’s really about buying way to top of local heap not the national or international scene
Why does it have to be so hard?
I wish here was a personal shopper for soccer.

[Anonymous]

$$$

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:But shouldn’t I be able to buy the best coach and experience for my child and then sit back and watch them excel
When my child does not see me play as an adult and I do not play with them every week just for fun and love of the game?
Can’t they watch GOAL for inspiration and motivational videos to creat desire ?
I do not want them to have to grow up in a barrio in Brasil or a cage of London having to fight older players and men for the playing time and winners and losers. I want to buy that for them. Can’t I just but a McLean house and go to Langley TJ etc and then they will go to Ivy League school? So much I can buy I should be able to figure out which club is the Mercedes that will get my child to their dream.
And when it doesn’t work I can be snide about other clubs on DCUrban
Because it’s really about buying way to top of local heap not the national or international scene
Why does it have to be so hard?
I wish here was a personal shopper for soccer.

Reach out to Lori Loughlin. She can introduce you to people that can get your DC into any college with a full soccer scholarship without any soccer skills, IQ or even know what a soccer ball is.