How Technical are the Girls?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Soccer players do have to be athletic... if your kid is not athletic they will struggle in the sport.

Marta is quick, has great balance and core strength....

I agree but how does a person or coach determine if a player is athletic?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Soccer players do have to be athletic... if your kid is not athletic they will struggle in the sport.

Marta is quick, has great balance and core strength....

I agree but how does a person or coach determine if a player is athletic?

It is the easiest to identify of everything in soccer

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There’s a lot of mention about the word “athletic” in this forum.

What do all of you mean when you use this word? Please provide some specific examples as it pertains to girls soccer.

Physical speed -straight line speed, lateral quickness, strength, power, agility, balance, coordination, and endurance. You will have varying degree of each of these components. Girls soccer(middle school and high school) put high emphasis on straight line speed and strength. Some people also include at coordination, acceleration curve and spatial awareness but most do not.
Remember you can be a one dimensional player and have a big impacted on the field at this level. If you are the fastest or strongest one on the field you just have not played at a high enough level yet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There’s a lot of mention about the word “athletic” in this forum.

What do all of you mean when you use this word? Please provide some specific examples as it pertains to girls soccer.

Physical speed -straight line speed, lateral quickness, strength, power, agility, balance, coordination, and endurance. You will have varying degree of each of these components. Girls soccer(middle school and high school) put high emphasis on straight line speed and strength. Some people also include at coordination, acceleration curve and spatial awareness but most do not.
Remember you can be a one dimensional player and have a big impacted on the field at this level. If you are the fastest or strongest one on the field you just have not played at a high enough level yet.

Very helpful post.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have a well regarded ECNL coach who is also known for technical players / teams. If you can't demonstrate the technical ability in a game, under pressure - than you don't demonstrate that you have it. And he will be very direct about that point and the girls who could not demonstrate it in a game, left. The girls are expected to spend time outside practices working on their mastery of the ball - because it takes a lot of time. The girls are also expected to have athleticism and speed of play. I don't understand this either / or - you are technical or athletic. Some coaches expect both.

How common is seeing girls U13-U16 that are both technical and athletic (big/fast)?

It’s not common. You can see teams in more elite leagues where the bar has been raised cross the team and some standouts (and yes a few below but not starters). I think the best coaches create that expectation.

Per point - I don’t think motor skills are that much better with males. I do think coaching expectations are different with girls and boys from day 1 and that impacts development exponentially as you move forward It’s also harder to get a group of like minded girls together at high skill levels compared to boys. That’s why in some clubs you are 4+ teams deep on boys side and 2 teams on girls sides and the 2nd team often a huge drop off. It also impacts the league competition. It seems harder to find the teams to play that are skilled and athletic even in the elite girls side.

My daughter is still upset that her younger coaches didn’t teach her more because she said she could have done it. It’s interesting how adamant she is on that point.

I hear this all the time on the girls side. Watch the parents who have had an older daughter Go through the system and they are all about developing technical skills at the younger ages. They do not care about anything but that under u12.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why isn’t there more girls with technical skills?

Is it because they don’t spend enough time to practice? Or is it because they are overshadowed by the more aggressive & athletic but less technical girls?

This is a very good question.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why isn’t there more girls with technical skills?

Is it because they don’t spend enough time to practice? Or is it because they are overshadowed by the more aggressive & athletic but less technical girls?

This is a very good question.

Based upon the above posts, it’s probably cause coaches don’t emphasize the importance of technical skills and touch.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Soccer players do have to be athletic... if your kid is not athletic they will struggle in the sport.

Marta is quick, has great balance and core strength....

She was fast when she was younger. Different player today. Still skilled and crafty. Bet she played a lot of futsal when she was young,

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why isn’t there more girls with technical skills?

Is it because they don’t spend enough time to practice? Or is it because they are overshadowed by the more aggressive & athletic but less technical girls?

It’s because it’s not yet necessary to field a successful college team. There’s no incentive. you don’t need to be technical to get recruited by a top 15 collegiate women’s soccer program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why isn’t there more girls with technical skills?

Is it because they don’t spend enough time to practice? Or is it because they are overshadowed by the more aggressive & athletic but less technical girls?

It’s because it’s not yet necessary to field a successful college team. There’s no incentive. you don’t need to be technical to get recruited by a top 15 collegiate women’s soccer program.

Teaching technical skills is almost as boring as doing technical drills. So coaches do not like doing them. Just get the athletes and throw the ball out there. Who cares if in 6 years the player wishes she was pushed technically. The new crop of players are already in the pipeline.

[Anonymous]

It you have 4 or more technical players it really gives you a lot of options in terms of style of play and tactics. You can change style of play and tactic in a 1/2. If you have one or two technical players it really limits style of play options and tactics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It you have 4 or more technical players it really gives you a lot of options in terms of style of play and tactics. You can change style of play and tactic in a 1/2. If you have one or two technical players it really limits style of play options and tactics.

+1. And If you have 4 technical players, depending on the coach and Team, they can raise the Technical level and motivation to be technical for the rest of the team. We saw that happen. They really all developed that mindset to be better technically and worked outside of practice to do that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It you have 4 or more technical players it really gives you a lot of options in terms of style of play and tactics. You can change style of play and tactic in a 1/2. If you have one or two technical players it really limits style of play options and tactics.

+1. And If you have 4 technical players, depending on the coach and Team, they can raise the Technical level and motivation to be technical for the rest of the team. We saw that happen. They really all developed that mindset to be better technically and worked outside of practice to do that.

Does it matter which position these 4 technical players play? I assume that one position that must have a technical player is Center Midfielder.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It you have 4 or more technical players it really gives you a lot of options in terms of style of play and tactics. You can change style of play and tactic in a 1/2. If you have one or two technical players it really limits style of play options and tactics.

+1. And If you have 4 technical players, depending on the coach and Team, they can raise the Technical level and motivation to be technical for the rest of the team. We saw that happen. They really all developed that mindset to be better technically and worked outside of practice to do that.

Does it matter which position these 4 technical players play? I assume that one position that must have a technical player is Center Midfielder.

Having a technical mid is great if you use them. If you have a technical center mid but they rarely get touches it’s does not help. If the teams style of play is direct from the back having two technical fullbacks and two technical strikers work really well. You want the technical players getting the majority of the touches.

Or say someone once said...

We must make sure their worst players get the ball the most. You’ll get it back in no time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It you have 4 or more technical players it really gives you a lot of options in terms of style of play and tactics. You can change style of play and tactic in a 1/2. If you have one or two technical players it really limits style of play options and tactics.

+1. And If you have 4 technical players, depending on the coach and Team, they can raise the Technical level and motivation to be technical for the rest of the team. We saw that happen. They really all developed that mindset to be better technically and worked outside of practice to do that.

.




Good luck with your business if your mission is to focus and promote only 4 players while the other 75% are ignored. As a club you may not get that far in recognition. While this approach may work for clubs with pro teams in a pro league for which costumers are fans, it will not when your costumers are players/parents (each and all looking for the same ROI).