can you teach a kid to hustle more in travel soccer?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My child is 10 and playing U11 in a CCL club. She/he is one of the fall birthdays and has made the transition well. The majority of the team is year older in school and 6-12 months older by age.
My child has excellent ball skills and is a "smart" player. Passes are well placed in anticipation of where the next player will be. However, my child isn't a fast kid and it's becoming increasingly apparent
as the speed of the game has increased between u9 and u11. Basically all the great kids are now running at top speed the entire game. My kid (who plays defense) tackles well and puts down these
beautiful passes (the crowd of parents often says, "wow, amazing pass!") but this kid doesn't charge the ball aggressively. It's becoming apparent in recent games that he/she needs to step up the speed in which he/she attacks the ball and then passes on the ball.
However, this is a kid who is more slow and deliberate in everything in life. It's just who he/she is. I haven't said anything and I'm not sure I can about needing to step it up in soccer. Or can I? The coach seems to like him/her very much but I hear him/her calling out
in the game, "XX, run faster!, faster!".
My child loves, loves soccer and I want him/her to have the option to keep playing if he/she so desires. Has anyone had a similar kid and/or do you have any thoughts?

andrea pirlo never ran a lot. neither did xabi alonso. they are some of the greatest midfielder of the last 20 years.

if your child truly has excellent ball skills and is hyper-intelligent about the game, a real coach won't care and will protect her by surrounding her with 'water carriers'

this is a worthless trainer - certainly an anglo trainer for sure. Definitely not a latin trainer.

Juan Roman Riquelme is another so-called 'lazy player'.

Please read comments by alonso and pirlo about movement in the game. Your player needs a smarter trainer, I am shaking in hatred of your child's trainer by bulling him/her in this fashion.

So, the OP should search for a new club where her child is the best player so everyone else can do the running for him/her.

OK, that should be simple.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My child is 10 and playing U11 in a CCL club. She/he is one of the fall birthdays and has made the transition well. The majority of the team is year older in school and 6-12 months older by age.
My child has excellent ball skills and is a "smart" player. Passes are well placed in anticipation of where the next player will be. However, my child isn't a fast kid and it's becoming increasingly apparent
as the speed of the game has increased between u9 and u11. Basically all the great kids are now running at top speed the entire game. My kid (who plays defense) tackles well and puts down these
beautiful passes (the crowd of parents often says, "wow, amazing pass!") but this kid doesn't charge the ball aggressively. It's becoming apparent in recent games that he/she needs to step up the speed in which he/she attacks the ball and then passes on the ball.
However, this is a kid who is more slow and deliberate in everything in life. It's just who he/she is. I haven't said anything and I'm not sure I can about needing to step it up in soccer. Or can I? The coach seems to like him/her very much but I hear him/her calling out
in the game, "XX, run faster!, faster!".
My child loves, loves soccer and I want him/her to have the option to keep playing if he/she so desires. Has anyone had a similar kid and/or do you have any thoughts?

andrea pirlo never ran a lot. neither did xabi alonso. they are some of the greatest midfielder of the last 20 years.

if your child truly has excellent ball skills and is hyper-intelligent about the game, a real coach won't care and will protect her by surrounding her with 'water carriers'

this is a worthless trainer - certainly an anglo trainer for sure. Definitely not a latin trainer.

Juan Roman Riquelme is another so-called 'lazy player'.

Please read comments by alonso and pirlo about movement in the game. Your player needs a smarter trainer, I am shaking in hatred of your child's trainer by bulling him/her in this fashion.

Americans don't know what they are looking at when it comes to soccer players.

Most of the "top" players in our youth system would never get a second look abroad. Many of the ones we callously demote to the f team at 8 and never look at again have the qualities European academies select for. The smart players are not cultivated here.

[Anonymous]

I think you can always find fun ways to work on speed. My kids love to race each other or be timed. Because they enjoy running, they spend more time running and that means they keep improving their speed. I'm definitely not a soccer expert, but i believe aggressiveness (which I think of as hustle on the field) isn't easy to change. That's more personality dependent.

I thought DS1 was a great soccer player because he was fast and aggressive as a defender. He received tons of praise in the early years for his hustle. Now he's 12 and an average player. He recently joined a new team and the coach is pointing out that he's expending too much energy and he needs to work more on ball handling and strategy. Speed and aggressiveness are just not enough. The flip side is DS2 is not at all aggressive. I was surprised he made a travel team but the coach keeps stressing what amazing ball skills he has and not to worry about aggressiveness.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I could have written the same thing about my November kid. Coaches tell me all the time what great foot skills, great vision, amazing job finding passing lanes, etc. He can take great corner kicks, tries hard, nice kid, etc. He can run forever (he ran a mile last spring in 6minutes 30 seconds as a 9 year old), but he doesn't have speed and is short. At his school he is one of the best soccer players but on his competitive travel team he is fading. He also almost never wins 50/50 balls and that makes all the difference. He thinks too much instead of reacting aggressively and going all out to get the ball. It breaks my heart that he is no longer getting as much playing time because he loves playing soccer.
In contrast his younger brother doesn't have great foot skills, doesn't kick as hard, doesnt stay in his position,doesn't pay as much attention to what is going on but he is a bulldog who will win almost every 50/50 ball, if he doesn't win the ball he will chase down the player and take out the player by bumping him off the ball or slide tackling. He has a Feb. birthday. To me my younger kid plays ugly soccer but the coaches and other parents love it.
We could tell our older son was getting frustrated so we signed him up for fall baseball and he has done really well. It suits his personality better. We worked with him in the summer and are signing him up with a hitting coach for a few sessions to get ready for the spring. He hasn't played since he played t-ball at age 6. We asked him if he wanted to stay on his travel soccer team in the spring or do baseball and he wants to do baseball because he is having more success playing baseball and it helps he has a better baseball birthday (cut off Sept. 1st).

Too bad you gave up on your older son just because he wasn't having success right away and are trying to steer him towards baseball. In the long run he was going to be the soccer player, let him struggle. He has technique and thinks the game. Get him to start thinking earlier and learn to anticipate/predict the play before it happens. This alone will avoid 50/50 situations because he would already have the ball at his feet. This mind set of not being patient and wanting instant success from parents is why kids do not develop correctly into the game. The parents getting excited about your younger son obviously don't understand the game and by cheering on his current playing style will only encourage him to continue doing what he is doing vs improving his footskils, positioning and understanding of the game. Please encourage your younger son to pick up the characteristics of your older with what he has now and he may have some potential.

We haven't given up on our older son, we are just realistic. We moved to Southern California 3 years ago and we found a club soccer u6 team for him to play on. His team played up a year in coast soccer league (competitive league) -so u7 playing u8. So this is his fourth year of competitive soccer. The pace of play is now too fast to rely on predicting or anticipating. It used to work well for him, and still does in rec soccer or when he plays at school. Not getting playing time is killing his love for soccer. There is now literally 12 inches in height and 50 pounds between him and the biggest 06 players. He is not fast enough to make up for the size difference. He can keep playing rec soccer and doing clinics and camps, and I think he will keep playing as an adult in an adult league. As a family we aren't willing to drive 90 minutes round trip to see him play for 5 minutes in a game. Little league baseball we are finding out has a great community feel about it. They are 100% neighborhood kids in the league. The fields are 5 minutes from our house. And most importantly, my son is loving the practices, the games, and gets tons of positive feedback from his coaches who are amazed he hasn't played in three years. I think his soccer foot skills and his ability to anticipate serve him well when he plays shortstop or third base.
And my younger son won't change his ways because that is just how he is. Drives us crazy our older one does great at practice, but not well in the games while the younger one half asses it through practice and doesn't look that great but during scrimmages and games turns it on.

nothing wrong with rec and please continue to encourage him to play. He may be struggling now but in a couple of years he may dominate. So California plays competitive at U7 and U8?

Yes, competitive soccer starts young here with tryouts and no guarantee of playing time at most clubs. The two big soccer leagues are Coast Soccer League (CSL) and SCDSL. Both have 2008 divisions. CSL has 2009 teams playing up and SCDSL has 2008b division which is really 2009 teams. My younger kid is 2008 and played u8 last year when he was 7. Before that he played in a competitive Hispanic league that starts at age 4 - they have birth year 2010 and 2011 divisions! They play with goalies, they keep score, and if your 4 year old isn't cutting it they are going to play much. It is dirt cheap to play in the Hispanic league but the coaching is awful (most teams the coaches don't charge a fee they just get a team together of their kid, cousins, neighborhood kids), pay a small fee to the Hispanic league and charge families 2 dollars a game for ref fees.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think you can always find fun ways to work on speed. My kids love to race each other or be timed. Because they enjoy running, they spend more time running and that means they keep improving their speed. I'm definitely not a soccer expert, but i believe aggressiveness (which I think of as hustle on the field) isn't easy to change. That's more personality dependent.

I thought DS1 was a great soccer player because he was fast and aggressive as a defender. He received tons of praise in the early years for his hustle. Now he's 12 and an average player. He recently joined a new team and the coach is pointing out that he's expending too much energy and he needs to work more on ball handling and strategy. Speed and aggressiveness are just not enough. The flip side is DS2 is not at all aggressive. I was surprised he made a travel team but the coach keeps stressing what amazing ball skills he has and not to worry about aggressiveness.

See this poster is a PRIME EXAMPLE of what happens when Clubs/coaches and players rely only on their speed and physical traits in the early years.

These early stars peter out in the later years. The big, fast, aggressive 8/9 year old finds he can't play ball later on.

The kids that have been actually learning the proper technique, ball skill and movement eclipse them and leave them in the dust.

One only has to look at the Roster at our Big club in later years to find the majority of stars from the younger years are no longer on the upper teams.

It is detrimental for them to be praising these kids so young---and then throw them out like yesterdays trash later on.

And yet 90% of this thread is a bunch of dolts talking about getting their 9/10 years old to do track races, etc. Soccer speed with the ball is incredibly important.

Physical speed at 8 years old from A to B is a pointless selection process. This speed does not necessarily translate to the older years. Why hold the tryouts on a soccer field? They might as well just hold them on a track

My Dutch coach used to say he could spot a good soccer player by the way he walked. That man was right 99% of the time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My child is 10 and playing U11 in a CCL club. She/he is one of the fall birthdays and has made the transition well. The majority of the team is year older in school and 6-12 months older by age.
My child has excellent ball skills and is a "smart" player. Passes are well placed in anticipation of where the next player will be. However, my child isn't a fast kid and it's becoming increasingly apparent
as the speed of the game has increased between u9 and u11. Basically all the great kids are now running at top speed the entire game. My kid (who plays defense) tackles well and puts down these
beautiful passes (the crowd of parents often says, "wow, amazing pass!") but this kid doesn't charge the ball aggressively. It's becoming apparent in recent games that he/she needs to step up the speed in which he/she attacks the ball and then passes on the ball.
However, this is a kid who is more slow and deliberate in everything in life. It's just who he/she is. I haven't said anything and I'm not sure I can about needing to step it up in soccer. Or can I? The coach seems to like him/her very much but I hear him/her calling out
in the game, "XX, run faster!, faster!".
My child loves, loves soccer and I want him/her to have the option to keep playing if he/she so desires. Has anyone had a similar kid and/or do you have any thoughts?

andrea pirlo never ran a lot. neither did xabi alonso. they are some of the greatest midfielder of the last 20 years.

if your child truly has excellent ball skills and is hyper-intelligent about the game, a real coach won't care and will protect her by surrounding her with 'water carriers'

this is a worthless trainer - certainly an anglo trainer for sure. Definitely not a latin trainer.

Juan Roman Riquelme is another so-called 'lazy player'.

Please read comments by alonso and pirlo about movement in the game. Your player needs a smarter trainer, I am shaking in hatred of your child's trainer by bulling him/her in this fashion.

Americans don't know what they are looking at when it comes to soccer players.

Most of the "top" players in our youth system would never get a second look abroad. Many of the ones we callously demote to the f team at 8 and never look at again have the qualities European academies select for. The smart players are not cultivated here.

+100

[Anonymous]

OP here.
Thank you for all your replies!
As I mentioned in my OP my kid (u11) has been told a number of times (from this years' coach, from other parents, etc) that she's a "very smart player".
Great ball control, great instincts about where the ball should go.
Just lacks that crazy rabid aggression that other kids have (by rabid I am not trying to be negative at all--they are amazing with how they just run.after.the.ball).
It's fascinating to me that this may serve her well in the long run, especially post-puberty which is the wild card in this whole situation.
Her coach seems to really like her and plays her a lot and compliments her--> more than I think her current play merits. Perhaps I say this because as her parent I see her flaws or perhaps
it's because the coach sees something in her that shows promise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here.
Thank you for all your replies!
As I mentioned in my OP my kid (u11) has been told a number of times (from this years' coach, from other parents, etc) that she's a "very smart player".
Great ball control, great instincts about where the ball should go.
Just lacks that crazy rabid aggression that other kids have (by rabid I am not trying to be negative at all--they are amazing with how they just run.after.the.ball).
It's fascinating to me that this may serve her well in the long run, especially post-puberty which is the wild card in this whole situation.
Her coach seems to really like her and plays her a lot and compliments her--> more than I think her current play merits. Perhaps I say this because as her parent I see her flaws or perhaps
it's because the coach sees something in her that shows promise.

When the game changes to 11v11 the whole pace slows down. the game is not as frantic as small sided. Just worry about the technical skills now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here.
Thank you for all your replies!
As I mentioned in my OP my kid (u11) has been told a number of times (from this years' coach, from other parents, etc) that she's a "very smart player".
Great ball control, great instincts about where the ball should go.
Just lacks that crazy rabid aggression that other kids have (by rabid I am not trying to be negative at all--they are amazing with how they just run.after.the.ball).
It's fascinating to me that this may serve her well in the long run, especially post-puberty which is the wild card in this whole situation.
Her coach seems to really like her and plays her a lot and compliments her--> more than I think her current play merits. Perhaps I say this because as her parent I see her flaws or perhaps
it's because the coach sees something in her that shows promise.

As I mentioned before, you keep focusing on the wrong thing. He is the coach for a reason and gives her playing time based on her technical ability, not her "rabid" running. Stop talking about speed and running. What she is hearing from the coach is what matters. "Great ball control, great instincts about where the ball should go." You keep repeating yourself that in your eyes you see her flaws, but maybe the flaws are in your ability to evaluate what makes a good player.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here.
Thank you for all your replies!
As I mentioned in my OP my kid (u11) has been told a number of times (from this years' coach, from other parents, etc) that she's a "very smart player".
Great ball control, great instincts about where the ball should go.
Just lacks that crazy rabid aggression that other kids have (by rabid I am not trying to be negative at all--they are amazing with how they just run.after.the.ball).
It's fascinating to me that this may serve her well in the long run, especially post-puberty which is the wild card in this whole situation.
Her coach seems to really like her and plays her a lot and compliments her--> more than I think her current play merits. Perhaps I say this because as her parent I see her flaws or perhaps
it's because the coach sees something in her that shows promise.

PP, you are not alone. I will always see my kid as the gawky 2nd grader who looked so lost when teammates seemed to know just what to do -- probably because it made me really, really sad for him, even though he didn't seem to notice. Over the years since, I've been perplexed as really good coaches have rewarded him with (what seemed to me disproportionate) playing time and encouraged him to dream big (even going so far as to start talking way too much about getting recruited for college as far back as 8th grade). Now in high school, he seems to be exceeding not only my expectations, but his own.

As parents, we worry about our kids, and sometimes I think we worry too much. Professional coaches know better than we do, and often I think kids live up or down to expectations.

[Anonymous]

I think a lot of people here are seeing this discussion in extremes.

Soccer is neither all aggression nor no aggression. Yes, the stereotypical U.S. club has a mass tryout to find the most athletic 8-year-olds and the occasional prodigy whose skill is SO advanced that he/she stands out in a 5v5 game.

But the biggest adjustment as kids grow is **speed of play**. That doesn't necessarily mean being the fastest kid on the field, which will get meaningless results at U10 but won't necessarily translate to being the best soccer player at U14. But it DOES mean players need to learn to do all their nice ball skills more quickly, and they need to do more to GET the ball in the first place.

I've seen plenty of teams that have all sorts of nice skills in practice, but then they can't pull it off in games because everyone else is so much more aggressive. At U9/U10, that's OK, as long as no one's getting too discouraged with blowout losses. By U11, when you're actually starting to sort out into divisions, it matters. You may have a team with great skill that ends up in NCSL Division 8 or so, where they won't get the games they need to develop.

So this has been a good discussion. But the OP's original question is still valid. And we haven't answered it.

[Anonymous]

don't get distracted by the conversations about what pros are like, if they are college player caliber, US vs. international, etc. Your child is still young - and too young - to be concerned about any of those things yet - vs. helping cultivate your own child's strengths and weaknesses for her developmental level. I would talk to the coach, not bringing up your speed concerns, but just to say you'd like to help supplement some training in the off season & what would the coach recommend. It sounds like the issue is more about speed of play (ie. things like speed to the ball, ball sense, etc) and 'aggressive' enough for the caliber of the other players (ie. don't have to be 'in your face' type but shy away from engaging or being timid as they age). There are different factors as kids advance/age - pure athleticism, determination, skill levels, speed/sense of play, etc. If the goal is just to have her keep going, just focus on rounding out her development.

[Anonymous]

Interesting thread. I don't think speed or aggression can be taught. I do think other skills can develop to balance out the need for speed and that aggression can evolve naturally over time.

My daughter has played rec soccer since elementary (now in middle school) and is an athletic kid. She recently turned 12 and it's like a switch was flipped - all of a sudden she's chasing down every ball and focused on moving it up the field and in the goal. She used to let a lot of balls go if she thought she couldn't reach them in time or if she was intimidated by an opposing player. FYI she's the smallest one on the team, but also the fastest.

There is another girl new on the team this year who is not very fast but a good heady player, who always seems to be in the right place at the right time and always knows what to do with the ball and is very effective.

I think a good team will have a diversity of players. As long as your daughter enjoys playing I would just let it go. The idea of pointing out a "flaw" like speed or aggression and trying to get her to work on those specifically via extra training sounds like a terrible idea and a fast way to make her doubt herself and dislike soccer. Hopefully her confidence and aggression will increase naturally and she will continue to love the game.

[Anonymous]

I think you just need to let things play out and see how she develops. From my perspective there are two things at play...athletic ability and personality. Some kids have the athletic ability but not necessarily the personality (mental makeup) to succeed at a high level..I have seen the other way around as well. Sometimes these two variables changes over time and other times they don't. I have a young boy that I think is pretty darn athletic (he can pick up just about anything) but is a big 'thinker' personality wise...the good is he is dependable and coachable and tends to have a good feel for the games...the drawback is he isn't the most aggressive kid and doesn't always play all out. It drives me crazy sometimes because I know he has more to give but I can't change the person he is...have to wait and see. The most important thing is to keep them playing and having fun - you can't force something that isn't there.