Timed mile for high school soccer tryouts?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This seems insane to me and a lot like lazy coaching.

Way back in 2005 when my kid tried out for U9 Arlington soccer they did timed sprints. These were 8-year olds

My son waited until the whistle while 3/4s of the little kids took off well before and they recorded who finished first. It was ludicrous. About 3/4s of those kids are no longer playing (including the ones on the first team) soccer.

This was after the initial 4 team selection was made and was to narrow down the team color spots.

[Anonymous]

My kid is looks faster with the ball, great acceleration.

Some kids are fast. Period.

It's why Usain Bolt couldn't successfully transfer to soccer when he tried.

Soccer is a lot more than speed from A to B.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid is looks faster with the ball, great acceleration.

Some kids are fast. Period.

It's why Usain Bolt couldn't successfully transfer to soccer when he tried.

Soccer is a lot more than speed from A to B.

My kids played in Holland for a bit in youth and the only timed thing they did was 'timed dribble'. To this day my kids have the fastest dribble. ..and this was through cones.

[Anonymous]

I understand that speed is valuable in soccer, but surely it’s not the most important attribute at the high school level? And is it bot possible for some kids to be in great shape but not necessarily fast runners? Running is a skill in and of itself...

[Anonymous]

They started conditioning 6 months ago
Just maybe the evaluation is about the effort and commitment put into that 6 month conditioning process
And based on style of play

[Anonymous]

I started a separate thread for this in diet and exercise as well but does anyone have any recs for apps along the line of couch 2 5k but for increasing speed? My ms child is really hoping to get faster this summer and he’s read about it but would also love an app.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I understand that speed is valuable in soccer, but surely it’s not the most important attribute at the high school level? And is it bot possible for some kids to be in great shape but not necessarily fast runners? Running is a skill in and of itself...

It’s the most important factor in high school and travel soccer. It’s easy to identify and easy to coach. The other big factor is when the other skills are really needed u17 and up travel and high school soccer are done. So if you were a coach and you need to win at u10, u14, u16, etc what would you look for?

Yes kids/people can be in great shape and not be fast/athletic. A really good out of shape athletic player will beat an in shape average to above average player. You see it a lot in high school sports -football, basketball, soccer, etc. Now if you are an average to above average player you need to be in shape because there are a boatload of those type of players. If Patrick Mahomes comes into camp 15 pounds overweight he will be better vs anyone else on the team. If I was invited to camp and came in in the best shape of my life I would get cut during the first session.

Remember this is high school level. Posters keep trying to compare it to professional sports. There is no comparison. So a really fast player will do well. If you put someone with the speed of usain bolt on any local high school or travel team he would have a huge impact. He would have an impact on any college team as well. Now when you get to the highest pro level not so much. Why? Because the all star high school/travel player usually is average to below average in college and the pro level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:why don't you take the best players and then see how fit they are instead of taking the most fit and then seeing who is a soccer player.

No one is saying that just because the coach wants fit players that he doesn’t want the best soccer players. He wants both. Tell you what, name a list of current professional European, top 5 league players that aren’t fit. Show me the fatties please. And no, drugged out Maradona and Renaldo (the Brazilian one) post retirement don’t count.

I would be surprised if Lukaku can run a 5:30 mile even though he is quite fit and one of the best strikers in the world. I'll admit that players in the top leagues nowadays are faster than they were 20 years ago, but you can find many examples of great players from the last 20 years that lacked pace. Some examples that come to mind: Riquelme, Valderrama, Zidane, Pique, Xavi. Who cares if these players could or could not run a 5:30 mile. They could make the right play for 90 minutes.

A 5:30 mile is not "pace". Pace is sprinting speed. A 5:30 mile is just a test of fitness. It's something any athletic 15 year old can do provided they put in a few weeks' work to get fit.

If the coach was asking for a 4:30 mile or a 11 second 100m that would be different - only a handful of kids would be able to manage it and he would be excluding kids who were good soccer players. At 5:30 he's not excluding anyone. I can still run a 5:30 mile for heaven's sake.

[Anonymous]

I have no problem with this; separate the wheat from chaff.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I started a separate thread for this in diet and exercise as well but does anyone have any recs for apps along the line of couch 2 5k but for increasing speed? My ms child is really hoping to get faster this summer and he’s read about it but would also love an app.

There are performance programs out there where you can pay, but all your kid needs to do is go down to his local high school track 4-6 days a week and run 10 x 200m at a flat out sprint. Take 3-5 minutes off between each sprint for recovery. And then 1-2 x / week spend half an hour on explosive leg movement weight training - not heavy weights - and can just be jump / burpie type bodyweight exercises if you don't have access to equipment.

You don't improve in the same way as you do for distance running - the improvement is relatively smaller - but it's still noticeable.

[Anonymous]

I'm confused by why people are upset by this. Of course soccer involves more than being fast. However, if you are not in already in good physical shape, you are going to struggle on a HS soccer team.
When we asked for fitness training suggestions, all of my son's travel soccer coaches over the past few years recommended that he should be able to run 2 miles with a pace of less than 7 minutes per mile.

[Anonymous]

I'm confused by why people are upset by this. Of course soccer involves more than being fast. However, if you are not in already in good physical shape, you are going to struggle on a HS soccer team.
When we asked for fitness training suggestions, all of my son's travel soccer coaches over the past few years recommended that he should be able to run 2 miles with a pace of less than 7 minutes per mile.

And to add, this was presented as a floor, with "and try to get faster from there."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My 9th grade son is trying out for his high school soccer team (Chantilly HS, if that matters). The coach is insisting that Varsity kids run a mile in 5:30, and that JV kids run a mile in 6 minutes flat. That seems reasonable to me, and my son can do it. However, it appears that a lot of the other kids trying out cannot. Is it a hard-and-fast rule for most area high school teams? If not enough kids can run the mile appropriately, does the coach open up the tryouts to other slower kids?

HS Soccer everyone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:how dare you want to weed out the 125 for a roster of 18-24 or so.
All 125 should make the team. All 125 must get playing time. Blame all training failures on the coach and US Soccer. And finally at the end of the winless season all 125 that stuck it out will get a trophy. its only right.

So kids from the cross country team who never played soccer should be the ones to make it past the first cut for a soccer team. Perfect.

[Anonymous]

As the PP stated its HS soccer who cares? If he's serious about soccer he's already at a club that I'm sure is better than that HS team.