Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Anyone that talks about “athleticism” as a key factor in being on the A team and therefore being “better” knows next to nothing about the sport. It’s the American football / basketball mentality being applied to soccer. It’s one of the reasons our national teams suck and we don’t produce any elite talents.
On the girls side it's what college coaches look for.[u] Partially because aggression and power is a shortcut to wins and Partially because posession soccer takes too long and too much resourses to develop.
It's not that people dont agree with you. But if you were a first year college coach and your job depended on wins what would you do? Hint, the quickest way to short term wins is aggression and athleticism. Also the rules (infinite subs) encourages this type of behavior.
I agree with the above poster. We just had the women's NCAA championship match that featured Stanford (highly skilled) vs Florida State (highly athletic). Florida State won 1-0 off the prowess of a very athletic front line. While you may be angry that your player is of a normal or small size or despite all their hard work, they are being beaten out by taller, faster and stronger kids is understandable. It is a hard reality of soccer and most sports in general. Sure, there are extreme exceptions, but at the highest levels that a majority of these players will ever reach, athleticism seems to matter a lot. For every person who cites 'Messi' as an example a small player who really dominates the sport, I could give you 10 examples of players who are more athletic and also play at the pro level. We have a very dedicated family who raising a phenomenal goal keeper, she has real skill in the position. (And American goalkeepers are considered to be some of the best in the world partially based on their size and strength.) But both parents are under 5'7" and 5'5" ...despite how much training they will put this kid though, in the end athleticism will never pit that kid in the same circle as keepers who are about 6' foot tall.
Also, parents of younger athletes in smaller clubs seem to adopt this attitude. But that attitude changers once you get to a bigger club at the older age groups, most highly skilled players just become plain ineffective against much larger & physically stronger players.