What are the athletic (not sport related) skills of a DB that a soccer player doesn't have? Big Pappi couldn't play soccer and be a star |
Their point clearly and in an educated way showed your natural talent chatter to be hogwash |
It's so obvious that achievement in soccer is way more than just developing skills. Just look at any youth soccer clubs at every age group, especially the big ones. If a club only hires qualified coaches and they emphasize all the same things, why is the top team always head and shoulders better than the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th teams? Why are the lower tier teams basically the same performance quality as rec despite all the paid coaching? The answer is the number of players with enough talent to play at a high level is limited. When you have to compete with other sports when it comes to talent distributor, you end up where the US is with soccer. |
You have extra gummies? |
Ah yes. When the facts don’t support your case, make personal attacks to distract from the facts. |
You must mean Fax Because you're just rambling disconnected random thoughts There are no natural talent athletes performing at the highest levels in any sport At the highest levels, talent is just the beginning before motivation, discipline, training and consistency in that particular sport's discipline. Athleticism skills required in each individual sport has limited transferable properties. In Basketball, you jump to catch or block the ball. In Soccer you jump to header the ball (except goalie) You're way out of your depth with the knowledge required to debate this topic intelligently. |
Some of the comments are me, a different person than the one you replied to. Nobody said natural talent alone is going to get someone to reach the highest levels. Every player has a ceiling that is dictated by their genetics. Despite all the skills needed in soccer, there is a ton of athleticism that goes into playing at the highest levels. The most talented players will continue improving upwards while everyone else is plataeuing. There is simply no alternative explanation as to why US athletes dominate so many other sports but not soccer, oh except for the women who have the exact same barriers that the men have with pay to play and so on that everyone thinks is the cause. |
Naive, simplistic and uneducated in youth development and professional levels performance would lead one to conclude all we need are better athletes So France, Italy, Argentina, Brazil, Germany all have superior athletes versus a true soccer culture, excellent youth coaches and academies, parents knowledgeable of the sport, high quality leagues etc Are the Chinese better athletes why they dominate table tennis? Australians are better athletes why they are prominent in swimming? Norwegians and Finns are better athletes why they dominate cross-country skiing? Should I go on? Indians and Cricket |
DP. Athleticism does not matter as much in the top leagues because they are all great athletes. You are talking about the top 0.5% of players. It’s a prerequisite to get there. The athletic difference between players is very small. So this is where technical skill, speed of play, first touch, vision, etc becomes the differentiator. In Europe and South America by 18, if you are not technically skilled you are not seeing the field very much. In the US you can be a good athlete and have below average skills vs peers and you can get a lot of playing time. This is because with the pay to play and college system. These systems keep the top 30-40% of players playing. This means there is a much bigger gap in athleticism on the field. So the good athletes with subpar skill set can still play and have a positive impact. It also means a much slower speed of play which hurts development of technical players. |
I thought I was being clear about the original point I was making. Every sport requires its own set of skills and athleticism. Soccer is a game of skill, and those skills sometimes nullify some athletic requirements. Take MMA for example. Those athletes are arguably the best all around. They have to be strong, fast, agile, and have good stamina. But they are not the best in those specific attributes as athletes requiring only a few of those. Also, MMA athletes need to have a good chin which cannot be taught. Ultimately, MMA athletes have skills that can overcome stronger or faster opponents. As for your question of whether soccer attracts the best athletes in the U.S. in younger ages- probably not. Soccer is still not as prevalent in American culture as football, baseball, or basketball. You shouldn’t consider soccer players less athletic. They just require different levels of athleticism and a whole lot of specific skills. |
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Hakeem Olajuwon was recognized as one the best centers in NBA history. His footwork was arguably the best in NBA history as well. He started as a soccer player before transitioning to basketball. He actually credits his soccer background for his footwork.
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At the highest levels, this will overcome superior athleticism way more often than not. Kinda like how pure arm strength and size/speed mean nothing for NFL QBs if they can't read defenses and make quick decisions under duress. |
Who's measuring athleticism of young kids in America and where can we find the data? |
Look at it like this. Every country has a pool of genetic talent that is limited in supply. The best athletes (in both physical and mental attributes) are going to tend to choose sports that have a lot of cultural and financial significance. The other sports are going to get the next best athletes. So an NFL DB might not have soccer skills, but its possible they might have the physical and mental attributes to be a world class soccer player had they trained in soccer, but instead never took up the sport. And this can apply to table tennis as well. The players in the US who take up table tennis are going to be far down the list of available talent because it has little cultural significance here, and China may have more incentive to attract top talent to play the sport there. So the less that other countries value a sport, the easier it is for a country that does to dominate in it. And finally I'll use tennis as another example of why I think the limited supply of talent due to other sports is hindering US men more than development systems. Because just like soccer, the US women are more dominant than the men despite having the same type of development system in place. |
I used the phrase best athletes in some of my posts along with genetically talented / gifted. That wasn't meant to say raw athleticism is the only relevant attribute that is going to guarantee dominance in a sport. What it all means is that the athletes who make it big in the lucrative sports likely have many physical and mental attributes that would be beneficial in sports like soccer as well. The development of technical skill is going to be limited by genetics also. |