When team needs require Player to play different position.

[Anonymous]

My child’s preferred and best position is midfield. Last year and apparently again this year, his team is short on quality defenders and he is the second best defender on his team— his coach has put him at center back (this is u13 so 11x11). He is third fastest on team, behind two of the strikers. Last year he had a good relationship with coach who knew he preferred midfield and was his better position, so would either have him play a half at each position, or only move him to defense in a tight game. He likes new coach, but since coach is sorting out positions, he has told boys as a group, he doesn’t want to hear about their preferences, which I totally understand. However, son has to play defense in many drills at practice and in some scrimmages and is often frustrated on ride home.

My son can start playing for school team next year in 7th grade and his grade has plenty of defenders (he goes to school with a very competitive soccer program). He is always put at midfielder in situations other than his club team, and I want to make sure he has the option to play position in the future since he enjoys it much more, and seems better suited to his strengths since most coaches place him there.

Is there anything he should be doing outside of practices to keep up his offensive skills? Should I have him also play in a rec league (maybe futsol or indoor since club plays outdoor in winter?)?

[Anonymous]

Same thing with my 11-year old (U12). He was put at center back all last year and stayed there in every drill, scrimmage, game...even when team was up by a ton and he barely got to touch the ball.

It is a build out of the back Club. They are building team around him as center back again this year.

They have weak forwards and my kid is amazing up front and in midfield. They will not move him because they say nobody can play CB like him. True- but I don’t give a crap. We end up in tight games not being able to score and give up ton of opportunity. Who cares if he stops everything if the offense can never finish? You don’t win games that way.

At his former Club from 2 years ago (where he played a lot this summer)— he was always on the wing and a high scorer (great ball, reads field extremely well, great Skill/fast) or center mid. I think he is most effective and best in these positions.

He needs to be versatile and the longer he stays in the back the less opportunity for finishing/skill, etc. Plus, he will not fit the size profile of a center back. It’s not in the genetic profile. Since the ball isn’t played in the air at this age it’s not relevant- but will be down the road which is why I want him developed everywhere.

He also gets bored in high scoring games as he sees barely any action. I would be okay with it if he got moved half the game to another position. But- nope. He asks frequently- but they tell him no. They hide the weakest kids on the wings and most other kids get opportunity all over the field. Frustrating to say the least.

[Anonymous]

Well, I guess your post makes me feel slightly better as my son gets some minutes at midfielder at practice/scrimmages, and has been able to show coach he can play the position well. No games yet so don’t know what game plan will be but he gets the call to move to the back whenever other defenders are messing up. He is thin and just slightly taller than average, he will never be a huge kid. Lots of new kids on his team this year since they expanded the roster and they don’t seem as strong as kids already there, I know there are some big kids that coach would like to have as defenders but they aren't very good yet. Like your son, he is frustrated when slower kids are playing midfielder mostly because it stalls the offense, and the defense is doing all the work. He can’t complain about lack of touches.

I guess I am looking for suggestions on how to make lemonade out of lemons. Or at least how to keep his offensive skills fresh as I think center back is a temporary position for him.

[Anonymous]

His offensive skills won’t die as a CB. Coaches want to win but also see how players respond to different positions and formations. He should talk with his coach if he wants to play a different position. The older he gets the more important that coach player relationship will be

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:His offensive skills won’t die as a CB. Coaches want to win but also see how players respond to different positions and formations. He should talk with his coach if he wants to play a different position. The older he gets the more important that coach player relationship will be

Well, that's the problem, isn't it? Coaches want to win vs develop players.

That's partly on us as parents, I'll admit, because if the team doesn't win then we think it sucks and we look for another team.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:His offensive skills won’t die as a CB. Coaches want to win but also see how players respond to different positions and formations. He should talk with his coach if he wants to play a different position. The older he gets the more important that coach player relationship will be

I will talk to him about getting to know the coach so that he feels
comfortable talking to him like he was last year. The coach has made clear he doesn’t want the kids telling him where they want to play right now. Perhaps after he has sorted things out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:His offensive skills won’t die as a CB. Coaches want to win but also see how players respond to different positions and formations. He should talk with his coach if he wants to play a different position. The older he gets the more important that coach player relationship will be

Well, that's the problem, isn't it? Coaches want to win vs develop players.

That's partly on us as parents, I'll admit, because if the team doesn't win then we think it sucks and we look for another team.

No, winning does not preclude developing as players. It’s a game and everyone wants to win. You can still develop against stronger opponents and weaker opponents it just requires different strategies. I do think some coaches allow players to get stuck in certain positions without trying them in different formations or positions solely because it works best for the current group.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:His offensive skills won’t die as a CB. Coaches want to win but also see how players respond to different positions and formations. He should talk with his coach if he wants to play a different position. The older he gets the more important that coach player relationship will be

Well, that's the problem, isn't it? Coaches want to win vs develop players.

That's partly on us as parents, I'll admit, because if the team doesn't win then we think it sucks and we look for another team.

No, winning does not preclude developing as players. It’s a game and everyone wants to win. You can still develop against stronger opponents and weaker opponents it just requires different strategies. I do think some coaches allow players to get stuck in certain positions without trying them in different formations or positions solely because it works best for the current group.

NP here, totally agree with this and unfortunately, trying something different is hard, especially if its not immediately successful.

[Anonymous]

Why not find another team?

[Anonymous]

Don’t be the whiny kid/parents. Coaches HATE this. Whatever the coach wants to do, the coach will do. If your son is not happy, find another team.

[Anonymous]

Total newbie here, our boy is almost at the age to start getting him into soccer. My question is that does anyone really like defense positions? In the sports I played when I was younger, hardly anyone ever wanted to play defense. Is it the same in soccer?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Total newbie here, our boy is almost at the age to start getting him into soccer. My question is that does anyone really like defense positions? In the sports I played when I was younger, hardly anyone ever wanted to play defense. Is it the same in soccer?

My son gravitated towards defense from a young age even in rec when he was one of the better players and could score goals. He decided that in order to win he needed to stop the other team from scoring. The coach would put him in front and he would slowly drift back towards defending the goal. Now he plays goalkeeper.

[Anonymous]

Op here, yes,, there are kids who like to play defense. There is a number of them on my son’s team, he just happens to be more skilled at the position than some of them, that could change as the year goes on.

We have no interest in switching teams this year. My son has played with the core group of boys on this team for 3 years, four with a few. We generally like the club and coach- we tried another club (where my son did play midfield) but wound up switching back because we preferred the current club for a number of reasons.

My son has no plans to say anything to the coach right now— there hasn’t even been a game yet. It will take a few weeks for the team to settle, and who knows what the year will bring. He can talk to the coach about it later in the season if he still wants/need to, but if he does, he will do it knowing it may not change anything.

This is definitely not an issue that we would let our son quit over. His first priority is playing as many minutes as possible, and playing well, playing his preferred position is further down the list. Second, this is exactly the kind of benign adversity that we want him to have. There will be many times in life that things may not go exactly the way he wants, he needs to learn to deal with these type of frustrations.

I was just looking for some suggestions of activities/drills he could do outside of practice/games to maintain and develop his offensive skills.

[Anonymous]

That’s nonsense that a player or parent shouldn’t speak to a coach. We are the paying customer and at minimum a player should have a mechanism to be heard. I know at u13 players start to settle into a position as the development period is said to end at U12 and u13 starts the competitive period. If the coach won’t hear you out you speak to the TD and work your way up. With that said the coach might have a reason to place your child in a particular position that is helping them develop. Coaches see much more than parents. We tend to only focus on our child and what the do rather than how they fit into the team structure. It’s important your player know this rather than stay quiet. You don’t want them to lose passion for the game.

[Anonymous]

Something to keep in mind: just because your kid prefers a position, doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s the position best suited to their skill set.