Reply to Individual training vs. Team training

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]OP here. Agree on all the points made above. But is being in a team the only way to develop decision making and speed of play? Can it be substituted with small group training, pickup games, camps, etc., until a certain age?[/quote]

And much of this is what a team should provide. A team IS a small group. League and tournament games are pickup games.

Soccer is a team sport and the actual game element of the sport can only be learned by playing games. Small group training only provides skill based but rarely any tactical training. In spite of what many may say kids can learn the tactics of the game at a young age, but the emphasis is generally geared more towards the technical skill that allow the kids to even execute the most basics of tactics.

It is generally best to enhance team training with all the things you mention, small group, individual and pickup games. But to rely on a patchwork of training as the basis, that is a bad idea. [/quote]

Don’t disagree. However, kids in the states starting their soccer careers from as early as u6 in a team environment (or u9 considering serious travel), with DA counting towards 12th year, that’s good chunk of team training. What’s missing then? US hasn’t been able to produce a single true world class player till this day. Maybe CP will be the first?[/quote]

All the extra stuff enhances but it can't be used as a substitute for general team training. Training environments like HP do not simulate game decisions. HP training, like most training certainly encourage 1v1 skills, which are extremely important but taken to the extreme they can limit a players ability to see other options and develop true game intelligence and decision making. HP is a supplement that can make a huge difference in a players abilities but the clinics do very little to teach the "game". And that is why it is a good program. There is nothing that HP, Coerver, Golden Boot, Beast Mode and other similar skills programs do that detract from a player is learning from their team coach.

So no, I would never give a traditional team environment with regular games for a skills training only model. This would be like a kid endlessly shooting baskets with no team environment and while their shot is amazing, expecting them to later just know how to play basketball. There is just more to team sports than just the skills alone.

So to answer your actual question, what is missing in US Soccer is kids who fail to really understand the game. We have very skilled athletes but we don't emphasize IQ and we certainly prioritize skill and athleticism over the smarter but slightly smaller, slower or less skilled player but smarter player.

And the smart, skilled, athletic kids are encouraged to use their raw athleticism over their game IQ to the point that their learning of the game can become stunted. [/quote]

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