Reply to Soccer-What is a "natural defender"?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote]What's a natural defender? At U-Little it's about trust. Midfielders and wings are a dime a dozen at that age. The best teams put their best players back there because the coach trusts him/her to stop the opposition. Generally, physical, tactically aware (especially off the ball), good passer, and can shield the ball.[/quote]

[quote=Anonymous]I think it's someone who reads the field well--someone who is good at directing players (being able to see the whole field) and anticipating plays before they occur.  A good defender is also patient--willing to control/contain the play and wait for teammates to regroup vs. making a quick play.[/quote]

I agree with both of these.  Also, it takes a particular mindset/disposition to play defense, and not everyone is well-suited to it.  Defenders rarely get the kind of external validation that other players do - a good game goes fairly unnoticed because it doesn't make a mark on the scoreboard, but everyone notices when they have a bad game (and this is 10x worse for a keeper, I am so impressed by the kids who play that position).  A defender has to be more internally motivated and can't have a big ego if they're going to play the position well. [/quote]

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