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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]My brother's Dutch soccer Coach (former Ajax Academy player--U17 National team) used to say he could tell which kid would be a good soccer player by the way he walked.  And he was dead serious.

He took to my brother---my brother ended up on full scholarship and going pro.  He also pointed out several others over the years that had big success.

I started watching my own sons..and the one that is a natural definitely has a swagger, distinctive walk.  So--I don't know if there's any truth to it--but I always found it funny. :lol: [/quote]

My husband is in the sports business and also can evaluate basic athleticism by watching kids walk. I find this amazing, as I would only notice if a kid was unusually clumsy.  We have 4 kids who have played a variety of sports, so we’ve watched tons of youth games. The kids he picks out as having the most potential at young ages are very often not the parent or coach favorites. I used to think the idea that you could watch a bunch of 8 year olds and confidentially decide that some of them had no potential to play elite sports while others had a chance depending on how life (including puberty) treated them was ridiculous, but his predictions have turned out to be remarkably accurate through the years. [/quote]

I'm fascinated by this and feel like this skill could be monetized. It might not prevent folks forking over $$$ for their kids to play at higher youth levels... could probably be used to justify paying additional $ for extra training no matter where you fall on the walking/gait spectrum.[/quote]

We have jokingly talked about how much money he could make as a youth sports consultant, especially once we learned how much friends have paid for college admissions consultants! He has actually put the skills to work informally in the local community.  If he sees kids with potential whose parents don’t seem knowledgeable about sports, he makes sure to tell the parents he thinks the kid can do very well if they continue to put the work in and will suggest resources. He also lets coaches he trusts know if he has come across kids who he thinks they should look at.  Along with helping our older kids negotiate the college athletic recruitment process, he helped a number of their friends and teammates, and the occasional people who heard of him through friends of friends.

I think that you are right that skills like these are not useful in preventing parents from spending money though. In my experience, parents who think their kid is a superstar will not be persuaded by any opinion to the contrary, and no one likes hearing that their kid’s athletic ceiling may not be high.  Also, I feel like as long as families have money to burn and kids enjoy the training, there is nothing wrong with spending a lot on youth sports even if all the kid ever gets out of it is exercise plus an expanded social circle. [/quote]

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