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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]OP, I could have written the same thing about my November kid. Coaches tell me all the time what great foot skills, great vision, amazing job finding passing lanes, etc. He can take great corner kicks, tries hard, nice kid, etc. He can run forever (he ran a mile last spring in 6minutes 30 seconds as a 9 year old), but he doesn't have speed and is short.  At his school he is one of the best soccer players but on his competitive travel team he is fading. He also almost never wins 50/50 balls and that makes all the difference. He thinks too much instead of reacting aggressively and going all out to get the ball. It breaks my heart that he is no longer getting as much playing time because he loves playing soccer. 
In contrast his younger brother doesn't have great foot skills, doesn't kick as hard, doesnt stay in his position,doesn't pay as much attention to what is going on but he is a bulldog who will win almost every 50/50 ball, if he doesn't win the ball he will chase down the player and take out the player by bumping him off the ball or slide tackling. He has a Feb. birthday. To me my younger kid plays ugly soccer but the coaches and other parents love it.
We could tell our older son was getting frustrated so we signed him up for fall baseball and he has done really well. It suits his personality better. We worked with him in the summer and are signing him up with a hitting coach for a few sessions to get ready for the spring. He hasn't played since he played t-ball at age 6. We asked him if he wanted to stay on his travel soccer team in the spring or do baseball and he wants to do baseball because he is having more success playing baseball and it helps he has a better baseball birthday (cut off Sept. 1st). [/quote]

Too bad you gave up on your older son just because he wasn't having success right away and are trying to steer him towards baseball.  In the long run he was going to be the soccer player, let him struggle.  He has technique and thinks the game.  Get him to start thinking earlier and learn to anticipate/predict the play before it happens.  This alone will avoid 50/50 situations because he would already have the ball at his feet.  This mind set of not being patient and wanting instant success from parents is why kids do not develop correctly into the game.  The parents getting excited about your younger son obviously don't understand the game and by cheering on his current playing style will only encourage him to continue doing what he is doing vs improving his footskils, positioning and understanding of the game.  Please encourage your younger son to pick up the characteristics of your older with what he has now and he may have some potential.  [/quote]

We haven't given up on our older son, we are just realistic. We moved to Southern California 3 years ago and we found a club soccer u6 team for him to play on. His team played up a year in coast soccer league (competitive league) -so u7 playing u8. So this is his fourth year of competitive soccer. The pace of play is now too fast to rely on predicting or anticipating. It used to work well for him, and still does in rec soccer or when he plays at school. Not getting playing time is killing his love for soccer. There is now literally 12 inches in height and 50 pounds between him and the biggest 06 players. He is not fast enough to make up for the size difference. He can keep playing rec soccer and doing clinics and camps, and I think he will keep playing as an adult in an adult league. As a family we aren't willing to drive 90 minutes round trip to see him play for 5 minutes in a game. Little league baseball we are finding out has a great community feel about it. They are 100% neighborhood kids in the league. The fields are 5 minutes from our house. And most importantly, my son is loving the practices, the games, and gets tons of positive feedback from his coaches who are amazed he hasn't played in three years. I think his soccer foot skills and his ability to anticipate serve him well when he plays shortstop or third base.
And my younger son won't change his ways because that is just how he is. Drives us crazy our older one does great at practice, but not well in the games while the younger one half asses it through practice and doesn't look that great but during scrimmages and games turns it on. [/quote]

nothing wrong with rec and please continue to encourage him to play.  He may be struggling now but in a couple of years he may dominate.  So California plays competitive at U7 and U8?  [/quote]

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