Reply to Playing time expectations

Forum Index » Soccer

Reply to "Playing time expectations "

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]This thread is entitled Playing Time Expectations. So IMO, a key question might be, when do these genetics assert themselves? Should an 8 or 9 YO see significantly less time than a larger peer even if the child has a great soccer pedigree? Honestly, most coaches have NO idea which kids have soccer-playing parents. So what determines field time? First impression of talent, right? Which perpetuates itself because more field time leads to greater improvement. This is not to say that travel teams should be totally equal. But this IS to say that potential cannot be assumed at these early ages, and there should be at least a 50 percent game minimum, along with position switching, until age 12 or so. [/quote]

The kids do practice together several times a week, where they scrimmage and do other drills.  Practice is where a player will get on the coach's radar, and then when he gets put into the game and is given a chance to show what he can do, then he's got to play well.  I don't think that unequal playing time during a game -- say, one player gets 1/3 of the game while a another player gets 2/3 of the game -- is going to be the difference in the development of the players; the kid playing 1/3 and practicing several times per week has ample opportunity to show why the team would benefit from him moving up in the ranks and playing more game time. [/quote]

I disagree--games are different beasts than training sessions.  You are basically saying at younger ages that for some kids that it's okay for them to get a shorter leash (1/3 of a game). This does not afford that player as many chances to correct errors/implement a different strategy after the coach has yanked them off and told them what they could do in situation A or B, while the other kids are basically getting a free pass and twice the amount of time to make an indelible positive impact on the match and also can play freely knowing they are going to play no matter what. This is exacerbated further when the 1/3 playing time person comes off the bench. How often do you see teams where it takes them 10 minutes (one third or more of the first half at U12 and below) to "wake up" and grow into the match. The subs who get half as much PT are then expected to come in and in less time "wake up" and grow into the match?[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics