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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]This is all crap rotate the kids....[/quote]
Agreed.

[quote]your best players at u10 are not your best players 4 or 5 years down the road.[/quote]
This is a questionable statement, and revolves around how you define "best".  It is certainly true that things can change, and kids do physically develop at different speeds and reach different ceilings.  BUT - in my experience there is not all that much change.

The best athletes largely remain the best athletes and the most skilled ball players largely remain the most skilled ball players, and the kids with the greatest vision remain the kids with the greatest vision.  The latter skills assume greater weight in determining a player's effectiveness on the field as the kids get older.

[quote] The athletic players obviously have the highest ceiling [/quote]
I disagree with this.  Ball skills and vision are not skills which can be taught any more than athleticism can be taught.  Just like athleticism these skills have starting points and theoretical ceilings.  A kid who practices hard and receives good coaching will reach his ceiling or close to it - but he will not exceed it.  A kid may be and explosive athlete - but it is unlikley - no matter how much he practises - that he will ever achieve Messi's ability with the ball at his feet, or de Bruyne's vision and accuracy passing.  Another kid may be able to achieve a much higher ceiling with his passing but lack speed.  Yes - he can train and improve his speed and explosiveness but he will be limited in that area just as his more explosive counterpart is never able to stop passing to the other team.

[quote] How about taking the athletes and make them play in the midfield positions yes the anthithesis of how soccer is played here in the DMV (especially on the girls side)....make the athletic defenders get their touches develeoped and place them back into the back third...there is nothing wrong with playing in the back BUT when you keep them back there they will never reach their potential.[/quote]

I agree with what you are suggesting.  Yes - players should rotate positions.  This is also why it is important to play eleven-man football and play the ball out of the back - because it helps all players to develop those skills no matter where they are on the field.

But I don't think this will completely have the effect you hope for.  All the speed demons will not magically acquire skills that are just "waiting to emerge".  Yes - the fast, strong kids will improve - so that is a good thing.  But even so, in many cases, they will simply reach their ceiling and discover it's not that high.

And FWIW - in my experience - at early ages coaches pick forwards for dribbling ability and speed (shooting ability is usually a luxury), and midfielders for the ability to dribble and pass.  Full backs are picked primarily for speed and ball skills are less important.  Central defenders are picked for courage, size/strength and the ability to pass.  Really weak players are usually hidden on the wing because they cannot do all that much damage (which doesn't mean that all wingers are weak - just that if you are playing rec and have a kid who is going to give the ball away every time they touch it, you play them on the wing) - and you can put players without much in the way of ball skill at full back provided they are fast and not scared to tackle.[/quote]

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