Remember You can teach an elite athlete to have great technical skills but its almost impossible to teach a great technical player to be an elite athlete. The top level players at the college a pro levels are both elite athletes with elite skills. So just to play the percentages for successful development. Youth academy coaches should and usually do select the better athlete. Leaving the smaller least athletic player to work harder to extend their playing career. Everyone pulls for the under dog. Unfortunately almost every youth player is the under dog. Its natural for everyone to want to think their child is better than some others for many different reasons. The truth is even if they are better chances are it is all minutia. If your not an elite athlete with elite skills as your secondary trait your simply another average fish in the school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is a conundrum. My DD is small with great foot skills, and is fast. BUT… she is outmatched easily when it is someone a head taller and 30 pounds heavier. It is very hard for her to shoulder off someone that size, or win a 50 50 ball. I am lucky that she plays a lot, we switched teams to get her the minutes, but I can see why some coaches lean toward big, strong, and fast. If they have decent skill, the BS and F players will win the day.

If you're trying to develop players, always focus on the kids with the best technical skills, passing, and game awareness. These are the kids who will rise above the cream (regardless of size) and play soccer for a long time. A big, barreling kid with little footwork is a short-term project that may help get some wins but won't develop the best talent.

I have heard that… but… unless speed is pretty blazing, at ages 10-13 or so the little ones will have a lot of trouble getting and keeping the ball. Your teammates lose confidence in you unless you can do those two things effectively. The reason it matters more at those ages is because the growth differences can be huge, and because overall skill can be very high. If you have a decent but small tween, I think it is not an easy couple of years.

My daughter is the shortest player on her team and consistently starts. She is also the fastest on her team.

Anonymous wrote:New coach - same pattern. The shorter kids are sitting on the bench regardless of their talent. Coach is giving the bulk of the minutes based sheerly on size. How long will this continue in America? The same coach has repeatedly seen his teams destroyed by smaller players but has apparently bought into the American philosophy that bigger is better. Everyone thinks their own kid deserves more playing time. But, there's a couple of other kids who actually deserve it more than mine who are not getting on the field while larger (out of shape) players with zero shot at playing college soccer eat up the minutes. Is this the NFL mentality of America or what?

What age?

It also depends on the position your son plays. What is the best skill or attribute needed for your position? I often see small/short players in the midfielder positions, tall players in defense positions, physical players as mod forward. However there is also the fitness aspect, midfielders need to be fit and be able to run up and down the field.

Anonymous wrote:It is a conundrum. My DD is small with great foot skills, and is fast. BUT… she is outmatched easily when it is someone a head taller and 30 pounds heavier. It is very hard for her to shoulder off someone that size, or win a 50 50 ball. I am lucky that she plays a lot, we switched teams to get her the minutes, but I can see why some coaches lean toward big, strong, and fast. If they have decent skill, the BS and F players will win the day.

If you're trying to develop players, always focus on the kids with the best technical skills, passing, and game awareness. These are the kids who will rise above the cream (regardless of size) and play soccer for a long time. A big, barreling kid with little footwork is a short-term project that may help get some wins but won't develop the best talent.

It is a conundrum. My DD is small with great foot skills, and is fast. BUT… she is outmatched easily when it is someone a head taller and 30 pounds heavier. It is very hard for her to shoulder off someone that size, or win a 50 50 ball. I am lucky that she plays a lot, we switched teams to get her the minutes, but I can see why some coaches lean toward big, strong, and fast. If they have decent skill, the BS and F players will win the day.

Anonymous wrote:New coach - same pattern. The shorter kids are sitting on the bench regardless of their talent. Coach is giving the bulk of the minutes based sheerly on size. How long will this continue in America? The same coach has repeatedly seen his teams destroyed by smaller players but has apparently bought into the American philosophy that bigger is better. Everyone thinks their own kid deserves more playing time. But, there's a couple of other kids who actually deserve it more than mine who are not getting on the field while larger (out of shape) players with zero shot at playing college soccer eat up the minutes. Is this the NFL mentality of America or what?

The bigger vs smaller means nothing but if skill is anywhere close common sense is take the bigger kid. The truth is especially at the youth level. Always take the better athlete. Dont believe they hype about smaller players can be better technicaly and use Messi as your argument. 99.999% of all professional soccer players are Elite athletes first with superior soccer skills second not the other way around.

OP here. To be fair, the observances are not independent to this team or club. If someone knows of an ECNL coach / club who isn't afraid to play smaller kids and focuses more on ball skills vs. physical dominance - references welcome.

Find a new Club and/or Coach.

We are late growers in my family. Middle school years are rough for late growers.

They left a big Club during those years for one that was more developmental and personalized in nature. Their team was so much smaller than pretty much every team they played. But, they started winning because they played incredibly smart---moved the ball so well that they had the big ones running in circles.

My older one eventually grew--but not until he was U16-age 15. He's now one of the biggest kids on his high school and Club team. Thankfully, he kept minutes all of those years and skill and game time by being in that smaller Club.

My younger one (U14) is even smaller than older one was and is also very, very skinny. At least the older one was solid when he was small. But, little one is quick and tough and not having too much trouble against the much larger players. His team is pretty hilarious. There are about 4-5 kids his size (look 10) and then the rest are 5'10" and big. But, the little guys stay in the game longer than most of the big ones. Some of the big ones have talent and size--but a few couldn't get a ball anywhere near their target and it is so painful to watch. They can't connect a single pass. BUT--our Coach notices that and takes them out of the game.

Point is: you are in the wrong place. Maybe you can move teams in the Club or switch for Spring. OR--one year with my oldest in that position we just found a ton of outside opportunity to play to get him ready to move Clubs the next year.

1) How old are the kids? This is more connected to the comment about them being "out of shape," which I read as "American-sized." Hard to imagine chunky kids getting onto an 11v11 field if they can't run, no matter their height.
2) Options for moving?
3) Cold consolation, but it's not just in America. I'm in Europe and the taller boys get on the field and get many more chances than the shorter ones. Are there exceptions? Sure. But the rule is that height is a strong advantage.

I see tons of tiny kids playing at all sorts of clubs. I think you are just a troll.

It is your coach or your club. My son is short, has played for two different clubs, and got adequate playing time in each.

Do any of us really need to tell you to just switch clubs?

New coach - same pattern. The shorter kids are sitting on the bench regardless of their talent. Coach is giving the bulk of the minutes based sheerly on size. How long will this continue in America? The same coach has repeatedly seen his teams destroyed by smaller players but has apparently bought into the American philosophy that bigger is better. Everyone thinks their own kid deserves more playing time. But, there's a couple of other kids who actually deserve it more than mine who are not getting on the field while larger (out of shape) players with zero shot at playing college soccer eat up the minutes. Is this the NFL mentality of America or what?