Anonymous wrote:It's a numbers game, it's that simple. Good players know when to keep and when to pass. There aren't many coaches in this area that can teach that in game IQ, look for space to either pass the ball or dribble into, if you keep, make your moves early and at pace.
What you actually get is the scared player that passes when they should have kept or the one that dribbles without purpose. Make them watch film.
Anonymous wrote:Honest question for coaches out there. Why do coaches love the kids who dribble up the middle? Yes sometimes they score from distance, but wouldn’t a team do better as a whole if the passing game were there? Every full game player on our last couple of teams, both club and HS, team, are central dribblers who generally won’t pass past midfield. Each is capable of scoring, but I will guess that for every goal scored by one of them, we could have 2 or 3 with a well executed team play.
So… why are they permitted to keep doing this from a coaches perspective?
Anonymous wrote:Some coaches do love ball hogs and encourage them to dribble as much as possible in order to get better. Some kids are encouraged to work on their dribbling skills at the expense of the rest of the team. Some coaches say any kid can pass the ball, it's boring and won't make your kid stand out. Therefore they encourage kids who want to be brave and take kids on 1 on 1 over making a simple pass.
The 2 kids on my kids team who over dribbled at U12 were promoted last year to the top team. Now our team moves the ball around better without them, but those kids were promoted. So yes Coaches sometimes do want to develop dribblers in an effort to get them greater opportunities. But that does not occur without sacrificing team play.
Anonymous wrote:Younger kids that can dribble through a team can be taught at older ages that when defenders commit to them there are open teammates. Hard to teach older passive kids how to be creative and aggressive .