Anonymous wrote:Alright coaches: what do you choose, speed or technical ability? Age 11.

Anonymous wrote:Sadly, most clubs including academy will go with the super fast kid that is tall (or just tall) that along with tons of politics. Super sucky!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you project that your child will need skills to play more serious soccer in the future, teach technical ability all day long. It’s hard to teach players technical ability later in their career.

Now, we do have who coaches who keep speed demons on their teams and sub them in as impact players, so they are valuable too. But at a recent YNT regional ID camp, they cut all players who could not juggle a ball across the field. —Buy buy, speedy kids w no technical ability. But in some settings, like high school, speedy kids playing kick and run are preferred.

You mentioned two curious things that I have observed in American soccer. I am from Argentina but live in Montgomery county and have a u10 boy.

1)For some reason, I see that over here, juggling is seen as a clear cut signal of technical skill. Back home, we see juggling as a good skill building exercise and a form of entertainment, but not more than that. We would never use it as a measuring stick for one's actual technical ability. If you can do 10-20 juggles while relaxed/balanced, that is fine. No need for 200.

2)I have taken my son to tryouts in this area and several times, when a coach has seen something he likes about my kid, he will temporarily remove him from the field in order for him to do a 100 meter race against the starting player in the current team to determine who is faster.
I have never seen a situation like this in Argentina or Brazil. Over there, they pay particular attention to their ability to control the ball while running and to see the play develop before it actually happens. Of course, if you are a winger, speed and endurance will be important, but soccer iq will always be 10x more important.

Our world cup winning coach from '78 (who passed away last week) used to say that when a team is playing very well, it actually doesn't need to run fast. Running excessively is usually a sign that the system/ability of the team is not up to par.

I'm sure you just fabricated the 100M race part of the story

I swear! This happened both at BSC and Potomac. It wasn't exactly 100M, rather the lengh of the field.

2)I have taken my son to tryouts in this area and several times, when a coach has seen something he likes about my kid, he will temporarily remove him from the field in order for him to do a 100 meter race against the starting player in the current team to determine who is faster.
I have never seen a situation like this in Argentina or Brazil.

Anonymous wrote:The one thing I learned about this thread is that David Silvia, Iniesta, Xavi & Bernardo Silva could not make most high school teams in the US...too short and slow.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Which positions in soccer can be played well with blazing speed and little technical skills?
NONE

You can list many of the greats who had technical skills, high IQ and average speed.

If you are talking about travel and college any position. We are not talking that high of a level. Watch the EPL and then watch MLS, college soccer or a “high level” travel league. The speed of play, IQ and technical skills are just not there.

IQ and technical skills are things you have or you don’t. A player can develop to their max potential but the naturals will easily surpass other players.

Anonymous wrote:Which positions in soccer can be played well with blazing speed and little technical skills?
NONE

You can list many of the greats who had technical skills, high IQ and average speed.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you project that your child will need skills to play more serious soccer in the future, teach technical ability all day long. It’s hard to teach players technical ability later in their career.

Now, we do have who coaches who keep speed demons on their teams and sub them in as impact players, so they are valuable too. But at a recent YNT regional ID camp, they cut all players who could not juggle a ball across the field. —Buy buy, speedy kids w no technical ability. But in some settings, like high school, speedy kids playing kick and run are preferred.

You mentioned two curious things that I have observed in American soccer. I am from Argentina but live in Montgomery county and have a u10 boy.

1)For some reason, I see that over here, juggling is seen as a clear cut signal of technical skill. Back home, we see juggling as a good skill building exercise and a form of entertainment, but not more than that. We would never use it as a measuring stick for one's actual technical ability. If you can do 10-20 juggles while relaxed/balanced, that is fine. No need for 200.

2)I have taken my son to tryouts in this area and several times, when a coach has seen something he likes about my kid, he will temporarily remove him from the field in order for him to do a 100 meter race against the starting player in the current team to determine who is faster.
I have never seen a situation like this in Argentina or Brazil. Over there, they pay particular attention to their ability to control the ball while running and to see the play develop before it actually happens. Of course, if you are a winger, speed and endurance will be important, but soccer iq will always be 10x more important.

Our world cup winning coach from '78 (who passed away last week) used to say that when a team is playing very well, it actually doesn't need to run fast. Running excessively is usually a sign that the system/ability of the team is not up to par.

I'm sure you just fabricated the 100M race part of the story

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I will take a starting 11th with exceptional technical ability over a starting 11 that is just fast, all day, every day and twice on Sunday. The ball will always be faster, couple that with the speed of thought/creativity, combined with technical ability. The 11 fast players could not keep up, and would look like fools chasing a ball around.

lol. Yes but the pass has to go to space or to a foot. If those exceptional technical are not fast or strong. Sorry they lose.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you project that your child will need skills to play more serious soccer in the future, teach technical ability all day long. It’s hard to teach players technical ability later in their career.

Now, we do have who coaches who keep speed demons on their teams and sub them in as impact players, so they are valuable too. But at a recent YNT regional ID camp, they cut all players who could not juggle a ball across the field. —Buy buy, speedy kids w no technical ability. But in some settings, like high school, speedy kids playing kick and run are preferred.

You mentioned two curious things that I have observed in American soccer. I am from Argentina but live in Montgomery county and have a u10 boy.

1)For some reason, I see that over here, juggling is seen as a clear cut signal of technical skill. Back home, we see juggling as a good skill building exercise and a form of entertainment, but not more than that. We would never use it as a measuring stick for one's actual technical ability. If you can do 10-20 juggles while relaxed/balanced, that is fine. No need for 200.

2)I have taken my son to tryouts in this area and several times, when a coach has seen something he likes about my kid, he will temporarily remove him from the field in order for him to do a 100 meter race against the starting player in the current team to determine who is faster.
I have never seen a situation like this in Argentina or Brazil. Over there, they pay particular attention to their ability to control the ball while running and to see the play develop before it actually happens. Of course, if you are a winger, speed and endurance will be important, but soccer iq will always be 10x more important.

Our world cup winning coach from '78 (who passed away last week) used to say that when a team is playing very well, it actually doesn't need to run fast. Running excessively is usually a sign that the system/ability of the team is not up to par.

Anonymous wrote:If you project that your child will need skills to play more serious soccer in the future, teach technical ability all day long. It’s hard to teach players technical ability later in their career.

Now, we do have who coaches who keep speed demons on their teams and sub them in as impact players, so they are valuable too. But at a recent YNT regional ID camp, they cut all players who could not juggle a ball across the field. —Buy buy, speedy kids w no technical ability. But in some settings, like high school, speedy kids playing kick and run are preferred.