Football

Anonymous wrote:Basketball helps round out a GK's athleticism, jumping, speed, stamina, and ability. Our GK is a thinker and one of their great strengths is athleticism and tactical communication with their team. They PREVENT goals which is a basic tenant of Basketball defense and a stat (as a GoalKeeper parent) I feel is woefully overlooked in soccer. Anyone can be the Keeper in a Futsal game, only great athletes can be the Keeper in a Soccer match or an amazing defensive basketball player.

Defense in youth basketball is more about attitude and willingness than being a great athletes, especially if they don’t produce on the offensive end

Anonymous wrote:The question should be….What other sport does your MLS Next or ECNL player do?

My ECNL player used to swim year round. Now also runs track. Recently started thinking will run in college rather than play soccer. Decision-making/recruiting is a lot more objective in sports where there are absolutes...

Lacrosse - she picked it up in HS as a complement to soccer and loves it! Played basketball through middle school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Basketball helps round out a GK's athleticism, jumping, speed, stamina, and ability. Our GK is a thinker and one of their great strengths is athleticism and tactical communication with their team. They PREVENT goals which is a basic tenant of Basketball defense and a stat (as a GoalKeeper parent) I feel is woefully overlooked in soccer. Anyone can be the Keeper in a Futsal game, only great athletes can be the Keeper in a Soccer match or an amazing defensive basketball player.

Wow - totally disagree on that point. Not taking anything away from basketball, but I think Futsal is great for keepers in terms of learning when, and how, to come off their line, since it happens a lot more in Futsal than in soccer. Keepers, also, are going to face a lot more shots over the course of a game in Futsal
- certainly not nearly as large of a goal to defend, but a lot of quick reactions vs point blank shots.

No. Futsal actually teaches really bad habits for keepers. Stick with basketball, indoor track or swim/dive at most of the schools with winter sports.

What bad habits? Not a useful post if you don’t explain.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Basketball helps round out a GK's athleticism, jumping, speed, stamina, and ability. Our GK is a thinker and one of their great strengths is athleticism and tactical communication with their team. They PREVENT goals which is a basic tenant of Basketball defense and a stat (as a GoalKeeper parent) I feel is woefully overlooked in soccer. Anyone can be the Keeper in a Futsal game, only great athletes can be the Keeper in a Soccer match or an amazing defensive basketball player.

Wow - totally disagree on that point. Not taking anything away from basketball, but I think Futsal is great for keepers in terms of learning when, and how, to come off their line, since it happens a lot more in Futsal than in soccer. Keepers, also, are going to face a lot more shots over the course of a game in Futsal
- certainly not nearly as large of a goal to defend, but a lot of quick reactions vs point blank shots.

No. Futsal actually teaches really bad habits for keepers. Stick with basketball, indoor track or swim/dive at most of the schools with winter sports.

Lacrosse

swim, futsal and cross country

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The question should be….What other sport does your MLS Next or ECNL player do?

Why should that be the question?

My kid isn't old enough for MLS Next. Some people's kids are girls.

-- OP

I'm assuming that you are asking to gather information on what additional sports were supplemented soccer the best and aided in their development. With that thought, I didn't think that asking an 8 year old rec player what they did in the offseason provided much useful information. Same with a a U17 low level travel player on some mid pack NCSL team. If you just get a comment of ...my kid skis. What does that do for you. At least if you ask what the highest level players did/do, it gives you some ideas to consider.

Several girls did winter high school sports from my daughter’s teen year teams. Basketball and skiing mainly. One girl played 3 sports at her D3 college which was neat. Soccer, basketball and golf.

Anonymous wrote:Squid Games

Shockingly it’s not one of the PE choices at my kids’ school.

Anonymous wrote:Basketball helps round out a GK's athleticism, jumping, speed, stamina, and ability. Our GK is a thinker and one of their great strengths is athleticism and tactical communication with their team. They PREVENT goals which is a basic tenant of Basketball defense and a stat (as a GoalKeeper parent) I feel is woefully overlooked in soccer. Anyone can be the Keeper in a Futsal game, only great athletes can be the Keeper in a Soccer match or an amazing defensive basketball player.

Every soccer player should play at least one season of organized basketball. Basketball teaches you to guard on defense which you need to do in soccer even if you aren't playing a back position. You must always match up and guard when you don't have possession.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Basketball helps round out a GK's athleticism, jumping, speed, stamina, and ability. Our GK is a thinker and one of their great strengths is athleticism and tactical communication with their team. They PREVENT goals which is a basic tenant of Basketball defense and a stat (as a GoalKeeper parent) I feel is woefully overlooked in soccer. Anyone can be the Keeper in a Futsal game, only great athletes can be the Keeper in a Soccer match or an amazing defensive basketball player.

Basketball was a great off-season choice for our GK, too, ECNL HS player. Don’t forget HANDS development - the balls are the same size. Grabbing the ball on a rebound in a crowd is more similar to a GK on a corner kick than basically anything in futsal. Which is also great, btw, but not the only choice!

Packline defense in basketball is a good primer for getting into a low block and defending your final third as a team.

Squid Games

Anonymous wrote:Basketball helps round out a GK's athleticism, jumping, speed, stamina, and ability. Our GK is a thinker and one of their great strengths is athleticism and tactical communication with their team. They PREVENT goals which is a basic tenant of Basketball defense and a stat (as a GoalKeeper parent) I feel is woefully overlooked in soccer. Anyone can be the Keeper in a Futsal game, only great athletes can be the Keeper in a Soccer match or an amazing defensive basketball player.

Basketball was a great off-season choice for our GK, too, ECNL HS player. Don’t forget HANDS development - the balls are the same size. Grabbing the ball on a rebound in a crowd is more similar to a GK on a corner kick than basically anything in futsal. Which is also great, btw, but not the only choice!