Anonymous wrote:Regarding development, tell me if what I say below is wrong. 80% of the kids on the best teams when they're 16 were the best kids at age 7. There are some athletic 7 year olds who don't get it at age 16 and a few kids who work their butt of get on the top teams at age 16.

For the most part, the good kids at age 7 are the good ones at 16, regardless of the amount of time/effort other kids put in.

So it's all about recruiting the good kids seen on the pitch. If the coach is correct with the assessment 80% of the time, his time spent on improving the team is to replace the weaker players with stronger ones, not develop what he has.

Interesting. Can you provide a link to the statistic you are referencing?

Regarding development, tell me if what I say below is wrong. 80% of the kids on the best teams when they're 16 were the best kids at age 7. There are some athletic 7 year olds who don't get it at age 16 and a few kids who work their butt of get on the top teams at age 16.

For the most part, the good kids at age 7 are the good ones at 16, regardless of the amount of time/effort other kids put in.

So it's all about recruiting the good kids seen on the pitch. If the coach is correct with the assessment 80% of the time, his time spent on improving the team is to replace the weaker players with stronger ones, not develop what he has.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The whole landscape is recruiting. No coaches even attempt to develop kids, they just recruit. It's ridiculous.

+1000

People say this the whole time but it's kinda BS. The skills coaches can help with are not the same as the skills kids can develop themselves. Coaches legitimately want the most technically skilled, and athletic players on their team. Both of those skillsets are not really things coaches can impact all that much.

Good coaches will then take those kids and teach them soccer IQ.

Bad coaches will also take those kids and teach them nothing of course .

Soccer IQ is the same as technical ability, touch, speed, athleticism, etc. in that each player has a certain ranger. Soccer IQ involves visual-spatial intelligence. You can develop a player’s soccer IQ with in a range. A few have it at a high level other never will.

This reminds me of the parents who think their kid will become the most technical kid on the field if they just work hard. Take a 100 kids, instruction them the same, let them practice the same amount of time, etc. 3-6 of 100 will just out preform everyone else. They will master whatever skill is taught, the ball will be on a string on either foot. Their first touch will be effortless. The next 25 will have to work twice as much to come close to these top kids. The rest will never match the top players.