Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Super boring, but if your kid can make practice part of their routine even 10 mins of ball work and juggling every day will be a huge difference. All you need is a ball and a wall

Those who choose to embrace the mundane become the best technical players

Technical players are born. It is a lot like speed. These player will master skills in a 1/4 to 1/2 the time other players do.

May be one of the craziest comments ever on dcum

+1

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Super boring, but if your kid can make practice part of their routine even 10 mins of ball work and juggling every day will be a huge difference. All you need is a ball and a wall

Those who choose to embrace the mundane become the best technical players

Technical players are born. It is a lot like speed. These player will master skills in a 1/4 to 1/2 the time other players do.

May be one of the craziest comments ever on dcum

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Super boring, but if your kid can make practice part of their routine even 10 mins of ball work and juggling every day will be a huge difference. All you need is a ball and a wall

Those who choose to embrace the mundane become the best technical players

Technical players are born. It is a lot like speed. These player will master skills in a 1/4 to 1/2 the time other players do.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

This was so long I didn’t read it all, but geez, you sound bitter and paranoid. I have a kid who is very fast and tall and aggressive. That must really make you mad! Not every kid who is tall is slow and lumbering, and not every small kid is fast.

not mad... as I said, delighted. I now know what happens to kids like yours as they get older and how frustrated their parents get.

My kid and us parents will be fine because we don’t wrap our whole identity into how well they are doing with soccer.
The good thing about fast, tall and aggressive is that other sports can work out too. No delusions of grandeur and no need to our all the eggs in one basket like yours. Have a great evening!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

This was so long I didn’t read it all, but geez, you sound bitter and paranoid. I have a kid who is very fast and tall and aggressive. That must really make you mad! Not every kid who is tall is slow and lumbering, and not every small kid is fast.

not mad... as I said, delighted. I now know what happens to kids like yours as they get older and how frustrated their parents get.

They end up in Europe on top professional teams?
Many tall players there

Anonymous wrote:

This was so long I didn’t read it all, but geez, you sound bitter and paranoid. I have a kid who is very fast and tall and aggressive. That must really make you mad! Not every kid who is tall is slow and lumbering, and not every small kid is fast.

not mad... as I said, delighted. I now know what happens to kids like yours as they get older and how frustrated their parents get.

If a team or academy, along with the parents, prioritizes winning at young ages over teaching and developing soccer skills, the long-term result is predictable: by middle or high school, you’ll have kids who are fast, strong, or athletic—but not necessarily good soccer players.

Learning requires failure and discomfort. Teams that focus on learning often lose, and that’s okay—especially at younger ages when games don’t really matter and kids are eager to learn. It’s much harder to teach new concepts to middle or high school players.

At younger ages, winning often comes from having the fastest or strongest kids on small fields. But as players grow, the game changes. Technical and tactical skills become critical, and physical advantages level out after puberty.

Unfortunately, in this country, we often value winning over development. My son, now a college player, and many of his former teammates are proof that patience pays off. Their team lost plenty of games when they were young, but they were learning: how to play, solve problems with skill, and think on the field. Speed or size didn’t determine playing time or position. Every kid played every position for extended periods. The coach constantly reminded parents to be patient—the wins would come. And they did: the team eventually won multiple state championships at U11 and U12. Then, as often happens, the coach moved away and academy politics split the team.

Years later, those kids took different paths: some play Division I or III college soccer, others chose club soccer despite offers, and a few play semi-pro. All still love the game and play together when they can. Every one of them had the skills to play at a high level—but more importantly, they had the foundation to choose their own path.

Anonymous wrote:If the mystery kid is a girl, switch to lacrosse.

With flag football gaining traction that might be a good alternative.