Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A good touch is the first thing you should look at when it comes to evaluating a player, obviously, but you're being naive if you think that athleticism isn't also a part of the game, in addition to skill. To call someone's comment dumb contributes nothing, learn to read.

No I'm not being naive, but all things being equal athleticism will break ties at the appropriate levels of development. But by 12 or 15 if you think you can convert an elite athlete into an elite soccer player virtue of athleticism that is also naive.

It is this constant focus on the bigger, faster kids at the young ages that causes our developmental problems. Focus on the kids with skill first and formaost and the fast among them will be revealed.

You may be able to but the way the system is set up now it will not happen. By 12 or 15 if you have not had the training you will not make a team/club.

A player cannot develop a good first touch and seamless use of either foot to shot, pass, etc. if they don’t start until after 12. A player is handicapped if he can’t use both feet and most American kids cannot.

Who cares about both feet if you are elite fast though? ?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A good touch is the first thing you should look at when it comes to evaluating a player, obviously, but you're being naive if you think that athleticism isn't also a part of the game, in addition to skill. To call someone's comment dumb contributes nothing, learn to read.

No I'm not being naive, but all things being equal athleticism will break ties at the appropriate levels of development. But by 12 or 15 if you think you can convert an elite athlete into an elite soccer player virtue of athleticism that is also naive.

It is this constant focus on the bigger, faster kids at the young ages that causes our developmental problems. Focus on the kids with skill first and formaost and the fast among them will be revealed.

You may be able to but the way the system is set up now it will not happen. By 12 or 15 if you have not had the training you will not make a team/club.

A player cannot develop a good first touch and seamless use of either foot to shot, pass, etc. if they don’t start until after 12. A player is handicapped if he can’t use both feet and most American kids cannot.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A good touch is the first thing you should look at when it comes to evaluating a player, obviously, but you're being naive if you think that athleticism isn't also a part of the game, in addition to skill. To call someone's comment dumb contributes nothing, learn to read.

No I'm not being naive, but all things being equal athleticism will break ties at the appropriate levels of development. But by 12 or 15 if you think you can convert an elite athlete into an elite soccer player virtue of athleticism that is also naive.

It is this constant focus on the bigger, faster kids at the young ages that causes our developmental problems. Focus on the kids with skill first and formaost and the fast among them will be revealed.

You may be able to but the way the system is set up now it will not happen. By 12 or 15 if you have not had the training you will not make a team/club.

Anonymous wrote:A good touch is the first thing you should look at when it comes to evaluating a player, obviously, but you're being naive if you think that athleticism isn't also a part of the game, in addition to skill. To call someone's comment dumb contributes nothing, learn to read.

No I'm not being naive, but all things being equal athleticism will break ties at the appropriate levels of development. But by 12 or 15 if you think you can convert an elite athlete into an elite soccer player virtue of athleticism that is also naive.

It is this constant focus on the bigger, faster kids at the young ages that causes our developmental problems. Focus on the kids with skill first and formaost and the fast among them will be revealed.

A good touch is the first thing you should look at when it comes to evaluating a player, obviously, but you're being naive if you think that athleticism isn't also a part of the game, in addition to skill. To call someone's comment dumb contributes nothing, learn to read.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well it's not just any one thing, it's many factors put together, you want to have a well-rounded player. Skill is very important but without explosiveness the player could get throttled by an opponent who is stronger physically. You want to build up that skilled player physically, so that they can exert the skill upon the game regardless of the circumstance, and perform for a longer duration of the game.

This is why America sucks at soccer

Not the poster you are responding to, but not sure what point you are trying to make. In every country in the world, you need athleticism along with skills and soccer IQ to be a top player.

Everywhere else in the world skill is focused on first then athleticism. What good does all the speed or size matter if you your first touch is crap?

Clubs will grab the "athlete" at 12 and try and teach the skills. We do it completely backwards in the States. There is fast and then there is fast with the ball. We tend to ignore the latter because of people who post dumb things like the above. Speed is easy to spot and the one thing that doesn't need to be coached. But we tend to focus more on attributes than skill.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well it's not just any one thing, it's many factors put together, you want to have a well-rounded player. Skill is very important but without explosiveness the player could get throttled by an opponent who is stronger physically. You want to build up that skilled player physically, so that they can exert the skill upon the game regardless of the circumstance, and perform for a longer duration of the game.

This is why America sucks at soccer

Not the poster you are responding to, but not sure what point you are trying to make. In every country in the world, you need athleticism along with skills and soccer IQ to be a top player.

Anonymous wrote:Well it's not just any one thing, it's many factors put together, you want to have a well-rounded player. Skill is very important but without explosiveness the player could get throttled by an opponent who is stronger physically. You want to build up that skilled player physically, so that they can exert the skill upon the game regardless of the circumstance, and perform for a longer duration of the game.

This is why America sucks at soccer

Well it's not just any one thing, it's many factors put together, you want to have a well-rounded player. Skill is very important but without explosiveness the player could get throttled by an opponent who is stronger physically. You want to build up that skilled player physically, so that they can exert the skill upon the game regardless of the circumstance, and perform for a longer duration of the game.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When you play in a U10 age group with a mix of U9 and U10 players, you are asking for trouble. If you went up against a "true" U10 team there were probably big physical and skill differences that the U9's couldn't keep up with... especially if the other teams had U10 players that were more physically developed or born earlier in their birth year.

I get your point, but I think this is where Soccer differs from other sports. IQ and grit will always beat out speed and strength. I've seen little guys (compared to other kids on the pitch) kill it on the field. A quick double cut and they are off.

Not at U10, unless the whole team is more skilled than the opponent.

For development, of course, you want IQ, grit and skills. But in terms of a matchup, it's pretty rare that the less athletic team dominates a U10 game. Just the nature of the beast.

Soccer is a sport ...speed, strength, endurance, quickness, soccer iq, etc are all selected for as you move up the age and skill groups. As the kids hit puberty and mature they get sorted out. It happens in all sports. You can have all the Rudies you want but in the end you will lose if you go against elite athletes. Speed is really important because it allows you to recover from mistakes.

Does skill ever factor in or is just about a 40 yard dash?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When you play in a U10 age group with a mix of U9 and U10 players, you are asking for trouble. If you went up against a "true" U10 team there were probably big physical and skill differences that the U9's couldn't keep up with... especially if the other teams had U10 players that were more physically developed or born earlier in their birth year.

I get your point, but I think this is where Soccer differs from other sports. IQ and grit will always beat out speed and strength. I've seen little guys (compared to other kids on the pitch) kill it on the field. A quick double cut and they are off.

Not at U10, unless the whole team is more skilled than the opponent.

For development, of course, you want IQ, grit and skills. But in terms of a matchup, it's pretty rare that the less athletic team dominates a U10 game. Just the nature of the beast.

Soccer is a sport ...speed, strength, endurance, quickness, soccer iq, etc are all selected for as you move up the age and skill groups. As the kids hit puberty and mature they get sorted out. It happens in all sports. You can have all the Rudies you want but in the end you will lose if you go against elite athletes. Speed is really important because it allows you to recover from mistakes.

My child has done a number of winter training programs, including the 3 mentioned here - HP Elite, Golden Boot and Arlington. Depending on the skill level of your player, any of the 3 may be worth doing but of the 3,HP is the best option imho; it’s indoors so minimal chance of cancellations, high quality group of players, decent class size and price is competitive. Arlington is outdoors (the ones we did) so weather can be an issue; they do divide classes between rec and travel so it’s helps to big differences in the players’ levels, but if your kid is a high lvl, then there can still a big gap even on the travel side; the groups were pretty big. Golden Boot had nice programs but did not draw as high a level of player. The younger your kid, the higher I would recommend them.

Anonymous wrote:"I would go with private training options"

Overpriced, and selling you the world. Think twice before doing it. You can find better options, at more reasonable prices elsewhere for youngsters. I will never spend money on overpriced so called "elite" training programs again for my young children.

Just my humble opinion!

BTW....another interesting article on US Soccer

http://www.latimes.com/sports/highschool/la-sp-youth-soccer-sondheimer-20171119-story.html

I don't know what other options your talking about other than the big club training. You certainly aren't gong to find better options, maybe cheaper, but not better training. Many top players in this area are training at these locations and it's not by accident. The PP was talking about an Arlington camp for U12/13 age group. If all they can afford is an Arlington camp then great, but they should know there are far better options if they can afford it.

Younger kids with more skill CAN beat a group of more physical older kids... in a small sided game of 3v3 or 4v4.

But not on U9/U10 game field where there is a lot of space to run into and large goals, and large gaps of space.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When you play in a U10 age group with a mix of U9 and U10 players, you are asking for trouble. If you went up against a "true" U10 team there were probably big physical and skill differences that the U9's couldn't keep up with... especially if the other teams had U10 players that were more physically developed or born earlier in their birth year.

I get your point, but I think this is where Soccer differs from other sports. IQ and grit will always beat out speed and strength. I've seen little guys (compared to other kids on the pitch) kill it on the field. A quick double cut and they are off.

Not at U10, unless the whole team is more skilled than the opponent.

For development, of course, you want IQ, grit and skills. But in terms of a matchup, it's pretty rare that the less athletic team dominates a U10 game. Just the nature of the beast.