Cross Train or Just Play Soccer?

[Unregistered]

What they refer to is not specializing in its truest form. What they mean is in terms of youth soccer or any other sport that plays too many games over the course of the year and the added tournaments that kids play which have between 3-5 games a weekend.

For example, if you hit your head on a wall for two hours consistently every other Saturday you might be fine and have time to recover in between. Now, go hit your head 2 hours a day every weekend (sat and sun) and several times a year do it up to 5 times in a weekend.

Seriously try it and check back with us.

Aside from being a sh!thead, you are incorrect to the discussion that took place as the PT specifically referenced playing other sports instead of just soccer year round. Judging from your ridiculous post, hitting your head against the wall multiple times is more of a practice for you than an theory.

[Unregistered]

Soccer. Soccer players ding dong. What soccer players. Do anyone of you read?

I’m sorry that soccer players aren’t as athletically gifted as the likes of Jim Thorpe or Jackie Robinson, ding dong. News flash, both those men would have been great soccer players if they cared to be.

But this is America, ding dong, and soccer has never been card about when it comes to men, ding dong. Hey ding dong, how duyou think the USMNT is going to do in the World Cup in Russia?

USMNT players don’t even have 1/1,000,000 of the athletic talent that Jim Thorpe had, including Pullisic. Heck, neither does Bo for that matter

[Unregistered]

Jack of all trades. Master of none.

[Unregistered]

Jack of all trades. Master of none.

So when Thorpe was a Hall of Fame football player and winning Olympic Gold medals in the pentathlon and decathlon, literally the event acknowledged by everyone as the greatest athlete in the world, and playing MLB, what would you call him?

All Pro and MLB All Star Bo and Jordan?

#1 overall NFL and MLB draft pick John Elway?

I can keep going.

Are they masters of none?

[Unregistered]

Found this article on the subject:

http://usatodayhss.com/2017/a-few-su...sport-athletes


I will say this, my daughter enjoys soccer more than any other sport but in middle school I encouraged her to try other sports. She ran cross country, played flag football, softball, basketball and volleyball. (Keep in mind, this is middle school athletics so they are short seasons (about 4-6 weeks) and some of the sports overlap. Now in high school, she only plays soccer and flag football, but I saw dramatic improvement in her overall athletic ability during her middle school years in her speed, agility, endurance, jumping, lateral movement, coordination. Of course, some of this is due to the bodies natural maturation process but I also saw improvements in her mental makeup and awareness. I am a big proponent of encouraging kids especially before they reach high school to dabble in other sports and let the chips fall where they may, but really by the time they reach high school they should probably start specializing in what they enjoy the most and/or what they are the most proficient at.

[Unregistered]

So when Thorpe was a Hall of Fame football player and winning Olympic Gold medals in the pentathlon and decathlon, literally the event acknowledged by everyone as the greatest athlete in the world, and playing MLB, what would you call him?

All Pro and MLB All Star Bo and Jordan?

#1 overall NFL and MLB draft pick John Elway?

I can keep going.

Are they masters of none?

Jordan wasn't nearly as good a baseball player as he was basketball. Maybe he would have been a hall of famer in baseball if he'd focused more on that? Can't say as there's no way to test it out. You're also talking about the extremely rare ultimate athlete, the rarest human specimens. That description doesn't fit the vast majority of athletes.

[Unregistered]

Do you think it is best to just play soccer or is it better to play multiple sports with the assumption for this discussion that soccer is the main sport. Do you remember the Bo Jackson commercials where he played all the sports and advocated cross training. However, most soccer clubs only advocated playing soccer full time and frown on kids playing other sports.

Since when have soccer clubs had any kind of expertise in in this field?

[Unregistered]

by middle school most kids that play soccer don't have the height or skills for competitive basketball, think tackle football is too violent and find baseball boring (soccer and baseball are polar opposites). so that leaves you with maybe track that a lot of soccer kids seem to like or maybe volleyball. playing for fun or rec play it can be anything at any time - I assume you are referring to competitive sports and replied only for play at a competitive level. its not as big of an issue for most players as you would think.

Summer Olympics currently include 28 different sports and that is a fraction of the number of sports that are played in the world.

[Unregistered]

Cross training is nice but that works with other sports. Soccer is different. Bo Jackson was a freak athlete.

Name the last US Superstar that played multiple sports. Name the last Spanish, Brazilian, German, Swedish, English, French Superstar that crosstrained.

Well the US doesn't have a superstar (Pulisic is closest). The other ones don't.

College coaches don't advocate cross training. They go to Europe and South America and other countries to find their best players...so no they don't advocate it

Soccer is different. Goals for your child will be different. If your goal is for your child to play professionally then no cross training. If it's to play collegiately, then most train with soccer and play DA or ECNL. If it's too be good at multiple sports and say your child is a 6-sport athlete, then do it.

Just don't listen to people on here that say "well there was one kid I knew". The proven way in soccer is specializing and not playing a million games a year. Not a thing in the US.

Evidence?

[Unregistered]

What point are you trying to make?

When it comes to soccer it's better to specialize. You don't need to specialize in hand eye. Soccer benefits all other sports. Not all sports benefit soccer.

Name a sport that does not offer benefits for soccer players.

[Unregistered]

Soccer specialization helps with SOCCER skills. Cross training helps with other things that then enhance soccer skills. Cross training also develops other muscles and helps reduce injury risk. It also helps reduce burnout by providing variety. That said, it doesn't have to be something official or organized or certainly high level. Kids should be encouraged to do a variety of sports/activities. If time is limited then HS aged player should work with a fitness trainer who can help them improve troublesome areas and improve strength and conditioning, again lowering injury risk.

One exception: Basketball is definitely good for GK's

Correct.

[Unregistered]

What they refer to is not specializing in its truest form. What they mean is in terms of youth soccer or any other sport that plays too many games over the course of the year and the added tournaments that kids play which have between 3-5 games a weekend.

For example, if you hit your head on a wall for two hours consistently every other Saturday you might be fine and have time to recover in between. Now, go hit your head 2 hours a day every weekend (sat and sun) and several times a year do it up to 5 times in a weekend.

Seriously try it and check back with us.

You cannot prove even one of your statements.

[Unregistered]

You cannot prove even one of your statements.

He's too busy hitting his head against the wall as per his example

[Unregistered]

Jordan wasn't nearly as good a baseball player as he was basketball. Maybe he would have been a hall of famer in baseball if he'd focused more on that? Can't say as there's no way to test it out. You're also talking about the extremely rare ultimate athlete, the rarest human specimens. That description doesn't fit the vast majority of athletes.

I was talking about All Pro NFL safety and MLB All Star Brian Jordan. Not His Airness.

Michael was a great high school pitcher and outfielder. He was a better pitcher than field player though, once throwing 45 consecutive shutout innings for his high school team.

It’s also not rare in America.

The WNBA, NBA, NFL, MLB are littered with athletes who were extremely talented in multiple sports in high school and college.

Seems like soccer players are one trick pony athletes.