A vs B team players

[Unregistered]

The problem is she passes. The top teams want players that would rather try and dribble through 4 defenders than make a pass to an open teammate or two. It's just the way it is.

How old?

Dribbling vs. passing isn't necessarily a bad thing. Doing either at the wrong time is.

[Unregistered]

The problem is she passes. The top teams want players that would rather try and dribble through 4 defenders than make a pass to an open teammate or two. It's just the way it is.

It's funny you say that, but I've had that exact same conversation with a number of parents. Seems clubs get all crazy about kids who only dribble through opponents and never pick up their heads and pass, whether it's forward or back. At u8/9 sure, but by u12/13, if the kid doesn't have the vision and soccer IQ to understand when to pass and when to dribble, he is way behind in my book.

How hard is it to teach:
1. pick up your head and scan the field
2. how many defenders are in front of you? are any pressuring? if so, do you have open space to take behind the defender or a pass/shot behind the defender?
3. where are you on the field, attacking 1/3, midfield, defensive 1/3?

It's a decision tree that is pretty simple to understand and teach... Seriously, a 10-12yo kid can kill it in CoD:Black Ops, but can't figure out those three things I listed above? Supposedly professional coaches can't seem to teach those three things? Premier soccer my @ss.

[Unregistered]

The difference between A and B players is easy enough to spot. My daughter's top team have moved several players up through the years. The one thing that stands out for me and why they struggle is, athleticism, technical ability, or soccer IQ. I haven't seen anything else. The problem is, you have parents whose child is athletic but not technical, but they believe their kid should be on the top team. Then you have the kid who is very strong technically, but is not very athletic, but parents think because they are technical, they should be on the top team. Players grow and develop differently and a B/C team player could end up playing D1 in college. It happens.

[Unregistered]

It's funny you say that, but I've had that exact same conversation with a number of parents. Seems clubs get all crazy about kids who only dribble through opponents and never pick up their heads and pass, whether it's forward or back. At u8/9 sure, but by u12/13, if the kid doesn't have the vision and soccer IQ to understand when to pass and when to dribble, he is way behind in my book.

How hard is it to teach:
1. pick up your head and scan the field
2. how many defenders are in front of you? are any pressuring? if so, do you have open space to take behind the defender or a pass/shot behind the defender?
3. where are you on the field, attacking 1/3, midfield, defensive 1/3?

It's a decision tree that is pretty simple to understand and teach... Seriously, a 10-12yo kid can kill it in CoD:Black Ops, but can't figure out those three things I listed above? Supposedly professional coaches can't seem to teach those three things? Premier soccer my @ss.

If they are such simple concepts to grasp, why is there utter failure at our top flight levels?
Because the devil is in the details-they are using feet/eyes, not hand/eye. Completely different set of skill and not one that seems all pervasive in US.
Do you coach?

[Unregistered]

It's funny you say that, but I've had that exact same conversation with a number of parents. Seems clubs get all crazy about kids who only dribble through opponents and never pick up their heads and pass, whether it's forward or back. At u8/9 sure, but by u12/13, if the kid doesn't have the vision and soccer IQ to understand when to pass and when to dribble, he is way behind in my book.

How hard is it to teach:
1. pick up your head and scan the field
2. how many defenders are in front of you? are any pressuring? if so, do you have open space to take behind the defender or a pass/shot behind the defender?
3. where are you on the field, attacking 1/3, midfield, defensive 1/3?

It's a decision tree that is pretty simple to understand and teach... Seriously, a 10-12yo kid can kill it in CoD:Black Ops, but can't figure out those three things I listed above? Supposedly professional coaches can't seem to teach those three things? Premier soccer my @ss.

Here is why we go nuts over kids who "can dribble through opponents":
The ability to beat opponents off the dribble is kind of like the old line about height in basketball--you can't coach height. Similarly, if by age 13 a kid doesn't have the speed/skills to go by/through defenders (or to keep the ball under pressure) THEN HE NEVER WILL. Period. Even if the kid had the athletic ability to do these things (which isn't a given) there isn't enough time in a coach's day or a 13 year old's life to develop those skills to a meaningful degree.
On the other hand, if you have a kid who can handle, here is what it takes to teach him to get his head up and make the right pass: "Hey Neymar Jr Jr: pass the damn ball or I'm going to sit your @ss on the bench."
Role players are a dime a dozen, even ones who've been programmed to "get head up, make right pass, get head up, make right pass, get head up, make right pass...."

[Unregistered]

Only kids who I saw get moved up to A team are new kids outside the club or during birth year change, couple younger birth year kids from A team. No B team kids.

You would think that the coach would take some bigger B team kids during birth year, but he didn't. He took kids who were smaller, but solid technically and better potential than
some of the B team kids. Subjective, but what I saw.

However, I do know that it is the small, incremental improvements and advantages over
time that leads to the huge gap between the A and B teams. Not insurmountable, but very
difficult to overcome. My kid's team had 4 practices a week during the summer and 1
speed, quickness, agility training a week. Almost all of the team did camps, privates,
and other activities. We had 5 tournaments this summer with 20+ games. While the B
team maybe had 3 practices a week, no speed training, and fewer tournaments at
lower levels. The B team player had to bust it up with more self-training, camps, and privates to keep up.

We had 3 of the top B team kids practice and scrimmage with the team. One kid was
big, strong, fast, and fairly technical, thinking why isn't this kid on the team. We need
a good bruiser, tough kid. The problem was speed of play. The kid couldn't keep up. The
team had to slow down to include this kid. Not saying this kid can't rise to the challenge,
but framed over a year or two, it is really difficult to overcome.

To the parent who had multiple offers at other clubs, why is your kid still at the club?
Don't be that parent who thinks loyalty to the club will be rewarded one day.
Bull. And. Sh*t.

[Unregistered]

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder when it comes to sports and what one coach sees as a great player, another coach may not. At the end of the day, the most important opinion is that of the college coaches and there will be no preferential treatment there.

[Unregistered]

However, I do know that it is the small, incremental improvements and advantages over
time that leads to the huge gap between the A and B teams. Not insurmountable, but very
difficult to overcome. My kid's team had 4 practices a week during the summer and 1
speed, quickness, agility training a week. Almost all of the team did camps, privates,
and other activities. We had 5 tournaments this summer with 20+ games. While the B
team maybe had 3 practices a week, no speed training, and fewer tournaments at
lower levels. The B team player had to bust it up with more self-training, camps, and privates to keep up.

We had 3 of the top B team kids practice and scrimmage with the team. One kid was
big, strong, fast, and fairly technical, thinking why isn't this kid on the team. We need
a good bruiser, tough kid. The problem was speed of play. The kid couldn't keep up. The
team had to slow down to include this kid. Not saying this kid can't rise to the challenge,
but framed over a year or two, it is really difficult to overcome.

Which club are you at that has 4 practices/week in the summer?

I agree with you, though. It would take a lot of work for the B team kids at our club to take the place of the A team kids. It has happened a few times, when an A team multi-sport kid decides to focus on another sport, leaving open a spot for a B team player. This fall, my kids A team had only four returning players. A few dropped soccer for other sports and a few were moved up due to birth year. To fill the roster, they ended up taking more players from the A team a year younger, than the B team in the same age group. That kind of says it all, whether fair or not. The two biggest differences I see between A and B teams are speed of play, as you mentioned, and quality of first touch.

[Unregistered]

Here is why we go nuts over kids who "can dribble through opponents":
The ability to beat opponents off the dribble is kind of like the old line about height in basketball--you can't coach height. Similarly, if by age 13 a kid doesn't have the speed/skills to go by/through defenders (or to keep the ball under pressure) THEN HE NEVER WILL. Period. Even if the kid had the athletic ability to do these things (which isn't a given) there isn't enough time in a coach's day or a 13 year old's life to develop those skills to a meaningful degree.
On the other hand, if you have a kid who can handle, here is what it takes to teach him to get his head up and make the right pass: "Hey Neymar Jr Jr: pass the damn ball or I'm going to sit your @ss on the bench."
Role players are a dime a dozen, even ones who've been programmed to "get head up, make right pass, get head up, make right pass, get head up, make right pass...."

If they can do it on a consistent basis then you have a winner but at U14 why keep pushing the kid who tries to dribble through but has a 85% turnover rate... When a player does the same thing over and over and over again exactly how hard is that to defend??

[Unregistered]

I think the differences between A and B players changes a bit as you move up the ladder. For instance the difference between a travel A player and travel B player is a bit different from an ECNL player and an NPL player.

I have kids all over soccer playing spectrum (one on a top clubs top team, an NEP level player, and a rec player). The major differences between each of them comes down mainly to speed of play, top notch work rate, athleticism, first touch, and commitment.

Within each level there might be players with higher levels of each of the above qualities, as well as better technical skills, better field vision, and better decision making than others on roster... but the players that I see on my child's top team ALL have high levels in each area. Players I see on the NEP level may excel highly in on one or two of these areas, but are weak in other areas. The rec level players are weak in most of these areas.

Another area that can't be overlooked is mental make-up. I've seen players with TONS of potential to be top level players, but get stuck on B or regional teams because they are head cases and always seem to get in their own way.

In the end, it's like a baking recipe that if you leave out one ingredient you totally change the end result. Sometimes it's just easier to watch the games. The good ole eye test. When you watch them back to back to back as I often have had to do over my several years, you just see the stark difference of the levels.

[Unregistered]

Good post. I've seen kids that were very talented with the ball but who wouldn't work. My guess is that they didn't have to work very hard to be successful when they were younger and they continued this as they got older. They were naturally gifted players that never reached their potential or went very far. If the ball wasn't within 10 feet of them they wouldn't attempt to win it.

[Unregistered]

Good post. I've seen kids that were very talented with the ball but who wouldn't work. My guess is that they didn't have to work very hard to be successful when they were younger and they continued this as they got older. They were naturally gifted players that never reached their potential or went very far. If the ball wasn't within 10 feet of them they wouldn't attempt to win it.

Yes the "early" gifted athlete often peters out when his/her peers start to either catch up with them physically or their hard work starts to pay off. If he/she doesn't also step it up they will now be the ones left behind.

[Unregistered]

Yes the "early" gifted athlete often peters out when his/her peers start to either catch up with them physically or their hard work starts to pay off. If he/she doesn't also step it up they will now be the ones left behind.

Yes, I've seen this in a lot of players. Many of those bigger, faster kids at the early ages are starting to fade now in my kid's age group. My kid is tiny, and starting off down the soccer road, I thought it might be a disadvantage for him. I realize now, though, that it's actually a huge advantage. He is so used to working his ***** off to compensate for his lack of size, that it's just part of the game for him. If he continues enjoying soccer and stays committed to it, when he finally grows (which we know he will from bone growth x-rays, but just much later than the average boy), he will have the strength, speed and physicality to add to his strong work ethic.

[Unregistered]

Yes, I've seen this in a lot of players. Many of those bigger, faster kids at the early ages are starting to fade now in my kid's age group. My kid is tiny, and starting off down the soccer road, I thought it might be a disadvantage for him. I realize now, though, that it's actually a huge advantage. He is so used to working his ***** off to compensate for his lack of size, that it's just part of the game for him. If he continues enjoying soccer and stays committed to it, when he finally grows (which we know he will from bone growth x-rays, but just much later than the average boy), he will have the strength, speed and physicality to add to his strong work ethic.

Wow. Bone growth x-rays. Keep hope alive, dad, keep hope alive. Make sure you bring those prints to tryouts next year.

[Unregistered]

Wow. Bone growth x-rays. Keep hope alive, dad, keep hope alive. Make sure you bring those prints to tryouts next year.

Not poster here but...you are an ahole, Sometimes kids that aren't growing at the same typical rate get scans to see if something, more critical is going on. I have a non athlete that's been through plenty of scans to get a better idea as to why he isn't growing. You are a db