Originally posted by Unregistered
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Lets start with my last statement: most teams at u11, if they are winning, are doing it because of a few impact players who most likely developed physically earlier than others and/or are just very gifted skill wise. The talent and athleticism at those young ages is not evenly distributed and by U14, those impact players will be playing in DAP/ECNL/NPL teams while the rest either left the sport or are playing on weaker regional teams/leagues.
Second, as I stated earlier, puberty is the X factor, with many players surpassing the early developers physically. With girls, puberty wrecks havoc on their athleticism with many getting slower with the body composotion changes and weight gain. Add in teenage angst, boys, outside interest, and many of those "top" girls leave the sport or fizzle out during high school when the game becomes much more competitive and difficult physically and mentally.
Last, winning is often the antithesis of proper development at the younger ages, including u11. Players should be rotated in positions, including keepers and playing more possession style with build-up from the back should be the norm. That changes when the objective is to win and the play-style often changes to direct attacks or just getting the ball to the impact player.
Winning is and should be a funtion of good development at these ages, not the goal itself, but of course all parents seem to care about is little Mia's U11 team being number 1...
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