I've been reading a lot of BTDT's posts recently, and I wanted to point out something I believe to be untrue.
There is some opinion out there that your current U10, U11 and U12 standout teams are nothing but a bunch of early bloomers who will be replaced as they get older by players who develop later.
This isn't completely untrue, it just is a fraction of the larger equation.
(This is a girls side discussino moreso than a boys side discussion).
First, name a recent standout coming out as now a U18 or former U18, college player, or nat pool player, that was not a standout as a U10/U11. I guarantee it's hard to do.
Now that you had trouble answering that question, let me get to the core of the facts.
The fact is that most U10 and U11 teams are local. Even those teams at Stars and Scorpions.
The fact is that most players enter clubs not based on club reputation, but based on what their friends do, and what they happen to find first.
With all that said, your top U10, U11 and U12 teams are not built on a bunch of early bloomers, and then replaced with later bloomers. They are simply built on a bunch of local players, or players developed in inhouse development programs, and they are replaced later by the standouts of other organizations. These standouts were usually also standouts as U10's and U11's. But they didn't play for the top teams back then because they didn't know about them, or they were too far away to drive, or they simply had a later introduction to high level soccer.
I think the late bloomer is a very small percentage of this picture.
Discuss if you want, but I think the myth is easily debunked.
There is some opinion out there that your current U10, U11 and U12 standout teams are nothing but a bunch of early bloomers who will be replaced as they get older by players who develop later.
This isn't completely untrue, it just is a fraction of the larger equation.
(This is a girls side discussino moreso than a boys side discussion).
First, name a recent standout coming out as now a U18 or former U18, college player, or nat pool player, that was not a standout as a U10/U11. I guarantee it's hard to do.
Now that you had trouble answering that question, let me get to the core of the facts.
The fact is that most U10 and U11 teams are local. Even those teams at Stars and Scorpions.
The fact is that most players enter clubs not based on club reputation, but based on what their friends do, and what they happen to find first.
With all that said, your top U10, U11 and U12 teams are not built on a bunch of early bloomers, and then replaced with later bloomers. They are simply built on a bunch of local players, or players developed in inhouse development programs, and they are replaced later by the standouts of other organizations. These standouts were usually also standouts as U10's and U11's. But they didn't play for the top teams back then because they didn't know about them, or they were too far away to drive, or they simply had a later introduction to high level soccer.
I think the late bloomer is a very small percentage of this picture.
Discuss if you want, but I think the myth is easily debunked.
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