Youth matches are too short

[Guest]

Soccer match lengths for kids are way too short. Outdoor games typically have 25-minute halves, sometimes 20 in tournaments. Indoor games are even shorter, with 16 to 20-minute halves. This is ridiculous when you
compare it to other sports. Take baseball, for instance - games at this age last 2 hours. Sure, there's less running in baseball, but that's beside the point. Kids are built to move. Leave them outside with friends, and they'll run, wrestle, and jump around for hours on end.

What's more, soccer uses substitutions. Most kids don't play the entire game - they're rotated in and out. So they might only be on the field for 40% to 80% of the total time. Do the math: if you're playing one game a week, that amounts to roughly 25-40 minutes of actual playing time. That's absurdly low. We're doing these kids a disservice. No wonder the US lags behind in soccer! We need to give them more time on the field to develop their skills and love for the game.

[Guest]

Soccer match lengths for kids are way too short. Outdoor games typically have 25-minute halves, sometimes 20 in tournaments. Indoor games are even shorter, with 16 to 20-minute halves. This is ridiculous when you
compare it to other sports. Take baseball, for instance - games at this age last 2 hours. Sure, there's less running in baseball, but that's beside the point. Kids are built to move. Leave them outside with friends, and they'll run, wrestle, and jump around for hours on end.

What's more, soccer uses substitutions. Most kids don't play the entire game - they're rotated in and out. So they might only be on the field for 40% to 80% of the total time. Do the math: if you're playing one game a week, that amounts to roughly 25-40 minutes of actual playing time. That's absurdly low. We're doing these kids a disservice. No wonder the US lags behind in soccer! We need to give them more time on the field to develop their skills and love for the game.

Games get longer as kids get older.

League matches are often longer than tourneys due to logistics.

[Guest]

This is silly… young kids get neural fatigue, not physical. The reason they can play outside all day is because they take natural breaks when tired and there’s not the pressure of psycho parents and coaches bearing down on them. The game lengths are appropriate and based on research

[Guest]

You mean kids need for free play and pick up. There infozed it for you.

[Guest]

This is silly… young kids get neural fatigue, not physical. The reason they can play outside all day is because they take natural breaks when tired and there’s not the pressure of psycho parents and coaches bearing down on them. The game lengths are appropriate and based on research

Silly? A bit harsh there as it doesn't appear that you fully read the post and processed it. He/she covered the comparison in breaks and actual playing time. And neural fatigue leads to muscle fatigue. And research/science is always changing, it's not static so no reason to think "we got it perfect" today.

Having just watched a tournament with U16s playing 30 min halves, yes, I would completely agree that matches are too short and would support increasing match length.

[Guest]

Lived in Italy for a few years for work and my 10 and 11 year olds played 9v9 games on smaller fields. There were three periods per match with each period 20 minutes, and little substituting.