Identifying Talent - How and When?

Discussion in 'Youth & HS Soccer' started by UglyParent, Oct 4, 2012.

  1. jack0fspeed

    jack0fspeed New Member

    Apr 23, 2012
    Dallas, TX
    Club:
    Juventus FC
    My boy is 13 going on 14. The biggest thing I did right to support him was to stay focused on getting better at all aspects of the game and not get caught up in the many potential distractions. As some have said in this thread, there are a lot of kids that are good at age 11. But the ones that will ultimately succeed are the ones that keep getting better. An easy way to get off the path to success is to get wrapped up in playing time, position, team politics etc.

    Keep working on ball skills, off-the-ball movement, combination game, ball control, creative first touch, defense, fitness, agility and then all of a sudden things will just come together in a way you couldn't have imagined at age 11.
     
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  2. rhrh

    rhrh Member

    Mar 5, 2010
    Club:
    AC Milan
    Please let me know what soccer club in NJ is not run as a money maker. Some are worse than others. I have seen JPS teams play and they are decent.

    You should try to go to the gotsoccer.com website, pick your daughter's age and Region 1 then NJ, and you will see which teams do well. Also go to the JPS website and/or email the coach in her age group, and ask what they do in terms of training, league games, and tournaments. I know they have summer teams, which is good.

    As for being a club hopper, would you stay in a job where you are not appreciated and not given opportunity to advance? There are a lot of kids who end up on top teams only as 17 or 18 year olds. And many of them were not on the same teams since age 10. Yes, there are exceptions, but certain teams where the coach brags "they've been together since U9" mean that three or four of the players are still there, but most are much more recent.
     
  3. elessar78

    elessar78 Moderator
    Staff Member

    May 12, 2010
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    For the love of all things good . . . DO NOT go to gotsoccer.com

    Their ranking of teams is generally stupid and nothing, to me, is more annoying than a parent who can quote gotsoccer rankings and their scoring formulas. Get a life.

    Rankings set off a stupid cycle that can pull the emphasis away from development.

    The difficulty in finding a good coach/team/club for your kid is that there's "information asymmetry"—one side knows more than the other. Like going to a car mechanic, usually, he knows what's wrong and how much it'll cost to fix but the customer has only a vague idea of what the problem really is. It's the same thing for finding soccer in this country. A vast majority of consumers don't know what a good soccer education is, they don't know what a good end product should be. No, getting a college scholarship, isn't even there—I play with plenty of former D1 players who suck.

    Chip into that information asymmetry by learning what you don't know about soccer and how soccer players are trained and what the final outcome should be. Learn what good soccer is individually and as a team. This process takes time. I'd say DON'T talk to the coaches. Go and observe their practices. Coaches and website ALL say the same thing: "we develop players through blah blah blah".

    Go watch various training sessions at various ages and genders. Are the sessions age appropriate (part of your research)? Watch their games and watch players and don't follow the ball/action only.

    Spend your time learning instead of perusing shit like gotsoccer. Not because you want to coach, but because you want to know what you're buying. Look at it as an investment. Let's say you spend $4,000 a year (inclusive of tuition, gas, travel, hotels, and uniform/equipment) in nine years that $36K. How much research would you do if you were buying a $36K car that you were going to hold onto for 5-10 years? I know I've spent inordinate amounts of time researching $1,000 washer and dryers for my wife.
     
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  4. rhrh

    rhrh Member

    Mar 5, 2010
    Club:
    AC Milan
    #229 rhrh, Mar 20, 2014
    Last edited: Mar 20, 2014
    elessar78, you are the one with the problem. I did not say to go to the top three teams in the age group according to gotsoccer.com and get your child there ASAP. I told the poster to look on gotsoccer.com. Here is a summary of why:
    - Coach contact information - the coach will be your child's teacher and boss. It does matter to contact him or her before picking a team.
    - Manager contact information - how organized is the team? Do they take communication of team events seriously or not?
    - Roster, to see if anyone your child knows is on the team, someone whose parent you can ask about the club.
    - Game results, so you can see how the team does versus other teams. Did the team beat state cup champs? Is the team a state cup semi-finalist or higher?
    - Rankings, which shows you how the team does in ranked tournaments. This is the least important, but shows something. Teams anywhere in the top twenty, plus a handful of other teams, can be equivalent in terms of ranking, and a string of very good games can put a team that is not very good (or uses guests to be better) way up. Caveat emptor on rankings at the very least.
    - Tournaments attended, which matters if you do or do not want a team that goes to a lot of tournaments. If you go away for the summer, a team with four summer tournaments may not be a good fit for your child.

    Gotsoccer rankings are NOT the only use for gotsoccer, and rankings are BY FAR the least important reason to look at gotsoccer.com

    (As for "former D1 players", there are plenty of sucky D1 programs out there. There are also many D1 programs who do not consider gotsoccer rankings at all.)

    As for "don't talk to the coaches", the coach and how he deals with the parents (for younger kids) and more importantly players is very important. Not only that, attending practices is not the end-all be-all. It shows you one part of the picture. Attending a game and seeing how the coach does pre-game warm-ups, how he starts and subs players, how he deals with things going well and things going poorly, that is very important.

    All that elessar78's hate of gotsoccer tells me is that he has not spent any time on the site. It is NOT about rankings for anyone but the uneducated. As someone who has played and coached for years, and watches and follows soccer almost daily, I and my spouse with the same soccer background do know what is good and what is, as elessar78 says, shit. Shit is assuming that someone who admits to only rec soccer experience and assumedly has little soccer knowledge beyond "kick it in the net" (like the parents yelling "Corre!" and "Chuta!" incessantly at their kids no matter where they are on the field or where the ball is) will somehow magically "learn what good soccer development is" on their own in time to help their child.

    Getting your child onto a soccer team is like getting a job. The boss matters, what the job is matters, where the job will take you matters. Ask the coach about his playing time philosophy (will he sit kids for more than half of a game?), about his practices (does he have the same practice every week or does he progress to learning different aspects of the game?), about the club (are they a "family club" where they develop a sense of camaraderie between players and parents? are they a trainer run club where results matter more than development?).

    Do not be afraid of your child having to change teams, because unless your child is already very very good, they will likely start on a lower level team and work their way up to a higher level team. My kid started on a flight 7 team and eventually ended up on a high-level team. It is HIGHLY unlikely that a flight 7 team has all of their players who want a high-level soccer experience, let alone parents who want to commit to the time and money of high-level soccer.*

    *even community-based clubs that have high-level teams can be quite costly. One team my son was on was $500 per year including training and local games, but all tournaments were extra and that amounted to $2,000 once food and lodging for out-of-state tournaments was considered. Let alone committing entire weekends for three or four soccer games for one of your children.
     
  5. elessar78

    elessar78 Moderator
    Staff Member

    May 12, 2010
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    I don't spend a lot of time there. I have been there. Part f what I do for a living is design and structure websites. The first button in the too left Of the nav bar is "rankings", granting it prime real estate. Either they want to promote their rankings or that is what they found people click on the most. Yes, they have other stuff on there but that place exists pretty much because of their rankings.

    You are literally the first person I've talked to to mention gotsoccer outside of rankings.

    By all means, go to gotsoccer for everything but the rankings.

    Go ahead talk to the coach. Come back and tell me if to a man every coach didn't say they were development first. Tell me that they didn't say they focus on skills. Watch their practices and tell me of they focused on development and skills or did they work on tactical team play the whole time at preteen ages.

    Games tell you a different story about a coach/club/team. The kid spends 66% of his time on the team in practice. Practice is where kids learn and improve.

    Go ahead, watch games, talk to coaches and managers.
     
  6. tuffnut11

    tuffnut11 Member

    Mar 16, 2014
    Club:
    Philadelphia Union
    Wow thank you for all your input. I truely appreciate it. I plan to take all the information you gave and use it to help make an informed decision. I have been doing research non stop when I have time. I want to make the best informed decision and yall helped out a lot. Thank you!
     
  7. ParkGirl

    ParkGirl New Member

    Apr 18, 2014
    I would appreciate some advice, wisdom. My 6 year old is good for his age gets noticed/asked to do "more" by coaches that see him. He isn't on a team yet but a few places want him to join their organization next fall. One option is a local club where he'd play up (u8), decent reputation but perhaps more focus on tactics and winning at the young ages than I'm comfortable with. Or, go to the best (real) academy in the area and get him in the ground floor of their program? The focus at the younger ages appears to be weighted more toward individual technical training, much less towards preparing for/playing a huge load of games. The academy half an hour away while the other place is 10 min from our house.

    My concern about the academy route: longer drive, the competitive pressures longer term (yes, he's very good now, but what is likelihood he continues on this trajectory vs. gets pushed out as other kids catch up and are drawn to the academy at slightly older ages)? As a 6 year old, he's surprisingly mature and driven. But let's face it, he's 6. The pool of very good 6 year olds is pretty small from what I've seen, and I know that's going to change as the kids get older. Is it wrong to put him in the most challenging environment now, as we wonder what the chances are that he would continue to actually be able to stay on an academy "A" team down the road? And how will he feel about soccer if he's pushed out at the tender age of, say, 10? Or do we keep him very local, playing up in an environment that isn't quite as developmental, and move him to the academy later if he continues to excel?

    Would love to hear others thoughts.
     
  8. rhrh

    rhrh Member

    Mar 5, 2010
    Club:
    AC Milan
    The word "coach" is a very loose term. Heck, I have a F license and have coached five teams age 3 up to age 11. What kind of coaches are noticing him? In what venues?

    What is right with any kid under the age of 10 is what works for your family and for him. He will not lose anything by not playing "competitively" at age 6 (as if there was such a thing). I coached a kid who was a superstar at age 6, and saw him at age 10 on a travel team. He was okay but the other kids did catch up.

    And I'm wondering about the veracity of your post, because 10 minutes away vs. 30 minutes away is a dream for most of us. And I am in the NYC area, so you'd think there would be more options available than in other areas. I must assume if those times are true, you live in NYC or LA or Chicago or the clubs are vastly different in reputation and training quality. And that's part of your research (yet you rattle off "tactics" and "(real) academy" like you know more than most of us), to find out where might be appropriate, to have him try different things if it fits your schedule and his interest level.

    When my son was that age, he was doing YMCA soccer and training classes, such as shooting and dribbling. As a teenager he's being recruited to play in college. He didn't seem to lose anything by not playing organized soccer until age 9.

    Of course, if you think your son has pro potential, you've got to move to Europe as soon as possible...
     
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  9. ParkGirl

    ParkGirl New Member

    Apr 18, 2014
    #234 ParkGirl, Apr 18, 2014
    Last edited: Apr 18, 2014
    Thank you for replying. Yes, we live in a densely populated metro area that is a soccer hot spot, so there are many options which is nice.

    I definitely don't know more than people on here about soccer, which is why I'm posting, but I have an older child who plays mid-level travel soccer so I know the difference between the USSF academy and the many other clubs that call themselves academies. That's what I meant by real academy.

    I have no illusion that my child is going to go pro, or that he is the best 6 year old in our area. He's not. There are a few exceptional kids he's played against/with, but he fits in with them. When I say coaches have noticed him, I simply mean that if he shows up somewhere to play, he gets invited to do more very quickly. I'm not suggesting that anyone is telling me he is so special or the next Messi. Just that he is getting different invitations for next year and we are trying to figure out best route for him. He's very driven and practices a lot on his own, but again, he's only 6 so I am treading carefully. I wonder about the merits of putting him in the academy type environment at the get-go vs. having him play more locally and then, when he is old enough to make more of the decision himself, move him there if he is still "good enough" and driven enough to be in that environment. Or do the benefits of being in the development academy's youth program early trump other concerns.

    Coaches who have noticed him are all licensed, some are heads of coaching/clubs, also by a youth academy coach. Not parent coaches. Venues they notice him in are during league play, training programs run by local clubs, or tryouts.
     
  10. nicklaino

    nicklaino Member+

    Feb 14, 2012
    Brooklyn, NY
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    ParkGirl he is 6 it might be too late for him in his soccer career to hook up with a good club.

    I have a new Grand Daughter Sophia she is 5 weeks old now. I told my daughter to start practicing when she was pregnant. She refused to listen. Any way when my little Sophia was two weeks old I introduced her to the soccer ball. Then I introduced her to her feet. I am using a progression in my coaching. Then we will put all the parts together then one day soon she will score her first golazo. :)

    How are heads of coaching noticing him? Are they wandering rec soccer fields looking for future National team players?

    What will they charge mom for the honor of coaching your future super star?

    I was a club player and coach for over 60 years.

    Our youth club teams started at 5 years on an adult field 11 on a side. We did not look for players on rec fields. We took who ever showed up. We had club sponsors, the founders and the coaches and alumini, dinner dances, man of the year events and other donations that paid club expenses.

    We charged the players and their families nothing back in those days. The coaches were or current players or past players. No one was paid to coach. We did it for love of the game and for the club.

    So no one made money from our game back them. The players were mostly the children of immigrants and they were mostly poor or aybe lower middle class.

    We still put out pretty good players.

    Later ages came to us because they were looking for better coaching and playing against better players. It was not only the parents the players also wanted that. Our season was all year long. So playing other sports when they played for us was not something we had to worry about.
     
  11. rhrh

    rhrh Member

    Mar 5, 2010
    Club:
    AC Milan
    I'm a licensed coach and a parent. I have coached teams with and without my kids on them.

    Jurgen Klinsmann's son has been in the US national team camps and may play for him someday. Michael Bradley played for his father on the US MNT. Tab Ramos coached his son's team for many years. So being a parent who coaches doesn't necessarily mean unqualified, and being a "professional"/paid coach doesn't mean qualified automatically. Some of the worst coaches my son has had were coaching for a living, sad to say.

    Anyway, I don't get something. You said "league play" but earlier said "He isn't on a team yet"? How can both of those be true? Is he guesting at age 6? And they have tryouts for six year olds in your area? I'm in the NYC area, and there are very very few teams for U7 players. For U8 - U10 they do not allow stats or tables to be kept.

    It sounds like you've already been taking him around various places. What you see and what the coaches tell you about their program is what will help you figure out what to do. He won't "lose" anything if he doesn't join a "real academy" at age 6 or 7. And I don't know of any academies in my area that have U8 teams, the pre-academy teams start at U11 so anything below that is not USSF academy. Some of the USSF academies in our area have younger teams, but they play against non-USSF academies all the time.

    If you have the time or money, maybe you should take him to some camps run by international pro teams, like Barcelona or AC Milan. In a large metropolitan area, there should be opportunities available.

    About the only thing to avoid is coaches who would scream at 6, 7, 8 year olds.
     
  12. ParkGirl

    ParkGirl New Member

    Apr 18, 2014
    Nicklaino - :) Thanks for the laugh! Your experience sounds wonderful. There is a huge proliferation of "elite" programs for younger and younger ages, which is a mighty profitable venture for some coaches/clubs. And everyone wants their child to be elite material, of course. But not all are a profit play (at least not immediately). We've discovered that some clubs offer free training to the youngest, likely in hopes of funneling large numbers of kids into their program in the near future. We've taken full advantage of these clinics, and my son has gained a lot of his skills and love of the game in of these settings. It's nice because not only is it free, but you get a window into the club with no commitment. Perhaps the best program/team we are considering next year is <$4/hr for training/game time over the whole course of the year. So that is very reasonable for a excellent program. But yes, my eyes are wide open to the for-profit soccer world and how mom/dad and little junior are simply $$ for club coffers, and if little jr helps them win games, all the better to attract more kids to the program down the road.

    rhrh - We have already crossed one potential team of the list because my son said the coach yelled too much during training (!) sessions. Good to find that out now. My ds isn't on an official year-round team yet. Aside from the free clinics I described above, he plays in mini-leagues run by local clubs, that either scrimmage within themselves or take the boys to local tournaments. So it is nothing binding and we haven't signed him up for anything that lasts more than a couple months. Mostly to try out different trainers/clubs, learn new skills, see what out there, does he enjoy the increasing level of competitiveness, have fun without a big commitment, etc.. at this point. And there are definitely U6/U7 teams like this that coming together to play competitively, but you might not realize the extent of it on paper because they'll enter and play up in U8 tournaments.

    Anyway, thank you both for the responses. It is helpful to get some perspective. Now, I need to get off the computer because my son wants me to go to the park to practice soccer with him!
     
  13. rhrh

    rhrh Member

    Mar 5, 2010
    Club:
    AC Milan
    I think perhaps your idea of "competitively" is different from mine. I've said that I've coached kids as young as 3 in team play. I would never in my wildest dreams consider kids who are 6 or younger competitive.

    It is against our state soccer agency's rules to have a child U7 play on a U8 team, or have a U7 let alone U6 team play as U8 in a tournament. There is a special league that is U7 only that has 10 teams across our state. I hazard to guess what you mean by "tournaments" in terms of organization and following safety rules.

    I would NOT suggest having your son continue on teams or in programs where they aren't following your state soccer association's rules. One way to tell is that they don't ask for a copy of his birth certificate and they don't ask for medical information such as permission to treat and health insurance information.

    There are significant safety concerns in soccer especially for younger children that might not be apparent. Allowing metal spikes or jewelry/unsafe gear, unanchored goals, overage players, etc. Get him into a state soccer association sanctioned program as soon as you can, and don't let him play on fields with anything other than plastic pop-up or otherwise mini-goals until you do.

    You have more than enough time to work on this, the worst thing that can happen is get him in with people operating off-the-cuff and toying with the safety of the kids.
     
  14. ParkGirl

    ParkGirl New Member

    Apr 18, 2014
    Leagues and tournaments under US Club go to younger ages, so that is how we know a few 5 year olds that are actually on year round travel teams that play up in U7 and even U8 leagues/tournaments. I'm not saying this is a good thing by the way.
     
  15. nicklaino

    nicklaino Member+

    Feb 14, 2012
    Brooklyn, NY
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    #240 nicklaino, Apr 18, 2014
    Last edited: Apr 18, 2014
    Ok I see where your comming from park girl. I also see how some coaches and academies are recruiting their players.

    Ok keep doing what your doing he is learning the skills of the game without a big financial commitment or any other commitment from you as yet. Your son is also having fun. Also keep playing with him in the park.

    Find a rec league and put him in it. So he will be playing every week while your doing this other stuff. The financial commitment should be 150 or less maybe a lot less. Don't pay more.

    The Academy guys want your money more then your son. They will say and do what ever it takes to get your son and you. When they are coaching your son see if the coach really digs what he is doing so you can tell it is not an act.

    There are always kids at these things that would rather dig in the grass then play. See what he does with them. I used to give the teams to others for a few minutes and go over to kids like this and play with them with the ball. If they did not want to play I would say ok let's play in the grass and do that. :) my best memories of coaching the little guys was at those times.

    Then I would go back to the team. Tell the parents don't force them to play with the ball if they don't want to just play with them. So they want to come back and play next time. You have to be cool with parents because they are the ones who get the little guys to the field instead of taking them to GrandMa. I would try to make it fun for everyone including me. So grandMa and GrandPa would show up as well.

    See if his coaches like to show off their ball skills. If not maybe they don't have them. Find another coach it can't always train with a trainer.

    How long is practice with 6 yr olds. An hour or an hour and a half is about right for that age. It should also be early in the morning less outside distractions to break their concentration at that time.

    You want them to learn and they have to have fun while they learn or it won't be fun any more. You and the coach has to have fun as well remember that.

    Everyone should have their own ball with their name on it.
     
  16. ncsoccerdad

    ncsoccerdad Member

    Apr 16, 2012
    Central NC
    Club:
    FC Barcelona
    ParkGirl, just get him with the best coaches and make sure he keeps enjoying himself. If it's just out your back door, great. If it's thirty minutes away, okay. Just get him the best training you can get him, in a fun environment.

    A word about coaches and yelling. The director of our academy coaches my oldest's U10 team. He yells a lot. When they aren't paying attention, he takes their ball and punts it as far as he can (former goalie, so it's a long way) and they have to run and get it. But he also goes nuts with praise when they do anything right, and he kids around with them and needles them about girls and whatnot. The boys absolutely love him. They train with a smile on their faces, and they trust him completely.

    So, just because a coach yells doesn't necessarily mean he's not good for your son. Just my $.02...
     
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  17. bigredfutbol

    bigredfutbol Moderator
    Staff Member

    Sep 5, 2000
    Woodbridge, VA
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Good point in general, but since her son already said he didn't like the coach, that ought to be the main criteria. For young players, it's crucial that they enjoy themselves and feel comfortable.
     
  18. Moncho73

    Moncho73 New Member

    Apr 30, 2014
    Puerto Rico
    Club:
    Juventus FC
    This kid have 8.

     
  19. dcole

    dcole Member+

    May 27, 2005
    I went and watched all three videos on the youtube site. This kid is great. Amazing control and I love his creativity with the ball. His uses a lot of uncommon moves and has a really broad base of foot skills. I would recommend a couple things. First, teach him to shield the ball a bit more. He tends to rely on trickery with the ball out in front of him, but you also need to know how to simply get and keep your body between the ball and the defender. Second, although I'd definitely keep working on ball skills, he's ready to move on to receiving difficult balls, receiving and turning, long passing and striking the ball with power. I can recommend some easy drills you can do with him if you are interested, but it looks like you know enough about the game to some up with your own drills. Develop his comfort and power in his left foot, which comes from practicing with it. In short, don't just work on ball skills.
     
  20. Moncho73

    Moncho73 New Member

    Apr 30, 2014
    Puerto Rico
    Club:
    Juventus FC
    Thank a lot for your advice!!!! I really don't know anything about soccer. Please believe me. I never play. This kid have natural skills. I appreciate that you send me some exercise.
     
  21. dcole

    dcole Member+

    May 27, 2005
    Someone is teaching him those moves. Has to be. In any event, here are some drills you can do with him to improve other parts of his game beyond foot skills:

    Control and Return

    For these first six drills, have him stand 8-10 feet away from you. The ball should never touch the ground and his return pas should be crisp and firm, not a blooped return:

    1. Lob the ball to him gently and have him volley it back to you (about waist to chest high on you) with the inside of the foot. Alternate feet.

    2. Lob the ball to him gently and have him volley it back to you with his instep. Alternate feet.

    3. Lob the ball to his thigh and have him control with his thigh and then directly volley it back to you with the inside of the foot. Alternate thighs and feet.

    4. Lob the ball to his thigh and have him control with his thigh and then directly volley it back to you with his instep. Alternate thighs and feet.

    5. Lob the ball to his chest and and have him control the ball with his chest and volley it back to you with the inside of the foot. Alternate feet.

    6. Lob the ball to his chest and and have him control the ball with his chest and volley it back to you with his instep. Alternate feet.

    Passing

    He can do this with you or can simply pass against a wall. When receiving a pass, remember that you want to change the location of the ball with your first touch in order to avoid the approaching defender. You almost never want to receive a pass with the inside of one foot, stand still and return the pass with the inside of the same foot. So don't practice that way:

    1. Receive with inside of one foot and return with inside of other foot. First touch should be toward the other foot and a bit out in front to allow him to step into his pass. On the return pass, his plant foot should be pointed at the target.

    2. Receive with outside of one foot and return with the inside of the same foot. Reach across the body to receive with the outside of the foot and use the touch with the outside of the foot to set up the return pass.

    3. Receive with the inside of the foot across the body, quick touch back across the baody with the outside of the same foot, then pass with the inside of the same foot. Each touch clears the space.

    4. Receive with the inside of the foot, quick sole roll of the ball with that same foot, return with other foot.

    (There are lots of ways to vary this but always receive the ball with a good first touch that changes the location of the ball and sets up the return pass. Never let the ball get trapped under you.)

    Headers

    Buy a Nerf or Puff soccer ball and work with him on headers. He's only 8, so I strongly recommend against having him do header drills with a real soccer ball. A few is fine, but not a lot. Nerf is what you want.

    1. Start with him on his knees and lob the ball to him. Have him lunge/fall foward and make contact with his forehead (below the hairline). Kids like to try to use the part of the head from the hairline to the top of the head. Don't let him do that!

    2. Have him stand up and lob the ball to his head. Show him some youtube videos of people doing good headers to make sure he understands proper form and how to snap the ball back.

    3. Lob the ball up higher and have him jump up and snap the ball back with his forehead.

    (AGAIN, USE A NERF BALL ONLY FOR THESE HEADER DRILLS!!!)
     
  22. Moncho73

    Moncho73 New Member

    Apr 30, 2014
    Puerto Rico
    Club:
    Juventus FC
    Nice!!!!
    I show he youtube videos and he learn. Unfortunately in this country (Puerto Rico) soccer does not have much support.
    I'm a little confused because don't know what to do with his talent.
    Thank Amigo!!!!
     
  23. dcole

    dcole Member+

    May 27, 2005


    Check out this video for a good variation on the volley return drills, where the kids go around a cone before receiving the next ball. I like this because it keeps them from just standing still and better simulates game conditions. The same youtube user also has a video showing the thigh-to-foot returns in case my explanation was hard to follow. Come to think of it, vidoes would have been better than my instructions anyway!
     
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  24. ChapacoSoccer

    ChapacoSoccer Member

    Jan 12, 2010
    Los Angeles
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    related question. The volley drills are great, but I've wondered wether playing soccer tennis isn't a better to way to develop the same skills in a more game like and realistic way. Opinions?
     
  25. dcole

    dcole Member+

    May 27, 2005
    Agreed, but you need two people who know how to play, plus it is more advanced. It's a good next step after the basic skills are acquired.
     

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