I like my team to play with a ball at 7lbs they are young girls trying to get a good first touch and this helps. Also at some point in the game some one will get the ball in the face. The other day the lines man pressed the ball with his hands and said it was too soft. I said it was 7lbs and brought my air gage out for him to cq he said it should be 9lbs? I asked the other coach and he said the same as me,but we could not play or start with my ball. What do you think ?
I prefer it inflated to the upper end of the allowable limit for my U10s. With that said there's probably no need to deal in absolutes, but the refs have the laws of the game to follow. It's within their discretion whether to play with a softer ball or not, despite both coaches agreeing. I'm by-the-book as a coach because I used to be a ref (in terms of laws of the game), why I prefer more air pressure is because they get used to the hard ball and it reinforces the need to lock the ankle to strike the ball cleanly. I believe that a softer ball creates bad habits in a way. With my team, I bet there's a pretty good correlation between kids who can't lock their ankle and kids who come with an under inflated ball.
Yes I think you have a very good point and I respect what you have posted before. So I will change my thinking on this and thank you for your comments. You are the man.
From a medical point of view, concussions are the most commonly referred injury I see every weekend on the fields I work. I will see up to 12 a day at the youth soccer level. Ball pressure shouldn't be the cause of these injuries. Picking the right ball, using lower pressure, teaching the right heading techniques, using the headgear can all help in minimizing the damage done by heading the ball. At the Disney tourney 2 years ago, I had 2 female concussions in the first game just from heading the ball. It was cold and the balls had 15#s of pressure when the ball recommended at the high end was 12. I make it a habit to check the pressure in the balls before each game. The balls with the foam covering will also help. I am also a referee and it is my main goal to make the game as safe as possible for the participants.
From my observations the concussive type "hits" aren't headers. At the young ages, its RARE for a girl to stick her head on a highly lofted ball. Physiologically, they have trouble tracking these types of balls. The hard ball to face comes from mindless kicks that are so popular with young girls with. The ball where they rear back with all their might and whack to wild applause from parents is the main problem IMO. Another note about air pressure, maybe it's diffferent for most of the country but I'm at 1200 feet above sea level, so you can argue with refs that it can be even higher than posted. This summer, some of the girls came back from camp with these balls that were pumped to an inch of their life. I love 'em! We switch back and forth between these rocks and "softer" (but properly inflated) balls and the play just zings when we go softer. The touch on the rocks is unforgiving, so you have to strike it correctly and solidly.
