"My question is, can a soccer player be made? What steps would need to be taken from what age?" This was the original question, and it was thought up because they had seen the documentary about Todd Marinovich on ESPN. Todd, was brought up in So. Cal. and graduated from Capistrano Valley High School in I think 88, or 89. He went to USC and then on to the Raiders. His dad was over the top and extremely demanding of his son. And while his son was an extremely good player, he flamed out, burned out, or wigged out. In part I'm sure because of the excesses of his dad. I was referencing that a lot of parents pay a ton of money for skills development in soccer when in my opinion it is a natural aptitude that reads the game that makes someone a star, along with the necessary amount of athleticism that is required to compete at a high level. That aptitude, or anticipation, or reading the game, is not something that is learned through repetitive training of skills. And while it can be and is taught, some have more of it than others, and they are the stars.
IMO, where Marv Marinovich failed was not giving young Todd coping mechanisms and socialization skills. Life, even the life of a professional, is more than just your domain of specialization. I disagree. Aptitude, anticipation and reading the game IS something learned through repetition. That's the a major part of the impetus for training within SSGs, scrimmages, and street soccer. The player gets exposure to situations and the same situations arise again and again in all levels of soccer. It's why "scanning" is such a missing part of the American player's game and they suffer for it. You say more of "it". What is "it"? Invariably we'll talk about Messi and his speed or dribbling speed or his control. But he's so much more than that. What about Cristiano Ronaldo, many players are as fast, strong(er), and athletic as he is. What sets him apart? Xavi, Iniesta, Paul Scholes? They don't have blazing speed, not particularly athletic, what is it that they have that others don't? Speed of thought? Soccer IQ? I've already said that that stuff can be gained.
You are correct that Scrimages, street soccer, and game situations are a great way to develop, as is mastering the skills and doing some rope training. What I am reffering to is the parent with the kid that goes out and gets repetitive training to learn how to do pullbacks and shooting and skills. That type of training while great for giving a kid confidence and learning individual skills dosen't teach them how to play the game. The bottom line is that all the great players played constantly, whether it was in games, scrimmages street soccer, or on the sideline while their dads played in the local sunday league. They grew up emmersed in the game. Until we as a nation get our young players more involved in soccer in that way we will continue to not be a top tier soccer playing nation. I was watching the interview with Jurgen Klinsman last night at the NSCAA convention and he seemed genuinely happy that the US had 22 or so players playing soccer abroad. Dosen't show a lot of depth. And while soccer in the US has improved tremendously over the last decade, it still has a long way to go. But power to the MLS. It will be extremely difficult to achieve because soccer is not the fourth or fifth most popular sport (among adults) in any of the top nations as it is here. It will take time. Most of the kids that want to be stars are going to move to where they can make the money. And you can make a lot more in some of the secondary markets, and 2nd divisions over in Europe, than you can here. "It" is the It factor, that thing that you can't really understand that makes one player a star, and another just very good.
What sets these players apart is their talents. Ronaldo, Messi, Iniesta, Xavi, Scholes all have different talents which they've developed over the years thanks to good coaching, hard work, dedication, etc.
It's got to be both really. Let's forget about being a "star" for a moment. How about just playing for a living. Becoming a professional should be the goal for someone truly dedicated to their sport of choice. I think a kid has to have a certain baseline talent to even worry about playing academy/odp etc. Maybe the top 10% of kids have the base technical talent to compete at that level at the u11-u13 level. I feel you can see most (not all) of those kids start to pull ahead at about u9-u10. By that time the basic technical skills of dribbling, shooting and passing are pretty well formed for MOST kids. A rare kid can develop good technical skill after then, but again very rare in my experience. Those technical talents needed will fluctuate given the childs overall athletic ability which also needs a baseline. But a less athletic kid can do well if they have higher technical skills. Give me a slower kid that can see the game and play a pass, and he can play for me any day. If I have a taller, faster, more athletic type, he's going to be able to get by with less techincal skill...for a while anyway. Hopefully he can develop some more skill. He'll need to do that to continue progressing. Once those 10% (maybe it's 5%, maybe 15%, you get my point) of youngsters filter upwards, then it's all about the kid, his determination, and his support structure. We see it at my sons club. There are some very, very talented kids, but you can see the writing on the wall for a number of them. They don't show up for most of the winter program agility training. They show for half the indoor games, but they are there on Saturdays in Spring and Fall. That will get them by until the more dedicated kids overtake them at 14, 15 or 16 years old. There aren't a lot of Vince Carter types in soccer. God given talent without work ethic and smart play doesn't do well above a certain level. The ones who make it to college, mls, and especially further, are the ones who had some amount talent and skill to begin with, and the determination to mine their level of talent as deep as they could (or as much as needed to get what they wanted). I've coached kids that I know are good enough to play MLS from a talent standpoint. The odds they'll get there are still small for a lot of reasons. I've also coached kids that were playing soccer because mom and dad had the misguided notion that soccer was the sport for a kid that might not be very good at other sports.
"My question is, can a soccer player be made? What steps would need to be taken from what age?" I think so. Several books argue that it can happen. A great experiment for sure. 1) Start in the womb. Child should be born into a completely soccer-obsessed family. Both parents, all siblings are players, coaches, know the game. Only soccer on TV. Go to games, join fan clubs, ect. Make sure mom takes lots of prenatal vitamins (especially ones that support production of myelin - do your research!), mom eats perfectly and exercises moderately. Mom and Dad read Talent Code, Outliers, ect. Have perfectly healthy baby (hopefully a lefty). 2) As soon as baby is born, breast feed (more vitamins & perfect diet for mom). Take baby to all soccer games, show the game on tv, mom and dad, all sibling play on teams. Show your obsession constantly. But, don't allow baby to touch or play with a ball for about the first 3-4 years. Completely off limits, but always within sight.Have fun with it in front of baby. Makes the ball something very special and coveted. Feed your young'n only the BEST. No junk, lots of nutrients. 3)Around age 4, start intense homeschooling, including a Kindergarten curriculum, foregin language instuction and general, age appropriate, but advanced, daily physical education, and some kind of creativity-sparking thing (music, art, ect). Only soccer allowed on TV and video games. Analyze & Discuss those games as a family. Now, they start playing with the ball, but not on a team. The ball would go everywhere with the child. Mom and Dad take children outside to work on ball control and skills, daily, for several hours. Find a park where pick up games are going on & do this during older sibs practice time. This should be tons of fun for the child, if they want to sit and just watch, make it more fun, they HAVE to want to get out there (and they should, just to be having fun with the family). Older sibling is on a team, so child should start wanting to join their own team by about or 6. 4)Continue homeschooling (no peer realted distractions, in fact, the child should only know your religion, school subjects and soccer). Start meditation/positive thing/focusing exercises for the child. At about 6 start thinking about joining a team. Find a futsal team, with varying ages, same sex as your child. Play futsal daily, but monitor all childrens discussions - only soccer or school topics allowed. Continue individual training daily, physical fitness and skills with a ball. Intense, advanced schoolwork, soccer discussions daily, perfect eating habits & supplements. By about 8 y/o, spend more than 2 hours a day on personal skills & ball control training, with speed, agility, muscle workouts in addition, every other day. 5)At 9 years old, move to an area where there is a top 5 club (if you must stay in the US). Find the perfect team, coach and residential training program (or do this part at home). Have your 9-10 year old homeschooling 4 hours/day, training daily 5+ hours, then heading to team practice about 2 hours, 3x a week. Make sure your child is on a club team where everyone else is a better player, practice untill (s)he moves up the ladder and is one of the strongest, then move up. Repeat.* Do not stress winning...doesn't matter. Child should be practicing all personal skills during games, and now, quick passing, making runs, defense ect. *Explain 10,000 hour theory and give child a realistic estimate of their number. When child runs across better players, explain that they just have more hours under their belt so child doesn't feel bad about being the worst on the team. Also, be sure to send this child (9-10 y/o+) to all the best camps every summer, spring and winter. Pay for the best trainers you can find. Play indoor, outdoor, futsal, multiple teams. Find ways to get the club team to the best tournaments in US and overseas. Most importantly, no distractions. No outside schooling, only soccer on TV and video games, no junk food, only friends through soccer or religion. Parents always doing something "soccer" Following these rules, you should have an 11 year old with more than 5600 hours of training. The child would be an amazing player based on the 10,000 hour theory. And, who doesn't like something they're great at??? Hopefully, you've instilled the love of the game successfully, and given them such a head start that through the pre-teen and teen years it will continue without the parent pushing... Good Luck
Probably much more likely that a soccer player can be made than a football player or any other sport that requires a high degree of physical capacity to perform at a high level. Soccer is highly skill dependent and therefore trainable.
You forgot 6) Remove all weapons and sharp objects from the house so your kid cannot use them on you or himself.
I think that's only true in this country (and other countries with nascent soccer cultures). They pull ahead at U9-U10 because they are faster, bigger, more "naturally" coordinated. Although not 100% of my slow, uncoordinated players have become "soccer players"—the ones that do the work I ask of them outside of practice do become good players. You put your number at the top 10% as having the base technical skills. That's about right for me, but if you delve into that number I'm sure you'd find in that 10% probably got good training between ages 4-7. The rest probably have some early developmental advantage. I've seen too many kids in the "top 10%" whom I can poke huge holes in their technique. But how many kids are even taught how to run, jump, land, cut, crawl? In the past, kids played on their own and learned these things. Now they play less and these basic movements are not learned. We characterize these as innate for those who have it, but they never learned it through play. Too many kids who "don't have it" at U9/U10 are shunned and are "tracked" onto less achieving teams/coaches. But again, the problem with that is, IMO, we don't teach them how to move and give them a grounding in the basic soccer skills and label them as "don't have its". Seems unfair to me. One of the few requirements for me at the early stages is that the kid like to run. Not be fast, not be a good runner, but just enjoy or not mind the act of running. Everything else, given enough time, can be improved upon. The ones who make it to college, mls, and especially further, are the ones who had some amount talent and skill to begin with, and the determination to mine their level of talent as deep as they could (or as much as needed to get what they wanted).
Despite the sarcasm . . . some of it is still a little off base but contain some truths. 1) Lefty's can be trained. Why not be born into a soccer obsessed family? It gives other sports an advantage? Nearly every NBA/NFL player is born into a sports loving family. 2) That's what you should feed your baby anyway and what's wrong with having them play with a ball? Any ball. Even rolling the ball to them, across their line of sight, or bouncing it around starts their ability to track objects moving in space. Pushing a ball, stopping a ball (or any object) with your hands or body is how we learn how to function in the world. I don't think it's ever too early to learn these things. 3. Again, why not let them play with a ball in any manner they want. The key thing is PLAY. Play is the best teacher. "Homeschooling" has started way before age 4 anyway. If I can teach my two year old not to stick her hand in the toilet, why can't I teach her how to scan in all directions (useful for soccer AND life in general). We teach her colors, shapes, names of things, rules . . . 4. Is it so unheard of for a 6 YO to PLAY for 3 hours a day, I think 6 YOs play for the 12 of the 14 hours they are awake. It doesn't have to be soccer (because soccer is not an early specialization sport). 5. Why move to an area with a Top 5 club? The things that need to be learned are readily available and can be taught well enough by an adult who is sincere enough about learning to teach the basics to kids and not worried about his ego and how many games his U8s win. You're so cynical about the process that you fail to see what happens naturally anyway and how you can just let soccer development parallel a child's life and growth pattern. Half of your assertions about best tournaments, soccer year round, etc are wrong anyway—probably antithetical to making the best soccer player possible. 95% of the youth players I come across don't impress me. Maybe we just focus on making a complete soccer player first before we talk about making pros before we talk about making stars. The good luck needed lies in avoiding injury and finding a great coach as young as possible.
"Despite the sarcasm . . . some of it is still a little off base but contain some truths. 1) Lefty's can be trained. Why not be born into a soccer obsessed family? It gives other sports an advantage? Nearly every NBA/NFL player is born into a sports loving family. 2) That's what you should feed your baby anyway and what's wrong with having them play with a ball? Any ball. Even rolling the ball to them, across their line of sight, or bouncing it around starts their ability to track objects moving in space. Pushing a ball, stopping a ball (or any object) with your hands or body is how we learn how to function in the world. I don't think it's ever too early to learn these things. 3. Again, why not let them play with a ball in any manner they want. The key thing is PLAY. Play is the best teacher. "Homeschooling" has started way before age 4 anyway. If I can teach my two year old not to stick her hand in the toilet, why can't I teach her how to scan in all directions (useful for soccer AND life in general). We teach her colors, shapes, names of things, rules . . . 4. Is it so unheard of for a 6 YO to PLAY for 3 hours a day, I think 6 YOs play for the 12 of the 14 hours they are awake. It doesn't have to be soccer (because soccer is not an early specialization sport). 5. Why move to an area with a Top 5 club? The things that need to be learned are readily available and can be taught well enough by an adult who is sincere enough about learning to teach the basics to kids and not worried about his ego and how many games his U8s win. You're so cynical about the process that you fail to see what happens naturally anyway and how you can just let soccer development parallel a child's life and growth pattern. Half of your assertions about best tournaments, soccer year round, etc are wrong anyway—probably antithetical to making the best soccer player possible. 95% of the youth players I come across don't impress me. Maybe we just focus on making a complete soccer player first before we talk about making pros before we talk about making stars. The good luck needed lies in avoiding injury and finding a great coach as young as possible. " I wasn't being entirely sarcastic... I loosely based my post on how we raise our children. We are a homeschooling family, don't allow TV or video games during the week (soccer games OK after work & practice, unless Barca is playing, most days doesn't happen). Both myself and my spouse are players (in the past high level, currently just rec when we can), both licensed coaches. From a newborn, my oldest son was at soccer games, on the sidelines, and eventually toddling all over the practice field. He practiced for fun with us (parents) almost daily until he was 5 when he joined a team (3v3 outdoor, then futsal) and at 7 y/o was so far above his peers it was funny. Now, my son is 10 & is in a program where he is playing/practicing 35 hours a week. He loves soccer (all his siblings are in different sports, after trying soccer for a while: his younger brothers are both very competitive swimmers, and his 5 year old sister is a level 3 tumbler/cheer). And I do think what he's doing is working, and tournaments are important, since he was invited to a month trial with a professional team in Europe
I believe you can. But maybe it's not "teach," at the young ages it's exposure and opportunities to run, chase, climb, crawl, etc. Kids today don't play like I did 20 years ago (I consider myself at the cusp of the change). I've been up and down the east coast, parts of the midwest, and the west coast... parks and neighborhoods are devoid of childhood activity. Public courts and fields of any sport are vacant except for organized activities. Active adults use these more than any one, IMO. The only reason I disagree is that I've seen people learn movement in their teens and as adults. With some sensitivity I think people are very adaptable in terms of their movement. I'm talking running, learning to high jump, pole vault, long jump, learning balance through yoga, martial arts . . . the common thread is that these are things that require attention to detail in movements. Also, I teach teens plyometrics and very few of them have the good form to get the most out of it. So I constantly have to tweak their arm position, leg bend, torso lean. Some are elite soccer players others are volleyball newbies who want to learn to get off the ground for the first time. Young ladies going into a leaping sport like volleyball are particularly suspect, there are very few opportunities for young girls to GET UP! Boys are always trying to jump higher, touch this high bar or that. Girls, not so much.
I disagree with this. Soccer is not just about skills. There are four elements required - technical, tactical, physical and psychological. All 4 of them are equally important. Soccer also is a sport played with feet majority of the time, hence why it is actually the real "football" game. American football, basketball, baseball are played with hands. Hands coordination is more natural than feet coordination. Also, ball manipulation with hands is easier and has less variety than with feet. If you take just the soccer skills into consideration, they are a lot more complex than in other hand-sports.
These players are certainly not "couch potatos" either. They are obviously athletic enough to play at the highest pro level. I'm not sure I agree with that. It is not given or guaranteed it will happen.
Fact: Today's professional athletes generally lack basic athletic skills compared to past generations. That is what professional conditioning coaches have been seeing for the past 10 years. So its back to the basics for a lot of professional athletes. Declining physical activity in children (and in society generally) and early sport specialization are blamed.
This Vern Gambetta book is what I was based my comment on. Athletic Development: The Art & Science of Functional Sports Conditioning
You actually appear to be misunderstanding what I said and then agreeing with me...and don't be pedantic about calling the game football vs. soccer, it's childish. I never said soccer was only about skills, I said it was more about skills than football and many other sports that rely to relatively greater degree on physical capacity.
I disagree with you on both counts. First, I don't think soccer (aka real football) is more about skills than other sports. Second, I also don't agree that these skills are more trainable than skills in other sports.
Really? How much skill does it take to be a runner? A cyclist? Most football positions? Those sports rely much more heavily on physical capacity (e.g. no matter how skilled your running is, without a huge aerobic capacity you'll never be an elite runner and this is to a large degree not trainable, without a certain size and speed you will never end up in the NFL and again this is trainable to much lower extent than a skill). How many short guys are there in the NBA? I didn't say anything about soccer skills being more trainable than other skills.
Right, you said that probably a soccer player can be more likely to be made into a star than an athlete from another sport, because soccer is more about skills, which is trainable. Of course, you can argue that everything is trainable to some degree, depending on the individual. Soccer skills are complex skills combined with aerobic or anaerobic activities and strategic ideas under psychological conditions. Is it trainable? Yes. So are other skills in any other sports. Every skill in any sport still requires the same familiar elements from the individual to learn and there are never guarantees that it will happen. Other sports may depend more on elements other than skills, but soccer still requires them as well, especially for someone who aims to be a star player.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTmF1aW8rD0&feature=related"]Caleb Mendez 7 year old US Youth Soccer Talent - INCREDIBLE 9 GOALS in 30 minutes!!! - YouTube[/ame] Caleb Mendez 7 year old US Youth Soccer Talent - INCREDIBLE 9 GOALS in 30 minutes!!! In true little Cristiano Ronaldo style! This 6 year old soccer player scored 9 goals in the U8 division in only 30 minutes of game play. This striker is someone to watch out for in the future! With moves and goals like Ronaldo. This 7 year old youth soccer talent is someone to look out for in the future!! Caleb was the top goal scorer on his team this season scoring 25 goals and having 9 assists playing in a U9 Academy league. You can see his website at http://calebmendez.com.
Give him a break. The poster is probably the kid's dad. Didn't you ever pitch in the ninth inning of the last game of the World Series when you a kid I did 100's of times!