At 9, can see holes behind 3 to 4 defender and find the passing lane through the defenders At 10, can "halt" a game and reset pace. By "halt", I mean during a frenzy period of play, sometimes when he received the ball, the whole field suddenly went frozen, nobody moves for a second. At 11, can do no-look pass. Well, basically looking left, grasping the field, then looking right, don't see anything better, pass to left without turning head back. At 12, seems reading opponent's mind. Would suddenly made a mad dash to a seeming random spot, only to have opponent passing to his direction half a second later. Then sometimes, he would criticize English premier league player, LOL, saying something like: "Pass! ehhh, he should not make one more step dribbling. The defender was not totally in position and he had a much better passing lane. (I don't even know what he said makes sense or not!)
I generally describe those attributes under the general heading of "field sense." Some kids seem to be born with it and others take a long time to acquire it. The disparity can be huge at the ages of 12 and below, but it becomes less over time.
Ok, Thanks. (I only asked because the kid probably gonna drop soccer, and I am debating whether I should try to stop him or not)
There's nothing worse than having a kid who doesn't really want to play on your team. By all means, let him/his parents know what you think of his ability etc but just let him go. He may well be back later.
I would say that you should NOT "try to stop him". You can make the point that he has a lot of promise, but I wouldn't insert myself too far into a child's decision of whether to play any particular sport. Maybe his passion is taking him elsewhere, like another sport or the arts, who knows. Even good players are entitled to choose not to play. Now, if he's choosing to stop playing because he has a mean spirited coach or is being bullied by teammates or something like that, those are fixable problems that someone should try to fix.
I had a kid at U-8 who had that ability to feel pressure coming on and properly turn away from it. Just natural instinct. I remember asking him "Do you watch soccer games on TV?" He replied "No." I told him (jokingly) not to start watching." Glad to say he is a varsity player now.