Re: 35 yard dash. What absolute waste of time. Given that the soccer field at that age is roughly that length, having the fastest time is meaningless. I also hate coaches that incorporate a lap around the field as part of their practice to build fitness. If the practice is properly designed you can get all of the fitness you need during practice activities.
There are only a few serious soccer forums that I am aware of where parents, refs and players can discuss soccer-related things. Most other forums are dead and have been ruined by people who consistently make outlandish, aggressive, rude or off-topic comments. All of the other threads on BigSoccer are legit and this past year is the first time in almost a decade that I have seen new users to this Youth forum that are tiring. Instead of being defensive compare your posts to others over the years. Your posts are all about you, you, you and your wunderkind. You didn't play soccer, you're not a former athlete or high-level coach, you just started watching soccer and your child is 5 - and within 3 months you've written over 150 posts on this forum - all fairly long, rambling, outlandish or all over the place. You don't give the impression that you are really looking for or giving advice. You're not even really discussing soccer (tactics, etc). Maybe Reddit might be a more suitable forum for you.
This is an important for all parents of young soccer players. For your child to be a pro or D1 college player at later ages there are some things a parent should do, such as play with them, expose them to live games or tv, and encourage them. However, 49% of their development is on them, 25% per cent is genetics, and 25% luck, and 1% parental involvement. From the outside, some would consider me a parent that pushed his kid to be a professional. I would argue otherwise. I played a bunch of living room soccer (baseball, football, hockey) before he started attending school. Dad and son stuff. About 6 years old my son said he wanted to be a pro soccer player. I told him flat out that he wasn't going to be. He asked why and I said because you don't practice enough. He said he did. I said fine. Each time you go out and practice on your own for this week, write down how much time you spend. After 1 week he spent 10 minutes. I said that's not enough. Since then he has pretty much on his own he has gone out an worked on moves from a DVD (some base moves, probably like a Coerver) a coach had recommended. There were times I asked if he had gone out and got his touches. The times I told him to go out was when he was home all day during the summer vacation. He learned to enjoy the grind, not playing with me. He learned to work on his own, not rely on me. He learned to do more moves on his own, not from me. Your child, if he is to be a pro, has to be able to work on their own and make their goals their own. What @SuperHyperVenom says is paramount to player development, it can't be about you but it has to be the player's desire because when they are older they have to be able to work on their own and take development in their own hands. My son has good genetics that have aided him. He has decent height from me, strength from his mom, decent athleticism from both of us that has been amplified by his work ethic (way better athlete than I ever was), technical from the hours he has put in on his own. He has been lucky because he has had some connected coaches who have advocated for him. He's a junior in high school and plays at level that doesn't have him out of possibilities to play professionally. He even says that he is so close to being a pro but so far away. I am not writing this to brag, yet I am proud of his soccer accomplishments (his house cleaning leaves something to be desired). I'm not a soccer player and quite honestly don't know much of the intricacies of the game. I have however, seen my young son go from one end of the field to another and score a goal at the U-little level and think he will lead the US to the World Cup. I have also seen him stink and think he'd be lucky to make a high school C team.
Enough bickering Mr. Venom; you're just polluting this thread. This thread was about benefits of snowboarding that might pertain to soccer growth. Some have contributed thoughtful comments without getting personal. There are benefits from snowboarding - it works on balance, body core, legs, vision, stamina. And yes, it is fun. I'll say it again; you should not call people trolls just because you don't like what they say. Their experiences differ from yours. Don't be so close-minded; the world is a big place with a wide variety of perspectives and world views and approaches to youth development and soccer development. You make an aweful lot of assumptions too. I didn't play soccer? Uh ok; I played probably starting around 6 yrs old. And I was the captain of my high school team. Yes I've taken hiatuses from it as an adult. Now I play mostly pick up (futsal too) with some very good players from all over the world -- high school, club, academy, college, mexican, african, european, young, old, you name it; they are competitive and I hold my own.
No offense but you have no idea what you're talking about. Running is like the most core and fundamental skill to have. Some kids literally can't run. I had to stop mid season and start at the beginning and teach some kids how to run. It is a skill that can be taught. If you have a kid who can't run and you don't help him get better then you are just letting him fail at soccer. The 35 yards was because that was the length of the field. Convenience. All of the kids loved it. They enjoyed the exercise; the parents helped out by doing the clock and managing the starting line and the finish line. THIS WASN'T ABOUT WHO WAS FASTEST, IT WAS THE OPPOSITE. This was for who was MOST IMPROVED, which highly favored the slowest kids as it easier to get a 10% improvement if you run 12 seconds vs a 10% improvement if you run 8 seconds. I can tell you have not put much thought into running as a skill; well I read up a bit on guidance from track coaches. You should too. And a lap around the field is a waste? That is a bizarre thing to say. I mean, lapping the field may not be necessary but I've never heard a coach say it is pointless. Any amount of running clearly offers benefits and sometimes you need to focus on running for various reasons; sometimes just to break up the session; sometimes as a warm-up; sometimes to focus on endurance; etc
This is an interesting topic; one that is likely controversial. Perhaps it would be a good standalone thread, as to keep the topics on point. How did you come up with the percentages? From my study of paths, it seems clear to me that genetics are obviously a big part, but just as big is the support network around the kid. All of the pros that I have researched had great support; be it parents, grand-parents, uncles, cousins, coaches, big brothers, etc that offered guidance and development insights that only a mentor could provide; so the 1% sounds very low.
I pulled the numbers out of my head, mostly to provide a visual to what I was trying to say. I've never made a pass, scored a goal, or ran a sprint to make him better.
Yours is an anecdotal experience, and the final chapter has yet to be written. But if you take a broad view, of most professionals (in every field actually), of course you start with genes, but then, a support system is usually a big part of the formula (as is self motivation, and "connections"). But I think there are many ways to get there; and perhaps yours is one.
I don't disagree. There is a lot that goes into the mix for being pro, things much more important than parents, family, etc. The family etc provides the structure to build upon but they don't do the building.
There are many cases where the family provided the guidance and access to good training. Ronaldo for ex, his dad worked for a pro soccer team which gave his kid access to good facilities; the family was a "football family". Heung-Min Son is another example - his dad forced him to practice an insane amount as a kid and did not let him play in an actual game until he was 13 and had developed great technique; his dad was a former soccer pro and is a soccer trainer. Many more examples of where the parent, big bro, etc provided a major "push"
You keep bring up these examples and the fact you have studied the lives of professionals…it seems be your source of truth and voice of authority. Nothing wrong with that, per say; I am sure they make for interesting reading and provide some useful insights, however, it appears you are making a fundamental analytical error in doing so; you are over invested your findings. By selecting and analyzing only known and positive outcomes; outcomes that you seek to achieve/imitate and then deconstructing their ‘success” and progression, you get a false, or at least an exaggerated, sense of how it’s done or what it takes… You would strongly suggest, and pretty much stating of the obvious, that there are many, many more cases where people do everything you think they should, have every advantage and opportunity you think they should have, and still don’t “make it”…they don’t have the headlines, they don’t write books, have articles written about them, or have wiki pages…for every Ronaldo, there are 100s of Never Made Its, who were amazing at 5, worked just as hard through their youth, had similar advantages and opportunities, and yet never made it; were never heard of, you’ve never studied… You seem to think if you just do 1, 2, 3, and have X, Y, and Z, being a pro is just that simple…maybe in the back of your mind, you know better, but your whole presentation says otherwise. It isn’t work hard, for the sake of leaning the value of working hard…its work hard in the form of X, Y and Z, because that’s what you need to do to be Pro…it’s a fantasy….
Timing 35 yard dash times for 5 year old's is dumb and a waste of time. Let me ask the room this one question to prove it, what is a good 35 yard dash time for a 5 year old?
Running laps is often an unproductive, lazy time suck, especially at younger ages when practices/training time is usually very limited, 1 or 2 hours a week, in many cases…nothing replaces time on ball…at U-littles, any time spend at practice without the ball, is time not well spent…plenty of ways to warm-up with the ball…and U-little training is no place to work on endurance…youth coaches that do, are just tying to win games though endurance, not necessary though talent or being the better team...been there, done that...
A well run practice will also provide most if not all of the fitness that a young player will need as well.
Dada can break ot down for you... post #308 https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/2019-coaching-thread.2102460/page-13#post-38383515
You keep mentioning "support". Support can mean MANY things: Enrolling the kids in an activity. Getting them to the activity. Watching their games. Helping the team with something (snack list, hotel coordinator, treasurer, etc) Getting them additional training And yes, "pushing" them. I never played soccer, I never coached (ok, my oldest's U8 team I was an assistant), I am not athletic. So I can't give my kids "development insights". Does that mean I'm not supportive? ETA: I'm curious... you say you play 1-on-1 with your son. Who initiates those? Do you say "Son, let's go play" and he says "sure", or does he come to you?
Well, if you work for a pro soccer club and have access to such facilities then Ronoldo's path would be a point of comparison. But no, you're just a dad who played soccer in high school. What Ronoldo did is irrelevant to your sons success. This forum is full of dad's not dissimilar from you. Our collective experience has more points of comparison than you have with Ronaldo's upbringing or Heung-Min Son. So, the first big step to getting your son on the right track to becoming a pro soccer player is for you to have either been one yourself or access to a pro soccer club.
I actually do know what I'm talking about. I've been coaching for 19 years and have coached multiple ages and have been very successful and developing players. Just for fun, take a coaching class and float your ideas past the instructor and they will explain it to you. To quote Jose Mourinho--"A great pianist doesn’t run around the piano or do push ups with the tips of his fingers. To be great, he plays the piano. He plays all his life and being a great footballer is not about running, push-ups or physical work generally. The best way to be a great footballer is to play football”
One of the points of looking at the past of these Pros is that we can see there are many different paths to the pros. I think the main thing is to get in the experience/touches/practice/etc. That can be on your own I suppose, or driven by a parent or other mentor type person. But still, yes, the chance of going pro is slim.
It's not about "what's a good 35 yard dash time". It could have been 30 yards, or 37, or 41. Doesn't matter, the yardage is arbitrary. The point is - time them at a set distance. Give them incentive to improve within 10 weeks. Time them again at end of 10 weeks and see how much they improved. They are competing against themselves. Measuring their speed is a tool, like measuring your free throw % in basketball or your RBI, etc. You have to measure it to make it useful.
I think all of those things on your list are certainly support. You are enabling for them the platform to develop. I don't think you personally have to be the one to train them, but you can push them and put them in places where they can grow, which is what you did. We both initiate those. Initially it was me, but lately he has been asking to play. Yesterday he wanted to play and I was tired and had other stuff to do but I gave in and played. Our driveway and the neighbor's are connected so it's basically one big concrete pad and I setup those little pugg type goals on the ends and we go at it. A couple days I tried it in my living room. It's a small room. But it was still fun. We use these 2.5 ft goals. I would like to get bigger one's eventually as these are very small. https://www.amazon.com/GOLME-PRO-So...=1&keywords=small+goals&qid=1579158196&sr=8-2 I also don't think you need to be athletic to do 1v1. If he runs circles around you then let it be.
... or ... find a way to compensate for not having been a pro and not having access to pro resources. I am limited, sure. I can teach him what I know. Maybe that will get him to age 10. Then he can link up with better trainers and coaches. I also think the internet is a tool that can provide great insights that I did not have as a kid. You can essentially see how the pros train. The information is basically free now; so, I can study how the pros train and I can design a curriculum for my kid. So, what I have to do is find a way to provide the same "training value" that Ronaldo had. I have use my time, brain, and my analysis of the paths and of the game to give my kid a level playing field, level with the other kids who have pro-type parents. I think it is possible; I don't think it's just a matter of money. One can become great without a lot of money. I think he has the intangibles. But it will become clearer each year. If I link some video highlights of him will you give me feedback? He's in kindergarten which is only 3.5 hours a day (in class). So he has plenty of time to do normal kid stuff plus sports. We are trying out wrestling because he always wants to wrestle with me and it wears me out. I think the wrestling is good training too for soccer; works on the core, and they do sprints too; overall good workout. Good news is next year, in U8 indoor, they play on Sundays, so his mom can take him snowboarding on Saturdays and he can play indoor on Sundays. I think we'll go ahead and do another indoor session now (2nd U6 session) even though he'll miss many games; hope he can make half the games. We'll be in the A division this time; will be interesting; they'll be greatly challenged. We'll probably lose most of the games but that's ok. The other teams have 6 year olds which I think is unfair (it should be UNDER 6); some of those kids are just too big and advanced, plus those teams have played together many sessions and also practice indoors (we don't, and this group has only played 1 session together which just ended); the top team - they are led by someone who works for the indoor soccer arena, so they prob get free practice times, she recruited top players (and prob can have 6 yrs olds due to her connections), feels like cheating. Anywho should be fun. I realize I'm rambling on about my kid, but I'm hoping others will get value out of seeing my situation that they will find useful to their own situation (even if it's thinking - that's guy's nuts! lol), that is partly why I'm "laying it all out there".
You really think you shouldn't warm up without a ball? Watch any pro soccer match, literally any, or D1, and you will them running, sprinting, hopping, jumping, all kinds of stuff to warm up with no ball. And as for endurance building - it depends. If they are out of shape you will need to get them in shape with some focused running. Many kids at U-little sure, they don't need running because they are probably running a lot at the playground, at recess, etc. So I do agree to maximize the time with having ball at their feet as much as possible; but if running is a weakness of theirs then they need deliberate running to fix the weakness.
Kids who play outside, play tag at recess, climb trees, etc get all the mechanics they need from just being kids. No one needs to “practice running” at 5 or 6. If they don’t run well at that age they need time in unstructured physical play. Basically more being a kid and less parental puppeteering.