I do agree with the idea of 3 v 3, as well as "cross training". Personally I think every child should play some basketball. For soccer it helps with defense, teaches that you can't just throw (or kick), the ball, and the idea of motion offense. I also agree with kids going out and having fun playing soccer- pick up games with no supervision and such. But these things are not at the exclusion of small group or individual training. Again, I think if you talk to ANY professional athlete they will talk about individual training they received, even if it was just an older brother or parent.
Ever noticed that some of the superstar players have parents who are experts in the game....kind of like private trainers? Like this American playing for Fulham...a grandparent in his case.
Few and far.... Kids that find a passion will want to play more. And again - I would argue that it's the parents pushing the kids at the younger ages for this. If it's all consuming - it's not fun. When it is no longer fun - they'll stop. And I have seen plenty of them do just that. I would also say that 90% of parents who are supplementing training during the summer - at the younger ages, are doing so out of the fear that their kid will fall behind or not keep up with other kids who have parents pushing them as well. They are doing this for themselves moreso and not their kids. It rarely lasts. Again - at u12 and up, I'm more than willing to debate/listen.
It is a fallacious argument to suggest that is the only reason kid quit the game. Kids stop playing for all sorts of reasons....including being assessed as not being as good as other players. When you are scoring goals and getting positive feedback about how you play (from your coaches, teammates, parents, and others), it is amazing how much fun the game becomes. I've tired of this exchange...we aren't going to change any minds here. Best of luck.
Where did I say that was the only reason? It is a large reason when parents push their kids at a young age to specialize in a sport instead of letting them grow into a sport and having time to enjoy other things. I highly doubt you'll find anyone who would disagree with that from the perspective of a u8/u9 environment. And private lessons on top of a 8-10 month season at that age - at least IMO, is specializing. I'm not in this to win it - just speaking from experience as a parent and coach.
Having just lived through those ages in my son. I would say its pretty 50/50. At least in my area. For every parent trying to relive their youth through their kid, there is a kid out their pushing their parents. My own version of reality is a kid cured/blessed with my wife's genetic makeup that causes him to NEED to be the best at whatever he does and NEEDS to put in the work to become the best or one of the best. He has been that way since he understood that some people do some things better than others. Add in my somewhat natural athletic ability (at least before I blew out my knee in HS) and we have a little self driven dynamo. From shoveling 2 feet of snow so he could practice shooting hoops outside on a school snow day to insisting we find him a travel soccer team to join as an 8 year old because his park district team mates goofed around too much in practice. We indulge him as much as we can because he is a pretty awesome kid all around but we are the ones telling him no that is too much. We are far from the only ones. Then again, I know people who have their kid play up on one team, play at their age on another and fill in as often as possible on the other club teams the same age ... as well as play park district because their belief that more games will make them a super star. Sorry for the long windiness, this is something of a hot button topic for me.
Okay I'll be more realistic and say from my experience it's 40% of parents who yell to much, 20% who are nuts and push too much to a point they are a cancer to the teams they are on, 20% who know nothing and are just happy that their kid is out there and and 20% who have older players and know the process well enough to not get all worked up and are comfortable with their kid developing at their own pace. Sorry - I guess after getting it more thought I was elaborating a bit too much
I think there is a difference between parents who push their kids and kids who want to learn more. My daughter played soccer on her own time, but also realized that "she did not know what she did not know" after competing against better players and asked me to find someone to help her (I know little about soccer aside from the rules). Over the years of moving around we've found some coaches who would help her. Some better than others. All of them are part of why she was able to overcome the hardship of moving around the country yet still take it to the next level. At each step we asked her what SHE wanted and how SHE wanted to get there.
An individual youth player is going to improve relative to other kids by how much he/she practices or plays outside of formal training. There simply is not enough practice time for an 8, 9, 10 year old to truly excel at an elite level by just playing at practice. In some areas of the US, the kids can play pickup games at their local park or street, but for probably 90 % (?)or more of America, the only kids at the local park are playing baseball, football, and basketball, when there is anyone there at all. It is tough to compete against similar talented 10 year olds in soccer at the local park -- there usually are none. What that means is that our elite players are going to usually be developed by their dad/mom/uncle/older sibling etc. either through organized drills or just playing an awful lot. However, the parents' knowledge is likely to top out at some point. At some point, the training will move from a love of playing soccer with their parents, and the child then will welcome a good private trainer who can keep making training fun and see genuine improvement. In my limited experience with private trainers, I like them to be good with kids not a taskmaster type. I think former players are good. I would not stick with one trainer, mix it up for variety of drills, voices, games. A small group is better for cost and you can do more passing, crossing, one v one etc. I also agree with the points that the desire has to come from the player. If the child has the desire, they will play much more, and generally become better than other players. If the child does not want to play, then hiring a private trainer is ultimately a waste.
3 v 3 is one of the best things you can do in any sport with offense/defense and goals. Soccer, lacrosse, basketball, hockey, field hockey. In lacrosse I set up Chumash goals and often finished my large scale practices with 3 v 3 scrimmages. The small scale gives the coach the ability to teach the basic fundamentals of team offense- the moving, rotating, triangle- as well as off ball movement, something that can be hard for kids to visualize in large-scale practices. The WWC announcers made a big deal about the Japanese team using the triangles in their ball movement, but really all of the good teams used it to some extent. I really wish 3 v 3 did not have this "little kid soccer" reputation as I feel even older players can benefit as well. Again, I'm also a proponent of individual training, but it has to be the right type of training and at the right point in development. My daughter probably got the most benefit from one coach who would work with her now and then to help correct small deficiencies that crept into her play, almost like a batting coach. She would then take these lessons, go out on her own and slowly work on it. But she had to be old enough to understand and appreciate this and this coach does not work individually with players below a certain age. The second place she gained from individual training was with a conditioning coach, but we did not let her do this until she was high school age and showed she was doing this on her own. She wanted someone who could help her step it up a notch. I think if you look at any high-level athlete you will find they use a conditioning coach at some point to help them make it to the next level. Finally I would say this about developing a player. My coaching expertise is lacrosse, not soccer. But as a coach and as a parent watching soccer it seems the really great players I've observed over the years had one thing in common- they "cross trained" in different sports. Gymnastics at an early age seems to really help kids- you can almost tell the girls who did gymnastics at an early age just watching them. My daughter played basketball, lacrosse, ran track, did kickboxing and MMA. While I was never good at it I think every child should learn basketball as the skills you learn there translate to every team sport. I encouraged my lacrosse players to play it in the winter (but still use their lacrosse sticks), and I knew one successful youth soccer club that would do this as a team in the winter. They weren't a very good basketball team, but it did seem to help their soccer. As my daughter got older some of these had to drop, but she kept running track and doing kickboxing and MMA. I think both of these helped her develop as an athlete. Middle school parents would ask me about their son doing another sport during lacrosse season and I told them that I never wanted any middle school child to have to choose between sports at that age. I tried not to penalize a kid who missed or was late due to another sport.
I don't think its a one size fits all answer. most kids have a blast at 3v3, and it helps develop skills and techniques. I also have seen younger kids who are excellent at foot skills but it does not translate on the field for lots of reasons, they are intimidated, they don't like the physical part of the game, or it just has not clicked together and I'm sure there are lots of other reasons. I think we cannot ignore that kids are all different and develop differently, at different times. There are too many factors to say a solid yes or no. The only thing I would say as definite, the kid has to want to do it, and want to improve.
I don't think its a one size fits all answer. most kids have a blast at 3v3, and it helps develop skills and techniques. I also have seen younger kids who are excellent at foot skills but it does not translate on the field for lots of reasons, they are intimidated, they don't like the physical part of the game, or it just has not clicked together and I'm sure there are lots of other reasons. I think we cannot ignore that kids are all different and develop differently, at different times. There are too many factors to say a solid yes or no. The only thing I would say as definite, the kid has to want to do it, and want to improve. As far as multi sport athletes go I agree with the above poster. I found myself avoiding other sports for my kids because I didn't want them to like it as much as soccer. I wish we had more options to try out Lacrosse to see if they liked it or not in my area, it looks like lots of fun. I also hear its really expensive. Though baseball is just plain boring to watch. Penalizing kids for being late is nuts anyway if the kid cannot drive themselves to practice its not their fault.
I have a good gu11 team. Most of them have been together for a few seasons. We added a few players this spring. They have good potential, but they are about 6 months behind the returning players. They have a poor first touch. They don't strike a ball great. Their footwork/moves aren't at game speed. So while most of the team is proficient in these areas, these 3 players need to catch up. I've recommended practice on their own. Sent videos to parents. Even done small (free) sessions for players that want a little extra work. With a 15 player roster, it's tough to work with 1 or 2 players individually on a technical aspect of their game. What they need are more repetitions in a short space of time. A private or small group lesson can help with this. Some private coaches in our area are better at certain aspects (touch, ball control, striking) and I have recommended them where appropriate. But, I also realize these are 10 year old girls and they have other things in life going on. I don't force it on them.
I have three boys and played competitive youth club soccer in the 90's. My thoughts on private training are below, before I get to that I want to just illustrate what we do not that its perfect but to provide perspective. - They do not play any sports summer break - They all play basketball during the winter - My boys do Coerver ball training for 10-30 minutes during the summer and winter at least four days a week - In addition they may run hills or ladders, at times they prefer that and think its fun - In addition they may juggle - None of the last three items can last more than a half an hour on those days. The rest of the time is whatever they want to do. I do not have qualms with this. - If we have Sunday off or any weekend where there are not games I take them to the local high school and we knock the ball around, work on crossing shooting 1v1 etc for 1-2 hours. We may in addition shoot basketball or throw the football - They do not train on off days during the season unless its a Sunday kick the ball around Given that level of activity in soccer I would assume they are in the top 10-20 percent of kids in their city for the age group. I have looked up private training and I can't get past the cost and also the time in most instances. There just isn't a ton of time left over and I do not want to rob what little bike riding time they have with more training. In addition, I am not confident until a certain point that the private trainer is going to be significantly better than what I have outline above and you can find all of that information on you tube. Where am I close to getting a private trainer, is where I do not feel capable of teaching? - proper shooting - heading - dealing with crosses - field vision, seeing the game Still, I have three boys so after I pay the bills for club adding more money in the mix seems a lot when you consider the likelihood of a future beyond youth soccer is almost nil.
It is clear that you are very thoughtful about your situation. From my point of view, private training isn't something that is required for enjoyment or amateur level of success. It is one resource available to help your players improve themselves...if you choose to spend your discretionary income that way because it can be expensive. What your players can get out of it depends upon the quality/knowledge of the trainer and the ability of your players to commitment to learning what is being taught. We just wrapped up 5 hours this summer with our trainer of one on one time. The trainer did a great job of dialing into what would make my son a better player. They worked on technical agility, striking the ball with both feet, hip mobility as it applied to his position and to technical skills that would improve it, explosiveness over short distances, and changes of direction with and without the ball. My son took it seriously and has worked on what he was given daily since the sessions and has seen some improvement in his game. It was time well spent for him. He didn't do it to for any ambition to play beyond youth soccer....he did it because he wants to be a better player and he found a teacher who could help me achieve it.
Agreed. I think for many kids at least through U9 (for most U10) they are fine with Coerver / Juggling. I think it is around that age that as parents what you can offer your kids starts to fade - if anything because you have been teaching them for the past 4-5 years.
To me there are valid pros and cons for private training which are basically described in this thread. The experience I have had has made think that private trainers may be close to a necessity. When my kids were very young, I was like Midsouthsoccer. I ordered Coerver and West Ham Academy videos, watched them with the kids, went to the park, and tried to copy what they were teaching. Read books on youth development by Horst Wein and Laureano Ruiz. I researched a lot. Kids were 5-11. Discovered I had one boy who was seriously addicted to doing drills. Loved it. My other kids at the park would do some drills then would play on play equipment, ride bikes and, I kid you not, chase birds. O well. At a certain point, I noticed I began doing the same drills. I stole new drills from instructors at the club my kids played at. Then I realized that I could only do so much for them. They needed drills with other players and more sophisticated instruction. All the kids can play and have a good foundation. One is superb technically (the one who practiced the most, big surprise). But I was boring the kids and I'd rather be the dad who plays for fun with them than their coach. Here is the problem at least where I live. The kids can get good instruction at a club. There is no chance of decent pickup soccer where I live. None. So the only way for them to improve outside of formal practice is to practice with me (boring and increasingly ineffective) or practice by themselves. They can juggle by themselves. Not a good wall to hit the ball against though by themselves. Pretty limited. I ended up trying different private trainers. They turned out to be very good. Their knowledge was good. Low-level college young guys. Their enthusiasm was great. The kids really responded. Even the kids who did not practice as much with me began playing more and having more fun. I'm sharing this because I suspect there are others out there in a similar situation and private trainers worked -- at least in my situation. I have a related question (s). I read about all these u14 to u18 Academy and youth national players in other threads. How do they train outside their formal practices? Or, do they just have lots of formal practices? Do they practice with private trainers? Family members? Are they able to play pick-up? I know that lots of Bigsoccer members have kids on national teams/academy teams or whose kids have played with very elite youth players -- what are those elite players doing? Thanks.
My son is in his 2nd year on a 14 USSDA academy. One call up to YNT but then he was horribly injured in March and had to have surgery and hasn't played since (ALMOST there now). He's just turned 14 but he's been playing GK since his very first game at age 5. When he was 10, and on a U11 team, there were 4 kids who wished to play GK on his team. He struggled to get 1/4 game as GK. He was depressed and not having fun. I looked for a psychologist, but for some reason decided to do some looking for a private GK coach and found a former professional keeper teaching lessons near our house. After a few weeks with with the private coach, my son played every minute of every game in the goal and the moved from the 3rd to the top team the next year. I know the private lesson story is different with keepers, but ours is still one that bears telling. Private lessons structured to his needs and level of playing have been very important to him over the years. He still does private trainings as much as possible, which is not as often in-season. During the academy season the team trains 4 days a week, with team GK training 2-3 times/week. Games & scrimmages on weekends. He has also started small group and private strength and fitness training. That has helped him in areas such as explosive speed & vertical jump.
Here are my thoughts on private training: 1. I can't imagine any instances where private training makes sense to me for a child younger than 8 years old. 2. One-on-one private training pretty much necessitates the use of repetitive drills. This kind of training can be physically grueling and mentally exhausting and is not right for every child at every age. The first prerequisite is a talented trainer who can make the training both effective and fun. If those prerequisites are met and the child is truly interested in the training and excited about it, I can see it working. If the child is not into it, I can really only seeing it working out well if it is done in short segments of 45 minutes or less. Otherwise, there is a huge risk of alienating the child or burning the child out. 3. I would be concerned about both burnout and repetitive use injuries for any child under the age of 13 who is engaging in private training during his or her organized soccer season. In my experience, the risks of injury and/or burnout greatly increase for any child under the age of 13 who is playing soccer for more than ~7 hours per week or ~25 hours per month for any sustained period of time. The soccer off-season seems to make far more sense for private soccer training.
I gave my kid plenty of private training under 8 years old. Of course, he didn't realize it because most of the time it seemed like a game. Pretty much agree. Some kids will take to training like a fish to water while other will enjoy it about as much as a fish out of water. Training actually works much better in small groups than individual. Most kids that are still playing beyond HS (ie really love the sport) played more than 7 hours per week. At 11 or 12 my kid might have played more than 7 hours a week at school during lunch and waiting to get picked up after school. With regard to repetitive stress injuries, it is not just the sport but also how closely the body is stressed doing other activities. Playing 15 hours of soccer and swimming for 5 hours puts a player at less risk than doing 10 hours of soccer and 10 hours of basketball.
Since all of the above has been focused on field players, what about private training for goalkeepers? My son was a field player until he was recruited by his coach at the end of the season two years ago to play in goal. He played all year last year in goal for his HS JV team and this year he's the backup for Varsity. This summer we sent him to a camp specially for goalkeepers and if he wants we'll send him back as it really helped him a lot. Is the next step private sessions to work on the things I can't help him with, or just lots and lots more repetitions?
My post above from August is specifically about keepers. Private lessons are the best thing that ever happened for my son. In private lessons the coach can work with your son on technique and other specific needs. Repetitions do not help if his technique and his instincts are not spot on. Best of luck to him!
Just to add my two cents my kid is only 8 and his "private lesson" is playing with his dad. Hopefully, that will continue for a very long time. I make it fun for him and we have fun and quality time together. I think that is the key, tons of praise, encouragement, and fun. Sometimes we watch videos and practice, for example, taking free kicks like Ronaldo or a move used by Neymar. We live in Latin America so he gets rec soccer with his buddies at school and he is also on a formal team. I should add that it is much cheaper and more fulfilling than hiring a private tutor.
Hey tuffnutt11, As a former player that has been giving private lessons for the past few years I agree with the whole thread. There's many ways to get to Rome. I would suggest a few resources before you go after individual training. A) The free app, "99 Skills To Ball Mastery" by Coerver Coaching for iOS or Android is an excellent resources that takes players threw a simple progression of ball mastery exercises. If I had a daughter I would learn 3 moves a day with her. B) iSoccer is a similar resource except its not free. It adds a "timed" component that some players may enjoy. C) A semi-recent invention/ tool that could be extremely helpful is a senseball. It's basically a ball on a rope with a solid handle. The company claims that players can get between 400,000 - 500,000 touches with a senseball with regular use during the season. It also can improve balance, timing, coordination, rhythm, etc. Some people aren't for it, but personally, I wish someone would have given me this tool as a young player. D) Many people forget that players are humans first, players second. That means that learning different movement patterns and strength is essential. I would highly recommend she enroll in gymnastics, karate or ballet if possible. If you do choose to move forward with a skills trainer, ask them for 3-4 drills that they feel are essential in regards to long term player development. These drills should have variations that would make it challenging even for a professional player. I would also ask them to share with you their biggest mistakes or regrets. You will learn more from their mistakes, not from their successes. You can reach me at www.andrewtetz.com if you're looking for some free tools in regards to specific drills and exercises that may help your daughter's long term development.