Yeah, when I took over a team of rising 6th graders I told the parents we were going to work on soccer not fitness for the 2x a week I had them; but their HS coaches would most likely hit them with fitness tests before they ever touched a ball, so joining XC would be a good idea. When HS came along a few ended up with XC as their sport not soccer.
The dreaded 2-mile run (timed) my son and his HS teammates complained mightily about last fall, his first year in HS.
First off, my kid is 5 playing in U6. You really expect U6 to not bunch up? gimme a break. you don't seem to know kids much at all. These are brand new players and this was my kids first time ever playing on a team. The kid in the video was playing what looked like 6 - 7 year olds, maybe even one or two 8 year olds. HUGE difference That kid is probably the best kid in the world for his/her age. I'm not going to worry about emulating that kid. I'm going to focus on my kid being competitive in his city in his age group. In his league he was arguably the best player. In the entire city he is prob 10%. In the entire world he is who knows, 30%, 40% ... doesn't matter right now as he's not competing outside of the city and won't for what, 5-10 years, and then it will just be regional travel. I watch college soccer and pro soccer so I know what we are aiming for in the long run.
Being 5 in U6 is really how the "Under" in the "U" works. That kid in the video is not the best kid in the world. Just one clip of one kid at one point in time. There are others similar and others better. The reality is, half the kids in your video will not be playing soccer in two years. Stop keeping stats, put the stop watch away, don't project anything beyond 6 months, don't try and place your kid in percentiles of soccer.
The way I read the chart, cross country & track get a TOTAL of 12.6 scholarships. Not each. Lacrosse? I have no idea.
If you don't mind... wondering if anyone can provide feedback from my kid's first indoor season... here's some of his goals... What should we be working on? One goal I'm particularly proud of is when he does a richochet, we worked on that at home.
He's something and way too good for that team! Find a better team so that he has teammates to work with. My daughter's U7 mixed team were passing to each other and WAY more organised and by U8 they had a couple of set pieces. I know he's probs U5 or U6, but he's another level.
My thoughts... He's fast and has a good shot. Maybe work with him on shooting with this left foot. Obviously not every shot, but once he scores three in a game, any further shots have to be with his left. As far as the rebound off the wall leading toward a goal, I wouldn't be too excited about that. In my mind that's not "real" soccer. I did see 2-3 times where he took the ball from a teammate. I personally don't like that. Yes, he's the "star" and can get a goal, but there's something to be said about letting teammates do some work also and not being a "ball hog".
Not a huge fan of wallball, because it lets the kids get sloppy, the wall isn't there to save them outdoors. That said, you've seemed to plant the idea of the 1-2/wall pass (literally). It may be 3 years before his teammates catch up to be able to do that though. If your league/club does 2 year age groups, I'd hesitate to bump him up to mixed u7/u8, but if they do pure u7, ask for the spring. Finally, on the last goal, where did the gallop steps come from before he took it to his right foot and scored? IF he's coming up with stuff like that on his own, just don't do anything to ruin his love for the game.
Thanks. Regarding passing.... was that a big focus at U7? When did they start learning passing? Some coaches think that that should not be taught till say 8 or 9 yrs old... that the focus before then should be individual skills development. Just curious.
Thanks for the feedback; these seem like all relevant points. Taking the ball from teammates... definitely a problem for all the kids... In outdoor I tried to teach the kids to "support" their teammates rather than taking the ball.
I can't remember, but am good friends with an academy coach and will ask him. And maybe there is a big jump in skills from 5/6 to 6/7 yo. I remember her coach always yelling to spread out and get organised. They didn't rotate positions and most of the boys did additional organised skills training so they were really good. By U8 the forwards wanted to be forwards, mids wanted to be mids and the backs wanted to be backs - so nobody wanted to rotate. Everyone on the team could score. It didn't hurt her development not to rotate when she was young btw. She's played several positions over the years.
At that age group, it's definitely an issue for all the kids. What you don't want is for it to become a habit.
Yeah I know what you mean about the wall - not very relevant to learn. That last goal, the steps and the cut in as the goalie reached for the ball, that was a surprise to me... he sometimes comes up with solutions like that that we've never worked on. Duly noted - there was a phase last year where I was acting like an overbearing trainer-dad as I thought he need to keep progressing... and it hit me one day when that what I was doing was bad, I could see that it sucked the joy out of it for him. Luckily he is back to his joyful self and I learned a lesson.
These are the years when you get to sit back and enjoy. If a kid is going to make it it has to come from him/her because it really becomes a grind at one point.
He is a kick and chase kid. I’m not seeing the ball really stick to his feet. The opposition is not good and what is worse is he is able to simply kick and chase AND you may believe that to be a good thing. small touches, shorter strides will provide more control. If he continues on this path he will become a cut and go player who when eventually is matched against appropriate speed he will not have any answers.
A helpful hint or message to a parent of a young athlete is the best you can do...if they think their kid is a) the greatest player in the world and/or b) certain to maintain their current “lead” over their peers for the next 12 years then there is nothing you can say to them that will change their mind or behavior. Some parents don’t take it seriously enough and don’t get their kids to practice or stop signing them up if it cuts into watching DWTS or sleep on Saturday mornings. Then some take it too seriously but don’t get to the point of screwing it all up and others take it too seriously AND have the trophy case built before the player can tie their shoes. Nothing you can tell the last group... they have to find out the hard way. If parents spent as much time planning their retirement, how to pay for college and getting their kids an education as they do planning their kids’ sports careers everyone would be better off.
Yeah he is sorta kick and chase, which I don't think is always bad. Sometimes that is what the situation calls for. If there is open space, kick and chase. (just made that up ha) I think it's harder in indoors to keep it close as the surface provides less friction than grass. He does need to work on his close ball control though. But also... with the bee hives... sometimes he just waits for the ball to pop out and then there's lots of space to kick and chase (and score). At least he has to contend with a goalie. Each year will get harder.
It's hard to always know where the right balance is. Takes some trial and error. In my neighborhood it seems there are mostly parents that don't take it seriously. (only a few of my kid's classmates play soccer and they are not serious). It seems other neighborhoods have more serious parents and players. I wonder if that's just chance or maybe the serious parents locate near serious clubs. At some of our indoor games I see parents who seem to love talking soccer (I would not say they are "serious" - I think "enthusiastic" is more fitting), I kind of wish I had parent friends like that. I have no one to talk soccer with I guess that's why I come here
I like to point out often that every kid and every situation is different, so you can’t assume how it will go. If a player is unique then other people will say so. A 12 year old tearing it up on the B team can sound like Pele when described by a parent. If a player is a standout then qualified people will confirm as much. It’s not one thing...scoring lots of goals is not a great indicator but it helps gain attention. If a young one likes it then keep them in it and ask other people, maybe a coach from an older team or a coach at a camp what they think. If qualified people tell you the player is unique then they will give you advice on what to do next. Until they hit puberty you really don’t know how it is going to turn out. One thing that can’t be taught is speed...if a player isn’t fast then there will be a ceiling. Keep in mind, there are 18 players on the roster for any team: HS, club, DA, USNT, MLS...long odds BUT somebody will make the team.,.there will be 18 uniforms handed out. So, be optimistic, listen more than you talk (especially with you own kid), ask other people for their assessment, don’t be a nomad but don’t just be a big fish in a small pond, Make sure they are enjoying it but it will get “hard” sometimes...be a parent first, not their agent. Don’t have coaches think you are a package deal; they want the player and a friendly, cooperative parent - good coaches can smell the opposite from a mile away. As for the immediate future: find some holiday weekend or spring break camps at a big club and sign up. Take the player and see how it goes...if they are good, people will see that and eventually find you before the end of camp. Don’t tell them the player is good, they tell you. Ask for advice, get it from more than one person and take it season to season. 99.99% of them will not get to a college team so don’t worry about that at all. Worry about them making their bed, being polite and liking reading...if they are going to be in the .01% then it won’t be because of much that you do...the soccer gods handle 90% of it and just hope you don’t screw up your 10%.
Actually, there are more players on the roster, in HS, DA, USNT, and MLS. Only 18 will dress for a game in club, DA, NT, and MLS, but there are also reserves on the roster. Actually, there are lots of opportunities for playing in college, According to this chart offered by the NCAA, 5.5% of kids who played HS soccer play in college. But that doesn't take into account NAIA, so the number is higher than that. In fact, if NewDada's goal is to use athletics to get into college, he might have a better chance if he has his kid do hockey or Lacrosse. Both of those sports have 12%+ of HS players make it to college.
My point on the 18 players wasn’t the math, it is to instill in the player the idea that somebody makes the club, HS etc roster so it isn’t impossible. Somebody will be on that field. I suspect we are all clear there are more than the 18 game day players on a pro team’s full roster. As for more math, if the 5.5% is HS to college and his kid is 5 I applied a lengthy “Good Will Hunting“ formula to the 5.5% and said a lot less than 5.5% of 5 year olds will play in college. MIT is working to validate my hypothesis. To summarize, it is highly unlikely but not impossible to go from 5 year old prodigy to someplace much “higher” up the food chain. I don’t know if my comments will help him or his kid but the post wasn’t about math. I would suggest all soccer players have a b-ball net in the driveway, a football, a lacrosse stick, baseball glove and a street hockey stick. Let them choose the sport they like, not the current odds on something 13 years away. Heck, there might be more video game scholarships than hockey scholarships in 13 years.
I cannot stress this enough...as someone who's "been through it" I can tell you that "the grind" is DEFINITELY coming, so you really want/need for the game to be fun when they're this age.