I played from 1957 to 2004. I gave up at age 57 because it was taking me more than a week to recover from each week's games.
I attended a small high school team with a new program (4 years by the time I got into HS) that had a very good coach (refugee during WW2 from Hungary who had graduated with a phys ed degree from Springfield, then joined the US Army and organized soccer games in Europe for Army teams). I played as a right wing in the old 2-3-5 formation with a W or M shape up front depending on the situation and the coach's or captain's call. I was expected to bring the ball up the right side to make a flat cross with my strong foot into the box. unless the defenders on that side gave me some room to move in closer. I had speed, but I wasn't very big so I had to use my head - soccer is a good game for that. The coach didn't cut anybody and 70 or so players (almost half the boys in that little high school) came to the first few practices, although probably no more than 20 of them ever played (the same guys who were the starters in basketball and baseball). The coach rewarded all those who stuck it out the whole season with a bus ride to the last away game. I played in a summer league in 1964, where I scored my first goal, playing left wing for that coach - on my first run up the side, the biggest player on our HS basketball team flattened me with a chest-to-chest bump. The next time he fell trying to block me out so I ran by him for an easy shot.
I played pickup games on the lawns in college (no time for organized sports). Then a service team on the USS Enterprise 74-75 cruise, then adult-league indoor starting in the 80's. There used to be a pickup game every Sunday at 8AM in Poway at Arbolitos (unless it was closed, but then you could find the game at Meadowbrook Middle School).
I didn't really play much defense until the 80's. I used to be 135 lbs and quick but I found myself going to 180 and still fit enough to play. It's a different skill set. You learn how to time a block of another player's kick so the ball ends up going in the direction you desire. I figured out somewhere along the way that a player with a dominant right foot and not much on his left will turn to his left in a stressful situation, such as receiving a ball when he knows he has a defender on his back. I'd try to put myself there first, waiting for him. He's going to play the ball with the inside of his right foot, which will tend to bring the ball to the player's left.
Easy test for dominant foot - time the player running just around the center circle one way (whichever he prefers) and then around the circle the other way. Compare times.
