Spot on. But I disagree with you categorizing turbo soccer as a legitimate style of play because it’s not. The clubs are pissing in our faces and calling it rain. We play the way we play in the US because our players lack basic fundamentals.
So sad, but so true.
I agree with much you have to say. The letter leagues are no different from each other, other than the amount of talent they may attract. I don't know that they are a sham, like many products they overpromise and underdeliver, but that's pretty easy for a parent to figure out after a couple years. Leagues don't develop players, coaches can, but the only true pathway (despite what clubs and leagues claim) is the talent of your child. It seems that's the path you're following. Good luck to you.
Mexican soccer has it problems but their training and initial focus on basic fundamentals is vastly superior to what we are doing here. In other words, if our females had a similar development environment to what Mexican females have now we’d be unbeatable.
Great post and great question. I guess I’m kinda of cheating because I plan on using my contacts in Mexico to improve my players speed of play and decision making. I have looked for males and females in my Bay Area community to do rondos etc but there’s a serious lack of interest. The parents and kids that are interested lack the requisite skillset to be successful so, this process has been very frustrating for me.
The reason you're seeing kickball in futsal right now vs triangles is because with Covid teams haven't been playing each other.
www.urbansoccerpark.com
Good stuff. But I think US parents of females should loudly protest due to the high risk of ACL injuries too. It’s hard for me to read the post about players with ACL injuries as it’s very disturbing to me.
I get it, if it doesn’t kill you, it’ll make you stronger…right?
My limited experience with school districts, shows me that schools are very open to improving their soccer programs. I think school districts are more concerned with equal access and frown on folks profiting off of kids.All three of our players played futsal for 1-3 years before even getting on grass pitches. I just happen to luck into to since the YMCA had program for the kids starting at 4-5. Funny thing about it is that a owner of some wherehouse space had a kid in the program and he liked it so much decided to open up a indoor facility. Was just concrete flooring and put in a few goals & some astro mat like turf, the cheap stuff. Soon learned that wasn't that great and eventually switch to real futsal surface's / tiles.
My youngest son loved that place and played there all the time for a number of years. They had pickup games so could just drop in.
Like to see more of them but RE is so expensive in some areas not sure if they will again become popular.
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If the schools could invest in them maybe they have will have a better chance but adult pickup can be very popular at those places after work like 6pm+
Futsal is a good game to learn technique, ball control, passing, transition, teamwork, defending. Can't really hide or just play on one side of the ball need to be good overall. That's a foundation that players can build on.
When you start out on a bigger fields first it's more about running, the faster the better type of deal. However if you already have the fundamentals down the grass game on the bigger 7 v 7 or 9 v 9 fields come easier for those players. Every once in a while I still tell my son hey that was a futsal goal, pass or technique like the outside of the foot flicks, scoops or really tight angle stuff he pulls off and people are like where did that come from.
You can play multiple futsal games a day or even back to back without suffering like you can on the bigger fields. Every player with get more touches and time on the ball but not sure in general if more players enjoy futsal vs regular soccer, seems like the opposite for players at a certain age.
I’ve never met Klay but we are related. Klay is coming off of an ACL injury probably caused by the hectic NBA schedule. So, although not as common as the players you described, players with good genetics are at risk too if they don’t cross train.
www.espn.com
Ha! I say "legitimate" in the sense that a less skilled team can beat a much more technically proficient team with the style. I don't like it either and the early training choices we made with our daughter was to make sure she was comfortable with the ball at her feet. The problem is that teams can win with the turbo style - especially at the youth level. I remember our first ECNL Showcase in Phoenix. We were playing one of the top teams in the age group (U15 IIRC). They started with the ball. After a quick touch to start the game, they kicked the ball deep into their offensive corner and pressured. None of that messy and dangerous passing the ball in the middle of the field. They let us do that. They won. I feel comfortable saying my daughter's team showed better mastery of basic fundamentals but the other team didn't cheat. They just played a style in a way that they were able to overcome whatever technical advantage our girls had. You can blame the coaches for not teaching fundamentals but the coaches have to make a living and they like coaching the best players that they can find and it's difficult to get the "best" players if a coach doesn't win consistently. For many parents, "winning" soccer defines the desired training and style. The dearth of coaches focused on the type of soccer you describe is a testament to the difficulty of winning that way.
My boys had a coach from Argentina. He made the entire team do 1 hour of yoga/pilates once a week. His players would hardly ever get injuries. Yoga/stretching is a way to avoid injuries for all ages.
