Do your kids move playing positions?

L

lulu9155

SILVER
I keep reading and hearing that kids up until a certain age should be playing different positions on their team and not stuck in one until a certain age. Which I think is great. And which is not happening on my son’s F1 team (at age 9). And which is what he wants - to learn different positions. And he is stuck in one position all year so far. Last year she moved around. But not this year.

I’m curious does that really hold true for the majority? Do your kids play all around until they reached a certain age? Were you in a situation that the coach was not moving them at the younger ages and what did you do? if this is true for your child and they did get moved around, until what age? And what age is when kids really start to only play one position?
 
lulu9155 said:
I keep reading and hearing that kids up until a certain age should be playing different positions on their team and not stuck in one until a certain age. Which I think is great. And which is not happening on my son’s F1 team (at age 9). And which is what he wants - to learn different positions. And he is stuck in one position all year so far. Last year she moved around. But not this year.

I’m curious does that really hold true for the majority? Do your kids play all around until they reached a certain age? Were you in a situation that the coach was not moving them at the younger ages and what did you do? if this is true for your child and they did get moved around, until what age? And what age is when kids really start to only play one position?
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My DD played the 11 ( left mid) initially, but moved to the 3 before the age of 10. She’s never regretted it. She has been employed over times back into the 11. If a player likes their position let them stay and develop there. If they don’t try somewhere else. The key for a player is to develop the foot skills and IQ which are the real tools.
 
lulu9155 said:
I keep reading and hearing that kids up until a certain age should be playing different positions on their team and not stuck in one until a certain age. Which I think is great. And which is not happening on my son’s F1 team (at age 9). And which is what he wants - to learn different positions. And he is stuck in one position all year so far. Last year she moved around. But not this year.

I’m curious does that really hold true for the majority? Do your kids play all around until they reached a certain age? Were you in a situation that the coach was not moving them at the younger ages and what did you do? if this is true for your child and they did get moved around, until what age? And what age is when kids really start to only play one position?
Click to expand...
The recommendation from organizations like the United soccer coaches used to be as recently as 10 years ago that kids not be put into ft positions (and kids not be put full time in goal) until age 12. The recommendation was also that kids not begin travel soccer until age 9

However in recent years weve seen a trend for younger and younger travel ball, kids full time in goal as young as 7 and kids being put in a single position. The reason for the single position is simple: it wins games (or at least prevents teams from losing too many which makes parents unhappy, costs coaches their jobs and blows up teams). If you have a kid in 1 spot, it’s easier and quicker just to learn the 1 spot and presumably they’ll get better at it quicker. Also in certain spots certain players at the younger ages perform better: you need a fast kid at striker to outrun the cb; you need a big and fast kid at cb to outrun the striker; you need the big slow kid in goal to cover more at it since the vast majority are not competent at that age. Development is sacrificed over the need to win (or at least not lose too much)

Developmentally it would be better to rotate positions until middle school. It’s only that way that you get a full appreciation of the mechanics of the game and learn all the skills and what you are good at. A kid locked at striker for instance gets good at shooting but not creating plays through creative passing. Plus you never know, boy or girl, how things will turn out in puberty. But that’s not the trend right now. You see alot of other short cuts for this reason like booting the ball on goalkicks (buildout line notwithstanding), recruiting tall kids near the age line, and an emphasis on recruiting over instruction.

you can have your soccer developmental, competitive or accessible (pick 2)
 
Specialization too soon creates one trick ponies. Most strikers have this issue and I think its worse for defenders.
I won't spend much time on the defenders, but kids who get put back on the defensive line early and stay there generally can't pass and doesn't have a good feel for the game. They've spent their entire career looking forward. This is actually an achilles heel for the US as they won't get into the style of play the world has moved to. The US wants 10 goals scorers on the field. They need to start with 10 smart and good passers first.

At Ajax the closer you got the first team the further away from the goal you ended up so being able to play several positions and have an understanding of what to do on and off the ball in those positions was critical.

A lot of clubs will lock down positions. If it's a concern try looking for sunday leagues, or futsal, or pick up to supplement.
 
One of my kids has been lucky enough to spend reasonable time at essentially every position from goalie to striker and everything in between from U6 through U13. Currently he typically starts at one, but often helps out where needed for various lineups during the game. Another started on defense young, probably due to size, and has stayed essentially there all the way through high school age. At the very young and less competitive ages, coaches tend to place kids where they won't do too much damage (yes, development first, but if anyone thinks that coaches of any level are *trying* to lose, they aren't being honest with themselves). While as they get older, it becomes more obvious that a strong player (or a weaker player) can make a difference in the game from virtually any of the positions.
 
RandomSoccerFan said:
One of my kids has been lucky enough to spend reasonable time at essentially every position from goalie to striker and everything in between from U6 through U13. Currently he typically starts at one, but often helps out where needed for various lineups during the game. Another started on defense young, probably due to size, and has stayed essentially there all the way through high school age. At the very young and less competitive ages, coaches tend to place kids where they won't do too much damage (yes, development first, but if anyone thinks that coaches of any level are *trying* to lose, they aren't being honest with themselves). While as they get older, it becomes more obvious that a strong player (or a weaker player) can make a difference in the game from virtually any of the positions.
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Disagree with your last sentence. My kids Sunday league team just went up against the undefeated since November championship Sunday league team. They were missing their two attackers who play club but still had some good attacking players including a winger who is the captain. My kids team won 2-1 and was the first team to defeat them in months

The soccernomics book bears this out. Strikers and to a lesser extent cams and wingers are the key to having a successful or a losing team. It’s why these players can command the big bucks. A gk and cb can certainly lose you a game but so long as they hit expectations (whatever that is for the age/level) they can’t turn a team from a losing position to a winning one. The marginal utility beyond competent is very small. Greater impact of one player in small 5 or 7 sided team than an 11. It’s also why coaches of Youngers bury weaker players in the wings when only a few have achieved competence.
 
I'm not sure we're disagreeing. It's not that every position is equivalently useful in winning a game, is valued equivalently, is ultimately compensated equivalently, etc. And those comparative metrics on a U6 rec team are also going to be different from a national U19 team. At the higher levels, if there is a weakness on the field, a relatively equivalent opponent with an ability to counter that weakness is likely to take advantage of it - whether it's goalie or defense or mid or striker. At the lower levels, there is expected to be weakness scattered all over the field, and balancing it is part of team development.

From an individual level - a kid that can help the team in a variety of roles is likely going to play more, learn more, and have more fun as they continue to grow - rather than specializing too early.
 
You can talk about the proper way to do this but this is what I have seen. Club teams are selected and coaches have a formation/place for most players. Then the season starts. Well could turn out that the player that looked great as a striker at tryouts isn't so good at finishing and one of the fullbacks is hurt.. move her there. Well that centerback cant make it this week so lets get that player that plays the 6 and move them back they can defend. One of our 8s is out and we have an extra forward.. move them back to midfield. Some coaches pick players just because they are good and put them where they need help and teach them as they go. Sometimes it sticks sometimes not. High School is worse because a lot of times the coach may have too many of one position and not enough of another so they have to swap. Unless they are a keeper don't count on them playing anywhere. If your player is fast, good under pressure and can make a good pass, they can play anywhere and likely will.
 
It’s kind of a chicken and egg question. You want to play multiple positions but CAN you play multiple positions? My kid plays multiple positions but he is put there because he knows how to play those positions. And him knowing how to play those positions was not by the coach putting him there to develop him. He learned to play those positions in pick up games, playing with his school mates in recess and by watching soccer games. So I don’t really buy the argument that a coach needs to rotate players to develop them.
 
tjinaz said:
You can talk about the proper way to do this but this is what I have seen. Club teams are selected and coaches have a formation/place for most players. Then the season starts. Well could turn out that the player that looked great as a striker at tryouts isn't so good at finishing and one of the fullbacks is hurt.. move her there. Well that centerback cant make it this week so lets get that player that plays the 6 and move them back they can defend. One of our 8s is out and we have an extra forward.. move them back to midfield. Some coaches pick players just because they are good and put them where they need help and teach them as they go. Sometimes it sticks sometimes not. High School is worse because a lot of times the coach may have too many of one position and not enough of another so they have to swap. Unless they are a keeper don't count on them playing anywhere. If your player is fast, good under pressure and can make a good pass, they can play anywhere and likely will.
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I think this is right but I note it doesn’t apply to the top starter on a team in Youngers which are generally locked into striker, cam and cb (and also gk but not necessarily the top kid). It’s why we had that thread recently with the kid locked into cb (the kid was basically too good for the coach to play on the wings but not the top player so therefore not placed at cam or striker). The wing players and the first off the benchers are the ones who can get moved around more if people are injured/absent. The coach is unlikely to move their top striker (assuming they are working out) to cb unless the game is so lop sided that they are either trying to minimize goals or stop further bleeding in a blowout.
 
Orangeteam said:
Specialization too soon creates one trick ponies. Most strikers have this issue and I think its worse for defenders.
I won't spend much time on the defenders, but kids who get put back on the defensive line early and stay there generally can't pass and doesn't have a good feel for the game. They've spent their entire career looking forward. This is actually an achilles heel for the US as they won't get into the style of play the world has moved to. The US wants 10 goals scorers on the field. They need to start with 10 smart and good passers first.

At Ajax the closer you got the first team the further away from the goal you ended up so being able to play several positions and have an understanding of what to do on and off the ball in those positions was critical.

A lot of clubs will lock down positions. If it's a concern try looking for sunday leagues, or futsal, or pick up to supplement.
Click to expand...
The problem with the defenders you mention is what’s happening to my son. He plays fantastic defense. For a 9 year old he is very tall and aggressive. But it’s all he plays. And he keeps asking me to play other positions to learn. But it’s impossible to discuss anything about playing positions with his coach.

But it sounds like if this is all he plays it’s not going to turn out well?
 
Grace T. said:
I think this is right but I note it doesn’t apply to the top starter on a team in Youngers which are generally locked into striker, cam and cb (and also gk but not necessarily the top kid). It’s why we had that thread recently with the kid locked into cb (the kid was basically too good for the coach to play on the wings but not the top player so therefore not placed at cam or striker). The wing players and the first off the benchers are the ones who can get moved around more if people are injured/absent. The coach is unlikely to move their top striker (assuming they are working out) to cb unless the game is so lop sided that they are either trying to minimize goals or stop further bleeding in a blowout.
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Yea for sure. You see the firefighter role a lot on the younger teams. The players that are big, strong, fast and aggressive. Play the 9 when they need to score and CB when they are holding a lead. Seems like every team has a couple that the coach counts on and they typically play central where they see the ball more. The exception to this is kids of the coach or other coaches in the club. The coach mafia will have them play a very specific role on the team and that is it. They have a plan for them beyond the current team so they are being groomed for to play a specific position and play there a lot so they can learn. They also tend to take a lot of free and corner kicks. All you can do is hope your kid is competing for the same spot on the field.
 
lulu9155 said:
The problem with the defenders you mention is what’s happening to my son. He plays fantastic defense. For a 9 year old he is very tall and aggressive. But it’s all he plays. And he keeps asking me to play other positions to learn. But it’s impossible to discuss anything about playing positions with his coach.

But it sounds like if this is all he plays it’s not going to turn out well?
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Some coaches will rotate players more slowly, but still do it. My kid has played all over the field by now, but usually spent at least 6 months in any one spot.

So, if he played multiple spots last year, I wouldn't worry much about it just yet. It's worth letting the coach know that you value him getting experience in different positions, but not worth stressing over.

The coach may also be in a bit of a bind if the club or parents expect wins. The first few games he moves his CB to wing, you're going to give up some goals. This is what 7v7 is for, but if people are expecting him to win every game, it's difficult to do that.
 
Yes. My son has gotten an advantage because he learned a few positions over the years. Now he plays any of the 4 defenders positions in his club and any of the 4 attacking positions in his high school (except #9). This year has a new club and during tryouts and practices he continues to play in different positions.
 
If your kid is really good at the position they're at right now, ask the coach to move him. If they're not excelling, sticking with it until he knows and plays the position well is actually a good thing to do. Our coach does this with kids who think they are automatically strikers. It has made them much more versatile and can use those defensive pressuring skills up front when they do change positions.
 
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