if your kids not doing work like this they are missing a good piece of being the best athlete they can be. Your obviously not going to a trainer like this to learn soccer. Maybe I'm missing something here?This is the perfect example of what’s wrong with USA training… here you have a footballtrainer trying to teach kids
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- Thread starter soccer4us
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That’s my understanding.
Even if they go to “school year”, you still have a few whose school cohort doesn’t match their soccer cohort. Redshirt kids will be one grade lower at school. Kids who skipped will be one grade higher.
I think it’s a small fraction of kids, though.
There is a certain way to train for soccer agility and it involves different drills that do not involve track or American Football movement dynamics. For example the dynamics of running Track, American football and soccer differentiate quite a bit. Soccer you need to run with arms sideways because of maintaining proper balance. Also in soccer you do not need to focus on straight line running like in track. A track player does not train the same agility exercises as an American football player. Same goes with soccer. Seems like he is teaching a mesh of Track, American Football with these specific drills, sprinkled with some final dribbling around poles for a shot at the end. Doing the wrong drills will build bad habits because you are working on the wrong dynamics when it comes to soccer. While sure these drills will make you a better athlete, you want to do the ones specific to soccer strength & agility. I see many athletic trainers using the wrong dynamics for soccer. I saw this especially in Texas. In CA its a lot better.
A lot of clubs (particularly if the kid plays at a high level) wouldn't be cool with playing adult pickup....too many injuries....some clubs allow players needing higher level challenges (if they aren't playing in the top top tier, MLS Next on the boys side), to play UPSL. Though pickup games can only get you so far. The Mexican clubs for example do recruit out of Latino League here in the US. But there's slim pickins....if a Latino league player isn't playing higher level ball by age 12 the chances of being able to play at such a high level are very slim and most kids who can't afford club and aren't picked by an academy by that age are done. While my kid appreciated the extra scenarios he got playing Latino league, he found the level of play frustrating, especially given that as a GK he was still the best one with his feet on the field.
Goalkeeper training especially once they are teens does typically involve isometric exercises. It's the only way you are going to get your leap height. Though even then no goalkeeper coach would do an isometric exercise without the ball being incorporated and some of the movements aren't helpful even for a GK. It looks similar but not quite.This is the perfect example of what’s wrong with USA training… here you have a football
The key difference though is that in England kids are recruited into academies very young. So they are put into an environment where they can get the feed back learning (their scenario 2 in the video) from an early age (much earlier than our kids are put into academies). They are surrounded by the best players with the most potential (and not lower potential players to drag them down). Our coaches are concerned about winning, because that's how the parents judge them, because the parents are shelling out the $$ for pay or play, so they are incentivized to make sure the kids don't make mistakes (since soccer is a game all about mistakes creating goals). The other scenario they mention is the Brazilian street play, but as they point out, they have highly knowledgeable coaches....our AYSO and Latino league coaches (even those from Mexico) are not so knowledgeable, and even then both countries (USA and Mexico) have a culture which is obsessed with winning over development.
One of my pet peeves is young players that run around the pitch with floppy arms and a coach does nothing to correct it. It's a myth that you can't teach speed. Your not going to teach a slug to be Usain Bolt, but you can teach a slug to improve by a step, or maybe two, which makes a huge difference on the pitch.
How many soccer coaches have you seen teach a kid proper running form? First step is as important as first touch.
That's mostly not true. Stopping and change of direction/lateral movements, yes. Driving forward (particulary from a stop) and covering ground (aka most running activities), no.
Karlton Athletic
SILVER
It’s pickup, so we don’t go crazy, but it is competitive and we have a couple of semi-pros and a bunch of college players (co-ed), plus a few old farts like me whose football brain works quicker than their body will let them these days (much to my annoyance). My kids have definitely improved since they started, with my 2010 in particular scoring as freely as the grownups.
I was specifically told when I got my d and e that we shouldn’t teach such things to Younger’s. The expectation was that parents or trainers would show such things and that coaches should instead focus on team exercises and tactics. I’ll share the story again. I put together for my d a crossing scenario for u9s (then beginning club players) to show them how to lift the ball properly and where to put it when doing a side line run. The English head coach went into me, yelling at me in front of the others it wasn’t “game realistic” and coaches were not supposed to focus on individual players technical skills. The instructor also went into me because I dared correct the goalkeeper on a technical mistake he was making (that’s not your exercise don’t coach the goalkeeper…then when does the goalkeeper get coached because last I checked there weren’t many teams focusing on doing drills just for the goalkeeper?….thats the gk coaches job….well what club have you seen that the gk coaches regularly show up to team practices????)
IMO we introduce tactics far too early in US soccer and U9 is too early. I'd say the coach/instructor was an idiot, but that's probably how he was taught by US Soccer. I also believe team tactics are grossly overrated for even older youth. Individual decision making and field vision are far more important. Soccer is game of individual or "small-sided" battles, you have to win those before you can even think about employing team tactics.
This is a great video about how we need to protect the "goats" in youth soccer. We need to separate the goats from asses and make sure they only play with goats. You all have a wonderful, wonderful day.
Watch: https://1a-1791.com/video/s8/2/n/m/O/P/nmOPt.caa.mp4?b=1&u=ummtf
Watch: https://1a-1791.com/video/s8/2/n/m/O/P/nmOPt.caa.mp4?b=1&u=ummtf
Good point, I guess it depends what position you are playing as well and the style of play of the team. Players like Ronaldo and Mbappe have unconventional styles of sprinting. They run with explosive speed like sprinters, but they also need to change direction quickly, slow down, and speed up during a game. Unlike sprinters who run in a straight line, they adjust constantly based on the ball and other players. They’re incredibly fast, but their running is about more than just top speed…it’s about agility, control, and quick bursts to beat defenders and make plays. Balance is key
and that’s probably why they run as such.Another thing I notice sprinters do which is wrong for soccer players is lean forward to take off. Those mechanics don’t suite soccer players well. In soccer, players don’t lean forward like sprinters because they need to stay balanced and ready to change direction quickly. Running off the back leg helps them maintain a more upright posture, which allows for better agility, control of the ball, and the ability to react to sudden changes in play. Leaning too far forward, like a sprinter, would make it harder to stop, turn, or adjust to the game's fast pace and movements.
I saw something not long ago that seemed right, from a pro (lower league, USL maybe) player’s YT post. He said that you can get into top-level athletic condition with six months of hard work. You can’t develop elite ball skills, feel, etc in six months.
The main point was that at younger ages (10-14, primarily, I think), strength and speed training is a limited return investment. I have friends who spend money for their younger kids to speed train. I’ve seen the kids get faster, and that certainly helps on the pitch for our U12 squad, but there comes a time, you’re not going to win every race.
If I had lots of extra money to burn, it would be spent putting my kids in more playing sessions at unfamiliar environments with kids they don’t know.
The main point was that at younger ages (10-14, primarily, I think), strength and speed training is a limited return investment. I have friends who spend money for their younger kids to speed train. I’ve seen the kids get faster, and that certainly helps on the pitch for our U12 squad, but there comes a time, you’re not going to win every race.
If I had lots of extra money to burn, it would be spent putting my kids in more playing sessions at unfamiliar environments with kids they don’t know.
True story Orca: My buddy had a really good female daughter soccer player. Her only weakness was lack of speed. Her daddy bought her a part time "speed training" coach ($$$$$) to improve her speed. Well, here are the facts with speed. First off, it's God given not man made. Man cannot make speed. If 10 is the fastest and 1 is the slowest, my pal's kid was a 6. Speed coach helped her get to 6.5 with learning how to run track. No coach can make you fast just like no coach can make you Elite. You can pay the coach to tell others your kid is elite but the child is not really, only Elite with money. Big difference.
I don't think you necessarily need a lot of speed training, but it should definitely supplement your soccer training. Even just simple technique/form corrections can add a step.
Try this experiment with your kids team. Have them stand facing forward with both feet on the line. Tell them to sprint. 99% of them will step backwards to push off instead of just taking a step forward. That's a lost step right there. (I learned this on a visit to the Philadelphia Union academy).
Part of the arrogance of youth soccer Clubs and coaches is that you need to be practicing and competing year round in soccer. In reality, cross training (other sports, weight and speed training etc) is important and beneficial. All soccer, all the time, is a big reason 75% of the kids dropout by age 14.
we are going to need to agree to disagree on this one. . I've seen training like in the video make a difference so I think its an important piece to your childs athletic toolbox. It not going to hurt anyone to understand how to move your body in the most efficient manner possible to maximize your speed as a soccer player but this guy wasn't teaching any form but a good trainer would. I'm also hoping these kids are not only playing soccer as that's also a mistake. They should be playing multiple sports as its just going to make you a better athlete which will translate to the soccer field. You could for example play softball and learn defensive footwork and sliding to get grounders from your softball coach and then apply that to playing defense in soccer by being able to stay in front and contain the attacker. The stabbing being done at even the highest level instead of just containing is astonishing to me. I would love for forwards and midfielders to learn to contain instead of just stabbing at the ball and letting their attacker run by them but that's another post!!
Scrub It Kook
BRONZE
100% agree. If players learned how to properly contain and jockey attackers they'd win more challenges. Most youth players don't have the best touch and end up giving away the ball with a poor touch.