Why all the fuss to learn "The Beautiful Game"

[Unregistered]

It's because our selection process tends to promote athletes first and technical skill second. If you don't have the technical skill to pass and receive at a very high speed of play at the older ages, you can't play possession soccer and have to play long balls.

It's because results matter more than playing the right way, especially at h/s and higher. Playing the beautiful doesn't guarantee wins.
Even the MLS play a more run and gun game, as do many of the lower division clubs overseas.
They are top flight footballers for a reason...

[Unregistered]

My kid has been to camps. The schedule is packed, but there's only so much intense competition they can fit into a single week. There's typically a mid week game and one on the last day, and that's not really enough to get the kids really accustomed to playing together against coordinated pressure. This is especially true when the staff is experimenting with moving kids around to new spots and experimenting with new combinations.

If you want a real cohesive team at these younger ages, there would need to be an academy. With an academy comes all the other questions and issues (college, adding / dropping kids, etc.)

Clearly what they are doing now isn't working and there are few that actually believe the residential program works. Time for some different thinking. Why not bring the players in for a two month camp during the summer? That would seem to be less intrusive than what is going on now.

[Unregistered]

it's the refs

The reason that kick and run continues to hold sway in older age groups is that the refs in H.S. and College blow. They don't call fouls so there's no reward for playing good soccer other than piling up injuries.

[Unregistered]

The reason that kick and run continues to hold sway in older age groups is that the refs in H.S. and College blow. They don't call fouls so there's no reward for playing good soccer other than piling up injuries.

I agree on the whole that HS refs are very poor but they are absolutely not the reason for the poor play.

[Unregistered]

The reason that kick and run continues to hold sway in older age groups is that the refs in H.S. and College blow. They don't call fouls so there's no reward for playing good soccer other than piling up injuries.

Please crawl back under your rock.

[Unregistered]

Seems to me when you go above travel level soccer at the younger ages, the coaches are really trying to promote possession style soccer, playing out of the back, etc. You see a lot of U9-U12 games being played (or at least attempting to be played) the "correct" way.

Then something happens with the older kids. A lot of the U15-U18 games I've seen over the past four years or so, both club and high school, seem to revert back to kick and run. Did these kids go through the system before possession style really caught on? Or is it a case that kids want to use their new found physicality and strength and play brute force instead of using their brains to play smartly? Are all those kids who played great possession style at the younger ages forced out of the game as teenagers in favor of the multi-sport athlete, who may have the edge athletically, but not the vision or touch to play a good possession style? Perhaps the coaches at the older youth levels are mostly old dogs who only know how to teach kick and run. Will we see some good soccer in another four year as these younger kids move into their teenage years, or will it be the same old boot ball?

I don't see this from travel soccer at the younger or older ages. So either our town teams (for the last 7 years while I've had kids in town) and their opponents are an anomaly or the teams you are watching are an anomaly. I see the status quo being travel kids who randomly whack the ball down the field to the speedy kid (esp older poorly coached teams) or younger kids doing a lighter pass to another part of the field without really knowing if anyone is in the vicinity to receive that "pass" (since their head was looking at their feet when they passed). There are exceptional kids or teams that break this mold but its usually state cup competition where we encounter these better teams. Other than that, playing from the back is something I only see at the premier level.

[Unregistered]

I don't see this from travel soccer at the younger or older ages. Other than that, playing from the back is something I only see at the premier level.

That's why I said "above travel level", meaning premier. What you see at travel level is exactly what I'm seeing, it's not pretty.

[Unregistered]

That's why I said "above travel level", meaning premier. What you see at travel level is exactly what I'm seeing, it's not pretty.

Alright, my bad. As Miss Emily Litella from SNL in the old days would say .... never mind.