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    #16
    Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
    Added to the list of great smaller players:

    Mia Hamm is 5'2"

    But most players won't make it to the national team. Most players won't even make it to college. Is your 7 year old enjoying soccer? If yes, that's all that matters right now.

    My daughter is 5'2" and played on top soccer teams through middle school, then decided she loved volleyball, where her height is even more of an issue! Guess what? She is a good athlete with good grades who loves the sport and she has a couple D3 vball offers. A strong but short soccer player with excellent grades and good character has a good chance of finding a spot on a college roster if she does the outreach to coaches. It may not be D1 but it is a chance to live the dream a few more years and can tip the admission scale too.

    But right now, let your 7 year old enjoy herself and try other sports too!
    Ditto this. Enjoyment is the key. My kids all played the game through College. They simply loved playing (as do it). Pickup on weekends? Check. Bring a ball to the beach in case the surf sucks? Check. Play indoor during High School season? Check. They LOVED it is my point. They all had (reasonably) good grades. And, guess what? They found their way. One NAIA player/graduate, One DII player/Graduate, and One DIII player/Graduate. They all got their "looks" due to soccer and got their real money due to grades. Two of the three still play pickup with me fairly regularly (and their friends). The third has kiddos and plans on getting back into it (with the kiddos!) once they're a wee bit bigger. Point is, FUN is the key. Most kids drop out because it's not fun. In my opinion.

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      #17
      Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
      You are obviously ignorant about women’s NCAA D1 Soccer. The WSU women’s program is currently in the final four of the NCAA College Cup- with North Carolina, UCLA, and Stanford. WSU defeated #1 seed Virginia in Charlottesville, then South Carolina in OT to make it to the semifinals.

      I’m not a WSU grad, but know several players from local clubs that are very happy there. I would welcome any kind of interest in my dd from a growing D1 program with huge fan support, positive coaching & atmosphere and awareness of instate players. Educate yourself, please- the national media has:
      https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.esp...3fplatform=amp
      Well said
      +1

      Comment


        #18
        Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
        This is spot on. The average height of most of the top team’s starters isn’t very tall. About 5’4-5’6. The star forwards, like Marcario average about 5’4”. What stands out much more than height is speed, athleticism & skill. All the top players have those characteristics much more than height.
        Marcario... Holy cow, gotta encourage my DD to juggle more, and the change of the ball trajectory... priceless!

        https://soccer.nbcsports.com/2018/10...rina-marcario/

        For my engineering buddies~ Bernoulli's principle and the "Magnus effect"

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          #19
          Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
          Marcario... Holy cow, gotta encourage my DD to juggle more, and the change of the ball trajectory... priceless!

          https://soccer.nbcsports.com/2018/10...rina-marcario/

          For my engineering buddies~ Bernoulli's principle and the "Magnus effect"
          My dd is 5'4 120 and starts in at D1. Measure the size of the heart not the actual size.

          umm there's a guy named messi that's pretty good, compared to men he's really small.

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            #20
            Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
            My dd is 5'4 120 and starts in at D1. Measure the size of the heart not the actual size.

            umm there's a guy named messi that's pretty good, compared to men he's really small.
            That's awesome, congrats!

            Comment


              #21
              All things being equal size matters, however in genernal taller athletes are less coordinated than smaller athletes. It's just science, shorter distances for electrical signals to travel means faster responses.

              Look at the most skilled athletes in any sport, they're always the shortest, Neymar 5'7", Messi 5'6" in soccer. Point guards the most skilled athletes in basketball. Gymnasts the most coordinated athletes in the world are all tiny.

              And on the WNT Lavelle and Pugh the most skillful players are both 5'4".

              Comment


                #22
                These are all nice feel good observations about short players, but it is not true that they are not at a disadvantage compared to an equally talented average or above average height player. There is a reason that there are only a handful of short players on the womens teams. It's not mean to state the obvious. Sure they can and do succeed.

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                  #23
                  "Tyrone Curtis "Muggsy" Bogues (born January 9, 1965) is a retired American basketball player. The shortest player ever to play in the National Basketball Association, the 5 ft 3 in (1.60 m) Bogues played point guard for four teams during his 14-season career in the NBA. Although best known for his ten seasons with the Charlotte Hornets, Bogues also played for the Washington Bullets, Golden State Warriors, and Toronto Raptors. After his NBA career, he served as head coach of the now-defunct WNBA team Charlotte Sting...

                  Despite his height, Bogues managed to block 39 shots throughout his NBA span including one on 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) tall Patrick Ewing. This happened on April 14, 1993 in the first quarter, when Ewing was pulling the ball back to go up for the shot and Bogues stripped him of the ball. Bogues reportedly had a 44-inch (110 cm) measured vertical leap, but his hands were too small to hold on to a ball to dunk one-handed."

                  Comment


                    #24
                    Yes but this is because female soccer players in the US and world are not optimally trained. Take a bunch of players who have not reached their potential and the bigger players have an advantage of course. This is women's soccer today, esp. youth soccer and also NCAA soccer.. But if you get all those players to their maximum potential the smaller players natural advantage in coordination will show itself in sports like soccer.

                    Look at men's soccer in the world which is an example of this, men's national teams have players close to average height for their nation, e.g. Mexico, Brazil, Japan. These are not teams of giants because these are the most skilled athletes their countries can produce and smaller players have a physiologic advantage in terms of coordinaton.

                    Average height for a US woman in 5'4" and as training advances and players becoming overall more skilled the smaller players who have a higher ceiling in herhral for coordination will start to fill those skill postions. Of course there are some positions like forwards where heading is important or keeper where size is a distinct advantage.

                    Smaller players are more coordinated, again this is physiologic. Shorter distance to toes means faster reflexes. Larger players are stronger and kick harder again physiologic due to bigger muscles. What's fun in soccer is all these skills play a role and a player of any size has a niche. It's not rugby or basketball where size is a necessity. That's why it's the world's most popular sport.1

                    Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
                    These are all nice feel good observations about short players, but it is not true that they are not at a disadvantage compared to an equally talented average or above average height player. There is a reason that there are only a handful of short players on the womens teams. It's not mean to state the obvious. Sure they can and do succeed.

                    Comment


                      #25
                      Mia Hamm 5’2”

                      Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
                      We're still having the height conversation after Messi just won the Ballon d'Or for the 6th time? And we're using WSU's roster as a barometer, why? WSU's coach is like 5'-2" tall himself, but obviously prefers to be the shortest in the team huddle.

                      USWNT - listed heights, so guessing most of these players may actually be shorter...
                      Crystal Dunn 5'-1"
                      Rose Lavelle - 5'-4"
                      Mallory Pugh - 5'-4"
                      O'Hara 5'-5"
                      Tobin Heath 5'-6"

                      A few non-US players of note in World Cup:
                      Kim Little 5'-4"
                      Marta 5'-4"
                      Debinha 5'-2"
                      Beth Mead 5'-4"
                      Jessie Fleming 5'-4"
                      Desiree Scott 5'-2"
                      Erin Cuthbert 5'-4"

                      How about the best player in college - Stanford's Macario. Not small, but listed at 5'5" and plays like she's 5'-9." She has a 5'-0" teammate in the starting line-up who is an excellent player.

                      Can you have a team full of 5'-4" players? No, as you'll lose on set pieces. But only recruiting for height is short-sighted ; ) and assuming any u8 player is going to be too small for soccer is also short-sighted...
                      Soccer isn’t a “height” sport overall - except for keepers and center backs.

                      Comment


                        #26
                        It sounds like many are arguing that it is better to be a short soccer player. Please explain why most of the female pro players are 5'6 and above?

                        Apparently all of the soccer teams that come from countries with a female population of 5'5" or so didn't get the memo about filling their squad with 5 footers.

                        Stop pointing out that many short players are successful. I agree.

                        However, if short players had just as much chance of making the roster, the discrepancy would not be 75% 5' 6 and above versus 25 percent or lower.

                        Comment


                          #27
                          Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
                          You are obviously ignorant about women’s NCAA D1 Soccer. The WSU women’s program is currently in the final four of the NCAA College Cup- with North Carolina, UCLA, and Stanford. WSU defeated #1 seed Virginia in Charlottesville, then South Carolina in OT to make it to the semifinals.

                          I’m not a WSU grad, but know several players from local clubs that are very happy there. I would welcome any kind of interest in my dd from a growing D1 program with huge fan support, positive coaching & atmosphere and awareness of instate players. Educate yourself, please- the national media has:
                          https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.esp...3fplatform=amp
                          Oh, I am familiar with NCAA D1 and D3 woman's soccer. Glad that the young ladies from WSU are in the final four. It is quite an accomplishment. But what are they going to do with a sociology degree from WSU? Kicking a ball for fun will end sooner or later, then you got to play in the real world where education and degrees matter.

                          Anybody can go to WSU, with or without soccer. If my dd was a P5 caliber player and smart, why would I ever send her to the cultural and academic backwaters of Pullman? For soccer? Really? I am getting a sense that some of you don't have a PhD from MIT and are not senior staff engineers at Google.

                          Stanford, Duke, UCLA, USC, Santa Clara, Brown. MIT, Williams, Tufts, Claremont, Pomona, Chicago, CMU, Swarthmore, Middlebury, John Hopkins, and Amherst. What do these schools have in common? All D1/D3 NCAA tourney schools, need high GPA and SAT scores to get in and survive, job and grad school prospects are awesome, these schools on the resume will open doors forever, and schools much, much better than WSU.

                          So, you want to send your dd to WSU for soccer rather than these schools? I should call CPS on you for child abuse, abandonment, and diminished, parental mental capacity.

                          Comment


                            #28
                            You don't get it. It's because women's soccer is still early in development and size and strength is a differentiating factor because skill has not been maximized. Once women soccer players are all highly skilled to their maximum potential you will see many shorter players on the national team due to their coordination advantage IThis is already happening in other countries.

                            Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
                            It sounds like many are arguing that it is better to be a short soccer player. Please explain why most of the female pro players are 5'6 and above?

                            Apparently all of the soccer teams that come from countries with a female population of 5'5" or so didn't get the memo about filling their squad with 5 footers.

                            Stop pointing out that many short players are successful. I agree.

                            However, if short players had just as much chance of making the roster, the discrepancy would not be 75% 5' 6 and above versus 25 percent or lower.

                            Comment


                              #29
                              Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
                              Oh, I am familiar with NCAA D1 and D3 woman's soccer. Glad that the young ladies from WSU are in the final four. It is quite an accomplishment. But what are they going to do with a sociology degree from WSU? Kicking a ball for fun will end sooner or later, then you got to play in the real world where education and degrees matter.

                              Anybody can go to WSU, with or without soccer. If my dd was a P5 caliber player and smart, why would I ever send her to the cultural and academic backwaters of Pullman? For soccer? Really? I am getting a sense that some of you don't have a PhD from MIT and are not senior staff engineers at Google.

                              Stanford, Duke, UCLA, USC, Santa Clara, Brown. MIT, Williams, Tufts, Claremont, Pomona, Chicago, CMU, Swarthmore, Middlebury, John Hopkins, and Amherst. What do these schools have in common? All D1/D3 NCAA tourney schools, need high GPA and SAT scores to get in and survive, job and grad school prospects are awesome, these schools on the resume will open doors forever, and schools much, much better than WSU.

                              So, you want to send your dd to WSU for soccer rather than these schools? I should call CPS on you for child abuse, abandonment, and diminished, parental mental capacity.
                              Be nice. A kid has to be smart to get into any of the colleges you mention. Most kids aren’t smart enough to get into those schools. WSU has a highly ranked soccer program that most players can’t get into. Why not go there and get a sociology degree while playing soccer, if you can and that’s your best academic option? You are right though, if they are that good in soccer, they could have used that high soccer level to get an admissions bump into a better school to help with a better career and future. On the other hand, having club soccer parents jealous of your kid being in the final four is pretty darn fun in the moment. Now I really do hope they make the championship.

                              Comment


                                #30
                                Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
                                You don't get it. It's because women's soccer is still early in development and size and strength is a differentiating factor because skill has not been maximized. Once women soccer players are all highly skilled to their maximum potential you will see many shorter players on the national team due to their coordination advantage IThis is already happening in other countries.
                                I've not considered this aspect, do you have any data to back it up, examples of teams filling their rosters with short players intentionally and not due to small stature?

                                Comment

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