Select soccer vs. alternatives for U-11?

some of the futsal techniques do not tranfer over while other outdoor techniques are not useful in futsal. For example pulling wide and taking the heavy touch down the line to blow past a defender. Making a trap with the bottom of your feet can slow down the play outdoor but is essential for futsal. The first touch into space or away from pressure has less use in futsal. It is not essential in soccer or at least anymore essential than pick up, street soccer, or even inddor soccer. It's touches on the ball. I am not a fan of indoor soccer and futsal does eleminate the walls and much of the physical play. If you could find free play street soccer I would pick that over futsal as a development.

I can count at least 4 occassions in yesterday's Dortmund game that Ronaldo alone used the foot on top of the ball in traffic to controll it and continue forward movement.

Depends on the player using the skills. Falcao is not the same player...

Not sure that game is the one to be pointing it out though

Haha, that's right. Good thing I was cheering for Dortmund. He wasn't the only player on the pitch using some of those skill moves.

Androfan aka Kicksfan wrote:I can count at least 4 occassions in yesterday's Dortmund game that Ronaldo alone used the foot on top of the ball in traffic to controll it and continue forward movement.

Depends on the player using the skills. Falcao is not the same player...

Now how many time did he trap the ball with the sole of his feet vs how many time he used the side of his foot to trap it? Did you count the number of crosses dortmund played too? So again futsal will improve your game just as much as all the other soccer activities. The more you play the better and it will not replace your outdoor game. The one benefit it does have over outdoor is fewer players on the field so more touches per player per game

My dd will skip select. And I don't feel at all she will miss out. Coaches are all about teams and not players. As a parent, I need to "gurantee" growth and skills. These girls are ten, and playing on an 11 v 11 isn't going to get them at a higher level. Futsal and street soccer will. Any girl can get into this and guest play. The best of both worlds:)

If I didn't know any better, this sounds like that dad/coach who takes his dd from club to club to guess play and has yet to let his dd build camaraderie with any team over the duration of a season. Very skilled dd and different approach. Should be interesting to see how it turns out. I'll keep mine in select and pay extra for skills on the side if needed.
Don't get sucked in Herradura!

Sounds like futsal could be instrumental but not essential...sort of like boxing to football...it can help not hurt

03gmom wrote:My dd will skip select. And I don't feel at all she will miss out. Coaches are all about teams and not players. As a parent, I need to "gurantee" growth and skills. These girls are ten, and playing on an 11 v 11 isn't going to get them at a higher level. Futsal and street soccer will. Any girl can get into this and guest play. The best of both worlds:)

There are far less opportunities to guest at u11. The rosters are set, most teams have 14+ girls that paid good money so they are going to make everything. It is far different then academy as far as the roster goes. I remember in academy going to a tournament with 2 girls out for such and such, in select I would say tournament attendance is nearly 100% and many tournaments (at least for top teams) are travel tournaments. Also, if you do guest, you got to think your daughter pays nothing vs. another girl who is comitted and pays the coaches pay check. Very few coaches will risk upsetting a paying player for someone who is just guesting. You will have chances April-June while coaches work on their roster, but I would say from August on, guest playing is very limited.

Just FYI, I'm an 01 parent and I know 3 girls that where d1/d2 talent and did not sign and sat out select talking about street soccer and guesting. At the end of u12 I do not see those DDs anywhere. I'm sure they could jump back in, but not at the level they left.

Another huge difference, since the teams are set and practicing with another team is no longer allowed. Coaches stop recruiting and focus on their group. It isn't like academy where they have to be looking all the time, for most of them, they are done. Real recruiting doesn't start back up until mid spring.

Bottom line, if you sit out select, do not expect to play a competitive field game for 10 months, unless you consider PSA competitive (which it is for some players). At u12, you probably can still make a team, but the teams that did well will not be so ready to sit starters for new players. Most likely, you either will end up on the bench on a team you could make and start today, or you will end up at a team below your DDs level so she can easily beat out a field player.

I would say not the best of both worlds.

JustaSport wrote:
(1) Why are the parents making such a decision on behalf of their daughter? It's her sport, not theirs. I'll bet if you could ask the little girl, she wants to play soccer games on a team with her friends... not train for a year.

Bingo!

There is no single correct answer. Da kid is 10; there is plenty of time to play select. BUT - if the kid wants to play, the BEST choice is to let her play!

kixR4Adults2 wrote:Sounds like futsal could be instrumental but not essential...sort of like boxing to football...it can help not hurt

Thats a perfect analogy. BTW Brazillian kids play futsal not because it will make them better outdoor players. They play it because it's fun and readily avaliable with plenty of courts and leagues for kids.

If you sit out the first year you do miss out on something. You miss out on qualifying and the experience of earning your spot in CL. Guesting opportunities are much smaller in select than academy. Guest are either brought in to check them out before signing or a weaker team that need help winning. Coaches have contracted players and are not likely to sit them just so some kid can get a few games in. Qualifying was a great experience for my bb.

I think justasport gave the best advise.

After thinking on this a bit, I asked the DD after practice last night. "What if we sat out of outdoor next year and just did privates and futsal?" She looked at me oddly and asked "Did I get cut from the team?" - I said "No, of course not" She asked, "is it because select is too much money?" - I said "No, no, it would be a choice, you could try out some new sports, you could have more free time with your friends". She said "Why would you ask something like that?" I said, "I was just thinking and wanted to see what you thought". "No Mom, I play soccer - that's what I want to do. I like things how they are."

End of story...

The key here is every kid's situation is different.
I agree ....#1... ask your DD what she wants to do.
But I know of several kids that if asked the same question...
Would choose skills and indoor/futsal. Herradura,It sounds like ur DD
Enjoys her team, the trainings, etc.
There's a whole another group out there who are tired of the grind and are seeking a change....a change that will not only create more soccer development but more importantly...more enthusiasm for the sport. Sometimes the answer is a new team...sometimes the answer may be an alternative plan to U11 LHGCL

sometimes the answer is you don't have to play soccer. If a kid no then don't bother. The grind doesn't get any easier at 12 or 14. It gets more difficult, practice becomes more days. Some kids would just like to play a little soccer and thats fine. Others want to compete and work hard at the game. Not sure why you would bother making a kid who just wants to have a little fun playing do skills. For what? Just let them play some futsal, indoor, 3v3, 4v4 soccer and enjoy. Kids who don't want to put all the work and make that much sacrifice are not broken. Infact they are probably closer to the norm than the other kids.

herradura wrote:I think justasport gave the best advise.

After thinking on this a bit, I asked the DD after practice last night. "What if we sat out of outdoor next year and just did privates and futsal?" She looked at me oddly and asked "Did I get cut from the team?" - I said "No, of course not" She asked, "is it because select is too much money?" - I said "No, no, it would be a choice, you could try out some new sports, you could have more free time with your friends". She said "Why would you ask something like that?" I said, "I was just thinking and wanted to see what you thought". "No Mom, I play soccer - that's what I want to do. I like things how they are."

End of story...

This is my DD to a T. I played an April fools trick telling her we were going to move her to a local team that would give her more time for other activities. She freaked out. I didn't quite understand how much her team meant to her before this. She'd hate it if we took off for a year.

go99 wrote:sometimes the answer is you don't have to play soccer. If a kid no then don't bother. The grind doesn't get any easier at 12 or 14. It gets more difficult, practice becomes more days. Some kids would just like to play a little soccer and thats fine. Others want to compete and work hard at the game. Not sure why you would bother making a kid who just wants to have a little fun playing do skills. For what? Just let them play some futsal, indoor, 3v3, 4v4 soccer and enjoy. Kids who don't want to put all the work and make that much sacrifice are not broken. Infact they are probably closer to the norm than the other kids.

Dammit, go99, quit making sense. I think the readers have seen just about enough of that. There's no place on a forum for a poster like you to interject normalcy and balance into a debate among a bunch of zealot parents who spend all waking hours thinking of children's soccer. If your daughter has not started academy at U6, attended at least three soccer camps each summer, worked her way onto a top team by U11, and continued to train regardless of time and cost to the parents; then she's a loser and will never amount to anything. 5,612 registered users can't be wrong. Your perspective on youth sports is erroneous at best and dangerous at worst.

go99 wrote:sometimes the answer is you don't have to play soccer. If a kid no then don't bother. The grind doesn't get any easier at 12 or 14. It gets more difficult, practice becomes more days. Some kids would just like to play a little soccer and thats fine. Others want to compete and work hard at the game. Not sure why you would bother making a kid who just wants to have a little fun playing do skills. For what? Just let them play some futsal, indoor, 3v3, 4v4 soccer and enjoy. Kids who don't want to put all the work and make that much sacrifice are not broken. Infact they are probably closer to the norm than the other kids.

Go99, I probably should have explained my situation more clearly.
DD is sick and tired of her 2x/trainings
It might be that the team is not the right fit anymore.

She loves the independent skills though...I mean really loves it.
So our situation may be unique and that's why this topic really hits home with us.

SolarPower00 wrote:

go99 wrote:sometimes the answer is you don't have to play soccer. If a kid no then don't bother. The grind doesn't get any easier at 12 or 14. It gets more difficult, practice becomes more days. Some kids would just like to play a little soccer and thats fine. Others want to compete and work hard at the game. Not sure why you would bother making a kid who just wants to have a little fun playing do skills. For what? Just let them play some futsal, indoor, 3v3, 4v4 soccer and enjoy. Kids who don't want to put all the work and make that much sacrifice are not broken. Infact they are probably closer to the norm than the other kids.

Go99, I probably should have explained my situation more clearly.
DD is sick and tired of her 2x/trainings
It might be that the team is not the right fit anymore.

She loves the independent skills though...I mean really loves it.
So our situation may be unique and that's why this topic really hits home with us.

Does your daughter like a lot of movement with the ball vs. The lesser touches at training/practice?

I only offer perspective, not advice or absolute truth (and sorry for the length)...

I had the opportunity to spend a lot of time with coaches from the Challenger program - the same kids from the UK who run the British Soccer Camps. One of the first things I asked them was why the general quality of US soccer seems to lack in comparison to the much of the world. Almost every one of them had the same answer:

In our youth programs, we as Americans are overwhelmingly compelled to determine “who’s best.” Even at the earliest ages, we tend to place the greatest importance on the final score (see just about every topic on this forum), which is why we focus on the competitive game. A good example of this is the Mini Jogo program of a local soccer association. They ONLY play games, no practice or development, and if you ask any parent, they can tell you the final score of their 5-6 yr. old’s mini jogo game.

According to the same Challenger coaches - by contrast in Europe, from the earliest ages, the focus is on building skills. Not that they don’t play games, but they place a greater importance on the development that comes from skilling, tending not to place importance on game results until their teen years. The game becomes the vehicle to work out what they’ve learned from that week’s development. The players understand that development is what makes them such good players on the pitch so they strive to develop further.

So....this thread got me thinking about youth sports in general. Is it possible our kids love playing games because that’s what we as adults ingrain in them from the earliest ages? What would happen if we started taking a more European approach with our youngest athletes and placed greater emphasis on the development? What if team sports consisted of skills development/tactics with your peers 2x a week and games weren’t introduced until kids were 7, 8 or even 9? Is it possible that our kids would then love skilling and understand its importance because it would be the “norm” and the example that we as adults set for them? How would that foundation of development serve our athletes by the time they hit high school?

I can only speak for my own DD’s age group, but many of the better teams already employ this perspective. They integrate skilling into weekly practices and encourage players to seek outside skills development. Many also swear by the benefits of futsal - one top 5 D1 team has 4 players in the City Futsal residency program. The thought being the more complete the player, the more complete the team. ODP has also adopted futsal as an important part of its program.

As far as choosing between a skilling only regimen v. competition, good luck, whatever your decision.

http://www.soccernation.com/horst-wein-on-how-to-develop-the-best-youth-soccer-players--cms-3903
Interesting read

I think if your goal in life is to play soccer for ever and peak in the prime of your life, the UK approach is best. If your DD is just playing for fun and wants to practice and play in some games, our system is better. The severe minority of girls playing are thinking that soccer is their goal for the rest of their life. This is just a better way of killing time as a youth, and good exercise. Maybe a few play in college, maybe <1% make some money doing it after college. As fun as this forum is, how many of us care that much to make soccer our DDs 100% focus, morning, day, and night?

Blah Blah Blah.

Some one find me a round ball that I can kick long and chase it. That is true development here in NTX.
Right CharlieSheen's Brain?

My DD is more than capable of making a team and has friends on many. However, her skills keep her from making the very best and that's what she wants. I also think it's ludicrous for an 11 year old to focus on one "open skill" sport. If we were talking about a "closed skill" sport like gymnastics or figure skating specialization would be essential. Hence, she will likely sit out next year, and develop into a more focused competitive athlete who plays her sport tactically smart and with good technique. 11v11 field is too big, not enough touches and most of the coaching doesn't seem to provide any real sense of tactics and how/where to move without the ball. I've only watched closely for the past year, but have a reasonable sense of what athlete development entails from the past 20+ years of my fulltime job coaching another sport. In the end, it's about realizing parents are the only ones who can decide what's best for their kids and finding a coach who is both willing to take responsibility for a child's development and has the skillset necessary to act as Shirpa Guide throughout the journey is getting harder than finding a non grey hair on Rip Van Winkle's head