Let's admit it, GSL is a small group. GSL School is a small school when you look at other schools. GSL Church is a small congregation when you look at other churches. GSL players are small compared to other players....regardless of sport! Regardless of the season or the sport, GSL players seem to be always playing against "children" much bigger. At a recent softball game, I actually thought one of the other teams' players was a coach. This girl was as tall as me!
I have over heard many a parent discuss this size issue and why is it that GSL kids seem to be smaller than the kids that they must oppose on the sports field. I don't really have an answer. Is it genetics? What we are feeding them (or not feeding them)? I really don't know. However, what I do know is that if I had a choice between size and skill, I would choose skill every time. GSL kids may not have size, but one thing we do have is skill and that is where we get much of our success.
At the recent Toulon Under-23 Tournament in France, the Italian team ended up winning the title on the play of their midfielder, Sebastian Giovinco. Giovinco dominated the tournament so much that he won the "Player of the Tournament" title. Giovinco stands 5 feet 4 inches, the shortest player in the tournament.
Now before you start questioning me that I can not rule out size all together, I will agree that you can not. Size definitely has a part in the equation, but size with no skill can hurt your chances of success especially in the long run, than "no size, but skill" will. Now if you have size and skill, then you are going to be very successful.
Bigger players can normally produce quick results and normally win games early in their playing career. Unfortunately, because we put too much emphasis on winning in youth sports, these early wins can cover up huge deficiencies. I call this the Shaquille O'Neill curse. O'Neill as a young players was told to go and get under the basket and his teammates were told to feed him the ball and he would just slam it in. Feed Shaq - Shaq stuffs it in - We win. That is all his so-called "coaches" did. Then, though, real coaches realized all you needed to do was foul him, because he couldn't shoot a free throw to save his life.
In youth soccer, I see it all the time. Players that dominate in the Under-6 and Under-8, because they are bigger turn it to average to poor players in the older ages. This is because they never developed the needed skills in those developmental ages like smaller players did and now they are getting run over. No longer can the coach use the method of kick it down to Big Bruce and he will slam it into the back of the goal. Now there may be a quick defender or a talented goal keeper that can win back the ball. To make things worse, Big Bruce never learned to get back on defense quickly, so now when he losses the ball, he is useless to his team to win it back.
Now size can remain an issue for a long time. Above I mentioned the fall off after Under 8 into the Under 10 and 12 ranks. About half of the players that played soccer in Under 6 and Under 8 soccer drop out in Under 10 and Under 12, because of the lack of skills. The next fall off happens after Under 14 into the Under 16 ranks, thanks to puberty.
A recent Under-14 match I watched was very lopsided. Team A's players averaged about 5 feet 10 inches and probably 140 pounds. A couple of players on team A looked like they were shaving already. Team B's players looked around 5 feet 4 inches and a strong wind would probably blow them away. It was clear that the Puberty Ferry had visited team A and had team B on her wait list. Team A dominated the game, because they could easily bump the other team off the ball and could put more distance on their passes. In team B, though, I saw some good technical and tactical play. Team A was very much a North-South team, everything was down the middle. I don't think that any player on Team A took more than three touches before passing it on to the next player. On the other hand, team B played North-South-East-West ball. Team B players demonstrated dribbling technique that Sebastian Giovinco would be proud of. One player on team B, dribbled by himself on a 40-yard run, he went around 5 defending players that could not do anything to stop him on his way to goal. If it wasn't for an excellent stop by the goal keeper, that ball was almost in the back of the net.
Now the coach of team A may pat himself on the back for the win, but I would like to see a rematch when those players are in the Under-18 ranks. Because when the Puberty Ferry finally catches up with team B, I see a complete reversal of results out there. It is not surprising to see players drop out of soccer from Under 14 to Under 18. The once advantage of size that early puberty gives some, comes back to hurt them as the skilled players start to beat them on the field due to their lack of skill.
So the next time you see a "big" player out on the soccer field, you may still say "WOW", but what you need to ask is if that child really any time of threat. That one girl that I though was a coach, did put out the "WOW" factor, but then when she started playing was not much of a concern. Sadly, much of her play ended up hurting her team during the course of the game. She had no skills for what was required.
Coaches must always, regardless of size, stress skill. ALL players need to be trained in all aspects of the game. Size may not always be there, but skill will be.
Again, if given the choice, I will take a Sebastian Giovinco over a Shaquille O'Neill any day of the week.
I have over heard many a parent discuss this size issue and why is it that GSL kids seem to be smaller than the kids that they must oppose on the sports field. I don't really have an answer. Is it genetics? What we are feeding them (or not feeding them)? I really don't know. However, what I do know is that if I had a choice between size and skill, I would choose skill every time. GSL kids may not have size, but one thing we do have is skill and that is where we get much of our success.
At the recent Toulon Under-23 Tournament in France, the Italian team ended up winning the title on the play of their midfielder, Sebastian Giovinco. Giovinco dominated the tournament so much that he won the "Player of the Tournament" title. Giovinco stands 5 feet 4 inches, the shortest player in the tournament.
Now before you start questioning me that I can not rule out size all together, I will agree that you can not. Size definitely has a part in the equation, but size with no skill can hurt your chances of success especially in the long run, than "no size, but skill" will. Now if you have size and skill, then you are going to be very successful.
Bigger players can normally produce quick results and normally win games early in their playing career. Unfortunately, because we put too much emphasis on winning in youth sports, these early wins can cover up huge deficiencies. I call this the Shaquille O'Neill curse. O'Neill as a young players was told to go and get under the basket and his teammates were told to feed him the ball and he would just slam it in. Feed Shaq - Shaq stuffs it in - We win. That is all his so-called "coaches" did. Then, though, real coaches realized all you needed to do was foul him, because he couldn't shoot a free throw to save his life.
In youth soccer, I see it all the time. Players that dominate in the Under-6 and Under-8, because they are bigger turn it to average to poor players in the older ages. This is because they never developed the needed skills in those developmental ages like smaller players did and now they are getting run over. No longer can the coach use the method of kick it down to Big Bruce and he will slam it into the back of the goal. Now there may be a quick defender or a talented goal keeper that can win back the ball. To make things worse, Big Bruce never learned to get back on defense quickly, so now when he losses the ball, he is useless to his team to win it back.
Now size can remain an issue for a long time. Above I mentioned the fall off after Under 8 into the Under 10 and 12 ranks. About half of the players that played soccer in Under 6 and Under 8 soccer drop out in Under 10 and Under 12, because of the lack of skills. The next fall off happens after Under 14 into the Under 16 ranks, thanks to puberty.
A recent Under-14 match I watched was very lopsided. Team A's players averaged about 5 feet 10 inches and probably 140 pounds. A couple of players on team A looked like they were shaving already. Team B's players looked around 5 feet 4 inches and a strong wind would probably blow them away. It was clear that the Puberty Ferry had visited team A and had team B on her wait list. Team A dominated the game, because they could easily bump the other team off the ball and could put more distance on their passes. In team B, though, I saw some good technical and tactical play. Team A was very much a North-South team, everything was down the middle. I don't think that any player on Team A took more than three touches before passing it on to the next player. On the other hand, team B played North-South-East-West ball. Team B players demonstrated dribbling technique that Sebastian Giovinco would be proud of. One player on team B, dribbled by himself on a 40-yard run, he went around 5 defending players that could not do anything to stop him on his way to goal. If it wasn't for an excellent stop by the goal keeper, that ball was almost in the back of the net.
Now the coach of team A may pat himself on the back for the win, but I would like to see a rematch when those players are in the Under-18 ranks. Because when the Puberty Ferry finally catches up with team B, I see a complete reversal of results out there. It is not surprising to see players drop out of soccer from Under 14 to Under 18. The once advantage of size that early puberty gives some, comes back to hurt them as the skilled players start to beat them on the field due to their lack of skill.
So the next time you see a "big" player out on the soccer field, you may still say "WOW", but what you need to ask is if that child really any time of threat. That one girl that I though was a coach, did put out the "WOW" factor, but then when she started playing was not much of a concern. Sadly, much of her play ended up hurting her team during the course of the game. She had no skills for what was required.
Coaches must always, regardless of size, stress skill. ALL players need to be trained in all aspects of the game. Size may not always be there, but skill will be.
Again, if given the choice, I will take a Sebastian Giovinco over a Shaquille O'Neill any day of the week.