Development question

Need some advise....Is it better for a young player to have more touches at this age or to play for a good team with lots of good players...Does he get better by playing and practicing with better players or is it better to be the best player on his team and get lots of touches but play with less skilled players...Thanks for your advice in advance

Get the most touches you can with the most playing time. The starts and playing time not only amounts to skill but also fitness and most of all self confidence.

I agree. For my kids, if I had choose between "Lots of touches" or "Tough competition" I would take the touches. The ball is the best teacher.

The more a child touches the soccer ball, not matter the enviroment, the better they'll understand how to use it. How does it feel on grass? What does it do on concrete? Can I dribble it up those steps? Can I dribble it down the steps? Etc.

Also... Kids will learn a lot in practice but they do learn more during games. If your BB is always on the field during games with the "more touches" team then that will also help him move up the learning curve faster.

IMO.

Great words BigTex. :-)

Lots of touches? Great. Lots of playing time and fitness? Awesome. Being the best player on the team? Not so much. Been there, done that, got the t-shirt. When a team is built around your son, your son benefits the team, but the reverse is certainly not always the case. Top players early on tend to languish and stagnate while others catch up. and coach's attention is otherwise occupied with their development, not your son's.

On the other foot, when a talented player is placed with other like/talented players, he is challenged and, presumably. not under-coached. Not inconsequential is the fact that these players are usually coached by some of this area's top coaches. And if you're worried about the number of touches your player will get on these teams, I would have to say that the reverse is probably true: It is not uncommon that the top 10 teams play more tournaments, 3 v 3, etc., in addition to their league schedules, which sometimes includes playing up in age, thereby increasing their chance to gain quality and quantity of touches.

To sum it up, your player should be playing with other players at his/her level. When development stops, it is time to move on/up. Being the best player on a team doesn't feed development, it feeds ego ... ours.

Well said, Bunited!

bunited wrote:Lots of touches? Great. Lots of playing time and fitness? Awesome. Being the best player on the team? Not so much. Been there, done that, got the t-shirt. When a team is built around your son, your son benefits the team, but the reverse is certainly not always the case. Top players early on tend to languish and stagnate while others catch up. and coach's attention is otherwise occupied with their development, not your son's.

On the other foot, when a talented player is placed with other like/talented players, he is challenged and, presumably. not under-coached. Not inconsequential is the fact that these players are usually coached by some of this area's top coaches. And if you're worried about the number of touches your player will get on these teams, I would have to say that the reverse is probably true: It is not uncommon that the top 10 teams play more tournaments, 3 v 3, etc., in addition to their league schedules, which sometimes includes playing up in age, thereby increasing their chance to gain quality and quantity of touches.

To sum it up, your player should be playing with other players at his/her level. When development stops, it is time to move on/up. Being the best player on a team doesn't feed development, it feeds ego ... ours.

+1 Well said

OK... Obviously the correct answer is "Both". You want a kid to get a lot of touches in front of good competition. Maybe I misread the question but I thought we were discussing an "either/or" situation.

I agree with bunited that you do NOT want you BB to be the best player on a team. Ideally, you really want your BB to be the 5th or 6th best player on a team. That way there will always be challenges presented to him both in games and practices.

In an "either/or" situation, I do not agree that you should sacrifice time with the ball to sit and watch better players. Especially at the youngest ages when the focus should be almost entirely on individual skills.

Exactamente.