Youth Soccer: Fighting for a Position

My daughter, CC, is in a fight for a starting position for the first time in her soccer career. She has been a standout soccer player since she was 6 years old. Recently, she was selected to the Ohio State Pool ODP team as a goalie after making it through 3 tryout phases. That does not seem to matter as the club season comes to an end.

During her 12 years, she has made every team she has ever tried out for and she always seems to be selected to play key positions. Outside of sports, she has been a star too. Life has been very easy for my little girl.

Has life been too easy? Would CC fold under pressure and quit or fight to overcome adversity when she needs to. I really had no idea, but I am in the process of finding out.

CC has been the starting goalie of her select team for 2 full years now. CC is very small compared to other players who have already matured. She is the smallest goalie in the top regional league in which she competes. The ODP trainers were not concerned about her size when they selected her for the state pool team, but I know that the coach of our team would like CC to play bigger. I read that as code for she would prefer a bigger goalie.

4 weeks ago, CC injured her shoulder in a game. CC thought it was a bruise. She complained about it hurting all week, but continued to practice and play. The pain did not subside, so we decided make an appointment to see an orthopedic doctor. CC did not want to go because she thought that they would shut her down for the last three weeks of the season. We did not want to risk a serious injury so we insisted.

CC was diagnosed with a slight shoulder separation and severe tendonitis. Surprisingly, the doctor told CC that she could continue to play out the remainder of the season if she could take the pain. He said there is no structural damage so the condition will not get any worse. He then told her that it won't get any better either until she rests it for 3 weeks and completes some physical therapy.

The following weekend, CC decided to rest for 2 games so that she could be ready for an important big game against the best team in the city the following Monday. Nothing was going to keep her out of that game, except rain which postponed the contest.

The coach called up the B team goalie, who is a big strong and athletic girl. The new goalie played well in the two games CC rested. After those games, the coach asked the B team goalie to join the team for the rest of the season. The coach wanted a backup just in case CC's shoulder acted up and she admitted to me that she wanted to test the new option out for next year and perhaps carry two goalies. CC was in a battle.

The Main Point

I talked to CC about the situation. I told her that it was actually a good situation. After I said that, she looked at me with a confused look. I told her that life has been too easy so far and it unrealistic to think that you will go through life without challenges. I told her that she had two choices, quit or fight for your position. I know that she has been considering concentrating on Volleyball, so I did not know what she would do. I was not going to force her to play if she did not have the heart for it. She sat in silence for a few minutes and then I asked her what she wanted to do. She said she is not giving up. We talked about what she needed to do to earn the respect of the coach again.

CC started an important game last Sunday. She played very well in the first half and made several key saves. She got some ice for her shoulder and prepared to sit on the bench for the last half, however, the coach sent CC out to start the second half. CC made this key save late in a 0-0 game on Sunday. The coach was pleased with CC. She came up big, she played big.

Kids learn more through adversity then they do through triumph.

Youth Basketball: Do you have to be a star player to be great?

Alan Stein, social media influencer and basketball strength / conditioning guru, has a great post on his blog that every youth sports parents should read. The post is call Specialist.

In the post, Alan proves that an basketball player doesn't have to have superior skills and athletic ability in all facets of a game to be great. A player just needs to do at least one facet of the game great to be considered great.

He used the career of Dennis Rodman to illustrate his point. One could easily argue that Rodman's name would never be mentioned with names like Bird, Magic, MJ and the Big O when the game's great players are discussed. Rodman was not an "all time" great because he was not a great player at all facets of the game. He was a specialist. Dennis Rodman was a defensive and rebounding specialist. Both are important qualities but these qualities are not featured on Sportscenter nightly. Rodman was not a big time scorer, but he is in the hall of fame. And that makes him great.

So what should a parent do with this information

1) If your kid matured early both physically and mentally; and if your kid has game compared to all of the other players in his or her area, then develop all facets of his or her game. More importantly continue to challenge them. Sometimes players who are dominant at a young age are never challenged, so they never develop the mental toughness needed to overcome defeats and setbacks when they arise. These players often struggle in their teens when they run up against late bloomers who had to scratch and claw for every achievement early on before they grew bigger, stronger and more coordinated.

2) If you kid is the late bloomer and has trouble in certain aspects of the game due to limitations, then help them develop confidence in what they can do well at this stage of their development. For example, my daughter is the smallest girl on the court every AAU game she plays. She does not have the strength nor the size to match up in the paint, but she has a spot on the team. She is a very strong front court defender and she is, perhaps, the best outside shooter on the team. She practices her outside shot almost daily.

She also plays on a team in a less serious league where the girls are smaller. She does this so that she can work on the other aspects of her game. Perhaps one day she will catch up to the others in size and strength and be a featured player - until then she is content knocking down threes, draining foul shots and getting points off of steals.

My daughter is a good player. She is not a great player, but she is working hard to perhaps one day be a great player.

The Main Point

Your kid does not need to be an athletically dominant - featured player to be considered a great player. Help your kid find the strength of his or her game. Then encourage them to work extra hard at that strength to master that aspect of their game. Of course, they need to work on the other aspects of the game to exploit opportunities when they arise.

Youth Soccer: The Pressure of Playing Goalie

Thoughts from the dad of a soccer goalie regarding specialization at a position and the pressure to perform at a high level at a young age.

Last year, my daughter, CC, was the #1 goalie for her team, but she only played the second half of each game. I really didn't realize that she was the #1 goalie until overtime of the Ohio State Cup Quarter Final game. When the score was tied at the end of regulation, I really wasn't sure which goalie the coach was going to send out for OT. As it turned out, my daughter ended up playing the first OT period, so I expected the other goalie to play the second one. At the end of the first overtime period however, my daughter stayed in the game and therefore was the goalie on the field for the crucial PKs. PK participants can only be selected from the players on the field at the end of the second OT period.

I didn't realize she was the #1 until this day because the other goalie was very capable too. My daughter ended up shutting out the other team in both OT periods and made two great saves in the PK shootout to help the team win the game. I wrote about that in Youth Soccer: The Pressure of the PK Shootout.

This year, the coach decided to go with one goalie for this season and my daughter was chosen. I had mixed emotions about this decision.

• I was thrilled that my daughter stood out enough to be selected to be the starting and primary goalie for one of the best teams in the state of Ohio, 
• But, I really liked the dad of the other goalie
• And I really liked the other goalie who happened to be one of my daughter's best friends on the team. 
• I was also concerned about the team without a backup plan in case of illness or injury.
• And I was concerned about my daughter specializing at goalie at age 11. Lets say you specialize at striker and are not quite good enough, the coach can move you to midfield. While a player is spending the majority his or her time working on perfecting the goalie position, he or she is rapidly losing ground to other players on his or her foot skills. So if a player is not quite good enough for goalie, then there may not be another option. It's not impossible for a goalie to move back onto the field, but let's face it, it makes the chances tougher.
• Finally, I wasn't sure my daughter nor I were ready for the pressure that comes with being "THE" goalie on a top team. A team that parents invest a lot of money and emotion for their kids to play on. We all know that goal scorers get a disproportionate amount of credit for wins and goalkeepers get a disproportionate amount of blame for loses.

The Fall season starts today with a scrimmage against one of the best teams in the state of Kentucky and we would start to understand the last point.

The Main Point

Regarding specialization: My daughter didn't want to play soccer this fall if she were not going to be full time goalie. She has allergies and sports induced asthma so outside sports with lots of running are problematic. The wheezing and shortness of breath during games takes the fun out of the game for her. As such, she decided that she would rather concentrate on improving on basketball and volleyball (indoor sports) if she could not play goalie full time. We do not force sports on our kids, so that made the specialization issue easy.

Regarding the pressure: She seems confident and ready. She didn't like being on the bench during the crucial AAU Championship basketball games. She wants to be in the spotlight and she wants the ball. Well, she will be getting lots of balls this soccer season as the primary goalie for a team playing in an elite regional soccer league where the best teams from Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana compete. I am ready too. I am feeding off of her confidence but I did remind her something her cousin Dineen said, "If the other team scores a goal, I know that that ball had to go through 10 other players first before it went by me."

Youth Baseball: Rare night Second Base

Note to coaches. Don't tell a young kid that he cannot do something or will never be something. Especially when the kid is only 12 years old.

My son had been the primary catcher for his previous team. He played off and on in right field too, but wanted to play infield (2nd base) on occasion. He wanted to become more versatile for high school.

I told my son to approach the coach and ask him if he could get a chance to play 2nd base in practices with a chance to earn some playing time in games. His ex-coach, chuckled at him and said, "Nic your not an infielder" and turned away. My son walked away without comment, but was absolutely furious. He was close to tears telling me the story in the car ride home from the practice. I wanted to approach the coach and plead my son's case, not for playing time but for respect and a chance. My son forbade me. I told my son to hang in there that this was our last year with this coach.

This season, my son is on a new team with a new coach. He has been playing second or catcher all year long.  Tonight he was at second base and had a terrific game, a once in a lifetime type of game.

My son made 12 of the 27 outs at second base. He fielded 8 grounders to get 8 force outs at first base. He also caught 2 pop ups and 2 line drives, one of which was spectacular and turned out to be a game saving grab.

He did not make a single error. In fact, he has only made one error at second base all year long.

The Main Point

Coaches, I am going to state the obvious. Kids change continuously. Their bodies, their confidence level, their attitude and their courage can and will all change year after year, maybe even month after month. As such, don't pigeon hole a kid into a position or prevent a kid from practicing a position he wants to learn. Who knows maybe he will be spectacular at a position.

Youth Soccer: Specializing in a Position

At what age should a young soccer player specialize at one position?

Last week, my daughter's soccer team won a very competitive pre-season soccer tournament against some of the best 10U teams in the region. My daughter, CC, played goalie for 150 minutes of the total 200 minutes of action during the 4 games. CC only played 20 minutes total on the field mostly at right wing. I was a little surprised by this because last season she was the second most productive offensive player on the team with 20 goals and 18 assists despite playing 50% of the time in goal. I know that my daughter likes playing goalie so it did not bother me that she played goalie in such an important tournament.

I did not want to make a big deal about it, but I did want to know the coach's philosophy on specializing on one position at such an early age. I emailed him the note below. My objective was to let him know that I do not mind my daughter playing goalie in tough games, but I would like her to continue to develop as a complete player. To inquire about the coaches intentions, I sent the following email. Note that I got the answer that I wanted without challenging the coach.

From: StatsDad
Sent: Monday, August 23, 2010 5:03 PM
To: Coach Roger
Subject: Goalie Training


Hi Roger, congrats on tourney win. CC enjoyed playing goalie during the tournament. Do you plan   to train her as a goalie?

From: Coach Roger

Sent: Monday, August 23, 2010 6:33 PM

To: StatsDad

Subject: Goalie Training

At this point, no, I know CC primarily played goalie this weekend, because she is an outstanding goalie, but I have no plans of making her a full time goalie. I want her on the field as much as possible, she is just as good on the field. My goal this past weekend was to build team confidence, by playing tough and having success against very good teams, we did that. I hope to rotate players through that position.


The club does offer keeper training and I will find out the times and days and encourage our players to go.


Now as CC gets older and really likes that position then we can start looking at that for her, but right now she is way too young to decide on one position.


I didn’t mean to send that message to her, I will let her know tonight , I want her on the field. But there will be times in tight games, where she can help us by playing in goal.

Games 111 - 114

CC's team won 2 games and lost one in pool play. They got to avenged their loss in the finals and won 2-1. CC made a game saving save on a corner kick with under two minutes left in the game. She made another spectacular save by tipping a high shot over the cross bar.

Tipped over the Crossbar

The Main Point

I do not think that a U10 player should be specializing at one position. If you have similar concerns talk to your coach. I suggest that you ask him or her questions without questioning his decisions.