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RE: Just for a change

Dwyer — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 16:28:20 GMT

Nick

There's an interesting bit of research on this by Mike Beale of the Chelsea Academy. Mike writes for us (Smart Sessions and our new Warm-ups Manual) and he really knows his stuff.

I did a little article in last week's Better Soccer Coaching - our free weekly coaching newsletter. Basically, don't pass up on the smaller players at a young age. Because they were born 6 months later than a kid in the same age group, there is every chance they'll turn out to be a better player.

Here's the article. Apologies for the long post.

Size Isn't Everything

A recent report showed that 70% of players currently playing in the English academy system are born between September and December. Does this tell us that the best players are born in these months? Or does it tell us that the older children have had more time to develop both technically and physically?

A 14-year-old player born in September will be on average 7 cm taller and 5.7 kg heavier than a player in the same class born in August. The next time you are making a judgment between two players, consider those numbers. When selecting or releasing players in your club would these figures be useful? If two players are on the same level and you have a choice, would you pick the one that is six months
older or younger?

Size isn’t everything and given a further six months, the smaller player could well become a greater asset to your team. Perhaps it's worth re-evaluating each player in your squad with this in mind. I wouldn't be surprised if the majority of youth and mini "B"-teams consist of just such kids.

In my experience, coaches tend to pay much less attention to these players and focus on their first team. If this is you, you could be missing a trick so make a real effort to constantly re-evaluate the players on the fringes of your squad who you had previously thought weren't up to the mark.

RE: Just for a change

Nick — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 13:50:59 GMT

I suppose swapping with other coaches for training would work although it would be better if the coaches that swapped knew the players names because then it would be strait into the training and no time would be wasted.

Does anyone have an opinion on smaller players not getting picked up by scouts.

This has went on for a very long time and continues to in a lot of areas. I know of countless examples where a smaller forward or defender has been passed over because he is too small even though he is better than the players the scouts go for.

I really hate it and dont understand why they think you need to be tall when there are many small players in the premiership e.g owen, makelele, emre.

Just for a change

flatlander — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 20:57:24 GMT

Just got back from training

I normally run the under 8's side but just for a change I swopped places with the under 9's coach for tonight session

I think his boys and mine enjoyed the change, prehaps other coaches might try it occasionally?

Just 1 year forward seems to make a lot of difference in speed and strength

Flatlander