Position specialization

[santiagomunez]

Just curious to hear what people think about specialization of player position. Should players expect to play all positions until a certain age?  If one player is shunted into the goalkeeping position, should his/her field skills continue to be developed?  What should we expect from the clubs with respect to player development? Develop with a "total soccer" viewpoint? Does this process naturally sort itself out, by U13 or 14?

Thanks ahead for any feedback or comments.

[handball]

If the position is keeper, then yes, they need to make sure that they continue to develop their foot skills. The modern keeper is a "sweeper" and needs to be able to play the ball with both feet, as well as switch direction.

[Deleted]

Oct 8, 2014 8:20:36 GMT -6 santiagomunez said:

Just curious to hear what people think about specialization of player position. Should players expect to play all positions until a certain age?  If one player is shunted into the goalkeeping position, should his/her field skills continue to be developed?  What should we expect from the clubs with respect to player development? Develop with a "total soccer" viewpoint? Does this process naturally sort itself out, by U13 or 14?

Thanks ahead for any feedback or comments.

Where to begin?,,,

keepers need to continue to develop their technical ability. There is no age cutoff.

What to expect from the club/coach? A loaded question.

The simple answer is...not much.

While some coaches are better than others, there's really only so much they can do. At a minimum, the coach should be focusing on technique and efficient passing. Especially below u16. It goes without saying that you coach a u11/12 team drastically different than a u17/18 team. (Yet you'd be surprised.)

A coach can only facilitate or enhance individual player development. At best it's maybe 25% of the equation. The first and infinitely most important part is up to the player.

By that, I mean they should spend as much time as possible working with the ball on their own...outside of team training. This alone will shape their future more than anything else. (Including winning a u12 state cup or some largely meaningless tournament.)

A coach should have a solid grasp on age appropriate/ability appropriate training. If not they shouldn't be considered 'professional' coaches.

If there's too much lecturing, lines or running laps then that coach isn't doing their job.

Positions? Again, doesn't really matter. One coach's central midfielder is another's left back. Very few players play the same positions throughout their playing careers. Forwards become central defenders. I've even seen the reverse happen. Midfielders become outside backs.  

[laffysoccermom]

I know my daughter who plays predominantly keeper does the drills with her team during practice. She practices the same as them. Only time she really does keeper during practice is if they are practicing shooting which isn't often.

Her main keeper training comes from separate training sessions with her keeper coach. She played in field for recent scrimmage due to hurt wrist and her field skills are on par with rest of her team.

She's flexible though. Loves every position but primarily has played in defensive roles from defender to defensive mid and now keeper.

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