What happened to the Physical Style?

[Bish]

As I've watched High School soccer over the past 8 years or so, I've noticed that one big thing has changed. High School soccer isn't near as physical as it used to be. Getting knocked on the ground face first used to be an expected part of High School soccer, and there wasn't continuous whining by the person that got "rocked." It was just "hey, it's just a part of the game." Now however, I've seen very few teams that play physical and can knock their opponents off the ball (legally). What made some of the teams back in the 90's so great is that they had a lot of talent, but they also had more size, and were a lot more physical. Teams with no size stood no chance against them, because they'd just get pushed around all game. I miss watching this style of soccer. And don't give me the "Soccer has grown so much in Louisiana that the players don't need to play physical anymore" BS. Being physical is a key part of the game, and it seems like teams now are afraid to put their shoulder into their opponent. I used to always stick up for soccer players, when football players would rag on them. But nowadays, I don't know if I would.

Who, if any, were the good physical teams this year. I didn't see any.

[m]

In 01-02 and 02-03 Vandebilt had a very large and physical team. In fact, every oponent that they played would comment about their size and their physical style of play. They were often criticized for playing physical soccer just as you described above as being a "dirty" team. That style won them 2 state championships though. They didn't have nearly the size on this years team as the past couple of years though. I don't remember seeing any "physical style" of play of any of the teams I've watched this year either.

[hdkjga]

The only full teams, I saw play physical were the ones that had very little skill and had to try and push a more skilled players around.....I think the difference now, is that if you look at the playing field, most teams are about the same size....you will have one or two players who have more size and will throw it around, but as a whole, teams are relatively equal in bulk and height. There are a few players I saw that played pretty physical, I think the main person I got to see who played physical but he has enough skill to make a defender look stupid too, was Belfour from Lafayette. He is about 6' to 6'1" probably about 150-175 and he is pretty solid......he is steady on his feet, and has the size and speed to put a defender on his rear either going shoulder to shoulder or just juking you, or an occasional jersey tug or heel clip . I think if you ask any defender who played against him this year, they would tell you he isn't a run you over kind of player, but he is about as physical as you will get for a top team in the state. Pierce is another one off of Lafayette that isn't afraid to knock an offender off the ball.....he gets called sometimes, but majority of the time it's legal.....these are two I got a chance to look at pretty closely over the year, but as far as team physicallity, I agree....there are no real physically dominating teams......I think that is a positive though, because it means that the playing field throughout the state is starting......eventhough slowly.....to even out.

[lasocrfan]

The northshore teams (Slidell, Northshore, Mandeville, Covington) had a reputation of playing a more physical style. As the skill of the players developed, this has slowly changed somewhat and, although you still see some of that, it is not nearly as prevalent as it was in the past. My observations only.

[Hooligan]

Northshore and Lafayette area teams seemed to always have the size to go with the "physical" style. I agree that high school teams are gaining more skilled players which take away the need for excessive physical play. I noticed that teams with few skilled players were the ones who relied more on the "pushing around" style.

The better teams utilized the physical play on an as-needed basis. Hopefully, the evolution of this will result in many more teams using the combination of skill and physical style to make for even better competition. Right now, Lafayette is the closest to this.

[McScruff]

Hooligan said:

The better teams utilized the physical play on an as-needed basis. Hopefully, the evolution of this will result in many more teams using the combination of skill and physical style to make for even better competition. Right now, Lafayette is the closest to this.

Lafayette played very physical against Rummel. They put a shoulder into Marco and other Rummel skill players every chance they got and knocked them down several times. I think that is one of the reasons that the Rummel players got so frustrated at the end of the game. It was definitely one of those good old fashioned physical battles. Will Todd and Brennan Pierce were probably the two biggest enforcers in that game.

[goat]

i saw physical play this year. lafayette can play that style if the game dictates that. northshore was physical but clean. i think that might be what the game is missing,(and it is a good thing), in the past a lot of the physical play came from less skilled soccer players trying to compensate. now the physiacl play is soccer player on soccerplayer so it is what i like to call clean physical play.

[StAmantSoccer]

Alot of the refs we had this season didnt let the game get physical... Blowing the whistle so often that they needed to break the game so someone could bring the ref an oxygen tank.

I like the games to be physical and rough... You might as well be playing baseball or tennis if your not gonna hit the ground a few times in a half.

[Bish]

goat said:

i saw physical play this year. lafayette can play that style if the game dictates that. northshore was physical but clean. i think that might be what the game is missing,(and it is a good thing), in the past a lot of the physical play came from less skilled soccer players trying to compensate. now the physiacl play is soccer player on soccerplayer so it is what i like to call clean physical play.

I disagree. I've actually seen the skill level go down, as well as the style of physical play. The best player is a player who has a lot of talent, but can knock his opponents around. Sure a player can have more skill, but if he isn't physical, he should theoretically get shoved around by the defenders. I don't see it as "there is no need for physical play anymore" but more as that the soccer style around the state has grown into a really wimpy style of soccer. I guess wimpy is going a little far, but I can't think of any other way to describe it.

And I know what you mean by the teams that do play physical now, are usually the less skilled teams. But maybe we should learn from those teams. Obviously, playing physical helps their game, so if that improves their game while they have no talent at all, don't you think applying that to a team that already has a lot of skill would make that team into a powerhouse?

Alot of the refs we had this season didnt let the game get physical... Blowing the whistle so often that they needed to break the game so someone could bring the ref an oxygen tank.

I like the games to be physical and rough... You might as well be playing baseball or tennis if your not gonna hit the ground a few times in a half.

I agree completely

[McScruff]

hey fishbish, did you see the Lafayette/Rummel game? I think that is exactly the type of game you are talking about wanting to see. Skilled teams that will put you on your butt if they need to.

[m]

I don't think being a physical team automatically means that your team is less skilled. There was tremendous skill of the players of the Vandy team the last 2 years, yet, they were a very intimidating team in regards to their size and physical play. I remember Jon Menard could dribble the ball around the best of them, but if you didn't get out of his way, look out. But like goat said...it was "clean physical" play.

[Tellme]

some teams just don't do it all. You really see teams w/ premier players play less physical b/c they dont need to push someone on the ground b/c they can do that w/ skill.

[Bish]

Tellme said:

some teams just don't do it all. You really see teams w/ premier players play less physical b/c they dont need to push someone on the ground b/c they can do that w/ skill.

That's because they play little wussy premier ball and nobody ever puts a body on them. None of them will ever play in college, if they can't play a physical game, I guarantee.

m, I saw Vandy briefly 2 years ago in the Showcase against Brother Martin in the Finals. I seem to remember them having quite a bit of size. That's probably why that team was probably one of the best teams in the state, of all time. They beat everybody that year.

[Footy365]

wussy premier ball, wait what, have you ever played premier before. Most of the better high school players play premier and I wouldn't call them wusses. You can get flattened in premier too.

None of them will ever play in college, do you know how many of the high school players that go to college to play are premier players.

[Bish]

Footy365 said:

wussy premier ball, wait what, have you ever played premier before. Most of the better high school players play premier and I wouldn't call them wusses. You can get flattened in premier too.

None of them will ever play in college, do you know how many of the high school players that go to college to play are premier players.

I was not implying that none of the premier players will play college. I was saying that the players this person was referring too, that he claims do not need to play physical since they have so much "skill." 99% of college players played premier. Premier style is a lot different however, than high school style.

[Footy365]

got it