In youth soccer what is the best player on the field always have in common? We must look at the game and the best player always has one quality skill that most the other kids (under 10 leagues) have not developed yet. What is it?
Kicking equality with their legs. They have the ability to use both legs equally and now have become a dual threat in the youth soccer league. Go and look at a game of 6-8 year old boys and see if you can see this quality, because it will be the best player out there. It is easy to identify who is scoring the goals and making the most impact, but as coaches we must look at why. It is kicking equality, because the 7 year old who only feels comfortable kicking the ball with his right leg has cut his game in half, making him more predictable, more mistakes with his stride, thus making him half the threat we are looking for in our players.
Why would this kicking equality be so important? Let’s look at an example. I go to the game and notice Johnny who is a one legged dribbler and shooter. He takes the ball and is predictable in his dribble making him more vulnerable to a steal. If Johnny mis-steps his dribble, or a bump in the ground causes the ball to move unpredictably Johnny is trying to readjust to compensate and ends up stopping all together or losing the ball. The same is with the one legged shooter. A goalie notices quickly that a one legged dribbler is going to the same style shooter and decreases the threat of a player shooting. Teaching leg equality in players will increase a team’s ability to play more effective.
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