Quantity versus Quality
One of the biggest issue in player development is Quality vs. Quantity. Many young soccer players play too many games in the course of the year and too few training sessions. At North Shore United we hope that players and parents have a better understanding of the balance between playing and training after reading this.
One of the biggest obstacle in the US for youth player development is “Quantity”.
Up until 10-15 years ago there was luck of events, tournaments and leagues
for kids to play and develop. Over the past 10 years the issue with “Quantity”
has reversed, our players play too many games. Our youth players have the
opportunity to play and train year around for several teams including their
town teams, club teams, indoor teams, High School teams, State Teams, Regional
Teams, National Teams. Often leagues and tournaments run simultaneously.
Often, when our youth players play for several teams training sessions and
games, for the different teams are scheduled at the same times. Players
and parents will often choose to play the games over attending practice
sessions. Youth players and parents need to understand that players develop
playing competitive games and by attending quality training and playing
pick-up soccer. For our younger players, up to U10, the ration training
to game should be 1:1, for players from U10 to U14 the ration training to
game should be 2:1, from U14 and up the ration training to game should be
3:1.