European Youth Soccer

[scottb]

I was curious about youth soccer in Europe. What goes on over there?

When I was a youngster my town had a pretty strong soccer program but I remember as early as 7 yrs old, playing 11 v 11 on a small field with goalies and a small goal. Don't remember much about it. Probably had whole games where I didn't even touch the ball. As the years went by, the fields got bigger and the games longer. There was never too much emphasis on skills or technique until I played in high school.

My daughter, who will be 5 soon, has started to play. Last spring she was in a program call First Touch where they meet and play differnt skills games, mostly with the ball, and have fun while developing fundamentals. Never played a game. I loved it and think it's a great program. I tried to sign her up for this again this year but because she is turning 5 she got placed on an under 5 team. They had two practices and from now on just games. Games are 3 v 3, no goalie on a small field. Maybe 15 minutes of total playing time for a child (there are six on each team.) This has been rightly nicknamed "herdball" by the parents.

These games are absolutely worthless in helping children learn the game, develop good technique or acquire skills to improve and grow as players. My daughter likes soccer and we play at the house. She can run pretty well with the ball, kicks pretty well for her age, understands passing, isn't too good at trapping yet, and her defence is a little lax. However, she has better skills than most in her league but when she's confronted with this "herdball" she doesn't know what to do. She hangs around the perimeter of the pack waiting for a pass (which ain't coming, I promise!) She's not aggressive enough to push her way into the pack to get a touch on the ball. The result is after 2 games, she's very discouraged and wants to quit.

Surely, this in not how good players are developed. I recently read about a 7 yr old English boy who is going to Spain to attend Real Madrid's academy. I know there are developmental programs run by clubs but what is the experience of an average kid who plays football in Europe?