Generally, according to most books, threads, coaches, the focus at younger ages should be on technique by far. I completely agree with this. At what age, though, should youth players by themselves or at practice start physically training? What type of training?
Conventional wisdom is that fitness training should wait until after the growth spurt which indicates the presence of adult hormones. SAQ training prior to the growth spurt should focus on technique. The thought is that U-Littles will get enough fitness training as a by product of their mixed technical-tactical training sessions. Another point is that contact time with U-Littles is limited and technical training must be performed while not fatigued because quality of the movements is more important than the number of repetitions. Fitness training, which by definition intentionally fatigues the player, is not compatible with technical training. This is why older athletes do fitness, including strength, training sessions after technical sessions are finished. This practice is not because fitness training won't benefit young athletes; it does. Rather it is based on efficient use of the contact time. Regarding individual work. For any age, my first priority would be daily technical practice with the ball. 10 to 20 minutes. Quality is more important than reps. My second priority would be unorganized play. Quantity is important. As much and as frequent as practical and still be fun. After the growth spurt, a distant third priority would be independent physical training. As the players mature during their teen years, physical training becomes a more important 3rd priority to me.
What I would also like to see is additional organized athletics and similar movement activities. For instance for U-Littles martial arts is very good for physical and mental development (assuming competent instruction). So is gymnastics. Later for teens I would prefer something non-contact like yoga and dance. American football I don't like because the injury rates, even with the best coaching, are high imo.
Thanks RCA2 More specific scenario. If you are a coach. You have a just turned 13 year old boy on your team. Slightly late developer physically. Not had growth spurt. Extremely good technically. Regional ODP invitee. 88 pounds playing in middle frequently against taller, 110-145 pound kids who are good players. Also, his sprinting speed is only OK -- maybe faster than 2 out of 3. Good distance runner/very quick with the ball. What advice do you give the player when dealing with physical mismatches? Can he get better physically in the next year or two? Maybe just have to accept for now the reality of a slightly late physical developer and continue to work on technique? I lack the soccer background of people on these boards. Trying to help son, but not really sure what to tell him.
He will get better phyically, but, Forget it. U-13/14 is 'that age' for boys. If they haven't hit their growth spurt, extra weight/strength training is not going to make up the difference. Patience is best. My son is now a U-15. Went from one of the slowest and fairly weak (though not tiny) as a 7th grader to now he has a big, strong frame and is sprinting on his HS track team (not the fastest on the track - but his speed is noticeable on the soccer field) as a 9th grader. Besides mentally becoming better player, look for a track and field (athletics) program that deals with speed, acceleration and simple body strength. The growth will come.
Is he getting pushed off of the ball? Does he show fear when going against bigger kids? Is he able to play fast and creative to slip a pass, use ball skill, make off the ball runs? If he's getting blown up when on the ball, there are a few things to teach him. 1. Anticipate contact and get a low center of gravity. 2. Anticipate contact and avoid it. 3. Play 1 or 2 touch passes You're not gonna pack 20 pounds of muscle onto a 13 year old in a few months. Can probably start to do some plyometrics and body weight exercises now. Maybe some light free weights.
I don't want to answer because the questions you ask really aren't about soccer coaching. And I have no experience as a soccer player or youth coach that is relevant. Apparently whatever you and he have done so far is working and despite his smaller size he is still getting good training opportunities. As for the current state of his physical development, that is something he cannot control but it will change in time. The important thing to long term development is that despite his smaller size, he is still being looked at and receiving good training opportunities. I will have to let somebody else answer your questions.
Thanks for each of the responses. They are helpful as I am processing these things. Is he getting pushed off of the ball? Does he show fear when going against bigger kids? Is he able to play fast and creative to slip a pass, use ball skill, make off the ball runs? If he's getting blown up when on the ball, there are a few things to teach him. 1. Anticipate contact and get a low center of gravity. 2. Anticipate contact and avoid it. 3. Play 1 or 2 touch passes Yes pushed off the ball when going for 50/50 balls -- mostly shouldering. Fair play. No body weight basically. Not fearful. He plays one and two touch quickly. Off the ball runs is something he could improve on much more. He does end up taking one or two shots/blown up per game. Needs to improve anticipation. Learn from it.
Some refs will give a smaller player a bit of a pass for extending their elbows / hands against much bigger players. He can also try to find how much leeway a ref will give him. You don't want a "diver" but he could also be an asset to his team by drawing fouls more often. The opposite of my above statement is that some refs won't let a bigger player be as physical against a smaller player. I have a female friend who played D1 in college. She says that drawing fouls is what earned her a scholarship. Also a good lesson for him to realize that if you're not big enough, then you need to work harder to be successful. That could mean more time before and after practice working on his strengths and weaknesses. It could mean closely watching more games and becoming better at reading a game. It could mean watching the team he is playing against next week to see what he'll be up against and prepare himself.
Being shorter or lighter in weight is not the disadvantage. The disadvantage is being less mature and not having the additional power that maturity brings. Additional power means jumping higher, quicker and faster movements, and more velocity on struck balls. To be tactically faster than the players with strength advantages, the weaker players must compensate by having good movement technique, better ball skills, better vision and a quicker and smarter brain. Then when the physical development catches up the formerly weaker player who learns to play without the crutch of superior strength will be a better player for the experience. Much of the problem with all youth sports is competitive clubs whose strategy is to win matches through using physically older children rather than making children better athletes. This denies more talented young athletes training opportunities because of their birth month and normal physical development. Maybe clubs will pay more attention to talent if MLS distributes the compensation money owed youth clubs who helped to develop professional players.
I have a similar situation in my U15's team and he is a central midfielder. At the start of the season, he was struggling to get involved out of fear that he'd lose the ball so I challenged him. I said do you want to be a footballer or a viewer? (He had touched the ball 5 times in 70 minutes) he said a footballer so what he started doing was starting high up in midfield and dropping deep into space where he could turn and play without an opposition player pushing him off the ball. Defensively, he works hard so even though he doesn't win a lot of 50/50's, his presence forces a lot of mistakes. Someone else said keeping it simple - 2 touches is a good idea.