Is JT Done

johnson86-1

All-Conference
Aug 22, 2012
14,408
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I agree with this. Until 13-14, simply playing more games does not help. Better to be at home playing catch or hitting fundamentals with dad in the carport. A regular season will do just fine. Same with other sports. The only thing you lose is the 'insider knowledge' or the chance to hob nob with the other parents, which is why most of them do it, honestly.

I wonder why baseball and soccer are so bad about it? You don't see this in football and basketball.

It's because athleticism is so much more important in football and basketball. You can make a big difference just with reps and practice in baseball and soccer. Doesn't matter how much you practice football, if you run a 5 flat 40 and weigh 180 lbs, you are sitting on the bench. Same with basketball. Doesn't matter how good you are at dribbling and shooting if you aren't athletic enough to get a shot off and can't guard your guy at the other end.

But you can play soccer and baseball with those measurables, as long as you practice enough and have decent to good hand eye coordination. For soccer, a moderately fast guy with good ball skills is typically going to be much better than a guy that is super fast but hasn't played a lot of soccer. At the very least, you are going to have your midfield positions where ball skills are just as important as athleticism, even if you need speed at forward and fullback.
 

My Bru

Redshirt
Feb 7, 2020
1,066
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It's because athleticism is so much more important in football and basketball. You can make a big difference just with reps and practice in baseball and soccer. Doesn't matter how much you practice football, if you run a 5 flat 40 and weigh 180 lbs, you are sitting on the bench. Same with basketball. Doesn't matter how good you are at dribbling and shooting if you aren't athletic enough to get a shot off and can't guard your guy at the other end.

But you can play soccer and baseball with those measurables, as long as you practice enough and have decent to good hand eye coordination. For soccer, a moderately fast guy with good ball skills is typically going to be much better than a guy that is super fast but hasn't played a lot of soccer. At the very least, you are going to have your midfield positions where ball skills are just as important as athleticism, even if you need speed at forward and fullback.
Yeah I could see that. And honestly, most of these things aren't as sinister as "only the rich kids can play for the travel teams". While that might be somewhat true, it also takes a little more practice as you say, so you meet in the middle. I am personally learning on the fly in soccer, seems it should be less of a repetition sport than baseball, maybe somewhere in the middle alongside basketball.

Of course, athleticism is everything in most all sports until at least the 13-14 year old age.
 

00Dawg

Senior
Nov 10, 2009
3,225
522
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I understand the plan was to have...

select for 7u and above at our park, but I'm not sure I'd know if it panned out that young.
I know this is the first year for us (Hoover East) to have 9u and 10u select teams (we're in the 9/10 rec league).