Athletic Talent

It was a simple physical test, but like all of these test they carry a palpable feel of tension as players prepare for cold feedback. Edgy participants, noticeable murmurs. Hard data that 10 year olds and 22 year olds alike believe is a determinable of how fast they are, how good they are. We use an electronic jumping timing device that takes a picture of the ability of the player to deliver Power. It's very accurate and is used in NFL combines for that same purpose.

But you'd think it was reading the future.

A player who was soon to try out for a pro soccer team stepped on to an electronic jump measuring device measured his vertical jump at 24 inches. Then a nine year old stepped up to blast a 24.5 inch vertical.

This nine year old draws ohs and ahs whenever he plays. Coaches drool over him. When we play vs. The local super club (name withheld) the coaches make sure to separate him, put their arm around him, whisper in his ear. They tell him "your special." (Then they start talking about the benefits of their club, but that's another story). I tell him don't listen to them, you have what you have because you have worked hard at it everyday.

The question then becomes is he special? Are there "Special" kids that deserve more attention? Like a student "gifted and talented program that separates the math whizzes?

Why are we so enamored with "talent" when in the end it is effort, not talent, that matters? Studies show that kids with precocious talent who break out of the gate with this tremendous lead on other children of similar age actually suffer later in their lives as others catch up and the hard work begins. If I am special then what is happening that evryone is catching up to me?

But really, what is his secret? This kid is kinesthetically literate, fluent in the language of movement, totally coordinated. His movements are efficient, he runs with the quiet foot strikes of a jungle cat. People use the words "blessed, "gifted," "can't miss," "talented." He lives in an apartment complex where all summer the kids escape to the outside grounds where they practice backhand springs and back flips. They have stumbled on to--through unstructured play--correct accumulated deliberate practice. I have had five of those "apartment complex" kids to my house, they can all do back flips on the tramp. Some can do it of the ground. This practice adds up to create a super-coordinated-9-year-old-movement-beast. You would be hard pressed to find a better movement training for soccer than gymnastics. Brazilian development objectives for improvisational movements (movements they train to build in the ability to adapt and recover to unpredictable circumstances) they are as follows: Front somersault, cartwheel (both ways), then back somersault, then round off back handspring, then back flip. Most 12 year olds I saw at the Sao Paulo youth academy could complete a back handspring. Try something, ask any Elite U13-U17 team to perform, a front somersault, about a third will be incapable of completing one with fluency.

So two things are important here, first, the kid moves well because he has advanced through a progression of correct accumulated practice. He practiced (through play on the grass), and got good. And second, his movement training is not soccer technique.


As far back as the 1930, the great Austrian Coach, Hugo Meisl worried of a "fetishism with speed." He was worried that the game was moving away from artistic to athletic. This fascination with athleticism is grounded, I believe, in the idea that athleticism is determined by genetics and is virtually set at the moment of birth. The trainable techniques and tactics are therefore more effective on these kids (looking at it another way, wasted on the rest).

We are accustomed to associating speed (physical) with what we can do with the ball (technical). But there is a group of thought, led by Johann Cruyff and his believers see the two as part of a relationship in each player, and while they understand the importance of the physical, they hold the technical as more important.

Using this philosophy first the Dutch, and now the Spanish began producing the finest players out of relatively small pools. They are not doing it because they were born special, had tremendous verticals, they have figured out what is important (technique-- over physical) and how to do it (long term development vs winning short term). Everything they do is with the ball, speed and power are built with the ball, players become faster with the ball then without it, more efficient, more effective.

"Technical is more important than physical."
--Xavi

Next time you ring off that impressive 12 inch vertical, take refuge in the fact that it does not read your future, get a ball, move with it. Get good with it, then get great with it, then work even harder. Come up with a new level of skill for the next generation.

1. divide the physical from the technical--slow the game down, eliminate the athletic advantage. At high speeds the faster team has the advantage. At slow speeds the advantage is with the proactive, the player with the ball.

2. Beware of precocious athletic talent dictating what we coach, how we choose teams and how we play. Get a team with 3 early developers, teach defense and counter with speed you will see the precocious speedsters dominate. It's easy to win tournaments and claim development

3. Spend all your time with the ball

4. Make it fun so they want to do it again