View Full Version : Position for new players
montylax6
03-15-2008, 12:57 PM
Our team has a couple new kids this year that don't have very good stick skills. What would be the best position for them?
OldPtboBoy
03-15-2008, 01:45 PM
Are you trying to hide their inability or grow their abilities? Put them in the position that their abilities best suit. They'll never gain stick skills in a position that you're not going to allow them to use them in.
And...any coach worth his weight will realize that you're playing your less skilled players in a certain area and key on it.
Build them up, don't hide them.
montylax6
03-15-2008, 07:01 PM
Good point. I'll take your advice.
Lighning15
03-15-2008, 07:05 PM
if they wont help your team, put them at attack, they can hurt you the least there all they can do is lose the ball, if you were to put them on defense they could be caught out of position and let up a goal
XxlacrossexX
03-24-2008, 12:49 AM
if they wont help your team, put them at attack, they can hurt you the least there all they can do is lose the ball, if you were to put them on defense they could be caught out of position and let up a goal
But then you will be at a disadvantage because you wont score as often. You could put them at midfield if they can run and teach them to scoop a ball and run with it.
But then you will be at a disadvantage because you wont score as often. You could put them at midfield if they can run and teach them to scoop a ball and run with it.
they probably wouldn't go in unless a comfortable lead / out of range game was at play
Bobsch
03-24-2008, 07:55 AM
It really depends on the person, but in general, I'd say teach them to play good defense and hustle after losse balls and put them at middie to start out. Then, after you see how they do, leave them there or switch them to attack or defense, depending on their strengths.
HdGLaxWarrior
03-24-2008, 09:58 AM
different people have different skills. the ones that are quick would make good middies. so just teach those ones to pick up the ball and go downfield with it. also teach those kids to play good defense so maybe one day they could be defensive middies.
maybe goalie?
what age group is this by the way?
Laxdawg14
03-24-2008, 10:49 AM
depends
if they are quick and agile- attack
fast with endurance- midfield
fast w.out endurance offensive mid or defensive mid
played bball probably defense... bball players tend to be able to understand the defense easier in my experience.
crazy kid like i was- goalie!
then as you see where they are excelling you can move them around if needed
The Pole
03-24-2008, 11:40 AM
if they're really really athletic w/ endurance- midfield (doesnt happen as often w/ new players
athletic w/ quickness- attack or d( depends on size or interests)
crazy and shows interest in it- goalie
if you have a bad new player and they dont want to get better, then the best thing is to have them at attack, i know that is biased but balance them with two high scoring attackmen. You cant afford mistakes on d and no interest or athleticism or both will definitely not fare well at midfield.
Lax4life528
03-24-2008, 11:45 AM
I would say put them at middie until you can see where their strengths or weaknesses are, then you can switch them up before your games start. Middie they will probably get the most help on their stick skills and they will also learn to play defense.
QBYattackmen15
03-24-2008, 12:28 PM
play them at mid...easy as that. it lets them play eveyrthing. Defense, attack, and you can see hwo they run. so if they run the O good go attack, if they are making stops on the D end, put them on D, if they do both, leave them at mid. thats what i did with the less-skilled kids on my team.
GatorsLax
03-24-2008, 02:29 PM
I put my less skilled/new guys at middie. Trying to run them at attack doesn't work well since the attack needs to be able to hold the ball (one of the hardest things for a player with minimal stick skills). At defense, you can hide one guy by isolating him on the crease, but this doesn't work against good teams.
montylax6
03-27-2008, 12:41 PM
These are 6th graders
picknroll
03-28-2008, 07:16 PM
I put my less skilled/new guys at middie. Trying to run them at attack doesn't work well since the attack needs to be able to hold the ball (one of the hardest things for a player with minimal stick skills). At defense, you can hide one guy by isolating him on the crease, but this doesn't work against good teams.
He's coaching 6th graders. That's a middie-oriented game with lots of goals on transition and unsettled situations. I run good athletes with decent stick skills (and good ground ball skills) at middie. You've got to control the ball so you'll be really exposed trying to "hide" a guy at two-way middie. Have you ever watched games where the 3rd middle line comes in and immediately gets killed? Those are the guys the coach is trying to hide. I avoid doing that. All of my two-way middies are strong players.
I use new guys at LSM if they're good athletes but have developing stick skills. I let them play with shortened long sticks. This works out ok on a 6th grade team if you're running in a 4th pole. Make sure you've got three experienced guys at close D to cover though. I know that some coaches like to run studs at LSM, but I think you can get by with a new guy at 6th grade. Sometimes you get screwed up on substitution and the LSM never gets on the field anyway so it's not as critical of a position at that age (in my opinion) and is a good spot for a developing D guy.
If the new guy is also slow (and I don't put these guys on my team) I would run him at left-handed attack if you don't have any lefties on your team. Put him there as a decoy.
DUKEMIDDIE40
06-02-2008, 03:25 PM
unfortuentaly my middle school coach used to put everyone at midfield. it got soo old..now im in high school..it worked out for me but you just have too look at what they can do. then try to help them from there(my 2 cents)
Drew'sDad
06-03-2008, 08:50 AM
if they wont help your team, put them at attack, they can hurt you the least there all they can do is lose the ball, if you were to put them on defense they could be caught out of position and let up a goal
My son's coach does this and we end up playing 3/4 of the game on defense. Needless to say, if you can't control the ball and move it around, you will not score goals and be looking at an 0-fer for the season. The worst part about it is that the middies will quickly lose confidence in the attackmen and do what I like to call the "hero" play. The hero play is when one of your middies tries to beat 3 or 4 kids on the other team then takes a shot from way outside or an impossible angle. Needless to say, it rarely works. All you end up doing is turning the ball over.
You need to work with them on the fundamentals and get the parents involved. Be honest with them that little Johnny is new and needs to work on his sticks skills and scooping up ground balls. Most importantly, the kids need to work on skills at home between practices.
Bobsch
06-03-2008, 02:39 PM
I just read an article about how the Ajax soccer club develops great youth players....they make everyone learn and play all positions. At a young age, that isn't such a bad idea (the tallest kid in the 6th grade could be the shortest kid in the 10th grade, for example).
Ebazounes
06-03-2008, 11:35 PM
Play them at middie to start with. You can't expect them to play with a D pole to start out with, so let them develop their stick skills with a shortie first.
Playing middie will help them become a multi-dimensional player and you can see where they will fit best later on, depending on their strengths, D, attack or middie.