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Coach:
That's why the NFL and other sports have the Wonderlics test(IQ). If you score low, you will be passed over for a smarter player. The sporting landscape is littered with great atheletes, that were to dumb to play at a high level. If a quarterback/center mid has trouble with understanding things, that makes for a long day.

No argument there, but I'm not talking about "too dumb" to understand things; I'm talking about learning styles. The players who struggle with a "watch film and write an essay" assignment may not have a problem with learning the same game concepts through personal practice. That is, as long as they don't have a coach who is "too dumb" to figure out how to teach them on the field what they can't get from watching a video. It's pretty short-sighted to judge a player's potential based on their reaction to only ONE style of teaching.

The bottom line, performance-wise, is whether the players understand the concepts well enough to execute them on the field. If they can prove that ability in actual competition, I would seriously question the judgement of anyone who benches them just because they have trouble writing about it--unless, of course, the League decides to replace the controversial final method of breaking ties from PKs to an essay contest.

Coach,
You just might be on to something there, I do recall how people on this board seem to think soccer players are a cut above and are the top students. You have just settled the PK debate

My original point was, players need to watch more matches to get a better understanding of the game.

I do agree with you there. I also think it helps when the coach finds time to watch some match film WITH the team and points out what the experienced players are doing right, explains why the things they do are or aren't working, and shows them how they can adjust their own game according to what they just learned. Seeing what good, upper-level players do is a good thing, but actually understanding WHY they do the things they do and the reasoning behind them sometimes takes some active involvement by the instructor.

Sorry I found this late. One of the most damaging misconceptions in our society is the value/importance of "tests."

At the very best, any test is an approximation of what someone might know ABOUT and a very thin approximation of what someone can DO.

One of the reasons I prefer sport to school is that in sport the TEST is the match. Same with other performances. We don't give a hoot how someone does on a paper and pencil test concerning playing the saxophone IF what we are looking for is someone actually. . .playing the saxophone.

I have an Op-Ed coming out in The State soon about the silliness of constantly changing the tests we use in SC, as if tests are what CAUSE learning. . .

I always used rain days as times to watch and discuss soccer matches I taped for that purpose. . .but such sessions were never used for athletic accountability. That belongs on the field. . .

I agree with watching more games and discussing tactics, formations, and game scenarios. I don't think those that can watch tv better than others should get more playing time, though. Maybe they can opt out of certain conditioning days or similar things. I could see parents chewing that up and having a field day. I like the rest and can see myself using it.

Chass, how many Ivy League players do you think are in the NFL?

Here is something I have used before. You can set this up using 3-D subbeto figures for those that Xs and Os don't work very well. The first ones I saw were back in the day by "Chowolsky" sp. I can't remember his name and the man is a legend. It pretty much covers everything.

http://www.nscaa.com/quiz.php

Watching game films is a good thing, the trick is to use what works for the level play you are current with. Watching BPL is great but how many 15-18 year olds switch touchline to touchline and then settle one touch? If BPL is your cup of tea use the "BPL Review Show" they will show highlights that are very in depth. Sometimes the clip is 5 minutes long before a goal is scored or denied. It paints a very good picture of the tone and how it was done.

If I were to suggest a game to watch it would be the last two Women's FA cups. The 07 and 08 were 4-1 matches but they had a bit of everything in them.
'07 Arsenal v Charleton
'08 Arsenal v Leeds

A point I forgot to make and this is one target but slightly to the left. Lets say we agree that the highest level is what we should watch on film. The part that can be tough is how it is filmed. If anyone watched the last US v Spain match you saw at almost every chance they tried for an extreme close up. You only see exactly where the ball is. The BPL has close to that flaw with so many cameras you only see a third of the field at a time. The best to watch and use are the lesser games simply because they will tend to use the one 50 yardline camera. The ACC and SEC tourneys are gold simply for the cheapness of them. At least with the college game you can see almost 10 players in the attack form.

What about filming select games and reviewing them with your team. I know most of the football teams have the equipment. Has any HS soccer team filmed there home games for review?