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Define best possible?

Obviously.....a kid has to enjoy what they are doing. That's a no brainer. If they look at it as work......they aren't apt to want to do it.

Its a circular thing......kids that play at the highest level, this IS their passion. They don't look at it as work. They LOVE to train. They LOVE to lift weights. They LOVE to skip rope. They LOVE to watch games on TV and play as their heroes on PS 2/3.

I agree that there are very talented players out there who don't burn to play the game. My opinion is they won't play at the highest level, not because they couldn't.....but because its just not that important to them. That lack of priority will eventually deprive them of the push for added training and eventually they will no longer have that choice.

Not a bad thing. And for that kid.....they should play at a lower level and they will do just fine.

But I took this thread.......to be focussed on the super achiever kid. Or the kid who wants to be. And for those players.....

I go back to my original 3 points: hard work on your own, challenging training environment, challenging game environment.

Again, I agree, with minor qualifications.

By "best possible," I mean an environment that will bring out the very best in the player, which is often determined by a combination of factors (as you mention), not just level of competition. And I agree with your profile of the successful player as someone who naturally loves to do those things that will be beneficial to level of play--most of the things you mention have to do with individual effort rather than club environment, which is where SF started this thread way back when.

I also know that passion for the game can be nurtured, and that it can also be burned out of a player; I've seen girls in highly competitive environments who somehow lose some of that spark, and what used to be a passion somehow turns into a job. I've also seen players who have previously been more indifferent develop a love and intensity for the game. There is an X-factor in there that goes beyond difficulty of competition level, and I think wherever the player can find that positive factor mated WITH competition, that is where she will find the "best possible" situation. Different things can often click with different players, so everyone's most effective environment might not be in the same spot.

A great post. Thanks! It was an eye opening experience for some of our club girls to talk with college coaches who expected them to be up to run at 6 AM most days, in the weight room 3-5 times a week, watch film for a couple of hours a week, watch soccer matches on TV when in the team room, do other team stuff, carry 15 hours of coursework, and be a B+ or higher student. Really good players opted out of soccer in college or opted for small school programs instead of a D1 type program. I personally overheard D2 and NAIA coaches use a concept of playing with "less effort" as a way of recruiting good players away from D1 programs. However, that said, many of the girls are very happy playing D2 and NAIA, and I know of one who left a D1 to come back to a D2. They all found their fit.

My daughter sleeps a lot. Between rehab sessions.

My daughter sleeps a lot. Between trips to the tanning bed and refrigerator.