Quote:

While I understand the logic of having a team together for a period of time leading up to Regionals, our experience has been, by the time a player is U17 or U18 age, if they can't receive a ball or pass accurately, it makes little difference how long a team is together prior to Regionals. The same players will make the same mistakes.

Younger & less-experienced teams - say U14/U15 - ok, I'll agree with the board's consensus. But the older kids - it makes no difference. If a kid has had strong fundamental training at a young age, those skills will still be prevalent regardless of how much time a team spends together. An older player should be able to walk into any playing situation and play with minimal exposure to the team environment.



I have to disagree with this. Yes, technical skills will be there for players at this level even though the team has not played together. However, individual technical skills are typically not the deciding factors for high level teams above U14, especially for teams that have qualified for regionals. The big factors are tactical decision making and teamwork. The fact that a team does not play together for a period of time and the players have been playing with a different team at a different level of play can make a big difference in terms of tactical play and teamwork.