"You're too small to be a footballer"

[readingbedding]

Sammy Lee was massive.
Keegan was as well.

[Royal Rother]

We've had this discussion before but it is stupid how quickly most kids leagues go up to 11 a side on (virtually) full sized pitches and goals.

My son is 10 and next season (and I believe some of this summer's tournaments) will be in goal in adult sized goals. Ridiculous.

The kids with the greater stamina and physical presence (the run all day types) will become far more valuable to the team next season. From what I can see this carries on through the youth system and into International schoolboy football where most of the England players are (or seem to be) 6' plus. I suspect the more slight and skillful players can quickly become disillusioned as they get outmuscled by the bigger kids and fall by the wayside because of it.

As for my son, he's a very good 'keeper for his age and when a Reading scout saw him play as a 9yo he said he looked good and they would keep an eye on him but until his kicking improved (which admittedly is really crap) he would not be considered for the Academy. I have no real beef with that at all as I would not consider him joining up at such a young age anyway (he isn't ready for the emotional pressure) but, on reflection, I do wonder whether the absence of a good kick at 9yo should be a factor in deciding the value / potential of a 'keeper.

PS As it happens Mrs RR's genes mean the poor lad is pretty unlikely to reach 6' so he's got no chance of making it anyway....

[papereyes]

Congratulations on picking out Torres at a gigantic 5'9"

Morientes was a pretty big guy as well.

Llorente, who scored the second against England in the recent friendly, is also 6 ft plus.

I would imagine that, given that Spain has a much bigger take up of both basketball and volleyball, that tall people would tend to head that way. Further to that, a football culture that doesn't appreciate aerial battles would tend to select more against taller players without a suitable touch.

An interesting comparison would be, say, average height of midfielder in PL vs average height of midfielder in Serie A and then the same data for the national sides.

[SLAMMED]

I was discriminated against when I played U14's. I was better than half the other tall muppets, but there I was, 5ft, warming the bench for 70 minutes of the game.

[Dirk Gently]

And this is partly the reason that Peter Crouch - amazingly - lacks the basic techniques of heading the ball.

He's always had such an advantage over the kids he grew up with that he never had to learn the skills of timing a jump and directing the header. Compare and contract with Nicky Shorey, for instance, who was always a real shortarse but because of it he needed to work on this same technique and consequentially is superb at it. I suspect Jay Tabb (the new Richie Bowman!) is the same.

Discriminating against kids because of their size works both ways - but everyone should be coached in all the skills required, whatever their size.

[Alan Partridge]

We've had this discussion before but it is stupid how quickly most kids leagues go up to 11 a side on (virtually) full sized pitches and goals.

My son is 10 and next season (and I believe some of this summer's tournaments) will be in goal in adult sized goals. Ridiculous.

The kids with the greater stamina and physical presence (the run all day types) will become far more valuable to the team next season. From what I can see this carries on through the youth system and into International schoolboy football where most of the England players are (or seem to be) 6' plus. I suspect the more slight and skillful players can quickly become disillusioned as they get outmuscled by the bigger kids and fall by the wayside because of it.

As for my son, he's a very good 'keeper for his age and when a Reading scout saw him play as a 9yo he said he looked good and they would keep an eye on him but until his kicking improved (which admittedly is really crap) he would not be considered for the Academy. I have no real beef with that at all as I would not consider him joining up at such a young age anyway (he isn't ready for the emotional pressure) but, on reflection, I do wonder whether the absence of a good kick at 9yo should be a factor in deciding the value / potential of a 'keeper.

PS As it happens Mrs RR's genes mean the poor lad is pretty unlikely to reach 6' so he's got no chance of making it anyway....

Had the same issue Rother when i was younger (still do to an extent!) kicking is one of the first things scouts look for as it's rare to have young keepers that kick well. IT's something that sounds really easy yet most keepers find it the hardest part of the game to master. You spend so much time learning the position and everything that goes with it that it almost gets put to the side, also not many local coaches are specialist keepers coaches or will teach you a decent kicking technique. Again sounds easy but if you go up to Hogwood I bet half of their drills are just kicking the ball, Federici's kicking is no fluke.

Size does matter! I was told that at 10 years old, always in the rep side scouted by Oxford at a tournament in Cheltenham but he said I was too small, i'm 6'1 now, murked.

As for full size goals and pitches, might want to check on that to be fair, I don't think ours were full size. Although i couldn't be 100% now,we just turned up and played don't really think about it. When i was in the rep side at 10-13 it was definitely full sized because we played at proper grounds (Oxford City, Abingdon Town, Oxford Utd 1 game, Cirencester Town, Marlow) so these places were all proper sized pitches. Got a feeling our local club's goals weren't quite the full size and neither were the pitches (although if they weren't, they weren't far off). I know now for a fact the FA at grass roots level are trying to stop young players from playing on full sized pitches.

What I would adivse strongly for your son Rother is http://www.just4keepers.com These guys run specialist sessions over a weekend for young keepers to go and learn off proper coaches. I really wish they had this sort of stuff 10 years ago, from what i gather this is a superb course with qualified goalkeeping coaches. If your son has some potential then these guys will help him out, they've had a fair few students go on and get contracts or trials at pro clubs.

[Royal Rother]

Excellent, thanks for that! Much appreciated. Just signed up for their free video on kicking, and will complete the form for a free coaching session as per their website.

[Silver Fox]

And this is partly the reason that Peter Crouch - amazingly - lacks the basic techniques of heading the ball.

I've always thought ladders' problem was that wingers can't put in a cross that he doesn't have to crouch (ho ho) for, attuned as they are to delivering the ball for people of normal height

[Royal Rother]

Jimmy Kebe on his way to Portsmouth then.