Bio-Banding in youth soccer

2,249 Views | 34 Replies | Last: 5 yr ago by Rudyjax
carl spacklers hat
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So this is the Federation's answer to improving youth soccer. Thoughts?

http://the18.com/soccer-news/us-soccer-bio-banding-explained
02skiag
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Sounds completely impractical
Rudyjax
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This would only be at the elite level, right? This is the exact opposite of what they just did with the age pure.
gig them
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Honestly... I don't hate it.

It surely sounds like it has some drawbacks, but it is something

If the other option is to change nothing about our youth system, I'd rather crash and burn on a few ideas in search of improvement
02skiag
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I'm trying to imaging being in charge of organizing that as a club or league director. It almost seems like an April fools joke.
Rudyjax
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So a kid my son used to play with is playing on the FC Dallas U13 team. I don't know at what level, but has practiced with the national team. Kid is and has always been a phenom. He's under 5' and 100lbs (dad is over 6' and mom around 5'8".), but does more than holds his own against 13 year olds that have already hit puberty. The true age actually helped him because he's a March Bday.

How would having him play against kids younger and more inline with his physical maturity help him?

I can see how moving the bigger kids up can help them, but doesn't help the ones that are later to mature as they will never play against kids that are bigger, stronger, faster.
nereus
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In theory, it should help most late bloomers (just not the one you described). They should be able to develop technical skills better under the new system (as they aren't dominated by bigger, stronger, and faster early bloomers) and they will catch up in size, strength, and speed naturally as they mature.

The player you described (late bloomer who can still dominate among the early bloomers) is the exception and this new system won't help him. Of course, players like him could just play up a bio grouping.
Rudyjax
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This whole thing will be only for elite players, correct?
nereus
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The Premier League academies are doing some of this. When they started a few years ago they were just doing some bio-banded tournaments but playing with age groups the rest of the time. I think that is what they are still doing (although I'm not positive on that).

I think that is what US Soccer is talking about doing (at least in the short term). They are going to host a few tournaments for elite players that are bio-banded and those players will play age grouped the rest of the year. If it is successful, then you might see a higher percentage of games bio-banded and you might see it trickle down the levels.
Rudyjax
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This makes sense.
Sooner Born
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I think it makes sense as long as it's kept of out of the truly rec levels. How many times have we seen kids be excellent through the late elementary and early middle school years because they are faster than everyone else? Their technical development suffers because they can simply out run everyone else and their own mistakes...then everyone else catches up in late high school and suddenly the phenom is nothing because the advantage he/she had is now moot.
tysker
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*cough* Jordan Morris *cough*
PatAg
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I think there are some other areas we should be targeting before this. Just changing who they play with isnt going to magically make them better players.
Rudyjax
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I think a lot of the U-17 team signing in Europe and South America will help.
An Ag in CO
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This is an area where the US has lagged and in particular for soccer. There are quite a few sports where this has been pretty successful in North America - think hockey in Canada. However, the US is just now breaking the school year team configuration and that should help with the implementation of related development programs for the elite players. I don't think US soccer gained any advantage by having a school year set up so that was changed and now things like bio-banding can be used. It's certainly not something needed at the non-elite levels, though.
bbry81
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I guess I'm confused about why you don't want it out of the rec league. With your example the kid would probably be playing with kids his size and speed and he will figure out he has to develop skills and not rely on just his size and speed. It would eliminate the leagues where one kid dominates the whole game cus he is bigger and faster than the other kids. Which I would think is a good thing
Sooner Born
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I think it would be too much work to administer at the rec league level. And generally speaking, if the kids are still playing rec league in middle school/high school and not on some sort of higher level, competitive team then I think it matters less. (The players don't matter less but late age rec league players are not the ones in the college and national pools).
Rudyjax
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Even at competitive levels there's no need to break off age cohorts. I would say even at the 10-12 year old age 1 in 1000 is this necessary for.
bbry81
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I agree with you that implementing it is a giant pia but I think if you do this starting around 8 or 9 it might make a difference.
99StationAG
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Is it that difficult to identify players who need to play up?

Seems U.S. Soccer has better things to spend money and time on. Thousands of talented kids that never get the opportunity to play at higher levels because they can't afford it, and we're spending more time and money focusing on the "elite."
TXAggie2011
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99StationAG said:

Is it that difficult to identify players who need to play up?

Seems U.S. Soccer has better things to spend money and time on. Thousands of talented kids that never get the opportunity to play at higher levels because they can't afford it, and we're spending more time and money focusing on the "elite."
We can debate how they should address things, but they need to address all aspects of the system, and that'd include figuring out the "elite" part of it---it isn't good for U.S. Soccer a whole to be missing World Cups, Olympics, etc. that it has no business missing.

Obviously, any kind of sweeping change to the system is going to have implementation challenges and up-front costs. And, of course, any change to the system will only be as good as the implementation.
TXAggie2011
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This study is perhaps the best one I've seen on this question. I've included some of conclusion below, they view bio-banding as a useful piece of a larger development program.



Quote:

Emerging evidence suggests that bio-banding, as an adjunct to age group competition, can benefit both early and late maturing players in academy soccer.
.......
Although the process of bio-banding has the potential to contribute positively to the experiences and development of young athletes, it is important to recognize that it is not a panacea and that it should operate as part of a multifaceted and holistic program of development. Bio-banding is one of many tools that can be used to better understand and promote the development and well-being of young athletes. It is not a substitute for age group training or competitions; rather, bio-banding is an adjunct activity that has the potential to challenge the athlete in a unique manner and to create a more diverse and developmentally appropriate learning environment. In line with this reasoning, a more effective athlete development program might include the provision of both age group and bio-banded activities, which offer athletes a more diverse, multifaceted, and developmentally sensitive learning stimulus. A "hybrid approach" (82) might involve monthly or bimonthly bio-banded competitions as part of the existing game program.


Rudyjax
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It's interesting we don't have an issue developIng our women.
Sooner Born
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Maybe we do and we just don't know it.
Rudyjax
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Sooner Born said:

Maybe we do and we just don't know it.


I know it's trite and the soccer purists don't like to hear it, but it's the quality of the athlete versus the development.
aTmAg
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I think this is a terrible idea. Soccer is a mental sport. As Johan Cruyff said, "You play football with your head, and your legs are there to help you." We aren't talking about power lifting. I can imagine such a system forcing a young Lionel Messi to play with younger players and hampering his development. I've seen (and coached) lots of physically gifted kids who got schooled by smaller, smarter players. Now, years later, the smaller kids grew into studs, and the big ones are football lineman or out of sports altogether.
99StationAG
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Tab and the boys couldn't read an age group chart, so we moved the calendar to Jan. 1. Now we are going to a virtual calendar to solve things? Sure...
Rudyjax
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Probably won't make difference, but my daughter won't have a club team her senior year of high school.
99StationAG
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Hopefully her coaches can get creative and bring in some of the players from the age group below to get what's left of the team some competitive opportunities. Certainly not ideal for that oldest age group!

WB '99
StokesAlexander
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To conduct as many diverse tournaments as possible, the most interesting for their participants and spectators
jeffk
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https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2018/apr/10/james-bunce-bio-banding-initiative
Rudyjax
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I think it's a great idea at the elite level. Bring it out for the national camps. This is still not the only problem but it will help in some instances. I think this will more help with the early bloomers rather than late.
jeffk
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Agreed. The primary aim of the initiative should be to retain your better technical players who might just be undersized and a late-bloomer.


swc93
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Based on watching teams in North Texas there would be a lot of mustachioed 12 year old Hispanic kids playing U14.
aggivedave16
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Sounds interesting. And as a late bloomer, I would've appreciated and benefited from this.

As for my daughter (currently plays with top U10 team), I think the quantity of players would be an issue. There just aren't enough girls and ultimately, the best players (regardless of biological age) would have to play together.
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