It is no secret that for the best results in any activity, the younger you start the better chances you have of success in the future. This is true for musicians, for artists, and as every coach knows, for football (soccer) and any physically demanding sport players.
Due to this reality, it is only normal that some of the top football (soccer) teams heavily invest in youth development clubs. These clubs are always separated into age groups ranging from U5 (under 5 years old) to U20 but are not always consistent across the globe. Additionally, there is an issue identified in the article “The relative age effect in youth soccer across Europe” about the difference in performance between youth of the same age but born at opposite ends of the same year. This is why a “soccer age” is used in the younger teams to try to minimize this difference. Some clubs and teams may use other approaches.
Let’s be clear, we are not saying that older players cannot succeed. As answered to a Quora question in October of 2014, there are many dedicated players that worked very hard and became well known athletes after joining a club in their late teens and early 20s: Carlos Salcido, Douglas Franco Teixeira, Willem van Hanegem, Didier Drogba, and the list goes on. However, one must consider that starting early, ages 4 to 14, offers a distinct advantage to becoming a skilful player. Consequently, starting later will leave a player with a significant gap to traverse to catch up to his or her younger starting counterparts. The older player must fully commit to the game, receive superior coaching and train even harder in order to reach the professional level that few will ever reach. If there is a will there is a way!
Could there be a golden age at which to scout a player; an optimal point in a player’s career where it is easier to tell if a player is good enough to be taken seriously? Between the ages of 6 and 12 is where coaches and scouts sample the players. The coach has a player-centric approach to determine what motivates the young player from within. Between 12 and 16 years old, the coach is more serious about determining whether football (soccer) is the sport of choice of the player and whether or not the player considers committing to the sport for the long-term. 16, 17, and 18, are the investment years. The coach will push the player to the edge, give him or her resources for overcoming physical challenges, and will call on the player’s family and friends for support and motivation. At this point, to have a chance at getting noticed for the big leagues, the player must be fully committed and essentially married to the game.
Scouting is the next step. The harsh reality is that most of the great players out there will never be discovered. Believing that if you’re good enough, then someone will find you may have some truth to it, but in this world, there are countless dedicated and ridiculously talented youth that will go unnoticed and will never reach the professional level. This is why it is vital to start early, invest heavily in the player's visibility, and to be proactive about being discovered. To do this, a player must first understand what a scout is looking for. In the past, scouting younger U12 players was focused on a “wow factor”; the players that stood out from the rest by trying new techniques or tricks. Today scouts pay more attention to versatility, technique, coachability, and spirit. Most scouting occurs behind closed doors. Discussions are held between professionals who have known each-other and worked together for years. These professional and the personal networks of these professionals are some of the most closely guarded tools that they have. A scout is nobody without his or her connections and reputation within the industry. With the advent of information technology in the last couple of decades, scouts are rapidly taking a more digital approach in evaluating or pre-evaluating players. A majority of scouting platforms focus solely on semi-professional and professional players with solid backgrounds and track records. If the players are amateurs, their best chance to be noticed online has been to post and share YouTube videos. However, YouTube and similar sites are not optimized for soccer scouting, or any sports scouting for that matter, since the only way to find a video is to use keywords.
These limitations for amateur players are why Tarfee Inc. was created by co-founder and CEO Simon Abushaban. His vision is to give every talented player a chance to be discovered. With Tarfee, players as young as 5 can have their player card and recruitment video(s) posted by their parent, guardian or coach and can update the card as they advance in their career, documenting every step of their ascent to becoming the player they envision.
To learn more about Tarfee, click here.
We would love to hear from you. Please comment below!
