Are We Training Your Replacement?
Youth soccer today has never been busier. Young players are often expected to attend three or more team practices per week, with games nearly every weekend… sometimes multiple games in a single day. Add in tournaments, showcases, and travel, and you have a generation of players who are constantly on the field.
And with the formation of more and more “leagues”, we are finding players as young as 7, 8 and 9 are now having 3 or even 4 practices a week!
But here’s the uncomfortable truth every professional involved in youth soccer knows: more practices and more games do not automatically mean more development.
In fact, too much time spent in structured practices and competitions may be creating players who look busy, but aren’t actually improving their individual game. And when that happens, those players are essentially being prepared, not for their own success, but for someone else to take their spot.
Practice vs. Training
It’s crucial to understand the difference.
Practice is about running through patterns, systems, or rehearsals with the team.
Training is about deliberate, focused skill development: touches, repetition, decision-making under pressure, and learning to solve problems on your own.
Practice builds teamwork. Games test fitness and tactical execution. But training is what makes a player stand out in the first place. Without it, no matter how many practices or games are on the calendar, players risk stagnating. And the research shows that this is one of the contributing factors to so many players leaving their sport by the age of 13… 70% of them currently!
What the Research Tells Us
Sports science is clear: overemphasis on structured practice and excessive match play is not the optimal pathway for youth development. With our international academy partners, and the growing list of members in our International Football Collective, this topic is one that is constantly on the table for discussion. This along with the US youth system currently being obsessed with the league patch more than the player progress. But more on that next time…
Here is just a small peak at the science that is out there. Citing it all could take pages!
A study in the Journal of Sports Sciences (Owen et al., 2016) found that small-sided training not only creates more technical repetitions but also increases tactical awareness and decision-making speed compared to standard practices.
Research from the German Football Association (DFB) highlighted that too many games at young ages can harm long-term development, as players spend less time mastering the ball and more time simply executing rehearsed patterns.
UEFA’s Technical Report on Youth Development (2019) showed that the top academies in Europe — Ajax, Sporting Lisbon, Barcelona — all balance their calendars with heavy doses of technical training and small-sided skill work, ensuring players don’t just “practice” but truly train.
This goes on and on.
The conclusion? Team practice and endless games alone won’t produce the next generation of great players. Individual training environments — where mistakes, repetition, and technical growth are prioritized — will.
The Harsh Truth: We’re Training Replacements
Here’s the reality. While your player is running through team drills, somewhere else (in a place like Own Touch) another kid is in an environment where their first touch, dribbling, passing under pressure, and decision-making are being sharpened daily. When the two eventually compete for the same spot, the technically superior player wins — every time.
So what happens? The player who’s only been “practicing” is essentially being trained to be replaced by the player who has been truly training.
Professional scouts understand this better than anyone. They don’t care how well your youth team executes a formation. They care whether your son or daughter can receive the ball under pressure, beat a defender, make the right decision in one touch, and execute with consistency.
Building Complete Players
To truly prepare for higher levels of play — whether that’s high school, college, or professional — players need:
High-quality technical reps: hundreds of meaningful touches per session, not just participation in a drill.
Decision-making in small spaces: the speed of play in small-sided games translates directly to higher levels of competition.
Positional awareness: players need training that develops their role in multiple contexts, not just repetition of a system.
Accountability and feedback: assessments, goal-setting, and correction ensure measurable progress.
This doesn’t mean your team practice isn’t valuable. It is VERY VALUABLE. Practice builds teamwork, cohesion, and execution. But without true training alongside it, players may never unlock their individual potential.
The Problem With “Busy” Players
Many American players are over-scheduled. Between practices, tournaments, travel, and league matches, they are constantly “playing” but rarely developing. They look like they’re improving simply because they’re always active, but their technical gaps remain.
But while another player is in an environment focused on refining their first touch, working on ball mastery, sharpening their ability to make quick decisions in small spaces. When these two players compete for the same roster spot, scholarship, or professional opportunity, the outcome is predictable: the trained player replaces the practiced player.
What Families Should Ask Themselves
If your player’s calendar is packed, it’s worth asking:
How many of those hours are truly training, not just practice or games?
Is their individual technical ability measurably improving, or are they just repeating what they already know?
Are they getting objective feedback, assessments, and corrections — or simply being “busy”?
Your players need a better balance between team obligations and skill development. Ask yourself:
Is my player getting enough technical reps per week to improve their touch, ball striking, and decision-making?
Does their current schedule prioritize skill acquisition or just rehearsing team roles?
Are they in an environment where mistakes are corrected, skills are tracked, and improvement is measurable?
Because the truth is, the world of soccer doesn’t reward the busiest player. It rewards the most skilled, most adaptable, and most prepared.
Own Touch’s Role
At Own Touch, we exist to balance the equation. We’re not here to replace practices or games. You need a team to play so that you can put your skills to test. What we provide is the deliberate, skill-focused training environment players often miss in their over-scheduled soccer lives.
Our programs emphasize:
Technical mastery of the ball
Small-sided decision-making that mirrors real game speed
Development with measurable assessments
Consistent progress tracking and mentorship
Because at the end of the day, soccer is about competition. If your player is not actively training their skills, someone else is. And that someone else is getting ready to take their spot.
Final Thoughts
The question isn’t whether your player is practicing enough. It’s whether they’re training the right way.
If all they’re doing is showing up to practice and playing more games then they will end up sliding down the roster line for those players putting in the time on the ball.
At Own Touch, we make sure that doesn’t happen.
We understand that the end goal isn’t the $2 u13 tournament medal… that it's a fundamental understanding and mastery of the beautiful game and the ball that creates long term success and/or a lifelong obsession with the sport we love above all else.
We know that changing the culture of football in the US starts with creating standards that are much higher than what we have now, and holding players to those technical standards.
We know that without that fundamental change in approach and a collective understanding that the process is a marathon, not a sprint, we will never be able to achieve world class status as a nation of footballers.
The change doesn’t start with us… we are just merely an instrument.
The change starts with the youth. It starts with patience. It starts with passion. And it starts with you.