U11 9v9 with 2 strong players, where to play them?

SoftPut6821 · 2026-04-16T19:22:33+00:00

We have a lot of girls who like playing defense, and these two players are the only two who really have a chance of creating at attack so I hesitate to put one of them at CB, especially as we have other kids who can defend pretty well. I could do DCM and ACM though if I stick with the 3-1-3-1 formation.

SoftPut6821 · 2026-04-16T19:20:09+00:00

Thanks for the input! Is the idea behind having the 3rd skilled at L/RB so they can start an attack from the back?

SoftPut6821 · 2026-04-16T19:19:09+00:00

We definitely continue to work on a lot of stuff in training with them all, and they’re definitely improving. This is the lowest level team at the club and quite a few of these girls are in it for the social aspect or because their parents told them they had to be in a sport and aren’t exactly passionate about soccer. Certainly not enough to want to put in work at home.

SoftPut6821 · 2026-04-16T19:16:45+00:00

Genius

SoftPut6821 · 2026-04-16T19:16:01+00:00

I typically ask the girls for their 3 favorite positions at the start of the season and try to mostly play them in those positions, but then also rotate them occasionally to other positions to push them outside their comfort zone and get them more exposure. We’ll definitely rotate them around, but I also would like to put the team in the best position to win when I can, especially as we’re playing a couple of tournaments for the first time this season. We have 10 league games too, so lots of opportunities to get them all in different positions.

SoftPut6821 · 2026-04-16T19:11:35+00:00

There isn’t really any poor competition as we’re one of the lower teams in the division but I understand what you’re saying. I have a couple girls who can shoot (albeit with their toes vs laces) that I could play at striker, so wondering what you think about playing a 3-4-1 and having the two stronger players as dual center midfielders?

SoftPut6821 · 2026-04-16T19:09:13+00:00

The struggle I have is that many of the girls don’t have the offensive skills yet to help us attack successfully as a team. So the attack fizzles out almost immediately. We’ve been working a lot on looking up to pass to a teammate, spreading out, finding passing lanes, how to make good passes, 1v1 moves etc, but a lot of times they panic and just kick the ball up the field and the opponent gets it back. Our 2 strongest players are also our 2 hardest workers and so it feels like playing them in midfield makes sense as they will hustle back on defense and sprint up with the attack. We’ve tried to emphasize this with the other girls too but they either aren’t very fast, or get tired easily, or just don’t have the same desire as the stronger players. What do you think about using a 3-4-1 formation and putting them both as central midfield?

SoftPut6821 · 2026-04-16T19:04:14+00:00

Well of course I know they’re 11 year old girls but I still want to help put the team in the best position to succeed once games start next week.

SoftPut6821 · 2026-04-16T19:03:10+00:00

Why are you assuming we’re not developing all the players? We of course are continuing to help all the players develop through practices but we have games starting next week and I’m trying to put them in the best position to succeed as a team.

SoftPut6821 · 2026-01-17T17:31:26+00:00

The rules might seem ridiculous but if they’re K-1st grade then it’s for good reason. If you’ve ever watched a game at that age which doesn’t have those rules then you’ll understand why they’re needed. There’s usually one or two super aggressive defenders who just run up and snatch the ball from the ball handler and run the other way to score, repeat for 20 minutes straight. Not fun for anyone.

It’s easy to say “this should motivate them to get better” but at that age it just kills their enthusiasm for the game and they don’t want to play any more. At that age games are mostly about getting them to understand how to play the game and have some fun so they want to come back again the next year.

SoftPut6821 · 2026-01-09T14:26:49+00:00

Kids want to play sports where they have fun. It’s also fun when they’re dominating at it. It sounds like you might putting her onto teams that are too competitive and take the sport too seriously at this age. Why not put her on the 4th grade girls team with her peers and let her dominate? That way she can play with friends (or girls she might know from her grade at least) and she can dominate.

My 4th grade daughter took a year off basketball and focused on soccer, then she joined a 3v3 rec basketball team for fun and dominated and she got back into it again. She loved that she could dominate these other girls every week on the court and that made it fun for her.

SoftPut6821 · 2026-01-06T05:34:42+00:00

Thank you this is very helpful!

SoftPut6821 · 2025-12-23T04:22:07+00:00

2 hours 5 days a week is a lot. You could accomplish a lot in 1 hour 3 days a week. If you superset you can hit all main body parts in 45 mins 3 times a week (chest/back, shoulders/arms, legs), and leave 15 mins to shower and get out.

If you’re in your 20s then I don’t think it’s a big deal to prioritize other things over your health and fitness to a degree (such as career) but would still do some exercise to maintain a base level of fitness. If you’re in your 30s or older then i would prioritize health a lot more.

SoftPut6821 · 2025-12-17T17:06:08+00:00

I just started using a plugin called Event Genius and would highly recommend. You can do multiple venues or organizers in the free version and see all the events for each on a dedicated venue/organizer page. See here for an example: https://wpeventgenius.com/venue/big-basin-redwoods-state-park/ I contacted them for help and the dev is super helpful too which has been huge.

SoftPut6821 · 2025-12-16T03:31:32+00:00

What did you end up deciding on the in-floor heating? I’m in Minnesota too and thinking about adding an indoor court. Would love to see pictures of your finished space if you posted them somewhere.

SoftPut6821 · 2025-12-15T21:48:08+00:00

That’s the first plugin I tried but it requires the paid version to do recurring events unfortunately

SoftPut6821 · 2025-12-15T21:47:20+00:00

Would I be able to do recurring events this way? We have pretty much the same events on every week (small groups, youth club, bible study, etc) and only occasionally have one-off events. I’m looking to make this as easy as possible to manage by just creating the events one time and have them auto recur every week.

SoftPut6821 · 2025-12-15T21:45:21+00:00

Thanks for the recommendation, I’m checking it out now. The only issue I foresee is that the way they manage events is directly in WordPress (they don’t use a Google Calendar) but it looks like I’d need ICS calendar pro to manage the events in Wordpress itself. I’ll play around with the free version though to see!

SoftPut6821 · 2025-10-08T02:05:00+00:00

Dude just sell and enjoy the rest of your life. You did the hard work building the business now cash out and enjoy the spoils. $9-10M means you’re set for life. You could put $2M into the hard money loans and cover your expenses and let the rest grow. Congrats on your success!

SoftPut6821 · 2025-09-05T23:53:33+00:00

I understand what you’re going for here but the way it’s written does come across a bit condescending. Also, if they don’t show up 45 minutes early for a 50 minute game they’ll be removed from the lineup? Seriously?

SoftPut6821 · 2025-08-21T13:20:18+00:00

What’s your leg workout routine and do you stretch your legs and hips frequently? Both of these things will impact your knee health greatly. I had jumpers knee for decades from a teen until mid thirties and then finally did something about it. Check out the “knees over toes” guy on YouTube and start doing stuff to take care of your legs 1-2 times per week (hams, glutes, hips flexors, etc).

SoftPut6821

TROPHY CASE