Soccer. CB content.

My son, Sawyer, just stepped up to the US equivalent of AAU soccer basically. He plays on his school team 7v7 and just joined a federated soccer club to play 11v11 this year. He's 12 born 2010. The club team is comprised of a mix of 2009s and 2010s.

Sawyer plays center back. He's part of a 3 player rotation with 2 CBs who are a year older. They're a touch bigger, quicker, stronger but skillsets are mostly even across the board. I think this is a great trident to play with as the youngest so I'm looking forward to Sawyer developing alongside two older players.

I didn't play soccer growing up but I've come to respect the sport especially defenders. CBs don't show up on stat sheets but they're critical to the team and the position carries tremendous responsibility.

This year's going to be tough as the youngest but Sawyer plays with a lot of poise for his age. He's not the fastest, most technical, or strongest but I think he's solid positionally and a natural leader.

The two areas of his game that I think need work are 1) passing direct, driven balls with intent. I tell him I want to see some zip on every ball. Most of his passes are dinks like you see at this age. 2) sending strong, deep long balls. Yesterday, Sawyer played (preseason friendly) an older team stacked with kids born in 2009. They pressured the backline like a pack of wolves for I think they or their coach smelled blood. It was very effective because Sawyer and the other CB struggled to get the ball out of the backfield. In the second half the best of the 3 CBs came on and he made a big difference sending long balls over the defense usually kicking the ball to around midfield. It didn't matter who won possession so much as just moving the field position way upfield which was critical to keeping the game balanced. Sawyer wasn't able to do this so it's something he needs to work on in addition to not making slow telegraphed passes that older twitchy, aggressive strikers can easily pick off.

Did anyone play CB who can recommend drills? Also what about training both feet to pass and send long balls? I noticed the defense was pressuring Sawyer to his weak foot.

Sawyer has dual citizenship. He says if push came to shove that he would probably play for the US over Spain for less competition. I don't know if he's the next Walker Zimmerman but he's going to train like it. Just wanted to put a little incentive out there. Recommend youth football drills for your country!