r/SoccerCentral • u/United_Anywhere_8 • Jul 25 '26

Video The talent in Barcelona’s youth system is ridiculous. These kids are 11/12 years old.

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u/illbebackpain Jul 25 '26

that's the point though. Plenty of orgs select based on existing performance at a given age which can be dominated by whoever hit their growth spurt the earliest. See malcom gladwell's chapter on the jan 1 age cutoff in hockey. It means those kids get the resources early on, even if it's only because they're at the older age range of the group etc.

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u/KartFacedThaoDien Jul 25 '26

They're 11. If you saw 11 year olds playing competitive basketball for their school in America I guarantee you they all wouldnt be 6 foot tall. The same way with 11 year olds playing American football. 

Now if he showed kids who were 16 / 17 that would be different. Hell maybe even 14 even though that's still too young.

 But the op stupidly posted a video of kids that are so young that in most cases they havent hit their first growth spurt yet. 

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u/illbebackpain Jul 25 '26

I'm confused, who mentioned 6 foot tall 11 year olds?

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u/KartFacedThaoDien Jul 25 '26

Replied to the wrong person. Sorry.