Track sprinter (13.4 in 100m) with minimal foot skills - how would you use her?

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Interested in others' opinions on this. We currently have a track athlete who runs a 13.4 (100m) which means she is usually the fastest kid on the field. However she does not have much in the way of foot skills. Decent first touch and good passer, but no real footskills. The coaches appear to disagree on how and where to play her. She does not start but there is a lot of sentiment amongst the parents that she should play more due to her speed. So interested in what those of you with much more soccer knowledge than I think?
 
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Interested in others' opinions on this. We currently have a track athlete who runs a 13.4 (100m) which means she is usually the fastest kid on the field. However she does not have much in the way of foot skills. Decent first touch and good passer, but no real footskills. The coaches appear to disagree on how and where to play her. She does not start but there is a lot of sentiment amongst the parents that she should play more due to her speed. So interested in what those of you with much more soccer knowledge than I think?

Are you sure she's usually the fastest kid in the field? A 13.4 is fast but it's not blazingly fast. A lot of teams probably have kids that can run a 13.4 100m. Knock a second off of that, to the 12.4ish range, and then we're talking. in that range she would probably be the fastest kid on the field in nearly every instance. As a point of reference, the winning times in the state track meet for the girls is usually 11.6 to 11.9 for D1. D2 & D3 are usually slightly slower but, as is happens, the winning time for D2 in Ohio was a little faster than D1 last season. A 13.4 wouldn't make it out of the qualifying heats - in any division. (I am referring to FAT timing [fully automated]. If you know track, you know that FAT timing is slower than hand timing. If the the 13.4 was hand-timed it probably is more like 13.9 with FAT or, perhaps, even slower. There's no way to know because hand-timing is highly inaccurate. State times in track are all FAT)

As to your question; most coaches would probably try to use a player like you're describing as a "target" player. They'll put her up top and try to play a direct game hoping she'll put in some cheap goals. I would be tempted to say a lot of coaches would put her in the defense but if her foot skills are not good that would be too risky. If she really is running 13.4 in the 100m I would guess that if she is on a team playing against good D1 competition that most opposition will have faster players and the one advantage you're describing would be negated anyway.
 
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Surprised you didn't mention outside midfield or a wing in a 4-3-3 Roh. With speed she can get up the field quick and get around someone on the outside but not be too much of a liability with the lack of foot skills.

Totally agree that 13.4 isn't an eyebrow raiser.
 
Surprised you didn't mention outside midfield or a wing in a 4-3-3 Roh. With speed she can get up the field quick and get around someone on the outside but not be too much of a liability with the lack of foot skills.

Totally agree that 13.4 isn't an eyebrow raiser.

How often do you see, while you're reffing a game, a player on the outside with marginal foot skills lose the ball over the touch line? I'll bet you see it a lot. If the ball is lost in the opponent's half of the field it would be a liability and much worse if it is lost in the opposing team's attacking third.
 
The ball moves faster than any player. No Skill=Bench. Let's get back to possession and the beautiful game. High Impact players and those that covet them have been destroying the sport. Team play is lost with kids like these.
 
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How often do you see, while you're reffing a game, a player on the outside with marginal foot skills lose the ball over the touch line? I'll bet you see it a lot. If the ball is lost in the opponent's half of the field it would be a liability and much worse if it is lost in the opposing team's attacking third.

Good point. I'm just saying that if you HAVE to have her on the field I'd think being outside would be less of a liability than the middle. But marginal foot skills is hard to hide no matter where they are.
 
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