Your best ‘trait’ as a young footballer.

[Lesonthewest]

Being honest with myself, I'm fairly useless at football, certainly the foot to the ball bit and especially while I'm moving.  Dribbling is something I was always better at from my mouth than with my feet.

I can hit a dead ball pretty well, so well that I was always decent with penalties or hitting a long free kick.

I was extremely fast over 30-40 yards but beyond that I slowed to a trot so I tended to stay in my own half.

I also had a good eye for the flight or movement of the ball so I made a decent enough keeper - except for my lack of height.  That tracking of movement also meant I could head a ball well and I could judge the timing of a tackle reasonably well.

I've pretty much given up on ever making it professionally in the game, unless anyone needs a 60 year old keeper who is well off his best, way out of shape and only 5 and a half feet tall.

You never know, think Scunny are recruiting.

[German Rover]

I've got a cracking left foot, shame my right foot is non-existent, I've got no pace, and my technique with everything else is awful. Other than that I could have made it! Ha

Love walking football now I'm over 40, takes away the problems of pace and technique

[tyke1962]

Plenty of pace and had the ability to score goals .

I was taught the art of gambling in the box from a very experienced player when I was 18 years old , play between the width of the goalposts he'd say , just get in there and be first .

The other piece of advice I received from another player was always say to yourself if the ball came to me now what would I do , it kept you thinking and concentrating .

My flaws were don't ask me to track back , come back to defend corners or do the mucky stuff , I simply wasn't interested .

I only saw football going forward .

[Bentley Bullet]

Although a natural left-footer, I learnt to play with the right. I ended up being just about equally competent with both feet. When taking a penalty I used to decide which foot I'd use seconds before taking it.

Usually Playing on the left, I was quite fast. I'd cross the ball with my left, or sometimes I'd cut inside and shoot with my right.

Then tragedy struck. I was kicked on the inside of my left knee and was out for weeks. When I returned I was never the same player.

11 years old was far too young to have a career-destroying injury.

Alick Jeffrey and I have a hell of a lot in common!

[foxbat]

After an Uncle gave me some training  on how to use both feet at about 9 years old   whilst on holiday at Cleethorpes,  .y left foot skills  went on to be get me to play left back or left half for Hawthorn Juniors . Never had any pace though ( as an adult was later diagnosed as borderline asthmatic ) and the pitch seemed enormous. Played for the house team,  Dalton , at Danum Grammar for the first couple of years as well, but don't ask about the inter House cross country round Sandall Beat , which was just a nightmare,  where I was one of the stranglers coming in at the end.
Would have helped my self esteem though, had I known i had a disadvantage

[Bentley Bullet]

It was harder being left - footed than right footed back then. Probably still is. The reason being there were a lot more right-footed players than left-footed, meaning there was a bigger choice of right-footed players, resulting in right-footed players generally being of a higher standard.

[Avsuptem]

To quote Charlie Williams I weren't one of them fancy buggers but I could stop the ones who were. 6 feet tall, what I lacked in skills I made up for in physical strength. I was  a wanna be striker but invariably awarded the right back position at varying levels of competition. University teams in UK, local amateur league and Manly and District league when in Sydney, Australia playing alongside some really top players, one of whom had played in the English 1st division before emigrating. I had a good right peg, could pick a pass and never failed to score from the penalty spot (blast it down the middle and watch the keeper dive the wrong way) When faced with defending against a really tricky forward of the Molyneux type my secret weapon was to get in their way as much as possible, bumping into them usually worked although I was never sent off in my 14 years of playing regularly.

[PDX_Rover]

I was left footed and had good control and could pick out a pass. I played left wing/midfield. Not the best player by any means, but scored a couple of crackers each season. Played in the same team as Mark Atkins at U15 and U16 and he was miles ahead of everyone else.

I used to get tired a lot which I recently discovered was due to lung scarring that happened when I contacted pneumonia as a newborn. Limited my playing a bit later on.

[Avsuptem]

Excellent thread this btw. Some really good responses.

[danumdon]

Started off playing Rugby at St Petes, but soon realised that my Italian good looks and fantastic mullet were like a flashing beacon to opposing players! quick rethink required.

Ended up playing central midfield in the school team because we had a side almost full of shirkers who just couldn't get up and down the pitch, so i was tasked to do the hard yards and break up play which i was quite good at,with my Pirlo creative side in kept in reserve. My burning ambition at the time was to play up top but our striker, Riley, was absolutely massive and fast, just needed the ball in his general vicinity to beat any defender and always score, bit like a one man team.

St Petes loss was Hyde Park WMC's gain, as i settled into a decent combative midfielder, think Wellens but much better! until work commitments meant i couldn't make the weekend games anymore. Chopped off in my prime!

[Bentley Bullet]

Donnywolf once begged his school football coach to let him take a penalty. Reluctantly, his coach let him, but sadly the keeper sent him the wrong way.

[auckleyflyer]

53 now and only stopped at lockdown!
Left footed 6"2 and never the best in school or in the navy teams(ships and Portsmouth command) and Sunday league thereafter military.
Best trait was speed physicality and stamina, I'd come into games from 60mins on! Although says more about the level I was at as if higher they wouldn't be blowing by 60!
Played with a few on here!? Riggo, Fal, big fat Yorkie pud ? Also went to Germany about 17yrs ago as a team formed by local businesses to play in a tournament in Hearten.
0 cardio now couldn't even be a last ten sub!

[tyke1962]

Didn't anyone actually think they could make it as a pro ?

I'm not talking about your school days when we all believed we could make it .

I'm thinking offered a trial or actually on the books as an apprentice perhaps .

The nearest I got was a bloke who was involved with Emley came up to me after a game and invited me to go training up there for a couple of weeks two nights a week .

Emley were a decent non league side back then so it was a pretty big deal for me .

Any dreams of making it were put to bed after a couple of sessions up there , I hardly got a kick and the defenders just smashed me .

It was all over as quick as that .

[ravenrover]

I know one on here who was "on the books"  and surprisingly I know I was scouted but I never found out by who. It seems they gave up on me when one of our committee men told the scouts I was mid 20's when in fact I'd just invited everybody including him to my 21st just hours before!
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