Leszek (Shek) Borkowski

In North America many coaches place premium on physically large, athletic players.
Most of my players tend to be smaller, quicker, with small turning circles. One of my players, Mexico international Fatima Leyva, has played for me for the last 5 seasons and according to 2 WPS coaches is too slow and has “no change of pace”.
Her lack of “change of pace” never bothered me as no player moves faster than the ball and few pass it better than Leyva. She’s clever enough to make the ball do the work. But she’s still one of the quickest midfielders in the world. She can defend, she can create, she can attack, she’s got a good shot with both feet. She does everything I ask of her.
In women’s football as in every sport, there are players who’ve been labeled by scouts and coaches as too slow, too small, too whatever. And yet these players often exceed everyones labels and expectations and do productive things when they actually get on the field. That’s because; they are smart, understand the game, know how to make up for their weaknesses, are fundamentally sound in other facets of the game and most important they know how to compete.
Their size, the Beep test results, how much they can lift, how fast they are in 40s, that stuff doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is what they do in a 11-on-11 game.
What often happens when college players are evaluated for draft is that coaches evaluate them based on their productivity and effectiveness in college. But one must recognize why they’re productive in their college environment and can they translate that to the next level. In most cases, everything they’ve done in college will be irrelevant in pros. It simply is different.
When evaluating players physically my assistants and I look at only 6 variables.
1. Technique
2. Speed of thought – ability to instantly recognize where all players are on the field and making the best decision when passing and making runs
3. Speed of anticipation – there’s an anticipation when the ball is passed, some players are just faster, they can feel it and they, can sense it, they react quicker. They feel players and ball moving around them.
4. Speed of reaction – ability to physically react quickly to changing circumstances
5. Speed of feet
6. Speed with ball – 30m, straight line sprint is different from running full speed, with the ball and holding off any challenges from opponents.
Players lack of size, speed, their strength tests results have little influence on my decisions when selecting players.