Aiden’s skill roadmap

Where he is now, and the order the pieces should come. Club midfielder, age 12 — built around the athleticism and dodge he already has, not a generic checklist.

Aiden is a dynamic, athletic dodger who's just started trusting his off-hand. The athleticism and the dodge are strengths and don't need building. His game is held back by being one-dimensional: a weak off-hand, shots he rips wide instead of placing, and standing still off the ball. This roadmap turns a one-trick dodger into a complete threat.

The biggest unlock, and the one that opens everything else.

• Off-hand wall ball — ugly volume until the left is trusted.
• Off-hand dodge and finish — actually score with the left.
• One rule in games: take the left-handed lane when the defense gives it, even if it's not comfortable.

The measure isn't a drill — it's a game where a defender forces him left and he makes them pay.

The rip-it-wide habit is the next-biggest leak. This block is about placement over power.

• Corners-not-cannons reps — target the low corners, set and on the run.
• Three-quarter-pace shots that hit the corner beat full-power shots that miss.
• Reading the goalie — shoot away from the stick.

His dodge carries the plays where he has the ball; the next step is threatening on the ones he doesn't.

• V-cuts and give-and-gos — pass and immediately move.
• Off-ball cutting to open lanes and the crease.
• Feeding — becoming a player who creates for others, not just himself.

By next season the pieces should combine into a player a defense can't solve.

• Both hands live, so defenders can't take a side away.
• Placement shooting under game pressure.
• Constant off-ball movement as an instinct.

Don't chase all of it at once — that's how an athlete stays a one-trick player. One horizon at a time, in order. The off-hand first, because it doubles the field and opens up everything downstream. Revisit every few months; as one piece locks in, the next one sharpens.