Stop optimizing yourself for one position
Positional flexibility isn’t just helpful in college. It could be what keeps you in the lineup.
I’ve been in England for the past week with the USA U18 Women’s National Team - I’m writing this from the airport in London.
Twenty of the best field hockey players in the country. Current and future D1 recruits. Many will play for top programs.
And most of the players on this roster play the exact same position for their high school team.
Attacking central midfielder.
The star role. The playmaker. The one who touches the ball most and gets the stats that fill recruiting profiles.
We joked as coaches that on some high school teams, this player is asked to take the 16s, move the ball upfield, and put the ball in the goal.
On tour, players used to being a central midfielder had to learn how to play out wide. Some ended up doing minutes up front or in defense.
That positional flexibility had to develop fast for players who’d spent years perfecting one role.
It reminded me of something I learned the hard way 15 years ago.
The position I thought I’d play
I was a center back my entire, undistinguished field hockey career.
That’s what I was relatively good at. That’s what I’d trained for. That’s the role I understood.
When I finally broke into the first team at my club, I thought I knew how it would go. I’d compete for a spot in the back line. Maybe start on the bench, work my way up, and eventually earn my place.
Then the coach pulled me aside.
“You’re not going to play center back here. The guys ahead of you are better, and that’s not changing anytime soon.”
I started to process what that meant - probably sitting on the bench, maybe getting garbage minutes late in games we’d already won or lost.
Then he said: “But you could do a job for us as a forward.”
I thought he was joking.
I wasn’t a goalscorer. I couldn’t eliminate defenders one-on-one. I didn’t have the technical ability that the talented attacking players had.
But he didn’t need me to do any of that.
What the team actually needed
Here’s what the coach saw that I didn’t:
Our most talented attacking players were flaky. Brilliant on their day, but inconsistent. They’d drift out of games. Stop working when things got hard. Play as individuals instead of as a team.
What we needed up front wasn’t another goalscorer. We had those.
We needed someone who would organize the more talented players in the press and bring them into the game. Someone who would do the unglamorous work that created space for others to shine.
My job wasn’t to score goals. It was to make the team function.
So I learned to play forward. Not the way a natural striker plays - I was never going to be that player. But in a way that solved the specific problem this team had.
When generalization beats specialization
A coach’s job is to make the decision that’s in the best interests of the team. Not necessarily the one that’s in your best interests, or their own.
So you might arrive in college as an attacking center mid, but find yourself asked to play right back. Or left forward.
It happens more often than you think. I had a player in college who was a forward by trade, but was quite far down the depth chart in what was the team’s strongest line.
When a long-term injury opened up a slot at half-back, we sounded her out. Initially, she was reticent. She’d built her entire identity around being a forward. That’s what college coaches had recruited her for.
The first few weeks were rough. Different spacing. Different timing. Different responsibilities. She was learning a position she’d never played.
But something shifted. She worked hard on the biggest holes in her game for that role - her long passing and individual defense. She could already eliminate in tight spaces, so being up against the sideline wasn’t an issue.
Having spent her first two years on the bench getting minimal to zero minutes, she started at right back for what was then the program’s most successful season to date.
The key was her willingness to embrace a new role and the discomfort that comes with it - just like some of the USA U18 girls had to do this week.
Your value to a program isn’t determined by how good you are at one position. It’s determined by how many problems you can solve.
Injuries happen. Tactics shift. Matchups demand adjustments. The difference between those who get into the lineup and those who don’t might not be talent - it could be mindset. Some players see positional flexibility as an opportunity; others see it as a threat to their identity.
Why youth sport creates this problem
Club coaches and high school coaches also want to win games. So they put their best players in positions where they can have the most impact. The talented center midfielder stays at center midfielder. The skilled forward stays at forward.
Nobody’s rotating the star player out wide or asking her to learn defense. Why would they? She’s dominating where she is.
And families see their daughter scoring goals or running the midfield, and think: “This is her position. This is what will get her recruited.”
So by the time players reach national team camps or college recruiting, they’ve spent years perfecting one role.
But when college coaches are evaluating, they’re also wondering: Can you adapt? Can you learn? Can you make yourself useful when Plan A doesn’t work?
What you can do about it
Ask your club coach if you can train in different positions during practice. Not in games if they need you in your primary role. But in training, push yourself to learn different lines.
Because when you get to college, the coach who recruited you as a midfielder might need you at forward. The system might change. The starter ahead of you might be better than expected.
And if your response is “that’s not my position,” you’re going to lose playing time to someone who says “I’ll figure it out.”
When roster decisions get made - when coaches are choosing between two equally talented players - the question isn’t “Who’s better at this one position?”
It’s “Who can do what’s needed to help the team win?”
On the USA U18 team, a couple of center midfielders played on the outside; another played as a forward. A player who was an attacking center midfielder two years ago played left and right back.
It’s not about being mediocre at everything. It’s about being excellent at your primary position while staying capable everywhere else.
Stop optimizing yourself for one position. Start making yourself irreplaceable.
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