11 v 11 vs. 8 v 8 below U-14

[Brian Mccleary]

I coach in a small community in Washington State where our U-12's play 8v8 on a 2/3 to 3/4 field, but in most of the state kids start playing on a regulation field beginning at U-12. Having our U-12's play both I noticed a few things that made me question the wisdom of kids that age playing on such a large field. Fewer touches and the inability to kick far enough to utilize the field were the first two to jump out, but there are more. Once I drilled a little deeper in to this I discovered that most of the rest of the world doesn't play kids on a regulation field before U-14 for some really good reasons in my opinion.
I haven't received a very straight answer from those that I've asked, but I have my suspicions as to why when I compare the style of play between most American teams and those from countries where smaller sided games are the norm until U-14. I would love to hear the pros and cons about this as I only have my own observations to go by.