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This setup, while I can see the many benefits of it is quite difficult for my team to perform well. We worked on this at practice this week (and will again today and forever) and they really just needed to take many many reps and just figure it out thru many failures. We’ve gone from ugly and awful to just plain awful so there has been some improvement. 🙂
Frank –
It takes time but they will get it. My team has been doing this 1 of their 3 weekly practices (basically every Monday) for almost 7 months straight. Only in the last couple of months has it finally started to click – for most of them.
I think the biggest thing they learned from the short time they’ve tried this is that getting the ball into play quickly is their best weapon; before the opposition has time to analyze what’s going on and push people forward to pressure the situation. This allowed my team to be able to face forward and make decisions under less pressure. That, if nothing else, became immediately apparent in the one game they tried this. So the keeper was critical in getting the ball into play quickly.
I’m still forcing my players to do this and…
1. keeper can’t kick the ball far
2. central defenders sometimes forget to go to their spot
3. defensive center mid doesn’t realize to drop into space and then support aggressively
4. none realize how much effort it takes to maintain possession under pressure by helping each other, creating triangles of support, etc.
5. sometimes they give up and someone will talk someone else into just kicking it up the field and hoping for the best
6. keeper tosses the ball out to a teammate and an opponent gets to it first
7. keeper tosses the ball out to a teammate who kicks it back to the keeper (for good reason), keeper not prepared and a near own-goal. *phew*
It’s been an ugly 5 games but after the 5th game (or so) I’m starting to see some success and poise.
Because the keeper (whoever is playing at the time) is not always someone that can reach a wingback with a strong kick, I’m considering using someone else to take the kicks when necessary.
A work in progress but I’m pleased with the small morsels of success. Again, a hasty kick or toss out to the CD is usually the key to success. Get it going before the opponents are prepared.
I share many of your experiences Frank. The club I am with here in Canada does not group players according to ability so we have a drastic range in the ability of players on our teams. We have kids who are playing soccer for the first time (who literally cannot play the ball 5 yds with the inside of their foot and have absolutely no athleticism whatsoever) to players (often children of immigrant families) who live/eat/breath the game.
The only consolation I take from these sessions and games at the young age, is that the kids who actually care and are football families – are learning to play properly. The kids who will be recreational players as they move into their teenage years – will be better off as well.
Despite how difficult it is for the kids to succeed as a group with the concept – the families who know the game are highly complementary of what we are trying to do with the kids. The parents who have no clue – are wondering why we are trying to pass the ball when we can ‘boot’ the ball up the field!
It’s all about repetition. After hundreds and hundreds of times… they’ll naturally start backpedaling to the right spot as soon as the ball crosses the end line. You have to have a dedicated group willing to work though. Tactical work can be boring if the kids aren’t down to put in the necessary work to become badasses. It’s worth it though! Trust me.
Check out a couple of videos of my team training and some games:
Even worked at our Junior Varsity level:
John,
I’ve enjoyed the videos of your team playing. Its obvious they have an identity and way of playing. In your training, is building out of the back tactical training done every day? It appears that the group builds pretty well through the center of the midfield too. Is that an aspect that is specifically worked on or part of the 1-2 touch rhythm they learn through possession games?
Love seeing the JV team playing their goal kicks out! We are working on the same thing with our JV and Varsity teams now. We’ll see how well we’ve trained them on opening day this Monday. I’ve got my u9 1st and 2nd teams doing it and while it’s sometimes and adventure, it’s been working really well. The only goal we’ve given up on goal kicks this year was when the gk forgot and just hammered it down the field to the other team’s superstar, who hammered it back over the gk’s head from 25 yards.
I think one main key to being able to do this is to make sure all the kids are comfortable on the ball so that they can keep it under pressure if they have to. The can’t be afraid to have the ball, which unfortunately a lot of American players are. The other part is the decision making. If the CB is marked, then there should be a lane to find the outside back. If those wide players are marked, there should be lots of room in the middle. Another important decison that can be employed is the decison to abort. If a gk plays to the CB and it’s a bad ball or they are going to be closed down, our CB simply steps into the box and touches the ball. Do over!
I love the third video where as the build-up starts out of the back you can hear what I assume is a parent saying …”Hannah get it out of there”, and then as she makes the first pass “NO”. Only to be cheering 10 seconds later after the winning goal. Gotta love that parental input.
Shawn, I loved that video for the same reason. This is the kind of thing that you will definitely encounter when you encourage your kids to play out of the back. We’ve got an entire nation of parents now, who if they did play themselves, primarily grew up playing jungle ball, and have watched their other kids play jungle ball for years. Once you start teaching your kids to play correctly you will have the sidelines in a state of utter panic. It is very, very important IMO to keep your parents in the loop and explain to them exactly what you are doing and why you are doing it. You also have to explain that sometimes it will break down and cost you some goals during the learning process, but the long term benefits far outweigh the short term risks. Even then, there are the parents that don’t pay attention or are just too dense to get it (one parent recently suggested that one of my players, our best wide attacker, would be a “natural sweeper” because of his “Big boot”, even though our centerbacks always play short out of the back and we’ve never used the word sweeper ever). We also had an interesting experience where we loaned the older team in our club 5 players for a tournament. Whenever my kids got the ball in the defensive third the players, coach, and crowd all called out something like this, in chorus….. “Clear it! Get Rid of it! Knock it!… oooh… nice pass!” But when one of the regular players cleared a ball under no pressure right the the other team’s best player at the top of the box, who subsequently scored, the consensus was that the defender was “unlucky”.
1st week into the move from 8 v 8 to 11 v 11. The big field is darn big compared to the SS fields we played on just a few weeks ago. I think well be at a disadvantage for a bit as many of the other teams have many kids that have grown up in the latin leagues and play 11 v 11 even at the youngest of ages. I have one.
Rondo
Rondos without cones- new we added to see how they would do without a specific point of reference
Worked playing out from the back goal kicks as was our plan several months ago.Notes-
Goal kicks
The players “on the ball” side are engaged. I have to really watch the players away from the ball to make sure they are rotatingThe kids are struggling with their passes and touch on the longer passes. Will keep working
The holding mid needs to have tremendous stamina as they check back to the ball and then fly out for the give and goes in the patterns. On a short field my holding mids had little trouble. Will have to build on the big field
Love our goalie but the big goals are just not fair for U11 unless you happen to get a kid with freakish size in front of the net. Any high shot on frame is a goal for our opponents. May have to work on buying a mid level goal for our home games.
The move makes me realize this process is going to take even longer than expected.
Cheers!
Jesus John, got gooshflesh on that 3rd goal. Well freakin done.
Just posting what I felt occured in last night’s training session for my high school girls teams (JV and Varsity). We covered at quite length, taking goal kicks using the Defensive Unit (DU). The Attacking Unit (AU), I asked initially to play very soft defending, but in a way they thought would be right if they were allowed to go full on. My intent was to see if there was any transference of their “choreographed pressure” coming into their play as they shadowed against the DU on goal kicks.
For the DU, there is a lot of detail that had to be covered. The first was getting the play going quickly, to catch the opponent out of phase in transition with their backs to the ball. That haste meant the ball was rolling when it was kicked by the keeper which counters everything as it will mean a reset as would receiving the ball in the penalty area, so the passing had to be at pace. I also addressed the issue of the GK telegraphing her kicks by looking at one side of the field, angling her body to that side of the field, and kicking to that side of the field. Squared them up so they didn’t commit to an area until DU players were in proper position as playing early because the center backs are set and the outside backs are not, creates problems. Basically, if it is not on, it is not on. The “piece” is a tool that I want the team to use often, but onlywhen appropriate. With a lot more training, the more quickly we’ll get into position and the more often this will be a tool of choice in this set piece.
We went through the basic passing pattern, losing the man, combining to get to target goals on the flank. As the pattern was “learned”, I allowed the AU to pick up their pressure, still walking through, but addressed how to bait the opponent to play short by holding a low pressure line until the ball was kicked, addressed their choreographyand getting all players to engage. Once DU and AU were dialed in, it was game time. DU to targets for the score. AU earning a point for a shot on goal (has to be taken within the box) and 2 points for an actual goal.
Again, the DU sometimes would play the pattern when it wasn’t necessary (ex when the AU was caught with their backs toward goal) or combining before the target when an AU player was covering the combination and not covering the target goal. There are a lot of details to cover. There was a lot of yelled direction coming from me. Overall, the intensity of the training was high in spite of the detail I required to be attended to. The videos of John’s above are a great picture to use with the players so they can see what a result in a game can look like, especially when the details are taken care of consistently and “decisions” are still being made relative to the situation. Again, if it is not on, on the left side, swing it back to the right. That is not something I said they could do. It is something they did.
If anyone says that players will become robots adhering to “plays” in soccer, they are dead wrong unless you only allow that one pattern to be made with no room for improvisation. Overall, I am pretty stoked about the attitude of the girls from last night’s training and I believe that attitude is what let to pretty much all my players attending agilities 6 am this morning. More to come.
U10s going U11 Spring progress-
In Socal club soccer this is the age that transition from the SS field and 8 v 8 to 11 v 11 and a big field with big goals.
Our spring goals-
NUMBER ONE GOAL- Play out from the back (emphasis on goal kicks) Its a struggle for multiple reasons-
a) Spring has me missing 3/4 players each practice.
b) big field means longer touches and that has been an issue
c) Its boring for the kids after a whileProgress- Goalie gets it. Resets the ball quickly, disguises where the ball will go.
Im using the terms used in the U14 video of assignments & light switch for the players away from the ball to stay engaged and maintain shape and proper alignment. Happens some of the time.
Im having trouble having the defensive mid getting into a rondo position on the touch to the center backs and then getting back into play for the give and go from the outside back. Most of out touches are going center back, outside back, outside forward.
Way too many touches going behind the players pushing forward and giving up counter attack goals
Also, having trouble with the defense squeezing on a change of possession
Second goal- Offensive pressure- Only one practice so far here-
Its amazing how the addition of just 3 players confuses the forwards on who to pressure and how. Getting outside in pressure from the wing attacking players, rarely from the point/ center forward and limited coverage on the holding mid(s).Third goal- Later in spring- passing combo #1
Not sure how many people caught on to how I progressed this drill…
Some of you have mentioned having problems with getting players to the right spots, and getting them to those spots quickly. After a few times of training teams to play out of the back from their spots, I made it a little more dynamic. I had my entire team start as a tight group around the PK spot. On my cue, they would explode out to their spots. A ball would be waiting on one side of the goal for the keeper to track down, set up, and get in play.
There are tons of other details you can eventually start talking about. I mean, little things! Like, once the keeper decides to play to the left center back, the right side center back should start coming over immediately. That back 4 shift should start happening as soon as the keeper makes up their mind to play the opposite way. No sense is sitting out there in la la land, right? Things like that are very easy to over look, but can be so crucial when the time to execute perfectly comes.
To keep it going, we would start almost all of our pattern play from a small huddle. On a cue, we would expand and ‘find our shape’ and then play. To me, it makes sense to start small because when you’re defending you’re in a small group. And as soon as the ball is won, BOOM! like a fuckin explosion the team gets bigger. I always related it to the big bang theory.
Then you get into HOW they are expanding. Do they just bury their chin in their neck and run to their spot? Or do they keep an eye on the ball and then turn to back pedal when it’s the right time? When is the right time? Yada, yada, yada…
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