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My U10 team had it’s first practice of the season tonight and we spent about 25 minutes on the basic playing out of the back exercise. We structured it with a back 4 (3 backs and a HM/CM). I patterned delivery on what Brian did in the Seatle video. The result was very rough, but not a train wreck. Given the players age, and some of their dispositions, I anticipated focus being a challenge in some cases. It was. The better focused kids did better. By the end they all seemed to understood spacing and moving as a unit, and while the movement was very rough and very very incosistent they were doing it. The technical capability of receiving and passing definitly needs to improve as well – especially with their weaker foot. I’m not terribly concerned about that at this point as I think the rondos and s-pattern should help correct a lot of those isssues with repetition. I can definitly see how this will take a long-term focus and committment to get results. I have a scrimmage coming up at the end of the month nd it will be an interesting guage to see how far we can get by then. I’ll post an update in a few weeks to let you know how things progress.
The weak foot issue is a critical piece. I get into arguments all the time about weak foot use being a key barrier for some real good players not making it to the next level. Those that dont agree with me always point out elite players that defer to their strong foot all the time, but what those people dont see is that the player is proficient in the collection of the ball with either foot.
Watch how a defender naturally plays a player collecting with the wrong foot. They are much more comfortable as the collecting player has to play the defender with his back to him, or limits his angle of passing options. The defenders can go very hard to the ball foot and if they are beat they are likely beat away from goal and have a chance to recover. Usually the ball is played back preventing a forward attack.
When the ball is collected properly the defender has to stop as the offensive player has more options and is facing the defending player- even in tight spaces. The best one footed players in the top divisions collect well with both feet but defer to their strong foot on the dribble, pass and shot. Id argue that the most complete players can do all the above with both feet. They will have a favored foot but can function with both.
I have done 4 20-minute sessions on playing from the back with my U9 boys team so far. My experience is similar to yours. It’s very hard for the younger guys to focus. When they can focus, they do a decent job. One of my biggest problems is the crappy pitch I have to play on until they open the better fields for spring. When I’m demonstrating, I have a hard time receiving the ball properly myself – ball is bouncing all over the bumpy ground!
They are starting to get a lot better with the S-pattern, and that will help technically. Same with 4v0. I don’t let them get away with poor technique. I constantly stop them as a group or individually to make corrections. We also do a lot of simpler passing exercises and emphasize the weak foot.
Something I have noticed is that the movement in the play from the back exercise is not really natural for them. It takes a LOT of repetition to get them to move correctly – backpedal into position, open your body, etc. At yesterday’s practice, I focused on the 2 center backs’ support movement. By the end, they had it down pretty well. Next, I will work with the holding mid, and then the wings. I think that with these younger guys, we have to go WAY more slowly and repeat even more frequently.
Anyway, I’m very glad to hear about other coaches working with younger players on this stuff. It is tough, but I’m convinced that this is the right path. Just need to keep working.
First practice with a silver level U12 girls team was last night. This is not just difficult for U9 and U10. My girls were struggling to get the movement down- specifically my left and right backs really getting wide. Layer in receiving across the body, and talking with each other and the girls had a lot more to think about then they ever did with in any previous soccer practice in their entire life! Honestly, think about that for one second. This is good stuff- just going to take a lot of time.
As a coach, teaching this for the first time, it was difficult for me to focus on all aspects of the drill as well. I like how Pete is specifically focusing on certain positions each practice. I will do more of this until I really get comfortable with the drill.
My team is switching from a 3-4-3 to a 4-3-3 this season. I’ve had 2 sessions where we’ve worked building out of the back and the kids (U13 players) who are new to the program (combined U13/14) this year are struggling with the timing of establishing width. Thankfully, none of the older guys are struggling so I’ll have 3 competent outside backs to choose from, 2 of which can comfortably play on both sides. I’ll keep training the two younger guys I’m looking at playing there, but they’ve got a long way to go.
In my second session, I decided on working throw-ins into the equation where we throw it to a shifted CB who has the intent of playing to a holding mid (either directly or through the other CB) who then plays it to the weak-side wingback who is streaking up the sideline. I’m excited to see us pull this one off in our first game this weekend.
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