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At this age, I mainly stick to the 4v0 and 4v1.
I did try a few things.
1) I opened the rondo square to make a rectangle, to have them visualize better a soccer field with a CB, LB, RB and a CM. (or CM, LM, RM and target CF) I told the defender in middle that there sole job was to position so that the CD could not get the ball to the CM. It forced the defender to think more about containing the pass out. For the CD and LD and RD, it made then more patient moving the ball but always looking to the target player when they had moved the defender out of position. Similar to regular 4v1 but the rectangle painted a better picture for them to visualize a real soccer field better.
For a bigger game, I would play a 3v3 with joker, but also include rondo players on the outside of the field and replicating the rondo rules, getting to the corners. Points for getting to the CD and CF. Variation would be it has to go through the joker, CM. Worked pretty well. If I had a goal, I would replace the CD with my goalkeeper, so one team could shoot on the goal, and the other had to go to a target player. Switch sides (and outside players) after a few minutes.
Worked pretty well.
Thanks
Sorry, not about your video specifically yet, but how did you embed the video in the text. My iframe from youtube did not work.
I thought since I opened this thread a while back, I’d give a summary of our progress over the year. I knew attempting some of the 3four3 techniques and tactics would be a challenge for 8-year olds, but after 9 months or so, I feel that with the right players with supportive parents, it is possible to do. The difficulty was in trying to spend time developing basic foot skills and using time with some of the 3four3 tactics. Some of it overlap as many here have said, so I tried to make use of “economical” training. With the repetition of rondos, the constant reminder of back foot, across your body, look over your shoulder, lose your man, and correct spacing did find some success. Some kids picked it up perfectly right away, and there were others who made the same mistakes all year long no matter what teaching method I gave them. This of course was quite noticeable during the games. We worked on a lot of pattern play which looked great in practice, but was hard to replicate under pressure and in game. We also played a bit out of the back for a while and at times it worked well. Other times, it was disastrous. Not having a central defender who was fully committed to building out of the back did not help the matter. Goal kicks were not easy as we tried to mix it up out to the sides with some longer passes. Too much telegraphing and too slow,but did not spend too much time on it. We won or tied about half our games, but we did play a better possession style than most of teams we played. For 8-year olds, it was difficult when we played much bigger and faster teams. We definitely did not play kick and run, although I did try to get the kids to understand that a main purpose of the rondos and the short passing was to move the defenders out of their spots so we can get behind them to score. Again, about half picked up that concept.
Also, I thought I would move player around a bit more at this age, but only three players really understood building out of the back so I was limited in moving players around. The good things was nobody seemed to have problems with where they played.
One change I did make was on kickoffs. I spoke with Gary and Brian about this at a clinic, and said we always kicked back to the CM for possession and it worked well in concept, but because our technique was very novice, it led to a lot of mistakes in our half. So decided it was better to mix it up and try to pass out wide right away and move into the opponents half, and try to keep pressure in their half, not panic in ours. We tried to choreograph it, with mixed success. Some 8-year old aren’t so good at hiding the obvious.
I wish I had some video of before and after as I think their is a big difference in our players touch, but I do not. Our rondos (mainly 4v0 and some 4v1) look great now, but need to improve how we connect this to the game.
So what next? The discussion of setting a culture is so important. Trying to make sure the kids have “fun” and get a lot of playing time is still very important at this age, but I need to make sure the kids are accountable for their performance at training probably even more so than at games. To truly implement 3four3 philosophy, you do need to have all the players live, breath and die for soccer..or close to it. I know that half my players barely touch a ball outside training and games. While we go dark a bit, I am giving them a skill regiment based on the 10,000 touches, so it will be interesting to see who follows through.
I have 11 players now (playing 8v8) and am not sure who will be staying or leaving for next year. Those discussion will come up after State Cup in January. If anybody has any advise on how to talk to a parent of an 8-year old when it is pretty clear the kid is not quite working out, please let me know. The difficulty is kids mature at different ages, and even though it is not quite clicking right now, it may in 4 months or 6 or one year. So hard to say.
So overall,the 3four3 ideas are solid and can be effective even at u-9. I think the next year at u-10 will be even more promising.
Please share your stories, good and bad about your season.
Pretty impressive. How long have you been working with these girls.
Thanks Dana. some good ideas.
Please note when I coached the U9/10 group, my emphasis was on individual development (Coerver, Soccer U, etc) and I didn’t allow my teams to pass in games. The intent was to establish strong abilities with the ball to beat defenders and comfort with the ball at their feet. That “experiment” resulted in my teams winning their games by significant margins even though I encouraged my teams to start shooting wide of goal and intentionally missing after they scored a hat trick. Today, if I were coaching this age group, I would still impliment the no pass rule in games for up to one full season. However, I would train in practice the STT so that is imprinted on them early and when that transition to possession soccer is made..
Paul,
Just curious on this. For u9, you mentioned no passing in the first season. I understand the need to develop players who can win 1v1 battles, but how does this mesh with the 3v3 philosophy which stresses so much possession? And how do you work that into 3v3 training sessions? ..and sorry if I missed.what is STT?
Alec,
Some good points. For me, the difference between a great practice and a so-so practice is MY enthusiasm. When I am too serious and looking for perfection, I get frustrated and they can tell. You are correct not to give false praise for bad techniques, but at this age, they need us to get excited about progress. Last week, I worked on 4-0 rondos, and it went really well. This week, I was working on some quick, repetitive new dribbling skills. I was surprised at how difficult it was for them ( as it was basic basic stuff) and so I was getting frustrated instead of looking for the progress of baby steps. It would have gone much better if I got excited about little improvements. It may seem weird for adults, even teens, but would have helped with little kids. I will see we have done rondos 3 times now, and they are getting better each time. Even saw some receiving across the body in the SSGs, even though all bunched up.
Well, had my first “real”training session with this new team. It is still being built so mostly rec players so far. After a small warm-up, I ran a circle drill..meaning half players in and half-out. Half-In jog and find an outside player with a ball and do a one-touch back and forth and quickly turn and find somebody else. They must count their passes. Switch inside without and repeat. Switch again and do 2-touch. At this point I stopped and clarified they HAVE to use 2-touch. I then explained receiving the ball across the body before they passed back. It went ok, but it was clear they favored their stronger foot right away, and still wanted to 1-touch. We switched a number of times and it slowly got better. Then I changed the exercise so the inside players dribbled withe and had to do a 1-tocuh pass to outside players. Upon receiving the ball back, they had to let the ball cross the body and then turn and dribble to find an open player. It actually worked pretty well.
Then, I decided to take on the 4v0 rondo. It was difficult for the players unless I was there constantly reminding them to support and receive across the body. Basicially, the better players could figure it out, and the “less-experienced” players did not do as well. But I can see the potential. After 1 minutes I jumped to 4v1 just try it out. Some of them got to concept very well but I had to make the defender go about 50%.
Ended with 1v1, 2v2 and 4v4. In the 4v4, they bunched up but I did see the better players sometimes receiving the ball across the body.
After practice, I questioned the kids about “across the body” and some understood, others didn’t, but not surprising with the mix of rec players.
So overall, I am very excited. When the team is finalized and I am working with fully committed players,I think this will workout well.
I will keep you updated.
Great! Will try to get video over the season. I look forward to exchanging experiences.
Stephen, besides basic keep-away, what simple rondo is simpler than the 4v0.
Thanks
David,
What are some of the other ideas you have to replace rondos if the kids get bored of them?
Thanks
Hi,
My name is Chris Ryder and have been involved with coaching soccer since 1990. First AYSO, then high school and club soccer in the La Crescenta area of Los Angeles. There is always tons to learn, and that is why I am here, as I feel I have gotten complacent over the years. 3Four4 is a breath of fresh air and look forward to getting rejuvented.
