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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
Ryan-
I am a noisy coach as well and Id like to think that I yell appropriate reminders and phrases that are key to the development of my players.
I think Gary addressed this in one of his 3four3 posts. He stated that when your training 5 days a week the coaches tend to be more silent, but their belief is that with 2 days a week its our job to yell instructions to demand a type of play. Remind them of their assignments etc.
Ive been around SO many different coaches with different styles. If the coach knows what he/she is doing, has the genuine best interest of the players in mind and doesnt destroy the creativity of the player then any style will do. With that said the silent coaches will be more accepted by the masses than the loud one as loudness can be miss understood as yelling at a kid and some people including players can turn off to it.
My take on the video-
Gems-
hearing the important coaching points
coordinated pressure was an obvious take away
Notice that the San Juan team as trying to play one and two touch soccer but OFTEN played with the incorrect foot- led to many take aways
Just a guess but the team looked to be focusing on passing pattern 1.1st 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!
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 like Marks comments. U6s are all about touches on the ball and EVERYTHING HAS TO BE A GAME. You’ll rip your hair out with a line past one player.
Hide Coerver skills with red light, green light games. Speed of play is huge and dribbling and receiving skills should be #1. They should be scoring tons of goals in every practice.
BTW- Ive coached basic tactics to this age and they can digest it. A coach I worked with called it “defending the Castle”. Basic defense in pairs idea with one pressing and the other player supporting by defending the castle (goal). Designate the 2 knights for each 5 minute period.
This is basically a different version of the S drill. Same concept of turning the ball- good mix up I think. One thing its not teaching that I think is missed by many with the S drill is the player movement off the ball. My kids always leave early and hurt our chances of connecting passes. The S drill states to not move until the teammate collects the ball cleanly.
modification of the video drill. Im thinking about placing a ghost player placed behind the player in the center of the drill that either pressures or lays off the person receiving. This forces a peek and communication by the team mates. The receiving player if pressured lays the ball back to the passer for the longer touch to the teammate furthest away. If the receiving player has space they tell him to turn and his peek should also let him know and then play it the normal way.
Refuse to have a day or 2 tryout. Kids need to feel comfortable before they show their true colors. All kids need to play in a game situation or two
State Cup ending-
We got knocked out a round earlier than we thought 2-1 vs San Diego Soccer Club. Interesting thing is we played our best game. We have had our most dangerous offensive player out injured for several weeks and we need him to keep the opponents honest. He is likely the quickest player in the area and teams have to respect his ability to get behind defenses and finish on any ball that gets past the back line. It opens up scoring chances for our other players. We missed a few wide open scoring opportunities and that was the difference. Gave up 2 counter attack goals.
Pressure- Scored our lone goal on team pressure. We pressure better against organized teams and the SDSC team just played it long out of the back due to high pressure . We dominated time of possession but just arent linking passes in the final 1/3. So pressure worked well but missing that final 1/3 link made a lop sided game close and resulted in a loss.
Playing out from the back-MUCH IMPROVED- We pressured with over lapping defenders as we attacked out from the back often. Had one set of amazing touches, foot to foot switches to one side. opponent reacted well, thus reset with a pass back to the goalie who opened up the field and we connected 8 touches for a cross and a near miss. I made a big deal out of this play and we look much more comfortable in the back all game.
I think speed of play is always an issue when you start something new and it improves as you work on it.
I too have had kids not check to the support cone as they ball watch in 4 v 0 rondo. I like the mandatory cone movement. As stated my kids really struggle in the transition game as they move to offense prior to our team getting clear control of the ball and they cover themselves up too much. They also fail to get width and make things difficult on the passer.
4 v ghost should eliminate that as the pass cant get to the teammate with a diagonal pass. Having the cut an angle but not steal the ball also forces both teammates to be in the proper position.
Sorry I haven’t responded sooner to your questions David-
Do the kids seem excited by the repetition of the same activities over and over at practice? How are they able to stay interested when they’re doing the same thing on Thursday as they were just doing on Tuesday (and the previous Thursday)? I’m sure part of this deals with the art of coaching in terms of getting them to believe in what you’re doing (and sounds like the results so far will encourage this) but I’m interested as to how you’ve dealt with this or if it’s even been an issue.
Just like most of us I have two types of kids-
Type A kids- practice at a high intensity level no matter what the drill is- 5 of my players fit this mold little less that 1/2Your typical 10 year old- Rondos without pressure get boring and I have to stay on top of them. Keep reminding them what were trying to accomplish. This same kid also doesnt want to make things easy. They want to get fancy with their touches and just collecting across the body for them isnt fancy enough. Fancy footwork is what they enjoy doing and is a important part of the game BUT they just dont understand when its important and when its better to take the easy touch.
I havent introduced video to them and I think this is an important next step. Sometimes they just know they lost the ball but not why they lost it.
State Cup Presidents Bu10 bracket report-
Game 1- tied 3-3- Tough one for developing a possession mindset. Played a top level flight II team (runner up in state cup governors last year) they were very direct and fast. Dominated 25 shots to 5 but couldn’t find the back of the net.
Coordinated pressure- decent- they are starting to understand but arriving too late. The opponent played kickball.
PLaying out from the back basic- gave up two goals with this one and really hurt the kids mentality in game two. First goal was on a foot to foot switch and the center back missed his touch. The right back went to support and clear and missed his touch. Cheap goal. Second was a ball played back to the keeper who thought the opponent had touched it and picked it up. In direct kick from 3 yards out- goal
Game 2- loss to state cup finalist and dallas cup finalist 2-0- (our 2nd game and their 1st) I think one of the Brothers was watching the game. Cool to have the teacher at the game (Hoping for his feedback- Im a big boy and know we have TON to work on but Im committed and have thick skin- fire away!)
coordinated pressure- Big step in the right direction. Caused a usually very solid possession team to be a kickball team (sadly we played the same way) Both goal given up were break away goals on long through balls. Opponent has some outstanding team speed.
Playing out from the back basic- F- non existent. I think the previous games goals were in their heads. Total jungle ball. I will need to spend some time fixing this one.
From a coaching standpoint I need to take a big chunk of the blame as its difficult to have a possession identity when your huffing the ball out on goal kicks.
I think Ill get better result when our entire spring will be devoted to playing out from the back using the entire package.
We move on to the knockout rounds next week with a likely matchup with the State Cup champion Albione in the round of 32.
Keep u posted!
Two steps forward one step back- right? Got shelled this weekend.
What went well-
2 goals in 3 games on team pressure- This was a proper angle taken by the attacking player on the outside back with proper cut off of the last man. Outside back did the correct thing and attempted to play it back to the keeper. poor touch and a goal for us.
– when we were organized we made it tough on the opponent to get out of their end. Way too inconsistent here. One player pressuring and the other out of place and they were outWas able to point out how players that collected properly were making fast decisions and were much more successful. The kids are getting it and now just need to do it much more consistently.
Playing out from the back basic- huge step back. Struggled here. Zero times did we collect on the touchline. Very few good decisions here and the correct ones results in a poor touch and a goal or give away deep in our end. Have to build the boys back up after this one. We had an off day in the back.
Going to keep grinding!
Rondo v ghost is a player that pressures the passer but does not take the ball away. Having a defender mirror the ball provides stress on the passer and is more difficult that 4 v 0 without the threat of losing the ball
every practice we do rondos right after our dynamic warm up . As we redevelop our club Youngers curriculum Rondos will be mandatory for all our youth clubs.
My rondo time is fluid. I have the kid do it until I think they have their “touch” back. Is the ball comfortably being carried across the body, are the kids in the proper angles of support, is the weight of their touches appropriate. Well them transition into one of the pressure rondos- every practice- no exceptions.
Note- we have now told our 4 v ghost to cut 1 angle on the first touch but not steal the ball (after about 5 minutes of working with the basics of ghost). We were having issues with the kids keeping their heads down and just circulating the ball around- calmly but not with purpose. This forces them to see the angle of pressure and play away or accelerate their speed of play to prevent the ghost from cutting the angle.
Also created a new Rondo- 3 v 1 plus 1 neutral double rondo. The neutral player ( center mids ) play the between the cones that connect the 2 squares. After 5-7 passes the neutral player opens up his touch and plays it to the other team. So its always a 4 v 2 but the one player is neutral and plays it to both sides to practice the transition to the different 1/2s of the field.
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This reply was modified 10 years, 9 months ago by
Eric Dykes.
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