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Congrats on the appointment as DOC and it’s great to see the commitment to possession-oriented soccer. I live in Tri-Cities and coach with Academy of Soccer Excellence (ASE) so I’m sure we will cross paths during league play or Washington Cup. I coach the G03 and G00 Emerald teams in case you ever notice them on the schedules.
-Justin
I love futsal and have been running a futsal program in my club for the last 3 years that has proven to be pretty popular. Given that my area is smaller and new to futsal, I’ve taken the approach of trying to simulate street soccer by creating a free play program built around futsal in the winters. Basically, we don’t have the coaching staff to support teaching futsal so I’ve focused on keeping the coaches out of the way and letting the kids play. We offer 3 sessions every Saturday where the age groups are relatively close in age (i.e. U8-U10 from 5-6pm, U11-U13 from 6-7pm, etc.), but kids can show up in different time slots if they want to test themselves against the older players (or more often the younger kids stick around to play against the older). We create teams each session based on who shows so we’ll have boys and girls of all ages mixed up and playing on the teams. Then we run a little ladder style tournament with 10 minute games where the winners move up a court and losers move down with the ultimate goal to get to championship court by the last game. It adds a little competition, but it’s up to the kids to organize their teams since there are no coaches.
I formed most of the ideas from this after following the Joy of the People program in Minnesota where they are doing some really cool things to try to replicate the successful soccer breeding grounds in South America — http://joyofthepeople.blogspot.com
A couple of ideas I’ve tried. All have their merits, but getting the kids to put in the time and work have been a challenge in my environment and for that reason iSoccer is interesting since it tries to solve the motivation problem.
- Ball Mastery. Coerver-type activities or any activity that has a specific purpose.
- Senseball/Netball – I found this after learning of Michel Bruyninckx and Cogitraining (Brain-centered learning) – senseball.com. The idea is to get a bunch of repetitions doing very specific type movements that are a little more geared to passing/receiving using a ball on a string. The senseball was way too expensive so I found a cheaper version, however I do use their videos to learn the details of the movements: http://www.satorsoccer.com/AGORA-Soccer-Ball-Net-Carrier_Trainer-Bag/productinfo/SA%2D6415/
- iSoccer – An interesting take on motivation with the younger generation since it relies on social networking and technology to encourage players to practice at home and get better (improve their iSoccer scores).
Caleb,
We just went through this process of preparing for a tournament this last weekend and I did end up changing the practice routine in order to lighten the mood a little and to work on some of the finer details, such as set pieces. The first hour of practice didn’t change much in that we still did our rondos, but the second half of practice was used for finishing and set pieces. I have a GU14 team and I’m not sure they had ever really walked through the details of how to setup a corner or defend a free kick so I think it was worth the time spent, especially for the goalkeeper.
As far as your comments on applying what you’ve been practicing in games and seeing improvement, I can give our experience now that we’ve gone through the tournament. We didn’t make the finals, but I saw dramatic improvement over the 3 games in implementing what we’ve been working on with the possession focus over the last month or so since I’ve become their head coach. I have to say the 3 games in a row really helped bridge the gap between rondos/SSG and how it actually is applied in the game. The first game we talked about what we wanted to do, but the girls just really didn’t understand how to do it in the game. The 2nd game saw us make some concerted efforts to implement playing simple and keeping possession, but only about half the team was on board. Finally, in the third game the light bulb seemed to go off for most of the team and they saw (and felt) what it was like to control the game by having the ball. We’ve got a long way to go (we didn’t even discuss pressing concepts the whole tournament), but it was encouraging to see improvement.
-Justin
A shout out to the Washington “chapter” folks, Liviu and Scott, that I’ll be in Olympia/Tacoma this weekend (4/25-28) for PSPL WA Cup. Hit me up on here or twitter if you’re around – @Justin_Coach
Pete, I respectfully disagree with your statements about focusing on technical skills before moving on to tactics. I also once thought that way but after many years of research and experience, as well as learning about the scientific study of motor learning, it’s obvious to me that decision making (tactics) is ultimately what we are trying to coach. This overview of motor learning changed my thought process and now I’m very careful about how much time I spend in non-decision making activities. Ball mastery exercises look great, but are they really more effective than the player using that time to play 1v1 (or rondo or SSG)? The science says to be very careful how you allocate your practice time.
Now to defend you a little (because I feel the same), I agree that ball mastery is very important however it’s really something between the player and the ball. We as coaches can introduce the ball mastery exercises and encourage the players but truly they must learn to master the ball on their own time.
Liviu, thanks for sharing. In general, I agree with all of Alec’s points and here are a few other ideas based on working with those ages the last few years (now moving into U11):
+ Don’t waste too much time on unopposed activities. 4v0 is ok for teaching the finer points, but it quickly turns into a drill and the reason rondos are so effective is because they are a game with opposed pressure. I would move to 4v1 as soon as possible and do things like not allow the defender to tackle but instead require them to get out of middle by noticing receiving on wrong foot. Then, move to full pressure and accept that it’s going to look ugly for a while but that’s ok because the game is chaotic and ugly at times too but they are learning to make decisions which is ultimately why the rondo is a great teacher.
+ On a related note, the square size seemed a little small even if only to emphasize making firm passes. This will be an issue when moving to pressure as well.
+ 3v1 is the next progression after 4v1 and is even more game realistic given the free movement within the grid. Again, it’ll be ugly but get to it and let the kids start problem solving even if they are far from mastering technique. They’ll learn to solve problems given their current technical ability.
+ Numbers up possession games at those ages are almost pointless if you are playing to goals or directionally. This could just be my experience but a game with +1 or +2 neutrals in the middle just means you can all but assure that those neutrals don’t touch the ball. Neutrals on the outside work better.
+ It’s a marathon not a sprint. Obvious I know, but let the kids fail and learn without getting too frustrated. That’s the “art of coaching” as the Kleiban’s talk about a lot in constantly setting the expectations just a little above the players’ current ability all the while realizing it’s going to take a long time to get to where you want them to be.
+ Don’t forget to let the kids play the game. I’m a big believer in Horst Wein and he preaches the 4 goal game with 3v3 at those ages. You might already be doing that, but just wanted to point out that it’s sure hard to beat a small sided game.
Thanks again for sharing and I’ll have to record myself coaching soon so I can put myself out there as well…
-Justin
1) I follow the author (O’Sullivan) of the article and generally agree with his views of giving sports back to the kids, which is necessary with all of the helicopter parenting going on. I’ve also read quite a few of the research papers he cites stating that it’s helpful for kids to play multiple sports. Lastly, encouraging kids to play multiple sports was a recurring theme at the NSCAA convention so it’s a bit of a hot-button topic right now. The article itself has some good points, however the key to the whole argument is free play which comes back to culture. Sure, if the US had a culture of free play and soccer flowed in the veins then there would be no need for the early specialization. If I knew my players were playing soccer every day after school then I would have no problem taking 3 months off of organized practice so they could play some organized basketball. Of course, in reality that’s 3 months that they don’t touch a soccer ball.
Another fallacy in the argument for playing multiple sports is that many of the athletes that reach the top have a multiple sports background, which is obviously going to be the case for top-end athletes that excel at basically everything they do. Any kid that excels in a sport is going to want to continue that as long as possible, but that doesn’t prove that playing multiple sports produces great athletes. Moreover, the top players in sports such as soccer and basketball that require tremendous amounts of decision-making have played their sport extensively from the youngest of ages even if they dabbled in a few other sports. Other than women’s soccer, where athleticism still reigns supreme, you’d be hard pressed to find a top level soccer player that hasn’t been playing since they could walk.
My current line of thinking in the US is that it’s up to the clubs (or some organization) to create open, unstructured play environments. I love the work that Ted Kroeten is doing in Minnesota and hope his idea continues to spread (http://www.joyofthepeople.org).
P.S. My daughter is very young (9), has tried a bunch of other sports and has settled on soccer as her favorite so I’ve put her in CrossFit Kids as a way to teach general physical fitness and hopefully prevent any overuse injuries. So far she really likes it and I believe it addresses many of the benefits of playing multiple sports.
2) The ODP video is interesting because it reminded me of the CogiTraining session I saw at the NSCAA convention led by Michel Bruyninckx (see video below). Michel’s work is labeled “Brain Centered Training” and is based on rhythm, timing and synchronization in an effort to force the players to concentrate. He started out with fairly basic patterns, but it quickly escalated to become more and more challenging to the individual player and the group as a whole. I have to admit it piqued my interest although I only saw the tip of the iceberg…
Hey guys, just wanted to throw my name in the mix. I’m based in Tri-Cities (Richland), WA and coach for Academy of Soccer Excellence. If anyone is ever in the Tri-Cities area definitely give me a shout so we can connect and I’ll do the same when I get out of town.
-Justin
Eric,
My first thought is that too many activities are trying to be squeezed into your warmup phase. I would think it would be easy to spend 20 minutes on the 4v0/4v1 rondos OR 20 minutes on the S-drill with the idea being to hammer home those key coaching points (back foot, small 2-3 yard movements to create angles, etc.) and a focus on quality. Given that it’ll take many repetitions for the kids to turn these concepts into muscle memory, I would think it’s worth focusing on an exercise instead of bouncing between a bunch of different ones.
Depending on how focused the kids are, the other element I might try to introduce is competition. Maybe something along the lines of a couple of teams competing against each other to count the number of “perfect passes” (i.e. correct timing, correct movement, etc) in a minute. Competition is usually my go-to move in order to increase intensity.
This is great feedback so thanks for posting. I too agree that the value of joining 3four3 so far has been the ability to watch a high quality coach work and these forums, which is quite different than what I thought I would initially get out of it (i.e. amazing exercises and secret drills). It all seems to come back to the details.
How long did you spend on the exercise? What did the rest of your session look like?
Wow, this is fantastic. I feel like I’ve stumbled onto the Official Support Group of Passionate Coaches That Want to Play the Beautiful Game (that name’s a little wordy so I’ll work on that haha).
It’s been great reading everyone’s varied backgrounds so here’s mine: I’m a 37 year old father of two in Tri-Cities Washington that’s currently working at the club level (coaching U10 and administratively). I’ve been playing for 30+ years (knock on wood that I can continue) and coaching for 15, starting at the high school level and then working through recreational and now competitive. I’ve officially turned the corner of coaching interest into fanatical the last couple of years and have been pursuing licenses (currently at a “C”) and devouring everything online, especially 3four3.
So far, I’ve really enjoyed the content of the site because I find observing others is a great way to learn, especially someone like Brian who has so much experience. Likewise, these forums are a great way to connect with like-minded coaches, which has been a pleasant surprise. To that end, I’m always interested in connecting with coaches to chat, observe, etc…
Joga Bonito!
JustinHey Andrew, just thought I would introduce myself since we are relatively close as I’m coaching up I-84 in the Tri-Cities. I’m always looking to connect with like-minded coaches so I might bug you to learn more about what you guys are doing at Eastern Oregon U.
Thanks,
JustinThese are good questions regarding the GK because I was wondering the same. The other benefit to dropping the D-Mid is that there is extra cover if (when) the ball gets turned over, which is something that will probably happen quite a bit with most young players.
My question is regarding the activity and adding pressure. Do you ever add any defenders (i.e. the opposing teams 2 or 3 forwards pressuring the ball)? One argument would be that the players are not making decisions and thus the activity is not game-like, however the other argument is to ensure success by not having any defenders.
Thanks,
Justin
