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Ryan, not sure I can help much as we are just stepping into this with our U11’s. We’re at the stage where we are teaching the players to time their movement as the ball moves in anticipation of the play as it circulates from one touchline to the other in our playing out of the back STT. We’ve gotten some decent progress but smart teams are adjusting pretty well on the fly, particularly athletic and reactive teams, so we insert the notion of deception/disguise into our training. So far so good, but you are ahead of us. I like the ideas though, and I think we will eventually introduce reading which defensive players are attracted to the play and hence out of position, which should lead to triggers for movement, combining and attacking the inevitable space and gaps that open up. We just aren’t quite there yet, but I’d like to hear more about what you are seeing at the higher age groups.
This is really helpful as I’m trying to sort out how to increase the intensity and realism of our shadow play STT. Thanks and I will be trying this next week with our U-11’s. Paul
Liviu
Not sure if you’re still with this group but I’ll try and give you some advice. I have some experience at this level as I’m now coaching my fourth child who is a U7 and my eldest is U14. Coached all four right on through the U8 year and longer for some. U8 is tough. You have some kids that want to leap forward quickly and you see their effort, focus, etc. take them far really fast compared to their less serious counterparts. Try peer pressure through competition. With boys, don’t be afraid to let one group know they are getting beat by the other group. See if that has the right effect. Even on rondo’s, actually everything. It doesn’t have to be a keeping score competition. Just let the groups know you are watching and the ones doing it more right than the others will win. Put in an age appropriate fun penalty and you should see the intensity go up and the progress to be right there with it.
No doubt, certain players without focus need an age appropriate “notice” as well so that they have some time to fit in better with the group. If they are U9 going on U10 and you aren’t seeing at least movement in the right direction on focus, the kid may just be in the wrong sport and that’s a conversation you can have with that child and the parents. Cutting playing time isn’t appropriate at this age, my opinion.
I’ll try and cut the ramble at this point, but you probably need to be working in footskills and maximizing touches for the group that I saw. Rondos are fine but the players need to work their touch through all surfaces and get as many as possible in your warmup prior to rondos and other progressive activities. With some ball comfort, then you could probably start working on getting their heads up so they can see the field which goes really well with receiving across the body and playing to the open player. As you are doing that, work in communication…
Good luck. Stick with it, it’ll work over time. Encourage juggling as well so their touch improves. I’d like to see where you are at and how it’s going, given the previous year.
I’ve seen this on twitter and some UK literature. I think it is bogus as it introduces an artificial construct into the game that reduces the coach and player incentive to teach, learn, and develop the ability and intelligence to actually perform the task under the right circumstances in a game. My guess is that it was well intentioned but it is junk. People are getting tired of jungle ball, so much so that silly rules are starting to be thrown out there as shortcut solutions.
John – big thanks!…Yes, we simply ask them to play where’s there’s space right now (I think they sometimes over do it and don’t see the attacking space ahead, but that’s what learning looks like)…and we have been pushing hard to have the off the ball players demand the ball. I think by having the open players make themselves available at the right shape and spacing with communication really induces the passing game to go and the style of play to progress.
Christian – I would completely agree with encouraging the players to go 1v1, particularly if they are not yet confident on the ball. If they already are, then progress to teaching them about risk and decision making so that they gain that awareness and intelligence. You want them to take risks while they are young (and before they become self conscious, for girls a big problem)…try a move, go 1v1, and just work to get it back if they lose it.
Rene – good luck with things, I would certainly look forward to a thread on activities at the U-9/U-10 level.
– Paul
Christian/Renee – this may be a bit long, sorry in advance.
I’ll just speak to our group and hope that it helps you guys. Not sure this is the answer, but it is how we are doing it and adapting the ideas from this site.
First off, I don’t think you can pull off possession soccer well (achieve results-Win!!) at U-9/U-10 without having a pretty decent amount of ball confidence already throughout the depth of the squad. We are lucky in this fashion with one of our two teams and getting there with the second team. I think playing out of the back, losing your man, rondo’s are very appropriate for this age along with building technical skill (1v1, turns, first touch). I think you’ll somewhat have to balance letting players over dribble, hold on too long, etc. in the U-9/U-10 years so that they have the confidence later on to play this style. That doesn’t mean that you don’t teach them the style, it’s more in how you coach them. Execution. How you make your corrections, etc.
So, I’ve coached many of these girls for now three to four years and am now using a professional trainer (James Myers-Antiaye from JogaSC) full time at this point as we train academy style. From a resource standpoint, it began making more and more sense last year, and that’s what we do. The key is that we are all on the same page regarding the style of play. And we are simply pushing for a more and more disciplined achievement of that style on game day.
Back to ball confidence, the girls in the video have simply played more than probably most of their peers. For some of them, it started when they were U-6. Others, when they were U-8. Lots of pick-up soccer and some advanced U-7/U-8 training in our club thanks to Mike Sprano (3four3 member). Almost year round. Work. For the adults.
The U-9 year focused on ball mastery, 1v1’s, 2v1, 2v2’s, 4v4’s, pattern play, possession games (including rondos), passing/receiving, turns, off the ball movement, lose your man, communication (mainly demanding the ball), some shadow and positional play with a heavy emphasis on building an identity. Consistent with the material on the site, but perhaps a bit watered down as the girls are still very much in the technical phase. I think Brian’s video on identity is huge and is something that really helps the individual players work together collectively to achieve a recognizable style, probably something that you should use in your messaging for sure. I’ve watched it several times and incorporated it into early season talks with the players starting last Spring. I will do so again this Fall.
In terms of more messaging, we focus on achieving the style, having the proper shape (width, depth, triangles, diamonds), spacing, communication, receiving to the back foot (across the body), lose your man, and movement. We train almost all year round. We use Futsal once a week for technical training and heavily in the Winter (3xtimes per week). We want/demand them to be somewhat ravenous for the ball in defense, more psychological right now than technical instruction. We simply use the words “pressure”.
So, this isn’t a list of drills, but just our approach. Very much a work in progress. You can see that they don’t have a developed, disciplined style, yet. That is our goal though. I think if you and your parents are patient and working to achieve possession style, than you’ll get there. They have to understand that in your area that may really stick out (in our area it does). But the players have to play a lot to be individually confident by U-9/U-10. I don’t see any other way unless you have a group that actually plays the game at home with their friends/neighbors like what I remember doing as a kid. That seems rare these days in our area.
Here’s some of our higher level U-10 girls (in blue) going against mid-level U-11’s a few days ago.
We lost this match, but worked to play our style the rest of the day with more success in the remaining 3x mini-games. Never waver.
With that said, we are focused on building composure, intelligent play/decision making, playing to space individually and in small groups, and use of their skills right now. So, in that sense, we got what we needed out of it. This video was somewhat to educate the parents and reveal some of the training at use during games. And it was for the girls. I want them to see their style, understand they are different, and go harder at training to continue making this go.
– Paul
thanks guys…these players are now U10. We’ve had them increasingly focused on a possession style since the U-8 year, with a heavy investment into their technical skills…
Rene- trying to view them but there’s a glitch…I was in your shoes a year ago and don’t suggest playing up. Really take the time to build your style without jeopardizing their technical needs and confidence. My two cents. I know you are doing Futsal as well, that will really show through over time. I will come back and see if this opens later in the week.
Ryan – nice work! I watched video in the second link…I can see a ton of work going into where the boys are after just a year with you. It will be great to watch you grow their style of play…here’s some specific observations, take ’em or leave ’em…these are just first glance notes after watching only one video.
- The first goal demonstrated exactly what you advertised and this replayed over and over in the whole half. Clearly a training emphasis.
- it was nice to see an alternate attack (more central) around the 12min mark. No goal, but not a big deal. The opportunity was there.
- it felt like to me that the pattern was forced a bit up the right, see 22:15 mark, when a switch may have had more space to attack with numbers
- nice patience, 22:30 and 28min mark
- like to see the goalie distribution under control, when available, 27:10
- good circulation by the back four, suggest building the same umbrella in the midfield (know it is tough and you are only in year one with them)
it was interesting to me how the other team either a) doesn’t have a style or b) gave it up with zero discipline…
thanks for sharing and I look forward to more….
Paul
Problem solved, thanks Ryan!
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This reply was modified 10 years, 3 months ago by
Paul Hicks.
We look to do ball control (turns and 1v1), rondos, and some basic patterns or shadow play if we have the space and depending on how the warm-up is progressing. Sometimes the last part is tossed if there is a need to walk through things a bit more verbally. I am working with young ones (now rising U-10’s) and flexibility seems to be key. We always look to emphasize and bring out what we worked on during the preceding weeks…seems to be working pretty well for now.
i usually oversimplify, sometimes not in a good way…
“controlling the ball and the game with confidence, skill and intelligence through simultaneous and synchronized movement.”
Great thread, guys.
We have two U-9G’s teams playing their second year of Futsal her in the DMV. We also train indoors twice a week for our offseason program. The small space and quick pace is the main difference. Demands technical skills, losing your man, and intelligence.
Although the challenge is high, particularly against older teams, the payoff is huge going into Spring. Very consistent with possession soccer if done right.
i will try to get some video…thanks for opening the thread!
Paul Hicks
Fairfax, Virginia
