Exactly. I would start by teaching how to defend within an assigned zone first. Playing 1v1 with boundaries won't do it. They need to know how to defend the zone when the ball is out of the zone and when there are multiple opponents in or near their zone. Just because you (and most people) don't believe a zone defense is a practical choice for soccer, doesn't mean that zone defense is not an option or not a fundamental that should be taught to ULittles playing 4v4. It takes a great deal of discipline and competency to pull off in 11v11, that you don't see outside of professionals. Just so you understand, in 11v11 I have never coached or played on a team that used a zone (or pure man to man or pure zonal marking). A zonal block of 6 is the closest I have experienced. I don't recall ever playing against a pure zone. Indoor was usually a zone. I have always used, as a coach and player, some type of modified zone for 11v11. Some simple, some not so simple, designed to fit the circumstances of the competition or to promote development.
This seems like a great time on just how to beat a flat back zone defense "Make a forward run to stretch the opposing teams backs towards their goal. Then pass to players moving underneath that forward player/players movement, and attack the inside space created by the forward run. ---------------- Or if you pass to the player who made that forward run, and not lead the player who made that forward run that stretched back the zone. He plays the ball back inside the field to trailers attacking the inside space his run created. -------------------------- Or if you lead your wing player. He then moves to the inside when your right footed player finds himself on the left flank or when your left footed players finds himself on right flank. They should know to do that when playing on their weaker side.He can look for the shot on his inside move. Try to shoot before he runs into pressure from the inside player. If the opponents outside back slips while moving with the dribbler inside or the inside back slips he shoots. No shot? He can reverse his field from moving inside to moving outside and hit someone a back for instance moving into the flank space that his inside move created ----------- Or he can lay off the ball to a player passing him from further inside to the flank side space. Again which his inside run created or the takeover can pass to the back moving up into that flank space. For crosses or cut back pass inside the field. ----------- -Or just before an inside the field dribbler enters his offensive half of the field he can look to through pass. That is when the throw pass is the most dangerous. It gets less dangerous the closer the dribbler gets to his attacking goal. Nothing too it. I am a believer in practicing (Rehearsing) these options using shadow play. Then have your attackers playing against your defenders on a three quarter and a half field.
Nick, I think you left out penetrating on one flank to commit the defense and then switching to the weak side with a long diagonal through ball. I think this is an alternative in the 3rd grouping after a cut inside with 1) shooting, 2) pass putting someone through in the box, through pass to an overlapping back on the strong side, or diagonal pass to a weak side runner. Torres playing in the recent Gold Cup was effective this way. With him sitting out the final, the US attack was...disappointing in its lack of service. Maybe its in there and I just missed it. A lot of good options in there.
What I coach sounds more like how you describe "zonal marking", and I've never played hoops so I'll admit a pure zone is a mystery to me. I'm curious how you'd teach "defend(ing) within an assigned zone" as you describe above. You have a defender, and an opponent in their zone (let's say without the ball). How does that defender position themselves without knowing where the ball or other defenders are?
You provide the visuals that you want him to react to. The location of the ball and of the defender(s) that you want him to react to. And the ball and defenders move in the manner that you want the player to react to. 20 years ago I was coaching U1oG's playing 11v11. So I taught them to play a 433 system with 3 marking backs and a sweeper based on zonal defending and high pressure. I used the same zones (3 lines of 3 across) for attacking. I spent as little time as possible teaching team tactics, so I could concentrate on fundamentals and free play. Before I taught zonal defending, they had already learned how to defend and attack in small groups (no positions and no individual zones). And worked on all fundamentals (including supporting off the ball in possession and without). Unbalanced sides and no goals gradually moving to equal sides and goals. So they were bringing that experience with them. I did a little bit of shadow play with K43 defending against --33 with the coaches moving the ball and guiding the movements of the attackers. Then I ran offense against defense half-field after that and stopped play to make coaching comments occasionally. You have to decide what and who you want to teach. I gave everyone time in all three lines. I wanted mobility and decision making, so I explained that the individual zones belonged to them, using the neighborhood as a metaphor. The zones were their homes. It was okay to visit (help) their friends but they needed to defend their homes against the opponents. The key to our back line was that the stopper was always supposed to move to the ball after it had passed the midfielders. This gave us a double team with the fullback on either side or else a fairly compact back line if the attack was through the stopper's zone. We also taught the marking backs to recover to the sweeper position if the sweeper had to commit in their zone. This set the tone (aggressive pressing while maintaining a good team shape) for the other lines. It took about 3 games for the kids to get it, and then it was beautiful to watch. Kick and run doesn't have a chance against a full field defense in depth. After that we dominated the matches regardless of which 11 girls were playing. Teaching adults is entirely different. I had an established club where we would have 1 or 2 players at most on a relatively long trial (8-12 weeks). I knew what their sports experience was prior to offering the trial. Sometimes it was none, but usually they were experienced players so it was just a matter of telling them what the system was. I would have the novices watch a fullback and explained our defensive system and what was expected. Talked a bit about going forward and transitions. Then they would sub in. On the field I always appointed a center back to captain the defense and a playmaker to captain the attack. So the new player would have field instructions to guide him. I just threw them in the deep end and watched them try to swim.
So you do need the other defenders, as well as opponents. The way you describe teaching zonal defense and the way I teach it sound very much alike, even though yours might be more of a "pure" zone and mine seems more like what you call "zonal marking". Perhaps we're just getting hung up on terminology? It still seems to me like a "distinction without a difference", especially when you say it's extremely difficult to distinguish the two in the run of play. To teach zonal defending, we teach P-C-B, then every player gets a zone where they should apply those principles to opponents within that zone (with some guidance on when they might need to assist in other zones). Every opponent should be marked, but in my parlance "marked" simply means "accounted for", and not necessarily have a defender tight on them... sometimes the "marker" can be 30 yards away, doing the job of providing balance in their zone. Uh-oh... this sounds suspiciously like an "interposer".
I think there is an important distinction, but remember outside of positional-less SSG I taught kids zonal marking too as part of team tactics. I never used a pure zone for 11v11. And in 40 years of playing adult soccer, I don't ever recall being in a match where a side used a zone in 11v11. But my generation and my area of the country, everybody played basketball and hockey. There wasn't any organized soccer. Just school yard pickup games. So it was natural for us to apply their tactics to indoor soccer. Basketball and indoor soccer are very much alike, offensively and defensively. For a long time some soccer coaches have been learning and adapting from coaches of other sports. Anson Dorrance borrowing the competitive cauldron idea from a basketball coach is a good example. I would not be surprised if basketball was the inspiration for end to end pressing too, but that we will never know. You could call it an "interposer" but I think of it as a simplified way to introduce double teaming to trap the first attacker and close down his passing options. Closing down passing options wasn't really important for U10 11v11 matches, but is an important element in delayed high pressure defenses in later years. And it introduced more decision making and movement between zones. I like proactive players rather than waiting around for the other team to move.
I think what rca2 has in mind re: basketball zone defense is where you do defend space. I know you said players score goals, space doesn't score... but that's more of a fun quip than reality, in my experience. I remember being in grade 9 or 10 and playing indoors (3v3 or 4v4 I forget, plus keeper) against the #1 team filled with remarkable strikers from grade 11. Essentially we bunkered down in the area in front of goal and just aimed to block shots / intercept passes in. It was successful for 90% of the game and would have probably worked the whole way through if we had played slightly less skillful players or been better ourselves.
Hello all. I'll be coaching my son's u7 team this fall. I have never coached, but I did play . I wonder if you could give me some drills that young kids could be into, cause i'm sure their attention span is not too long. Maybe there is a web site? I'm told we play 4v4 no goalies. Any ideas would be appreciated.
Here is a thread about sites. https://www.bigsoccer.com/community/threads/good-site-for-drills.1945731/ These practice guides are a new publication by USYSA and provides age appropriate guidance. http://www.usyouthsoccer.org/us_you...uides_for_the_u6-u8_u-10_and_u-12_age_groups/
Actors (players) need directors (us coaches) who will give them the freedom to improvise at times so they can give a better over all performance. So sessions should not be cut in stone as we see different things to work on during the session if they should come up. You do it, you take notes and if you wanted to cover something and didn't get to it. You carry it over to the next sesssion or the one after it. You just don't forget about it or not spend time on the new thing you saw on that particular practice day. "Ball Control-Individual and as a Team" and see what we can come up with.The session is about 60 minutes and is for young children ( u7) and the parents are all attending for the duration of the session ( although at a goody distance)." invite some parents to help the team with the practice session. So you can get use out of them as manpower to help the session move along better. So you don't have to stop as much or can see more in less time after instructing them for a minute or two. So if they are first touching the ball for the first time they need a lot of touches. To be comfortable with the ball. You meet and greet players and parents before the start of the practice so you tell them to show up 15 minutes before the practice starts. They should all have a ball to touch. If some forget you bring extra balls 6 at least just in case. You also need at least 10 cones and a big field to practice on. Practice in the morning early so there is less outside distraction to distract them. Start 1st to 2 minute with a slow jog without the ball as a warm up just to get them introduced to some kind of warm up before every practice. A habit they need to get used to. 3 to 15th minute. They all just get the feel of their foot on the ball you demostrate and show that any part of the foot that happens to touch the ball is all good. They should be reminded (coaching point) to move while they are touching the ball. Then not to kick it now (another coaching pt) because they will kick it now, just want them to keep touching the ball and move while doing it. Use parents to remind the ones that are not kicking to try and just touch the ball while moving a lot. 16 or 17 to 27 minute they touch and move the ball at a faster rate. So the touch on the ball should be harder (coaching pt) and they try to move the ball to you the coach while the coach is moving from them. No sharp turns by the coach or it can be some players are moving the ball to some parents that you are using for this drill. The movement of the coaches is a way from the players, and movement gradually moves left ot right and back again slowly. As this is going on the coach and or parent are talking to them and say where am I(coaching point). So they can get their mind on not just the ball but getting their head up to the person they are moving to as well. Some will be kicking have to have someone to remind (Coaching point) them touch and move so the ball is not far from them. Some will stop and not tap the ball hard enough to move with the ball. 28 to 32 minute water break. Have water there on the field 33 to 43th minute back to touching the ball. Everyone has a ball. Now or when they get are older enough to be print their names. So again get parents involved. Demostrate by putting your foot on the ball and moving the ball to write with the ball the letter C for coach. That movement on the ball to form the letter C is great for their ball touch. So ask them to write the first letter of their first name to form that letter. Then have them try it. Have parents watch them even if they mess it up they are getting use to foot movement of the foot on the ball moving the ball around. Then do it using the other foot on the ball. Later practice they can print their whole names using the foot on the ball and then the other foot. Pull backs will be simple for them to do later on. 44 to 45 to the 58 minute use parents to set up goals with cones all over the field 5 goals. You demostrate dribbling to a goal and scoring. Every one cheers you (set that up with parents) then send the guys to dribble to their goals and score. Everyone cheers them. Coaching point try to see the ball and get the head up to try and see the goal. So you keep saying while they are dribbling where is the goal. The parents watching the other players are saying the same thing. Lot of enthusiasm while this is going on. 59 to 60/61 mnute. Then they do a a short jog run with out the ball as a cool down. Get them used to a warm up and a cool down after every practice a ritual that they will use forever. Then you say goodby with a lot of enthusiasm and then we all applaud their play and their parents. Then give them some kind of a reward. Like a chocolate soccer ball or a lolypop that they can take home with them. ----------- Next practice more touches and knock out games so they are used to the physical nature of the game.