defender skill development

[loden]

Hey, guys. I need your help here. I was a lifelong basketball player until I , by accident, discovered football last summer at a ripe age of 22. Needless to say, I completely fell in love. My goal is to play as a defender in a city wide amateur league, for sh-ts and giggles.

How do I get my skills up to speed? I'm a good all around athlete, and I'm also a big mofo 6'2 200lb all muscle. My dribbling, recieving, heading, and instep drive suck something awful, but they are slowly improving. My strengths are my vision/awareness, tackling, and my aggressiveness.

Where do I start? I have a group of friends that are solid players and are willing to work with me. Any books, videos I should get? What notable defenders should I take as role models? What should my list of priorities for development look like? Any and all help is appreciated. I really want to be up to speed by June. Thanx

-A.

[thedefender23]

For role models maybe look at Sol Campbell of Arsenal(like you he is a pretty large guy) and Jaap Staam of AC Milan(another good, big defender). To improve your skills, go out and juggle a lot(this will improve your touch). You used to play basketball so you already know about defense(e.g. keeping the man dribbling with the ball in front of you). My best advice for defending is to contain the dribbler and wait for him to make a move before you go for the ball. NEVER EVER stab because a good player will blow right by you. Also watch a lot of quality soccer games(EPL, Serie A) and watch how the central defenders match the runs of forwards and cut out passes played to them.

[NHRef]

What I teach kids that I coach is, when defending one on one, your job is NOT to take away the ball. It is simply to slow the guy down and stall him enough so your team can come back and help.

As in basketball, force to the lines and use them as another defender.

[loden]

Ok, awesome, thanks for the responses. So channeling attackers to the side is a big thing in soccer as well. So it all must be about placing myself between attacker and goal or denying attacker a pass. Aside from tactical awareness, which skills should get the most emphasis, ie passing, defensive heading, sprinting? I guess clearing volleys is a big one.

[NHRef]

Playing the ball in the air is a big defender skill, may not have time for a trap, control then clear, playing it out of the air solidly comes in handy.

anticipation as well.

[KevTheGooner]

A few points..

Safety first (its nice to lay off a one-time pass to an open full back to start the attack moving the other way but a boot into Row Z is always a good option when someone is barrelling down on you)

When heading or volleying the ball clear your first priority is to get the ball HIGH, not necessarily far away. Getting the ball in the air allows your defenders time to get in position, and allows them to see where the play is.

Lastly, when defending on one-on-one situation, don't get caught square to the attacking player. Angle your body, say, to the right and pinch over to the left a bit- that keeps the ball in front of you and keeps you from wasting energy pivoting from one side to the other. I think you do that in hoops too?

Avoid ball watching- when the ball is out on the wing or is steaming up the middle keep your eye/hand on the player you are marking. Seems obvious but the best players get caught ball watching all the time.

And welcome to the Best Game in the World! (although hoops is a pretty awesome game too..I just suck at it!!)

[loden]

Could somebody please clarify how much hand contact is allowed? I just got Reedswain's Individual Defending DVD which shows an English youth league team practicing and these guys push and shove quite a bit. They also tend to almost encircle their arms around the attacker. Is there a general guideline for that?

[thedefender23]

Actually there is: do it when the referee is not looking!!

[bigredfutbol]

I'm slowly getting the idea now that I've started playing (and unlike the thread-starter, I am NOT a natural athlete). Thanks for the tips. :)