What is meant by creativity in soccer?

Discussion in 'Youth & HS Soccer' started by ppierce34, Jun 13, 2019.

  1. ppierce34

    ppierce34 Member

    Aug 29, 2016
    Fort Wayne, IN
    Can someone define it for me? When i think "creativity" i immediately think of circus tricks like maradonna's, flick flacks, nutmegging etc... but i dont that is what is meant when you hear folks say US Players lack creativity.
     
  2. EverRespect

    EverRespect New Member

    Apr 11, 2015
    Club:
    --other--
    The ability to see the field like a chess board, out maneuver opponents, and create plays that are not scripted or practiced based on real time scenarios. In sports that we are good at, like basketball and football, we have offensive and defensive systems and everyone who plays knows what to do to exploit the opponent if X moves here or O is out of position by the time they are 10 years old. In soccer they play rondo for an hour, only focus on individual skills, and are told winning and losing doesn't matter (probably an excuse so the megaclubs don't have to explain to the parents paying $3,000 why they are losing to my $300 volunteer club).
     
  3. nysoccerdad

    nysoccerdad Member

    Apr 18, 2016
    Club:
    FC Barcelona
    basically a positively surprising play. any play that is helping the team but not foreseen by most speculators.
     
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  4. ppierce34

    ppierce34 Member

    Aug 29, 2016
    Fort Wayne, IN
    I wish our team used rondo's in training. We work on skills for 15 minutes and either do a full sided scrimmage or 3v3 in small boxes for the rest. Full scrimmages in practice are useless and 3v3 in small areas are equally useless.
     
  5. EverRespect

    EverRespect New Member

    Apr 11, 2015
    Club:
    --other--
    I disagree. They like scrimmages and want to win so they practice at their best. Then you show them the film and coach what was done well and what could have been done better. Rondo is a nice theory, but they hate it and are just going through the motions and half-assing it, especially if the coach turns his back.

    Our coach likes to use as many cones as possible and half the kids don't understand the drills and it leads to mass frustration. Though they hate rondo, at least they understand it. As long as they are playing and given some direction, they will improve.
     
  6. CoachP365

    CoachP365 Member+

    Money Grab FC
    Apr 26, 2012
    If I sit 5 kids down with drums, bass, guitar, keyboard, saxophone, and say "go ahead and play", are they a free jazz ensemble or is it just noise? Aren't they being creative since they hae no idea how music is supposed to work?

    The long answer:
    It's a catch all for the myriad issues facing players in the US that have relied
    on coaches that have developed or thrived in our coaching education system.

    At some point some bright boy looked and said "you know, we have the grit/hustle thing down, but we're kinda terrible on the ball". So they've spent millions trying to get coaches and kids to master an incorrect interpretation of the Coerver stuff and getting good at 1v1s.

    Because to them, they really see the game as 11 1v1 battles, or successive 1v1 situations.

    Where the rest of the world has some thought that while 1v1 is important, the game really breaks down into multiple resettings of 2v1/3v2/5v2 all over the field, instead of 11 1v1 battles.

    So we have a bunch of players who nkow the tricks and flicks and are very comfortable dribbling into 1v2/3/4 situations when a simple pass might open up
    space for one of them to actually use the flair move in a 1v1.

    There's also the lack of acceptance that a lot of soccer is choreographed vs 11 1v1 or just random kicking it away between the boxes. Once it's pointed out to you and you watch a few high level games (ie most countries 2nd division or higher but not USL/MLS, the UEFA Euros to see that it is pretty common all across UEFA) you start to see the patterns. A quick trip to youtube and you can find training videos of people training the patterns.

    Few people here can teach it though, and none of them are running the USSF courses that they insist will prepare you to coach. With the latest round of courses it seems they've settled on "please don't do anything to mess up the kid that might have parents who know what they were doing before we can get him into our ElitePremirePLatinum team where we'll mess him up so that he can play in the NCAA".

    The prevailing wisdom is that the kids have to be fully technically proficient - dribble/pass/shoot with both feet, multiple surfaces - and then you can start teaching tactics. A view that no other country in the world takes.

    Here a clip of an coach with average HS players that don't live within 50 miles of a DA looking much more like "the real game" vs what you usually see here:



    Also this coach

    seems to do a good job with players that nobody wants.


    For the really long answer, start here: https://webcache.googleusercontent....-messi-no-it-cant/+&cd=10&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
     
    bigredfutbol and mwulf67 repped this.
  7. CoachP365

    CoachP365 Member+

    Money Grab FC
    Apr 26, 2012
    The fact that we sometimes see what looks like good soccer anywhere in the country is evidence to me that our players are being creative - lacking the foundational knowledge, they still manage to solve the problem in front of them in a satisfactory way.

    Just like those 5 kids with insturments might actually figure out being in the same key and time signature on their own for seconds at a time :)

    But, I think we can do better than letting "Inverting the Pyramid" play out in real time :) since the rest of the world is already building on the game at the end of that book.
     
  8. ppierce34

    ppierce34 Member

    Aug 29, 2016
    Fort Wayne, IN
    This is a very thoughtful and laid out response. Thank you!
    If you were coaching a group of U11-U12 boys or girls what would you be doing with the time you got to spend training them?
     
  9. CoachP365

    CoachP365 Member+

    Money Grab FC
    Apr 26, 2012
    My state allows a 16 player roster at u12, lets assume that, one parent assistant that can keep an activity running without offering coaching points, 2 90 min practices a week and 2 weeks before the first game in the fall.

    I start by telling them how we're gong to play. We're going to value having the ball. Not barcelona death by a thousand passes posession, just, no blind kicking. Have an idea of where the ball is going next and how you're getting it there.

    The first week we mostly run 3v3 or 4v4 to puggs, and 4v0 rondo. If we're good enough, we go to the 4v1 rondo. We end with 6v6 to 2 puggs on each endline (modified funino). Or maybe 5v5 winner stays, I break up the dynasty after 4 wins in a row, etc. After 2 practices, I have a pretty good idea of what I have and what needs to be worked on, a rough idea for what shape we're going to star tin - I like 1-3-4-1 if I have kids who can handle being wing-backs, but 1-4-diamond also works for me.

    At the first practice I have a brief parents meeting, explain what we're going to do. I alraedy have emails, I've setup teamsnap, I let them know I'm going to send them video clips. Also that to get the most out of t his, the kids need to play on their own outside of practice. I ask who is doing m usic lessons, I remind them that they do 15 minutes a day on their instrument when their teacher isn't around - soccer is the same way.

    Starting week 2, I go over teh skills in the videos I sent the first week - most likely beast mode soccer lvl 1 or 4, and the tobin heath clip I've shared over in the coaching forum. I tell them they need to do this on their own every day. I time them how long it takes to get 100 touches. We refer back to this metric throughout the season, and shockingly, by the end of the season they can now get about 300 touches in the time it took them to get 100 that first week.

    If anybody is really technically deficient, I work with them 1v1 when I can with form correction, and stress to the parents that its ok.

    After that I have about 10 activities that I can use to make all the coaching points I want. lne soccer, funino, pattern play to play out from the keeper that also can be used to play from the middle 3rd to the attacking 3rd, a couple of choreographed counters and attacking movements around the box, shadow play with the 9 players in our shape moving the ball, I add a defender in every 10 seconds.

    At some point I'm going to have bad numbers, I'll introduce them to a modified Rebatida. Great for when you have 5-9 kids, and you will have days with 5-9 kids.

    Everything I do is focused on keeping the ball, communicating when you move the ball, communicating when you don't have the ball on how you will get it back, attacking with numbers up.

    I get a gym, we do fustal in te off season. W emight enter a tournament but mostly it's just more reinforcement - keep the ball, talk. Usually we have to combine with another team, at the low end of the travel scale you get a lot of winter sports kids - hoops, hockey, swimming.
     
    bigredfutbol repped this.
  10. pu.ma

    pu.ma Member

    Feb 8, 2018
    To me, time/space determines how much success a player has. The more time/space, the more likely to control the ball and process the situation and make a sound decision. A good first touch provides time/space. I also believe 1v1 skills provides a player with the ability to maintain possession which is basically finding time/space. Whether under pressure or moving quickly, a play where one can find time/space to make a play whether dribbling or finding an open teammate is what I would consider creative.
     
  11. CoachP365

    CoachP365 Member+

    Money Grab FC
    Apr 26, 2012
    I agree. Kids who want to work on their 1v1, shielding, turning, I give them a lot of time in the middle of the field. Kids that don't, I give them a lot of time out wide, where they can build their confidence - extra second to settle the ball, less chance of 2nd defender sneaking up on them, etc.

    If your kid only touches the ball at prctice, I can't make them a good 1v1 player. I can teach them the game and get them plenty of playing time in a position that fits them.
     
  12. CoachP365

    CoachP365 Member+

    Money Grab FC
    Apr 26, 2012
    Getting back to the original question - I think teaching the game using a limited number of activities, pattern/choreographed play - is the way to get more creative players because with the repetition they spend less time solving the trivial problems. the answers are there. I know 6X7 is 42, I don't have to count it out. I know how to play an Am scale anywhere on the neck. I know that when I get the ball here I have options A/B and C if we're really good at this.

    If the entire game is incredibly complex (lack of tactical understanding) it's really hard to be "creative" because you're spending all your energy creatively solving what are trivial problems to kids that grew up in the game and are coached by people who grew up in the game.
     

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