Your opinions are solicited here. Does playing the game indoors improve the little things outdoors? Ball skills, dribbling, tight-space passing, making space for a shot, et.c. Are these things made better a la playing small sided/small space games in training? Thanks in advance.
Where I live you need the indoor game because the weather just doesn't permit one to play on grass for over 6 months of the year. So indoor soccer helps in that regard. It is quite a difft game but the time spent on the ball is worthwhile. Owen Hargreaves, arguably one of the best players to come out of North America, played the indoor game extensively in Calgary where the outdoor season is incredibly short.
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touch, dribbling skills, better passing, better vision, better under pressure, better reactions. so yes
The indoor game helps quite a bit. Improves first touch, cause face it in indoor if you do not have a good first touch, there is no second touch for ya. Shooting is improved and dribbling is improved. Something else that indoor helps with is vision. In indoor you have little time to make decisions and see the field, so you need to see what is going on around you and decide what you are going to do, when you move outdoors, you find you have more time and thus make smarter choices. This is just what I feel since I have played both for over 20 years now.
Another positive is it improves off the ball movement-if you don't move your not helping your team. I find that I actually prefer playing indoor over outdoor anymore as you get more touches on the ball and scoring chances plus being 37 with a family it works with my schedule!
I think that for younger kids indoor is a superior game. Outdoor tends to be kickball no matter what because there is so much ground to be covered, even for 11-12 year-olds. It is much easier for little kids to play in combination indoors, and the game doesn't get bogged down near the sidelines. There is also generally a lot more scoring, so it seems more exciting for them. Even the defenders get a chance to score. There is certainly no harm done to your outdoor game in playing indoor soccer, except that you might get used to using the sole of your foot too much when dribbling.
I'm sorry but I have a diferent opinion: I agree about indoor is funy, because you have more contact with the ball, and often there are more intensity, etc. but I think that indoor is not good for improve outdoor skill. Sometime players, more among kids, are abusing kicking against walls or losing balls control. I play both, indoor and outdoor, but I think each as diferent area. Also, I know that coaches there are not agree about it. Many of them do play their teams in indoor season (they think is better to be in competition), but I know another that think indoor remove their players ability and prefer give them a rest.
Indoor is a good training exercise, for improving speed of play and coping with tight space. However, it's a limited game, as well as dangerous because of the walls. So best in small doses. Unfortunately, up north where many of us live, it's a 5 month per year game, which is about 3 months too long.
However, it's a limited game, as well as dangerous because of the walls. I would add one more caveat. The walls encourage players at a young age to use them instead of their skills or teammates. Now I will admit that when a player uses the board to execute a wall pass to himself it teaches him the basics and necessary burst of speed for that move, but I still don't like the boards.
Can be solved if the coach takes an active stance in forbidding the team to use the walls. Our boys do not (intentionally) play the walls except occasionally for a wall pass as you describe. Otherwise, all the passes are to the feet, and the crosses are aimed a player, not at a wall. Just takes a bit of diligence to train that habit into them.
I had a coach I respect show me how using the wall to pass to yourself could be used outdoors. I do not recall the name of the move, but in outdoors when you approach the defender, you use the outside of your foot to push the ball past the outside leg of the defender, then run around the defender on the opposite side, and take control of the ball, essentially passing the ball to yourself. He said in indoor you can use the boards to work on how hard to push the ball, and to work on getting past the defender.
I do agree that walls change the game, but I don't think that using the wall is bad. It teaches how to pass and move into space to receive the ball. The next step is to duplicate the same thing with another player. Or you can do it like Scarecrow said, which I once heard named "around the dork" by an old AISL player who coincidentally was also a good outdoor player in the late 80's. Using the walls effectively is simply showing that you can out-think your opponent. It isn't like you get to use your hands or something... you still have only your feet to make things happen. The walls just add possibility to the game. Indoor soccer without walls is basically futsal, which was invented by Brazilians and is the official indoor game worldwide. I don't think that many teams choose to play indoor over outdoor, it is totally based on weather. The reality, whether anyone wants to admit it or not, is that if you want to be the best, you have to train year-round. In the off-season it can be only one or two times a week, but year-round participation is absolutely necessary. Big breaks result in setbacks through loss of muscle memory. You have to maintain your skills if you hope to improve them. The best youth teams where I live play in sometimes three indoor leagues at once, all through the winter.
From my experience indoor improves your control greatly in tight spaces and helps you to be able to think quicker. You can't just kick the hell out it all the time, you have to think and make quick, smart passes.
I think the idea the indoor (the hockey rink with carpet kind) improves skills is one of the biggest fallacies in soccer. It's something the indoor facilities try and sell. The reality is that in indoor you: 1. play with walls which as has been pointed out makes it easier for bad players to get away with having poor passing skills. It's a cop out. 2. Usually play with a slightly heavier ball, which makes it easier to control. 3. You play on perfectly flat carpet, again making it easier to control the ball. 4. You play with flat shoes. This is the biggest reason it doesn't help. It is much easier to dribble and control the ball with flat shoes. 5. The idea that you have less space is also somewhat false. If you are playing at a high level you don't have any less time to make decisions. And since it's easier to control the ball and you don't have to be so accurate passing, it gives you more time. Having said all that, there are a few positives. It is great for goalies because they take a lot of shots, worry about rebounds, and have to play with their feet. It also good for shooting since you get a lot of shots on a small goal. And it's good for one v one defending since you can't slide. But this obviously makes it easier to attack 1v1. I have heard about some new indoor centers that play on the fake grass with no walls. IMO this is ideal. Many people claim futsal improves your skill, which I think is also not really true but it's slightly better than indoor, except you don't learn any shooting skills and it's played at a slow pace. I would love to see what a 6v6 indoor game w/o walls on fake grass looks like. Many pro teams play 6v6 at practice so concievably this is about the same thing and would be the best alternative to snow soccer.
We actually play on Field-Turf, which is not really flat, with cleats, and with a regulation FIFA ball... The fact is that soccer is soccer. The most key element is ball control, and you can develop it indoors, walls or not. There is really zero room to be sloppy at the highest levels. Indoor is a very different game, but there is no question that it can improve your skills, therefore your outdoor game. I never had any problem going from indoor to outdoor. Sometimes I actually was in leagues in both at the same time. If you don't think indoor is faster, you haven't played it much competitively. You are only on the field for a few minutes at a time because you have to be constantly moving at near top speed. There is absolutely no standing around, even for the goalie. The simple fact is that if teams in my area didn't play indoor soccer they would get pasted come springtime.
The surface isn't the issue, people. Neither is the walls or the "working in tight spaces" crap. All that is largely bunk. Don't believe me? Ask Bruce Arena. He's on record deploring the game, and has repeatedly commented that playing indoor "limited" several promising players from reaching their potential, among them Mark Chung. The reason is the thought process and the way you look at the game, which is the whole thing in soccer, not whether you can make a nifty move on someone. Field vision is the name of the game. Indoor soccer (wallball) eliminates the longer options. It's strictly a short-space game played within a very limited field of vision. Moving players outside in the SPring, everybody notices that there's a lag time involves in getting them up to speed. People say mostly stupid stuff like "they're getting used to the different way the ball rolls" and "you have to hit it differently" and "the three to five minute shifts you play indoors hurts your outdoors 90 minute fitness" etc., etc. It's all bunk. The reason they look awful is because they're looking ten-to-twelve feet and playing in a small box instead of seeing and playing on a big range of vision. Don't take my word for it - ask any professional coach.
So, if to become a better player one must work on their ballskills yearround, do we go play in the snow? I understand your dislike for the game, see my earlier posts. However, are you saying that playing inside a structure, protected from elements, on full size goals and field turf is a bad thing?
Many people claim futsal improves your skill, which I think is also not really true but it's slightly better than indoor, except you don't learn any shooting skills and it's played at a slow pace. [/QUOTE] Don't tell that to Ronaldo, or any of the other Brazillians; that's how they got so good. Obviously, you haven't seen any good futsal games, where you can miss goals even when you're watching closely, because it's so fast.