Changing Position

Hey glad to see your serious about getting better in your new position.

The Full back position is actually a very fun soccer position to play because you can get involved in the offence as well as play a major part in the defence.

First, if your playing on the left side, you should work on developing your left foot everyday. Regardless of the position you play you should always have two good feet, it will make life much easier for you.

Playing as the left back you will have to get your fitness up. If you watch professional full backs, they are always involved in the offence, but they always seem to be back in position when it comes time to defend. Workin on your fitness, especailly recovery runs. So go for a jog, sprint for 30 seconds, then jog for a minute, repeat. This will simulate in game situations.

You need to know when to defend and when to attack. When the ball is on your side of the field (left), and your left midfielder has the ball you need to help out, overlap him and get involved in the attack. You will also have to be good at crossing the ball, if you can send a dangerous ball into the box everytime your on the ball you will be very valuable to your team.

When the ball is on the other side of the pitch (right), you will have to slide across and help out on defence, so the back 4 will turn into the back 3 if the right full back is joining in the attack like he should.

Come across closer to your center backs to make a tight back line.

Hope these few tips help. Really just get to practice early and leave late. Ask your coach for advice whenever you can, and watch pro players who play in your position.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

 

I'll add to JackSpades17 good advice:

Technically
One of the more dangerous balls is the diagonal or square outswinger. On the left side, if you're involved in the attack, you will have many opportunities to serve this ball. It's dangerous because it is moving away from the keeper and also easier for your attacking players to finish. It's hit with the instep of your left foot.
Driven balls -- with either feet. It's nice to be able to switch the point of the attack and this ball has little side spin.
First touch. Given that midfielders will naturally look for outside backs to relieve pressure, it's important to not give the ball away. Make sure you are good receiving the ball with both feet and also building deception into receiving balls to create more space. It's a little thing, but when balls are played to you from normally a center back, if going upfield, make sure you are playing the ball with your left instep. It's faster and better than squaring to the middle and trying to play this with your right foot.

Tactical
It's very common for outside backs to get disconnected from the center backs. Sometimes they worry about wide flank players when they should stay nice and compact. Likewise, when the ball goes to the opposite side, they should stay even with their closest center back. Often, the outside back will drift lower and this creates very dangerous space behind the center backs and keeps forwards onside as they make diagonal runs behind them. When the center back steps, the outside back closest must provide cover and drop lower...

Probably too much to consider but these are some of the common issues I see with outside backs...

 

This is all pretty vague. I don't think a reader is going to understand what you mean. I certainly don't understand your first point. You can use your body to create space and you can create space with your first touch, but the flight of the ball cannot be disguised so I cannot see how receiving it will by "deception" create space. The tactical stuff is just too vague. Are you assuming that he plays in a flat back four system or a diamond back? He mentioned that he is being switched from sweeper to fullback. Some coaches want the weak side back to provide cover when playing a flat four in the back (a/k/a swoosh). http://www.articleslash.net/Recreat...rs-Learn-the-Flat-Back-Four-Zone-Defense.html

Without a context, telling a fullback he needs to stay flat, stay tucked in, or drop back when a centerback steps up is just too vague to be helpful. The trick is in knowing when.

 

Thanks for the thoughts.. if you don't understand then I doubt a teenager would understand...

Deception. I simply mean body feints when receiving the ball under any pressure. Players lean/step to the ball when receiving and then fall back to try to get pressure to hesitate. That's the most common deception when receiving balls that I see. Or they might step away and then cut the ball sharply going the other direction..

Shape. The whole swoosh thing is exactly what I mean. The weakside defender in the defending third should not be lower than the near center back on their side. Sure, they can step higher but they should not be lower than the center back. In a swoosh formation, either we are not understanding each other or ?? but the weakside back is higher than the near center back and thus, I'm not sure how they are providing cover.

I understand your point on being vague on the other point. I've just seen teams really become disorganized when center backs step in their defensive third, normally because the near outside back is not dropping and tucking to provide cover.

Don't mean to cause more confusion... but the whole pressure, cover, balance is an important topic for defenders...

 

Wing defenders tend to concentrate on speed and need to coordinate with their center defender and goalie. If you don't feel you are speedy enough, definitely get some outside SAQ training if your family can afford it. If not, check out different SAQ drills on the Internet and work on your own.

I'm a little concerned at your age that you are so definite about "I'm right-footed" like that is insurmountable or the coach is making a mistake putting you at left defense. You must have either a strong left foot or maybe he wants you to develop it. My son's team (same age) has a left-footed defender who is terrible, weak foot and slow, so being left-foot dominant is not the only thing.

Learning new positions is a good thing. Your goal is to spend time in other positions on your less-competitive teams so you can work at becoming a well-rounded soccer player. You learn a lot about playing defender when you play midfield and forward, and see what those players want from the defense, plus each of those roles have defensive aspects that you may excel at.