My time-tested philosophy: Know what's going on around you (basic awareness) and know where your team mates are before you get the ball. Waiting to look around once you get the ball wastes valuable time. If you know where everyone is it also helps eliminate the number of choices you have to process (mentally) as the playing situation changes. Probably not much help, but watching some of my team mates with the ball it's obvious they don't understand the concept. As far as practicing, I've found futsal to be a great game/exercise in quick decision-making. Small-sided games will also help develop quickness in both the thought process and physical movement. If all else fails knock it to the corner!
Futsal is the international indoor soccer game. It's 5v5, with no walls, smaller goal, and unlimited subs (like hockey).
Just play man. Practice looking before you get the ball so you know your surroundings. Also working on opening the ball to the field in anyway possible, if you can't see anything before the ball gets there(concentrating on the ball), this will help your vision. Also, in practices, watch the game as much as you can to pick up on teammates habits(runs they make, how they like the ball, etc.), this will help how you play the ball to them and improving team play as a whole...
Think in terms of short sided games for practice.... are you playing or trying to coach this? 4v4 is considered by most coaching organizations to be the best tool for this, weather played in a small goals format, or against full size goals with keepers. The comment about keeping your head moving without the ball is accurate, but as you can imagine, just knowing what your options are is only half the battle.... you still have to choose the right one while under pressure and at game speed. My advice to you on this is to study the game.... watch as much as you can on tv, live..... whatever you can. The key is to watch how good players prepare themselves for the play to come, thinking three or four passes ahead. One of the things I make my players keep running through their heads is; Am I in support of the ball and/or player if it comes this way? Does the ball have front support, side support, and back support? Answering this question for yourself usually leads you into good positioning, and a better idea what to do with the ball when it comes. Good luck.
Reacting Quickly A game of football requires your full concentration. I play in the Sunday leagues in England and I am a defender. This means that I am faced with some very fast and quick thinking forwards. You need to know exactly where the ball and your teammates are, especially if you are using the "offside trap". It is useful in training sessions to improve your reaction times. This can be done simply by placing three cones in front of yourself and labeling them 1 2 and 3. You turn away from them and the coach shouts out a number or a sequence of numbers. you have to touch each cone as quickly as possible. Of course, the last person to finish out of the whole team has to do 20 pushups.
The suggestion given to you already thinking a head is not of quickness of thought. It is looking in advance thinking a head before the first touch. ------------------------------- "Span of perception/ chunking" Some are born with quickness of thought, question has always been can you teach quickness of thought or instant good decision making and immediate action. -------------------------- A friend of mine Aloha Dan talkes about "chunking" seeing the whole field and being able to make an instant good decision on what to do next like a pass or take on the defender, etc and having the skill to do it. Here is what Dan found out. Teaching it scientificly in a non sport context was done in the 1950's. "The Perceptional Speed Test was developed in the 1950's by LL Thurstonand TD Jeffrey of the University of North Carolina and is still used to test for checking the span of perception. It contains a 140 mini test search consisting of a picture in the farthest left column and five more figures to the right You must write down the column number of one figure to the right that is identical to the one in the farthest left column. It is now published by the Human Resources Center at the University of Chicago."Span of Perception; Abilty to visually process a sequence of information instantly. Interesting right? -------------- Any way to apply it to soccer is another matter. I think before you can do it you have to be very confident with the ball. So you can hold off pressure as you look or think a head so your first touch is unpressured. Then immediately see and do without taking the time to think on the first touch or the second touch. Confidence with the ball allows you to get your head up and open up your eyes to see the whole field, and not just what is in front of you tunnel vision. Peripheral vision exercises is part of this. Ever play handball the one where you can pass the ball with the hands and find open players. Do that but never make a pass directly in front of you. Then you look and pass, and don't waste time thinking just see it and do. Don't worry about making a mistake take a risk to be great. You also have to be great with giving the ball; "EYES" Putting stuff on your pass to make it go where you want it to go. Like passing with the right foot on the inside of the ball with the outside of the foot to give it a right swerve for instance. So you have to have an abundance of skill to do it instantly when you see something, and do it accurately. it might be the only way you can get the ball to the receiver. Valderama is a player like this. I think Mathis is even more, but somethimes his decision making is a little off. But what ever decision Mathis makes is instantly sees it and makes the pass. That makes him better then Valderama he takes a little longer to make the pass. So work on skill first, then work on seeing the entire field. Have your coach behind you in support. He see's something you don't see let him freeze play and point it out to you get used to looking at the whole field. Better vision comes with age actually experience what to look for part of being a good decision maker. Interesting subject yes? Richie
I agree with this 100%. But don't just watch the games, try to predict in your mind or even out loud where the ball is going to go in the next 2 passes. This works for two reasons. First, it's learning by example. You get to see how the best players make their decisions, ie. when they pass, when they dribble, etc. Second, and most importantly, you are practicing making decisions in real time for a real game. Although the game is on TV and you are not a participant, you are still making the decisions are quickly as the players on the field have to. Do this by saying to yourself "Now Mathis is going to pass to Donovan, and Donovan is going to shoot on goal." Before long you'll predict what the players are going to do a majority of the time.
A couple of things come to mind, some alluded to earlier. Look and take a mental photograph of what you see, then turn your head and photograph that in your mind as well. Continue taking mental pictures of each place on the field you see. When your team's attacking, always be thinking ahead: "if the ball comes to me now, what's on?" This is especially important to midfielders who are often limited in time and space. Lastly, as a practical matter, play small sided (4v4, 7v7 max) games in limited space, restricting yourself to one or two touches. Strive to help your team keep possession 100% of the time you touch the ball. If you lose possession on 10% or less of your touches, you'll be a guy whom your teammates will love to give a ball.