Perhaps. So why not train off the ball movement by doing off the ball movement? Within SSGs, scrimmages, or even pattern play type drills But that's a completely different animal, the older player. When they hit their mid-teens you can gain fitness in a relatively short period of time.[/quote]
I ran 2 miles last night at Olympic while my 6 year old was on the field. I nearly died! All this talk of fitness makes me want to order a pizza and wash it down with a few IPA's tonight for dinner.
I played soccer for about 70 hard minutes last night in this humid heat. I ate dinner before hand and came home and was starving. I scarfed down a slice of my wife's pineapple upside down cake and a slice of pizza and a glass of milk. Slept like a baby.
I posted on doing small side play in a small space. That is pass and move until some one can make the break out pass. Most of our practice ws devoted to it even when not many did it back in the 70s. Try to defend against it. Gets the opponent, their coach, discouraged and tired. Remember the coach who did the 7 minute drill. Mueller was that coach. He found that to be true when we played a friendly against his team.
I wish I could have done that but the neighbors came over and chit chatted. Despite my daughter playing in the heat for 1.5 hours she still wanted to screw around with her friends. I think we both had a hard time getting up this AM. BTW - I am running hard to get back into 40+ soccer - sort of worried I cannot pull off 2 40 minute halves... I also have a cronic broken toe in my right foot - hell that thing snaps sometimes while driving long distances. We'll see.
Perhaps. So why not train off the ball movement by doing off the ball movement? Within SSGs, scrimmages, or even pattern play type drills? There are activities designed to teach on and off the ball movement in the same drill. Youth ages unlimited subs still pro or college. Even than it's unlimited subs for the 1st half. Than a player is allowed one re-entry after subing out doing the 2nd half. Youth national teams I don't remember if there a subbing rule.(I've watch international youth matches, I just never paid attention to the subbing). For youth clubs and HS if the coach doesn't use their subs frequently, it say more about either the quality of the players available(coaches/club ambition) or the coaches inability to teach.
Soccer cannot be compared to the other sports mentioned. As suggested,size,strength,speed are just not as important in soccer as skill with the ball. Skill with the ball trumps all in soccer. At the higher age group levels on up to the top pro teams, everyone is fit, everyone is competitive,everyone is motivated. It is the team that is better skilled,better with game sense/field awareness, has a better idea of exactly how this game should be played that, in the long run, will win out. Take the fittest,fastest,biggest college soccer team in the USA and run 'em out vs Barcelona. See what happens. They would get absolutely annihalated. Thats what would happen. Running 10 year old "soccer players" like dogs is just idiotic.
When I scout players I look for first step speed, quickness, ball skill and player vision. That kind of speed in needed in our game,
I have my kid playing fun soccer with school friends - in an environment that has only USSF coaches (not rec - but not development). She does that 1 day a week and then she has club (development) soccer 2-3 days a week. I notice that she is not the fastest at all in the fun environment - and this blends her into the kids with far less skill. But I have enough years of coaching to see that her finesse on the ball is far beyond theirs - which is the training she gets in development. Frankly I think the training with the ball is more advantageous. A kid at any age can learn speed and quickness - heck there are schools that teach that now. They can join cross-country or track in school to supplement as well if they cannot afford a speed and agility program. Someone used the term "Baseline". I ask baseline for what? Is this supposed to be the baseline set for the team - in which all the players must meet a standard before technical skills can be developed? If so that goes against (IMO) the concept of development itself and leans more towards building a team - rather then building players. The technical skills on the ball - if they are not the major focus from u5-u10 will be lost and in most cases for good unless the kid has a natural ability at any sport. I have to say that this is what happened to 70% of the players (boys and girls) who made the move from Magic to Sockers last season (from winning to development). They came in lacking the basic skills of passing and trapping because all they did was run and play the same position year after year.
I used to pooh-pooh the importance of speed but after attending a recent coaching course, my perception is changing. But it's not in the way most people involved with soccer think of speed. I'm talking more about maxing out the speed, agility, and quickness potential of each player you coach vs seeking out "natural" speed.
probably. As, aside from picking the ball out of the net, the other team wouldn't be touching it much. Or do you really think Barcelona (my "logic") would really lose to a team of US college behemouths ?
Batata has been training without the balls all week long. Some of the training drills are really complex to grasp - or maybe I have a low attention span. I sat and watched him explain what the boys needed to do while my kid was at her practice/camp and I kept thinking - how in the hell can these boys remember what to do??? He had a variety of speed hurdles in differing sizes, cones that players would burst to, different side to side pattern movements with the body by planting the foot and rotating. They would have to start with a push up - get up and burst to another station. It was all done in a zig-zag layout with about 50 boys. Looked very well organized. I'd have no issue with this sort of (off the ball) training. But just plain old running - I think that's where I draw the line.
I recently went to this coaching course where we tackled speed development drills. The progressions went from no ball to with ball. But it was all high intensity, proper recovery (built in), soccer related, short acceleration, sharp cuts and changes of direction. The great thing about these was that with and without the ball the kids were learning things like movement, man marking, getting free from markers, gaining fitness, how to direct the flow of play defensively—by the time you added the ball soccer lessons had already been touched on.
How long was this exercise? And how many sessions is this planned for? The course Elessar78 attented definitely a lot more conducive to developing than the one you watched. You questioned whether they(youth players) could remember/understand everything. That doubt should never happen, you know! That's the 1st sign of a drill possibly being to complex and needed to be simplified.
If I filmed it and posted I think you would be impressed - it's just pretty hard to write out is all. It's a lot like what Elessar mentions as well - again just very difficult to tell someone or write down on paper. Not one of the 50 had any troubles at all - it was quite amazing! This is a NPL/DA team so I would not be concerned about the drill being in-effective. Also these are pre-season camps.
Funny thing is I have seen drills 1/100th less complicated getting screwed up at many of the local community clubs near me where the coach spends more time explaining/refining to the kids they the kids are actually doing anything. That was not the case here and certainly would not be the case at Sockers IMO.
Pre season "training" update: So after two weeks of all this running the girls team in question played their first game in a local tournament yesterday.( I did not see the game but did speak with one of the moms who was there) The team lost, 2-0 to a team of girls a year younger and apparently the game wasn't that close. I was told the other team actually passed the ball to each other whereas the "running team" basically kicked the hell out of the ball and chased it all over the field.
Long ball - kick ball. They will be excellent cross country and track and field players. I take it this is club soccer and not rec? If so my next question would be have you paid in full or are you making payments? If the answer is the latter then you should get her out rather then wasting her time for a full season and wasting any more of your money. What state are you in?
Okay - rec or travel? If travel and he has not paid in full then he should walk. I would not care if the daughter claims her friends are in it. There is no reason to pay for poor coaching.
It's a competitive team and it's just over $2000.oo apiece. Pretty sure my friend hasn't paid in full (this despite pressure to do so) and she is following this thread to see what other posters are saying about her daughters situation.