I'd like to use this thread to discuss specific problems your team faced this year and how you resolved them. Also areas you wish you addressed more often or sooner in the year. Please list your team age, problem(s) and what worked for you.. U8girls The Good: Booting the ball during games- from the very first email to parents I told them not to cheer for the big boots upfield, we only dribble/pass/shoot. Drilled it into the kids to control and dribble. I have no problem with a defender losing the ball on the dribble at this age but they will hear about it if they run up and boot the ball aimlessly. Bunch ball- I think the small sided games with 4 or 6 goals helped the most in this area. Also spent some time teaching defenders to 'swing' the ball to each other- it forced everyone to spread out - we played a 2-3-2 for most of the year. The Bad: 4v0 and 3v1 rondos- We started every practice with 6v1 or 7v2 rondo until the middle of Spring. I wish I started with the 4v0 and 3v1. It teaches more movement and receiving the ball across your body. Ball Mastery- We lost to a team with better tactics in early Spring and I went overboard with the possession type drills after that game and greatly reduced the about of time we spent on ball mastery at practice. Ideally ball mastery should be done at home but I know that isn't the case so I should've kept it going at practice- I've seen some kids regress in their ball skills.
This question was a lot harder to respond to than I anticipated. I learned: -to Keep things simple -how to teach possession soccer—but more accurately how to teach it within the different phases of play: build up, break through, pressing, defending, chance creation -the importance of player selection if you want to play possession soccer. Some kids are good when you are just playing jungle ball, but once you get them into an environment where they are asked to do more thinking and their technical skills are put under a magnifying glass—they can't hang and not develop as quickly as their peers. Totally understand why the pro sides that play possession are trying to convert D-Mids into centerbacks. The attack really starts with them.
I don't like my team. By far, the most limited team I've coached in the last 5 years. Only 3 games into the season, but I will report back more once we get closer to the end of the season.
I hear ya. I like my guys but I have two that are just disappointing. One thinks he's the shit and can't be told anything new. All his teammates know what to do, this kid just refuses. His runs are late, he overdribbles (and doesn't have the skill to do it). In the winter, he played along with the system and he benefitted—he looked great as a striker. Was always getting open and he got easy chances because of it. But now, he doesn't want to put in the effort. The other always fancied himself as a defender. But now he's too slow and his skills are just not good enough.
No, I really don't like at least half my team. You know why kids leave your club because of the teammates they currently have? My team is that poster child. I have 3 or 4 pretty good players that really excel when they play up. I have 1 new kid with a lot of potential, just green, one that tries really hard, but lacks athleticism, but is a really good kid, The other 5 (well, maybe 4, I'm seeing signs of one of them coming out of an 18 month funk)? Could care less if they show up ever again. Tough season personality-wise. Yeah, I have the one that over dribbles. He is the oldest kid on the team, acts like a 9-yo and has the soccer IQ of an 8-yo. His only redeeming quality is that he is a really good athlete, but he is big so naturally, using his soccer IQ, defending he runs right at the ball, turns his body as he reaches and always knocks an opponent over like a human bowling ball. I spend so (too?) much energy on him alone, to the detriment of the rest of the team
Ouch. My overdribbler is actually a year young and plays up. Which in retrospect was a mistake. When a kid plays up, he should be dominant—not a role player (used generously here). He, I assume, can dominate at his age 'cause he's a big kid but then the overdribbling doesn't work because players are faster, stronger, better than the kids his age.
U8 Girls - Rec League - very wide variety of players We still have 1.5 weeks left in the season but I would like to answer this question now Good: Ball Mastery: We devoted a lot of time in practice to individual ball skills. Dribbling(80% of our time), controlling, and striking the ball. I have seen most of the girls really develop as individual players in 1 v. 1 situations. A lot of time spent playing 1 v. 1 games to small goals really helped with the development. Decision making: We also have devoted a lot of time in practice to 2 v. 1 and 3 v. 1 situations and making the proper decision with the ball. When should I pass, when should I dribble, when should I shoot, who should I pass to? Things like that have really developed as the season has gone on. A big key this spring has been not telling them the decision they should have made, but letting them make the decision and see the result. Especially taking the open space in games and not passing until pressure is being applied. Had a lot of players early in the season just stand on the ball looking to pass instead of taking the open space Bad: Lack of urgency: I have 3 or 4 players that have no urgency at all. Lose the ball and they just stand there instead of trying to win it back. 50 - 50 ball, might as well hand the ball to the other team. Really not even a lack of urgency more a lack of effort, no sprinting, no desire. ITS VERY FRUSTRATING and I have not found a way to motivate players that don't have this hustle or effort. Skipping practice: Have had one player this season who has only attended one practice and unfortunately league rules say she has to play 50% of the game. Have tried talking to the parents and they don't think its an issue. Unfortunately she is a larger girl and I emphasized this year running between drills, not walking and after encouraging her to hustle more at one practice she has not been back. I don't think I was to harsh on her, parents have not mentioned this as a reason she does not make it, but they don't give a reason, so it worries me. Spacing: Bunch ball is still there more than I would like it to be. We have done a lot of possession and spacing drills but it has not translated to games. I think some of it is I have 11 players 6 are very good and 5 are not as good and I think there is a lack of trust between teammates. The better players would rather just go take the ball and do it themselves then trust their teammates to do their jobs. I played the 6 very good players together at the end of the last game and the spacing was much improved. But sometimes I wonder if I needed to spend more time talking about positions/tactics
I think you're in a tough spot. It's rec—IMO practices are optional. Not saying you're wrong to expect them there, but I think some tempering of expectations is necessary.
You are exactly right. It just tough because this girl didn't miss a single practice in the fall, so my worry is that I pushed her to hard in practice(in reality it probably has nothing to do with me). With that said I am glad next year it becomes a competitive team and some of these issues(hopefully) will go away.
Well, even if you did push her too hard, it's not the worst thing in the world. As long as it wasn't to the point of being demeaning and tears unnecessarily. I've had kids that I inadvertently pushed too hard ( I don't think it was that hard) at U10 and her and her parents love me six years later. I've had talented kids who I pushed moderately who hate me—they felt I was too demanding.
Did you run specific drills for each phase? Funny you mention that about center backs, my two best ball handlers this year were my starting CBs. It changes everything when you can build from the back.
We had an interesting Spring. All of the big clubs in town moved to the new Birth Year rosters. We are an AYSO Extra team in gu11. Our league is waiting until next year to make the age change. My team has 5 players born in 2004 and 10 born in 2005. We won the top flight of our league in the Fall. We debated on moving to a true club gaming system and playing up into the 2004 age group. We decided to play 1 more season in our current program. We are a very close team (players and parents). For Spring, instead of playing in our usually gaming circuit (10 games), we decided to just play friendlies and a tournament. We will wind up playing 14 games. Because of the age changes at the club circuit, we played some 2005 teams and some 2004 teams. I also encouraged my girls to try other sports or take a break if they feel like they need one. I really wanted us to improve our play out of the back and possession game. The Good- We have gotten much better at positional awareness. Our off the ball movement has gotten a lot better. Still lots of room to improve. Against 05 teams, we won most games and played pretty good soccer. We got girls some good minutes in uncomfortable positions. In addition to playing better possession soccer, we learned how to better defend possession teams. Good possession teams used to knock a few passes back, switch and then hurt us. We've learned to press and organize when we lose possession. My daughter has really become a good player. She used to be timid. Now she's aggressive and will play any position really well. Growth spurt and technical confidence have helped her. The bad- Because I encouraged girls to try new things, some practices were pretty thin. Some parents used my soft approach as an excuse to skip practice for silly reasons. My dominant left footed player regressed a bit. She missed a lot of practice and it hurt her ability to read the game and look for smart passes. During games, she'd launch a ball to nobody. I hope I can get her back on track for fall. Against 04 teams we struggled to score. Games were close, but we missed good chances to finish. Because we focused so much on possession and quick decision making/passes, our individual ball skills didn't improve as they should. Working on it now. Our central midfield is an issue. I need to find a way to better utilize this role. Not sure if it's putting the right player there or doing a better job of teaching the position
4v2+1 was a staple, but it probably worked too well. Certain players could not play into space, just to feet. So make sure you pair with end zone game to encourage penetration. I also did a "moving" 4v2 to address the above. So you have two 8x8 grids adjacent to each other. They play keep away in one grid and after 3 passes they release a teammate into the adjacent grid and move onto the next grid with him. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
U10 travel boys team What I learned: Game play- 1. We played in D1 in the fall, but I learned that, even though we are highly skilled, we are not athletic enough to compete with other highly skilled teams. We finished 3-5 with a -16 goal differential. We've been together since U5 (with normal attrition), whereas other area teams are formed through tryouts. Tryouts tend to weed out the lesser athletes, so my team was the only team in D1 that included non-athletic kids. 2. We moved to D2 in the spring and are 2-2-2 so far. I learned that teams full of athletes with middling skill that play counterattacking and long ball soccer can pretty easily beat a superior skilled team in 7v7 U10 soccer, especially if the superior skilled team lacks athleticism. Teams that can hit 30 yard goal kicks and 45 yard punts kill us every time. 3. I learned that goal kicks are the worst part of U10 soccer. We take every goal kick short. The keeper retrieves the ball when it goes out of bounds and makes a decision about which side looks better for a short goal kick to his defender on that side. Defender quickly shifts down to receive the ball and looks for a pass to break the pressure. Our success rate (meaning a completed pass from the defender after reviewing the goalkick) is about 50%. I'd say around 25% of the time the ball ends up out of bounds (either due to a failure to control the goal kick, an errant pass up the line or a tackle by the opposing team) and the other 25% of the time we are dispossessed in our defensive third, often resulting in goals for the opposition. On the other hand, teams that have a kid who can blast the ball to midfield probably end up with a direct goal scoring opportunity off of 30% of their goal kicks and only lose the ball in their attacking third when the kicker mis-hits one (~about 5-10% of the time). It's extremely hard to compete in this scenario. Playing short is better for LTD, but be prepared to lose games. 4. I try not to, but I care a lot more about the results than the kids do. Training- 1. My team has good ball skills. Over time, we've migrated from around 40% of practice dedicated strictly to Coerver-type ball skills to more like 10% today. We still teach them new skills, like receiving and turning, but the skills are taught in game conditions through small-sided games. 2. Over emphasis on ball skills and 1v1s has led to what I call "hero syndrome," where my kids try to dribble way too much, even when there is an open and obvious pass. We are redoubling our efforts to play quick passes and to make better decisions on when to dribble and when to pass. 3. Some kids have had epiphanies this year, and that's what makes me love coaching. My best player has finally started to use all of the moves we've taught him in game conditions, as his ability to rely on quick cuts of the ball has proven to not be good enough against quality opponents. He's now doing Maradonas, double scissors, double-taps, V-pulls, etc. to beat top quality defenders. It's awesome to behold. 4. It really helps to practice at a field with proper goals, especially for shooting drills. I've learned a lot more than that, but that's plenty for one post!
Ain't that the truth. Even with equal athletes, it's rough. We got rid of heading for U11 and younger in our area. So punts can be a bear—we've given up 3 goals this season from punts. We don't get the reciprocal benefit cause our gk's distribute from their hands. But it's fine.
We're also banned from heading, and that kills us on defending the long ball. I know what you mean when you say "it's fine," but is it? Really? It doesn't feel fine to me. I find some solace in the fact that these other teams are not going to benefit from this tactic forever and, in fact, it's going to hurt them down the road. But MY team is hurt by their tactics too. My team doesn't get to try to win and build possession because we are too busy chasing down long balls. My defenders have to stay back to guard against the quick counter long ball instead of pushing up to support the attack. Not to mention that we have to endure goal celebrations, fist-pumping opposing coaches and raucous opposing fans who are just thrilled with all the amazing goals they are scoring on my team. We're really kind of stuck in the middle. The top division plays good soccer, but my team can't hang in that division because the other teams are too athletic for us. All but one of the second division teams play crappy, long ball soccer. Out of the 20 U10 travel soccer teams in our area, we are top five in skill and bottom five in athleticism. Not a good place to be, really. The other thing we don't do well is hit the ball long, meaning we can't switch the field effectively and can't punish teams for throwing players forward. I only have a couple players who can strike the ball really well. All those years of playing on small fields and banning clearances, with no keepers and no need to shoot the ball hard, has really come back to haunt us.
haha. No. It's not truly okay. We run into that problem sometime too (teams more athletic/deeper). We're in the top division too, but we don't draw from the most populous area. We do well with what we have, but I have a drop off when I sub off my starters.
When will the ban on making the defense wall happen next week? My brother just had his 80 birthday yestarday. I told him I think we will never die. Then I read posts like this and think I think I lived too long.
I was a bit of a skeptic at first, taking the heading away, but as someone that trains GK's, I too often see the 'solution' as being kick the ball up the field. And then we are back to the athletic teams that have the strong legged GK to the athletic forward. I've been seeing GK's trying to throw or roll the ball out and taking the time how to figure out how to do the technique properly (heck, half the U-10 gks will 'throw' the ball as if taking a throw in). It has actually improved the flow of the games I've seen. And even better? I've seen several GK's just put the ball on the ground and distribute with feet. Two years ago, it was a punt almost exclusively. Funny that you take a 'soccer play' out of the flow of the game and it looks more like a soccer match.
One thing I have noticed, despite my bitching about being beat on punts, overall play is much more attractive. While we did get beat for goals by punted long balls, that really wasn't the majority of play. The last two teams we've played, the ball has been on the ground and both teams have tried to play possession. Even what I've seen in tournaments (intra-state teams) is that more and more teams play on the ground albeit with varying degrees of success. I'm not seeing the ball in the air as much as I used to. Where I see the play lacking now is in the attacking third. I see decent play or effort to play through midfield but then no one has bothered to rehearse and coach, probably, the part of the field where play really matters.
Forget the Messi's of the world. I forgot the quote, but I think it was dealing with Kyle Beckerman. The US is really good at making problem solvers. Our problem is creating problem makers.
That's awesome. I always talk about that with my players—be(come) the player that gives the opposing coach heart palpitations when you get the ball. Not every team has their version of Messi and it behooves teams to be on the same page when they get into the attacking third. It's too off the cuff and, IMO, becomes less about the team and more about the individual.