Okay, I just joined soccer at my school, never played before in my life, and we only have a varsity team (it's an extremly small school, only like 450 kids PreK-12th, and 12th can't be JV so we have to have a varsity team so everyone can play and we don't have enough ppl for JV). I had two practices and we had a "Jamboree" (pretty much it was a scrimage and it was made of 2 20min. halves). I had to play the entire game, but I only started as a sweeper and moved to mid-field. Anyway, the point is, I run cross-country and I am the fastest on our soccer team, therefore my coach put me as sweeper. I'm fine with this, but I've never played before so I need some tips as to how to play my position as best as I can. We have one practice b4 our next 2 games (we have practice Mon.-Thurs., but Tues. (tomorrow) there's no school and most of the girls wouldn't have shown up for practice, and the games are on Wed. and Thurs.). I need tips...anyone got any? I mostly need to become less scared of the ball and more aggressive.
remember to go to everyball and try to win it.... get it in your mind that your gonna fight for every ball that you can... as a sweeper always listen if your keeper calls the bball or not... this should help w/ aggresiveness: http://www.decatursports.com/drills/soc/basic_shielding_and_aggressiveness.htm anticipating play: http://www.decatursports.com/rue/exercises_of_the_day10.htm#Anticipating Play taking possession http://www.decatursports.com/rue/exercises_of_the_day16.htm#1v1 Defending--Taking Possession i can also help you out if u know what formation in back you'll be plaing.... flat 4? diamond? 5 defenders? 3 defends? i hope i helped...
I believe diamond...coach keeps saying, "Can you see the diamond?" Lol. Thanks a lot for those tips and links!
i agree w/ richie on this... the coach is horrible if ur playing like this... is he a parent of one of the players? with a diamond the best advice i could give u is clear everything out.... if people make the team just because they're fast it tells me that your team is bad.... no technical skills = lots of losses... just clear everything out and work on your own skills... try juggling ... if u have any questions pm me
Like half the ppl on the team have never played soccer...and it's the school's only soccer team (no JV). There weren't any tryouts...and last year (under a different coach) the team won a total of 0 games anyway!!!
All the same, in that case one of the two or three most experienced players on the team should probably be playing sweeper. Sweeper is a position where speed is not very important but experience is. The positions where experience isn't critical but speed is very useful include outside mid and defensive mid / stopper. Defensive mid basically means scrapping for the ball, and outside mid involves a lot of running up and down the wings, pumping the ball into the center when attacking, and getting back quickly to defend. But if you're going to be playing sweeper anyway... 1) If the opponent gets past your teammate, try to delay the run long enough for your teammate time to get back and cover for you. Stand up your opponent; don't lunge for the ball, just stay between the opponent and the goal. If you're quicker, then you've got an advantage there. Seeing as I doubt that the stopper in front of you is likely to be more experienced, make sure she's getting back to cover for you - shout if you have to. 2) If you can, try to clear the ball out diagonally toward the wings instead of straight down the middle. That minimizes the other team's options if they get the ball back. You should only be playing the ball straight down the center if you see a teammate open in that area. 3) Juggling is NOT the first thing you should be working on if you haven't played before. Start by passing the ball to yourself off a wall. Work on putting the ball where you want it to go, and on receiving the ball when it gets back. If you don't think you can chip the ball consistently, practice receiving a ball out of the air by throwing it against the wall and trapping it out of the air with one or two touches. 4) Try to get comfortable with sidestepping with the ball or quickly passing the ball sideways away from pressure. You WILL frequently find yourself with the ball and an opponent running at you. 5) Once you've mastered the above, something that can make you a bit more dangerous out of the back is being able to drive a long ball accurately. You may want to find a teammate and practice this - lob balls back and forth at 30-40 yards distance or longer. 6) This is very self-explanatory to most people on these boards, because most are fairly experienced... but if you can, avoid striking the ball with your toes. You just can't control it that way, or even consistently get any lift. If you're clearing the ball, get your foot under it. If you're trying to pass it along the ground, use the side of your foot. 7) Hit every pass hard. The worst thing that a lot of high school players do is putting no power behind their passes. Slow passes get picked off easily.
I agree with everything you said except the D-Mid not needing experience like a sweeper would, in my experience this is a very similar position to a sweeper in terms in skills need to be get the job done like distribution and abilty to think quick on the ball and read the game to start the counter attack,even more so since the sweeper is starting to become a outdated position in most playing systems now with most using the flat back four with at least one attacking outside back. As for playing sweeper and how YOU should do it a lot depends on your personal skill set, since you havent played until now and neither has most of your team I would say just cleaning up the mess your other defenders are going to leave behind is you biggest problem. You need to play simple and get rid of the ball quickly, don't try and dribble out of the back even if your a speedy player becasue you never want to give away the ball in your own end and get caught out of position. When clearing the ball try and go to the wings and not up the center of the pitch. If you have to, play the ball out of danger by kicking it out of play for a throw in its much better to give up a throw than make a bad pass to the other team and get the ball rammed back down your throat, the throw in also will give you time to reset you defense which is also your job. Make sure all your other defenders have a mark and they are sticking with them its not your job in a diamond formation as a sweeper to have a mark. Talk all the time in the back to the rest of your defenders, your midfield and strikers as well. You can see the entire feild from where you are and see things that are going on that others often can't, you have to lead from the back. Everyone else has covered most of what I would have said but just remeber talk all the time and keep it simple very simple, if you have any other questions send me a PM, I have played every position at one time or another but spent most of the time as a striker playing against sweepers and pretty much the rest of the time playing sweeper, so I can tell you how to handle most situations as they pop up. Good Luck and welcome to BigSoccer
How to play sweeper. In Great Britian, the home of football, a sweeper plays as the less aggressive of the two centre backs. one centre back goes for everything, headers, tackles and opposition goalkeeper kicks, while the sweeper cleans up the mess. i can see why your coach put you there, a sweeper has to be fast to get to the missed headers and tackles. just remember in the diamond, that you should be beside the other centre back when your team is attacking, and to drop in when the other team starts to attack. another good tip for the sweeper is when your full back has the ball, to drop deep and give him/her another option. hope this helps...
Erm...our best player is keeper, but in our last game-ish thing she was sweeper after I was confused and got moved to mid-field lol. Other experienced players are forwards...I think we have our ablities scattered quite a bit, and because the season just started he still isn't quite sure of everyone's ablities...so positions will change...
Okay, have you played basketball? Because tactically, soccer is a lot like basketball with 11 people a side and a much much larger field. The other team will try and do the same things to get open shots on you...fast break (1 on 1, 2 on 2, etc...), give-and-go's (where you need to keep an eye on the cutting player), and switching (like a cross-sourt pass, where they try to go from one side to the other) great advice above, a couple of additional comments; 1) time will help you, assuming your teammates will run back to help you on defense, so stay on the same side as the goal, and try to force the opponents outside - remember that it is okay to go shoulder to shoulder 2) what you would prefer to do in getting the ball away from your goal is....1st, to a teammate away from the goal (not in the center in the first 30 yards or so), 2nd out of bounds on the side for a throw-in, 3rd, out for a corner kick 3) very simple, very easy, nothing will help you more than kicking the ball to yourself off a wall...learn to use both feet, learn to deal with a moving ball 6) what he didn't say is that in getting under the ball, you want to hit it with the laces, or where your shoelaces are, the flat portion of your foot. More of your foot on the ball = better control and power. Scared of the ball? Well remember this, if you're 10 feet from a kick that is going up, it will hit you in the face, if you're 1 foot away, it will hit you in the shins. Go in and pressure the player, that also makes them play the ball when YOU want them to, not when they are comfortable. And who do you think hurts more, the hammer or the nail? Be the hammer. As for more aggressive, I remember a great interview with Eddie Pope (US national team player) and he was asked what is the most important quality for a defender. Now Pope is the best defender this country has ever had...very fast, tall, always calm, so what does he say? Timing. You don't have to be the roughest player out there, but the game is made up of 100 or more mini-races to the ball and the person who wins them is usually the person who anticipates where the ball is coming from, and where it is going to. Keep looking around you, know where your teammates are and where your opponents are and if you can anticipate the 1 or 2 plays your opponent can make, you will be in good shape. Above all, if you like playing, find a team in the offseason. Every time you walk on that field you learn more and get better. good luck.
you can practice juggling,dribling with the ball so you can get the feel and touch of the ball. and never be afraid of the ball. go to the coaching section for different individual drills.
make sure you kick sideways and not with your toes, if you kick with your toes make sure you bend them
all my sweeper's were tall, if you are a 5' 5'' you better try to play midfield. if you ever in trouble, and the referee is not looking stick your finger in the other guys culo, will never come by you again.
I'll just live my life in speculation...if I ask my coach it's sure 2 be embarassing... Ha! I used a translator!!! And I'm not planning on putting my finger any where near there...
You know, i'd like to have just one thread on Bigsoccer that doesn't involve sticking someone's finger in someone else's Culo
Apparently, you are not the only one P.S. I would like to apologize to all those who were hurt by the posting of this picture. It will never happen again.
Or she might get knocked out kind of like Juan Requilme(then of Boca) did to the other lad(his name escapes me right now) a few years back when he tried to play proctoligist on the pitch.
Good news, I suppose... I played Right Fullback the last two games, so I guess coach wants to work me up to Sweeper. However...next game I might have to follow this really fast girl all around the field...coach said he asked around about this team and that she's thier only REALLY good player...and she's fast...so I'll get quite a workout...and I better not screw up... Just an update on my latest screw up... The other team had a corner kick and I was at the goal post on the side she was kicking from. I didn't know what to do, so when she kicked it I kicked it away because I thought that's what I should have done. I didn't know the goalie was right behind me, waiting to grab the ball. Then another member of my team (an experienced player), kicked the ball in to the other team's goal, therefore the other team scored a point. My latest good thing... I stole the ball and kicked it up wich started a chain reaction-ish-thing and we ALMOST scored!!! Wow, it'd be the 1st point for us all season (we've played 2 games and a jamboree)!!!