End of the Season

The season is over for my kiddos' teams. I'll try to get out with them and have some fun with the ball, but with it getting dark so early (I hate the time change), it's tough. My U10 girls have actually expressed a desire to have some Saturday get-togethers where they can kick the ball around. They're growing up. They're getting to the age where they can choose for themselves if they want to play or not. And you know what...it looks like they all can't wait to start practicing for the next season, everyone of them. That is how I, as a recreational soccer coach, gauge success. I can't wait either.

Endurance, Character, Hope

I can't claim credit for combining these words, but when I heard them, I had to share them. It is when we persevere and endure trials, that we build our character. It is that character, that gives us hope during the next trial. Our girls endured some trials. Judging from the results of the last game, this season must have built some character, because they did not loose hope. Though the other team scored first, our girls kept going and in the end, the result was theirs. That is a good way to end the season.

Speech or Subs - Something Worked

It may have been the speech on perseverance I gave in practice. It may have been the fact that we had substitutes. I may never know the truth, but the results were obvious last night. The girls played their hardest and had a blast. No matter that actual score, it was a great success.

Perseverance - Never Quit

With all the rain, we haven't had any practices. With all the H1N1, we haven't had an abundance of players either. In the last 2 games for my U10 girls, we've had zero and one substitute. In one game, all 3 girls that usually play keeper were out with fevers. It's been tough. Toward the end of these games, when the girls were tired and the win out of reach, I saw too many slumped shoulders and not enough effort.

So the sun finally came out and we had a practice. We worked on some defensive skills at first, but midway through practice, we had a talk. I told them what I'd seen in the matches; concrete examples without using names. I told them they were letting each other down when they didn't give it their all. I then told them that our next match would be the toughest one yet. I then told them we'd be playing everyone at keeper in this game...everyone. The fear was in some of their eyes.

But then I told them a story about our adult team from a few days ago. We'd played a team that was clearly better than us. But we took care of each other out there on the field. We ran our butts off. And you know what? We won. We were sore like you wouldn't believe the next few days, but we'd given it our all. I told them I expected them to take care of each other with 100% effort. If they weren't going to give it their all the whole game, then they needed to stay at home.

Then we talked about when you give it your all and they still score, what do you do? Do you say, "They're too good." Do you say, "We're going to lose." No, you say, "She beat me there, but she won't beat me that way again!" "They may be tough, but they're making us tougher." "This isn't hard, it's challenging!" We worked on giving them thoughts to help them turn around the bad moments and focus on the possibilities. Finally, I told them they needed to talk to each other on the pitch to help them remember what we need to do.

After that, I asked who would be at the game. Every hand went up. I asked them what they'd do different. I got a variety of answers, but the most memorable was from a girl who would never have said this before. She said, "Play goalkeeper." I sent them off to scrimmage for the rest of practice and they played like I knew they could.

It's been a tough couple of weeks, but you know what...I think it's going to make them stronger.

The Running Goal Kick

Several years ago, when my daughter's team was playing U6 soccer, I got tired of our goal kicks turning into a scoring opportunity for the other team. We played 3 v 3, and if we sent the other two players forward, the other team more often than not jumped the kick and got a 1 v 1 (or worse) with our player that did the goal kick. The only solution was to get our players out of the mode of "passing" to their teammate and into the mode of trying to kick the ball to the other end of the field. Positioning our players even farther up field was not a solution as the same thing would happen, it would just start farther from the goal.

The solution was a thing we called the "running goal kick". I think it teaches principles that will be important as passing becomes a real option when they get older and it works really well to boot.

On a running goal kick:

1. All 3 players line up side by side with the kicker in between the runners.
2. The kicker targets a gap in the opposition to kick it through. (If they're marking up our two non-kicking players, this becomes real easy.)
3. By aiming at a gap rather than a person, this is good chance for learning to pass the ball to space.
4. Also by aiming at a space, it is also easier to get the player doing the goal kick to look at the ball rather than the target since they're not passing to a person that is probably moving around.
5. As the kicker kicks the ball, the other two players start their runs up field, one on each side.
6. This puts the runners in the correct orientation to keep the ball moving in the right direction (i.e. toward the other team's goal).
7. This has another benefit in that it gets the runners used to moving away from the ball in anticipation of a pass to space.
8. The runners get the ball and keep it moving toward the goal.

This is the "running goal kick".

This same method translates well to kick-ins and kick-offs too. Your starting positions are defensively strong, but your momentum is very offensively oriented. It takes some practice to get the little ones to understand what's going on, but it works much better than sending two-thirds of your team ahead of the ball with 3 hungry opponents ready to jump the kick and score.

Our First Silent Saturday

Silent Saturdays is a thing that's apparently been catching on around the world with youth soccer. For our association, today is the first time its been done. My U6 boys team had their game this morning.

Going in to the game, I felt like this was going to be a really good thing for the kids. I gave the parents a reminder and we let the game begin. I could not have been prouder. Our boys clearly knew what to do 99% of the time with no assistance from either sideline. Now it did feel awkward to me. I usually yell out to the boys when they do a good job, and I'm pretty sure I'm not supposed to do even that except on the occasions where it was an exceptional play. I think the parents found it awkward as well, but I hope they realized that the kiddos really don't need their help. Maybe with the next game, we'll all cheer more and still avoid the coaching.

The other team clearly seemed to struggle more and their parents even barked out a few orders during the match. But they generally did a good job. I suspect their team is much more micromanaged on a regular Saturday.

Let me give a couple of examples that really justified this Silent Saturday.

1. The other team was doing a kick-in. Our boys were defending beautifully. One of our boys noticed the other team was about to kick it in with a square pass to his teammate. At the last minute, our boy moved up the field and jumped in front of the kick. He took the ball, dribbled, and scored. If the parents of the other team had been allowed to coach their player on where to kick it, the intelligent play of our player would have gone unrewarded. We need to encourage our players to think and adjust on their own. When parents impose their adult intelligence to direct their player and thus outwit our 6 year old boy, that's just plain not fair. I was loving Silent Saturday giving our boy the opportunity to use his wits to score a goal (and he's not a prolific scorer)
2. We had a player doing a kick-in who didn't know where to kick it. His father did a great job holding his tongue and letting his son play. He kicked it right out in front of our own goal and the other team scored. How is this a "good thing" you ask? Well I told a player on the bench that he needed to help his teammates when he saw them about to do something wrong. Sure enough, later in the game, the same situation popped up and what happened? The boy I'd spoken to on the bench took a leadership role and talked to his teammate about the correct direction to kick the ball. This moment of leadership would not have occurred if the parents or coaches had taken it upon themselves to correct the error before the player had a chance to speak.

These are just two examples of how Silent Saturday worked exactly the way it should. It was awkward as a coach at times, but the opportunities it gave the kids are worth it.

How we're doing on Balance

I have no idea how we're doing on learning "Balance" because we haven't kicked a soccer ball in forever (or a least several days). Rain, Rain, Rain. So much rain the city has closed the fields and parks for games and practice (at least for soccer, football seems to have a higher priority...). I sound like I'm complaining, but actually I'm glad they're protecting the fields. If we tear them up now, they'll be bad for the rest of this season and all of the spring season too. So our soccer can wait, and this blog will have to wait too....

Balance, Balance, Balance - The Answer

I think I found the game to really teach balance to our U10 girls. It's a complicated, intricate soccer game with several rules which must be followed precisely. Not really, of course, its 3 v 2 plus a keeper.

When you put 3 attackers who understand how to move off the ball against 2 backs and a keeper, you get the best game for learning balance I've found. I suppose it never occurred to me before because at the younger ages, we just weren't that good on offense to take advantage of a 3 v 2 situation. Now at U10, those backs had their heads on a swivel as one applied pressure and the other tried to provide both cover and balance. If one back was beaten, the other closed down on the attacker and the first back had to get back quickly to cut off the easy pass across the box to the waiting attacker. I think it really highlighted to them that you can't just focus on the ball. We'll do this one a good bit more and see how it translates to the games.

Pressure, Cover, Balance, Balance, Balance - This sounds familiar

We still struggle with balance. My U10 girls, from time to time, just get mesmerized by the ball and forget to mark the girl in front of our goal. It's not all the time. A lot of the time they get it right, but a lot of the time they just don't look around to see if there is a player that we should be marking. Maybe I'm expecting a maturity level I shouldn't expect. Maybe I should draw a line down the middle of the field and tell players not to cross it. I want to give the girls maximum freedom on the field. I want it to be fun more than anything else. I want them to do the right thing because they're taking care of each other rather than following a rule. However, I want to stop these easy goals too! I'm open to suggestions.

Still So Much to Learn, But I'm Smiling

John Wooden talks about success in terms of preparing to play to the best of your ability and then playing at that level. The score isn't the indicator of success. Reaching your potential is the indicator. Last night our skill level was out matched, but our effort was at our full potential. We were outscored, but you know what, we all really enjoyed the game. The girls can tell when they're playing their smartest and their hardest. The coaches can tell. The parents can tell. And you know what, when you see them playing to their potential, we all smile, we all laugh, we all enjoy the bright moments. And when the game was over, I think our girls were jumping around and laughing more than the other team. I'm very proud of our team (girls, coaches, and parents). We were successful.

Learning to kick the soccer ball hard

With both my U6 and U10 teams, most of the players fail to do two things when kicking the ball:

1. Placing their plant foot beside the ball.
2. Looking at the spot on the ball they want to kick.

There are many other opportunities varying from player to player, but these two seem the most common.

To work on this, I lined up the players on one end of the field (each with their ball) and a goal about 1-2 yards wide at midfield (the width and distance depending on the age group). We talked about the keys to good, accurate hard kicks:

• the last step is a big step
• the left foot goes beside the ball with a bit of space between your foot and the ball
• your plant foot is pointing at your target
• lock the kicking ankle
• look at the back of the ball where you foot will go through it
• swing your foot through that spot
• land on your kicking foot

Then let them kick away. They chase down their own ball and do their fast dribbling to get back to the line and try again. The goal should be far enough and small enough that when one of the players makes a goal, its a big deal. We did this for several minutes and the kids didn't seem to get tired of it. Best of all, I saw some noticeable improvements.

With the U6 players we then transitioned this into a game where I was the "other team" and I kicked the ball out of bounds. Depending on which part of the field the ball went out at, they had to decide if it was a goal kick, kick-in, or corner kick. We emphasized where to aim, getting ready fast, and using their new hard-kick skills they just learned.

The Best Girls Soccer Uniforms Ever

The girls say, "This is the best soccer uniform ever!"

We say, "That's the way we like it."

I promised you a sneak preview of one of the new jerseys. This is a team wearing the camo jersey prototype. Apparently camo is "in" and turquoise and brown are "in". I can't say I keep up on these things much, but I'm happy to know we seem to have a hit with this one. Go Mighty Ducks!

It's Good to See a Good Coach

I was watching some U13 kids play a soccer match this evening. One of the coaches seemed to be providing a good example. As 11 of his kids played on the field, he coached the 3 on the bench from time to time. He didn't tell the players on the field much at all; he just let them play. Only once did I hear him address a player on the field. In a quiet moment after the ball was kicked out of bounds, he told a player, "Just settle the ball and take an extra touch." But most of the time, when he spoke, he spoke to the players off the field. He spoke in a normal tone of voice and addressed them as adults. In turn, they seemed to act more maturely. His team played with confidence and skill. I didn't get to watch as long as I wanted, but he certainly gave me a good picture of what a good coach looks like during a match. That's really nice to see.

Girls Soccer Uniforms - The new Tie-Dye Jersey

We have a new girls soccer uniform jersey - the Tie-Dye. Even though it was a fairly late release for this season, it was pretty popular.

Keep in mind these jerseys are cut for our girls, not for boys. And the fabric is fantastic; its soft, moisture-wicking, stretchy...when the girls try this jersey on, they don't want to take it off. That's a big step up from the jerseys I used to buy for my daughter's team before Breakaway Fashions was around.

There is another new design coming which is well down the development pipeline. I won't spill the beans just yet, but when I get permission to publish a photo, you'll see it here first.

One more note: We have a new Breakaway Fashions Page on Facebook now, so if you're into the Facebook thing (I'm still a rookie), stop by and become a "fan".

What Should the Kids Be Learning at Soccer Practice?

(It's rained all weekend and all the games were canceled. I guess I'll wax philosophical.) Many times I've asked myself, "What should the kids be learning at soccer practice?" Of course, there are the big picture things like sportsmanship, teamwork, always trying your best. But if you get down to the details of playing soccer, what should they really work on in the short time we have them for practice?

I see it breaking down into two categories. 1) Individual skills 2) Team tactics

Individual skills: If you read the documents published by the higher ups in US Soccer, they are pretty unified in saying that we should be coaching skills, skills, skills. There are many sound arguments; the most convincing is that a child's brain just doesn't develop the ability to really understand teamwork for several years. Even after that, you don't find a lot of articles emphasizing tactics. Now I have always emphasized skills myself (following their advice). I even had another reason; I think kids should learn to be confident with the ball at their feet while the defenders are really pretty bad and the social consequences of errors are almost zero. As the kids get older, the defenders start getting much better and the teammates can really start to exert some peer pressure. These things are enough to keep me focused on skills while they're young. However, I have a concern.

Team tactics: I was watching a men's college soccer game the other day. These guys all had good skills, but their team tactics were terrible. All they did was launch the ball from one end of the field to the other and hope to get a lucky shot on goal. There didn't seem to be any effort at all to move the ball through the midfield and try to maintain possession. Now this could be because the referees seemed to allow just about anything. I think some of the tackles were more dangerous than the ones you see in American football. I'm not sure I'd want to try and hold the ball in the midfield under that kind of assault either. However, I'm wondering if maybe this is also a result of coach's never teaching proper tactics, but instead just telling the backs to kick it forward and let the forwards chase it down and score with their individual skills since this resulted in winning the games. Hopefully the small-sided / small field games we're playing now will help.

Teaching tactics is tricky. I can hardly claim to be an expert, but I've learned enough to know better than to try and teach tactics by assigning positions. If you make them worried about where they are on the field above all else, you'll end up with a disaster. I won't go into details right now, but my experience so far is to teach dynamic responsibilities like those of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd defenders (pressure, cover, balance) and the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd attackers (we call it getting on the V's). Any kid could end up in any position at any time. We sometimes end up with all of our players in the other team's penalty box, but you know what, I'd rather have that than players worried more about staying back than getting into the game.

I know skills are #1 at the young ages, but some direction from the top on dynamic tactics instead of positions would be nice as well.

Would you like your players to spread out? Spread the goals

With our U10 girls team, about half the team is in their 2nd year, so they still have a tendency to cluster around the ball rather than take advantage of the open space on the pitch. Last year, when we played the split goal games (2 goals on each end of the field separated by a pretty significant gap), they would all end up in one corner fighting for the ball. Yesterday, they were thinking. It didn't take any coaching for the girls to start switching the point of attack, and even better, anticipating it defensively as well.

So if you ever catch yourself telling your players to "spread out", you may as well be telling them "stop playing"; it means the same thing from their perspective. Instead, play the split-goal game and let the game teach them the advantages of using the width of the field.

Pressure - Cover - A 5 year old knows

I was watching the match between Spain and Belgium a few days ago with my 5 year old son. (Background: I really started to emphasize Pressure-Cover to his team this season. We'll get to "Balance" soon enough.) Well Spain made one of their typical beautiful goals with short, quick, accurate passes that make it look so easy. As the players celebrated, my son asked, "Why don't they know pressure/cover?" I smiled in my all knowing mind and said, "These are professionals. They know pressure/cover. Look, I'll rewind and show you." Rewind and there it is. Both backs for the Belgium team moved up to pressure the attacking player from Spain leaving NO COVER. I looked at my son with astonishment, "You're right! They don't know pressure/cover."

U6 - Dribble Across the Square

I wish I had video of this drill. The drill works by spreading the players out as equally as possible along all 4 sides of a square. I used a fairly small 5 yard by 5 yard square. The first time I asked my U6 boys to dribble across the square (all at the same time), it nearly resulted in an explosion of boys and balls as they all collided in the middle. It didn't take but a few repetitions before they could all somehow get across the square almost as smoothly as if they were alone. The progress was so significant, that I can't believe it myself. I wish I had it on video.

-Bill

My U6 Players Love the Pirate Game

There's probably dozens of variations of the pirate game, but my particular version involves a fairly confined space (about a 5 yard x 5 yard box) where 4 players try to keep their ball in the square and 2 "pirates" try to get the balls out of the square. I tried this game at the start of last year's U5 season and got only cries of agony as kids complained that the other player had kicked their ball away. A year later, they just can't get enough of it.

Now a variation I added is that the pirates have to dribble the ball out of the box, not just kick it. This is an important variation. It makes it easier for the dribblers to maintain possession and work on those skills. If the ball is instantly kicked into oblivion, the 1 v 1 engagement time is very limited. Also, it encourages the kids to actually win the ball rather than just kick it out of bounds. Keep an eye out for fouls like kicks in the ankle. This type of reckless kicking should not be permitted. Also, when a player has his ball dribbled out of the box or kicks it out himself, he's out of the game (which is usually over within a minute anyway), but he should practice his pull backs and other moves on the side so he can do better next time.

The games are over quickly and we restart by letting the last 2 dribblers remaining become the next 2 pirates. The coach can conveniently misremember which kids were last to make sure all the kids get to be pirates.

-Bill

Tie-Dye Print Youth Girls Soccer Jersey

Coaching Two Teams

I thought I could coach my boys team and my girls teams at the same time by sharing some drills and better utilizing my assistants. However, it just reduced the total time I spent with the kiddos, meant larger groups, and an uneasy feeling in my mind. I'm separating the practices this week and feel better already.

-Bill

What Surprised Me at Practice - A Good 1 v 1 Game

I've been way behind and have so much I want to add to this blog. I have practice ideas, plans, notes on what worked and didn't. I will make this one a quick note on something that surprised me in a good way.

I setup a short / wide field with 2 small goals at one end. 1 v 1, the game started with a player kicking the ball from the goal end of the field to the far end of the field where the other player was located, she was the attacker. The attacker would dribble and try to use some moves to score in either goal. This gave the attacker some tactical advantage that surprisingly seemed to give the girls a lot of confidence on the ball. They were trying and pulling off moves I would never seem them try in a scrimmage. We need more of this. One note in particular, they wouldn't finish their moves with a burst of speed. They'd earn the advantage with a good move, but wouldn't turn on the afterburners. Their turn was over when the defender won the ball, a goal was scored, or the ball went out of bounds.

For today, I plan to setup a similar size field, but with 2 goals at each end. Play will start with a goal kick after every stoppage. The game will end after one of the players gets two goals. You can get a goal in the expected manner, OR, if the ball goes out on your opponents touch. This should be strongly discouraging of just kicking the ball away from the attacker AND wild shooting. The idea of this 1 v 1 game is to work on pressure and dribbling. With this special rule for balls that go out of play, controlling the ball will be the highest priority.

-Bill

A Story about a Great Soccer Player

At practice, I was encouraging the girls to try some "moves" between passes. Several of the girls showed reluctance to even try. I wasn't asking for anything more than the simplest of fakes or change in direction. So I told them a story.

One of the greatest soccer players in the world, Ronaldinho, had the ball in the corner. He goes to put a move on the back. The back wins the ball and dribbles away.

They looked at me kind of quisically. So I asked who knew who Ronaldinho is? Most knew, several didn't. I explained that he had some of the best moves in the world. So I told my story again. Still the quisical looks. Then I added, "So even the best players in the world mess up sometimes. They still try." "Ohhh," they said. "So that's your point."

"Yes. I just want you to try!"

-Bill

First Practice for the Fall

We had our first practice with my now U10 girls and it was just a ton of fun. We fell back to some fundamental skills work and the girls really seemed to savor the challenge. Simple stuff like ticky-tocky dribbling, inside-outside dribbling. Doing this drills with your head up looking at your teammates and making sure they had their head up. Making a move (outside push followed by a chop back) against a cone. Faking out the cone. Doing a step over. Scrimmage, monkey in the middle, and a couple of other things.

Maybe were all just fresh after the summer break, but even though it was 100+ outside, we didn't really seem to notice because we were having too much fun.

-Bill

Key Phrase for Teaching the Little Players How to Win the Ball

Below is an old message I found on my hard drive from 4 years ago. I must have sent it to a parent or parents, but I don't really remember. There's some phrasing and things I would say differently now, but the general idea is correct.

I'm sure you've all seen it. When trying to stop an attack and defend their goal, the players either stand and wait for the attacker to come to them. Or the "dive in" and loose all balance. Or they drill the ball right into the attacker shinguards. Or, the most frustrating, they run beside the attacker at the same speed (no matter how fast or slow), and never do anything to stop her; they'll jog along beside the dribbling attacker the entire length of the field and watch her shoot the ball, never attempting to win it. At least she's running.

Four years later, I can attest to the fact that using the phrase "run between the player and the ball" seems to be very effective for teaching the little players how to shoulder tackle. Just for the fun of it, I'll paste my original message below:

Actually, "getting between the girl and the ball" is a way for them to visualize "running through" the steal. In other words, if the defender is coming right at her and she wants to kick the ball away, she has a few choices:

1. Wait for the attacker to get to her and try and kick the ball away; this doesn't work very well.

2. Move toward the attacker, stop, and try to kick the ball; this is better, but the "stop and kick" motion throws her off balance. If she misses the ball, its an easy score for the other team.

3. Move toward the attacker and get between her and the ball. If the defender's feet incidentally kick the ball away from the attacker in the process, great; this will happen 90% of the time. If the ball gets trapped between the girls, the attack has still been stopped temporarily. If the ball gets past the defender, but she is between the attacker and the ball, the defender will still probably get to the ball first and kick it away.

The idea is too keep our defender on her toes and with good balance as opposed to off balance and on her heels trying to reach for the ball with her toe. It should also prevent the error where the defender does a hard kick right into the attacker's shinguards where it rebounds into our own goal.

I hope you can see what I'm trying to say, because I really believe it will work. The thing you'll have to overcome is the reluctance of many or our girls to physically contact someone else on purpose. It seems like kids with older siblings don't have this issue, but the oldest sibling has always tried to avoid physical contact with their younger siblings. I've actually practiced in the backyard with [my daughter] letting her knock me over with her shoulders as she steals the ball from me just to get her used to initiating physical contact. (She had a blast doing it too.)

It's fun to find your old emails.

-Bill

Notes from the North Texas Soccer AGM

I have met some fantastic people and viewed some top-notch coaching demonstrations at the North Texas Soccer Association's Annual General Meeting.

Before my aging brain forgets, I'm jotting down some notes:

• The U12 ODP girls were just fantastic to watch. Their ball control was unbelievable. They ran a practice that started with the girls (~12 of them) in a square and they did some passing drills requiring the players to observe the direction of the first touch and anticipate the next pass. Watching it happen reminded me of braiding rope. This progressed to a 2 v 2 game with outside players where points were scored with successful give and goes between the players in the middle on the same side. I've seen FC Dallas warm up with a similar game with more players in the middle in very tight space. It looks like a blast and very good training.
• I then saw a practice for some U6 boys that clearly are a step above their peers. Their practice started out with the standard dribble in the square, but the moves the practice were superb. Mostly scissors and a step over move. Then they did these same moves against a cone to learn the space required to make the move. Then they chained different moves together. Then the practiced some 1 v 1 keepaway. Then some 1 v 1 to split goals. Then 2 v 2. The emphasized using all parts of the foot to move the ball with "soft touches and little steps."
• Finally I saw a goal keeper training session that really opened my eyes to some basic skills that will go a long way toward making our keepers effective and safe. He had some good drills to make sure the keeper was in a ready position on her toes when the ball was kicked toward goal. He discussed keeping her shoulders square. Saving through the ball. Spreading the feet to allow her to get down to the level of the ball. How to safely stop a breakaway by getting low early and looking through her hands to the ball. Good stuff.

I may come back and edit this into a more readable format, but for now, I just wanted to brain dump.

-Bill

Referees Need to Protect our Players

In MLS and NCAA soccer, the two most televised leagues in the U.S., I see a lot of dangerous plays that go unpunished. Often, there's not even a foul called when in Europe, they would have received a yellow or red card for the same infraction. Just look at the number of red cards the US Men's team gets in international play; is this an indicator that US players are not used to Referees looking out for player safety?

Our kids (and adults) should be ensured the safest possible environment when playing soccer. Injuries will, of course, occur even with the most cautious referee, but dangerous play should have heavy consequences even when an injury does not occur. Dangerous slide tackles should receive a yellow card at the least whether or not a collision results; red cards should be frequently used too. Referees should not wait for an injury. They should treat every dangerous play as if it had caused the injury it is likely to cause if it is allowed to continue. If the worst punishment a dangerous play receives is a free kick, there is no deterrent. From the players perspective, if they had not made the dangerous play, the other team would still have the ball. If they make the dangerous play and have a foul called, they other team has the ball, but there is a chance they will win the ball without a foul. Which would you choose? The consequence has to exceed letting the other team keep the ball.

The consequence of a dangerous play must result in a yellow or red card with the first occurrence. There is no need for a warning; the players know the rules. We are counting on our referees at the highest levels to set the example for all levels. Please put the safety of the players as the highest priority. Please make the consequences of a dangerous play significant. Don't wait for an injury to occur before you take action.

-Bill

How do you stop Ball Watching?

I see it at even the highest level...ball watching. What is it that causes a player to stop and watch as the other team is crashing the goal to score. Sure, the shot you're watching is likely to go in, but when the keeper makes a great save, the person you should still be marking has continued toward the goal and gets and easy score while you stopped to watch.

I've seen it on my team. I will work on this in practice by giving the ball watchers some empathy for the keeper. If I see ball watching, suddenly that player will be the only member of her team in the scrimmage. 1 v whatever. Now she'll feel what its like to have her teammates quit on her. Maybe this will change the ball watcher into a player that never quits.

-Bill

A Small-sided Soccer Game for Individual Skills And More

I've been bouncing around an idea for a small-sided soccer game that would emphasize some of the basic ball holding and dribbling skills. As a bonus, I think it will help with opening up the paradigm of the back-pass and emphasize the need to cover for the keeper when she comes off her line.

It's a 2 v 2 game on a fairly narrow field with wide goals. Each team has a keeper and a field player. Here's the catch...if the field player makes a back-pass to the keeper, the keeper can shoot or pass the ball, but she cannot dribble nor can she have the ball stolen from her by the other field player. She's kind of like a moving safe zone.

I'm thinking this will work on passing to space from the keeper to the field player. The field player will have to learn to hold the ball and dribble past 1 v 1 pressure (something we need to work on). If she moves the ball well up field, maintains possession, and then back-passes to her keeper for a shot from the center, the defending keeper will have to come out strong (something we need to work on) and the defending field player should cover for her (something we need to work on).

We'll give it a shot.

-Bill

Observations from Soccer Camp

Well most of the girls signed up for a soccer camp this week. The feedback from the girls was very good. They seemed to enjoy it and liked some of the things they learned. It was way hotter (highs around 100) this week than usual, so they must have really enjoyed it to not let the heat get the better of them.

There are many things I can point out later, but the thing that stands out in my mind right now is how much all the boys in the camp seemed to just love playing the game and how only a couple of the girls showed the same enthusiasm.

My sample could be skewed because the girls signed up as a team and the boys as individuals. To be willing to go to camp on your own vs. part of a group certainly is self-selecting for enthusiasm. Still, I wonder if there is a way I can envigorate our girls to the same level of enthusiasm or if its just something they have or don't have.

Thinking back to when I was a boy, I was like these boys. I just loved to play and compete in any game. It wasn't for wins or losses or standings or medals or trophies. It was just for fun. I want to see that same joy for the game in all the girls. The more you put into, the more fun you get out of it. It's just that simple. Can I get them to put they're all into it and recognize the reward?

U5-U6 Youth Soccer Notes - Position of Readiness

I'm continuing to read the Skills School document from US Youth Soccer in an effort to be a better soccer coach for you U6 boys. One comment in the document was:

The “position of readiness” cannot be overemphasized in its importance to executing ball skills.

Now there's a picture in the document which I assume is the "position of readiness". They're a little unclear on this if you ask me. Regardless, I agree that you can't execute a skill without being physically prepared. Now, how to you work on this "position of readiness"? This leads to a quote I found quite useless:

The foundations to any “position of readiness” are the non-locomotor and locomotor actions.

Doesn't that pretty much cover every conceivable action? I have to laugh. Oh well. So I'm still trying to discern what I should do to coach the boys to improve their "position of readiness". They say we should expose them to "movement education". After that, they get into some details on proper running and jumping techniques. They don't really go into any details on how to train my little boys on these techniques. Folks, stating the end result is easy; finding fun ways to coach this is the hard part. How about a little help here? No matter, I've got some ideas I need to try out. I'll let you know how those go.

-Bill

Details on Motor Skills for Training Very Young Soccer Players

Here are some detailed motor skills to train based on another document I've been reading.

* eyes on the ball
* appropriate joint locked
* smooth movement of the appropriate limb
* head steady
* balance
* muscle group control – when to tense and when to relax
* when to bend joints
* center of gravity
* contact surface of the body level with the ball contact surface area

These are from this document on the US Youth Soccer website:
http://www.usyouthsoccer.org/assets/coaches/Skills_School_Manual.pdf

-Bill

Soccer Training for Very Young Players (U5-U7)

I just read an interesting article that emphasized training our U5-U7 players more on movement skills than soccer skills. This is interesting. I've struggled with several of my U5 boys to keep their attention on soccer related games. But now that I think about it, when we played games more focused on motor skills, they seemed to have the most fun. I'm thinking I might try more games with running, jumping, tumbling and other motor skills as the emphasis. It just might make soccer practice more fun for the boys and the coaches.

-Bill

Pass the Ball Like FC Barcelona

Maybe I just don't understand passing the soccer ball at the professional level.  It seems to me, keeping the ball on the ground rather than bouncing it to your teammate would be a basic skill mastered by all professional soccer players.  However, it seems only a handful of teams really have this skill mastered.  Watching MLS makes me think this must be harder than it looks. 

With my girls, I really emphasize:

• keeping it on the ground when you receive the ball by doing the "cheese grater".  
• keeping it on the ground when you pass it by keeping your toe up as you kick it.  

It doesn't seem that hard.  Why is it so uncommon to see good passing on TV matches?

-Bill

Why Won't She Take Her Shot on Goal?

I've seen it in games and in practice.  Some or our girls, even when they're within certain scoring range, seem to have trouble pulling the trigger and taking their shot.  I've really not understood that until recently.  

As a rookie soccer player myself, I recently found myself in a situation where I did the same thing.  I've taken plenty of shots on goal when the situation was obvious, but as a midfielder, I'm generally looking for a forward to pass the ball up to.  I had the ball and some space to run at the goal.  Two defenders were closing in, but my forward had a step on his mark.  At the top of the box, I still had time to shoot.  It wouldn't have been a sure thing by any means.  It would have had to get past one of the two on-coming defenders plus the keeper, but in hindsight, the shot was there.  However, the thought of shooting didn't even cross my mind.  I saw my forward with a step and without even looking at the goal, I fed the ball in.  It was a hair too far ahead of him and he couldn't quite reach it.  The opportunity was missed (luckily, we didn't need the goal).  

I won't make that mistake again.  Even my daughter pointed out after the game that I "should have taken the shot."  The good thing is, now I understand a little better what's going through some of the girls' minds when they don't shoot.  They're looking for their forward.

Perhaps the best way to coach this lesson, is to position the girls as forwards in some scrimmages or matches.  After getting a few shots on goal even when the path is not clear, they'll learn they can do the same even if they're mids or backs.

-Bill

A View of our Tournament

This last weekend I was a volunteer to observe games at our association's tournament. I really love watching the games and seeing the kids play.  Let me note just a few quick observations:

• In the U9 girls age group (the age group of my daughter's team), their was a huge gap between the top teams and the rest.  4 very strong teams entered the tournament and won their games by an average goal delta of 7 to 8 goals allowing 0 to 1 goal per game.  This is not a lot of fun for either team.  These top 4 teams, when they played each other, had very competitive matches.  Ten teams signed up for this bracket.  After a 3 game round robin, here are the total goal differentials for the teams:  24, 29, 8, -28, -17, -16, 16, 13, -3, -26.  Several of these games were not a lot of fun.  Also, the results were very predictable.  Every coach in this age group knew how these mismatched games would turn out.  I can't quite put my finger on it, but there must be a better way to group the teams to ensure most matches are close. 
• I have to say the kids on the top teams do play with some impressive skills (though some of those teams played outside the rules as well which is not admirable).  They win the ball with confidence and play with a tremendous amount of speed.  It is fun to watch.
• I only noticed a couple of coaches in an older age group that used degrading comments to "motivate" their team.  Clearly the competitive juices were flowing and frustration was getting the better of them.  I know how that feels, but as a recreational coach, you don't insult your players.  However, most of the coaching was perfectly fine with the emphasis on just letting the girls play.

We used to play the tournaments.  I think we'll play again at U11 when the playing field should be leveled again.

-Bill

Thinking about the next soccer season - club players on recreational teams

I've been thinking about our girls next soccer season.  When the fall rolls around, due to our 2nd place finish, I suspect we'll be moving to the top bracket.  In Texas, kids can play both recreational and club soccer until U11.  Our girls will be U10 next year.  That means the upper bracket is loaded with girls that, year around, practice twice a week and play a league match or participate in a tournament almost every weekend.  The result is they have about 4x the playing time of our most experienced player.  They are infinitely more experienced than 80% of our team.  This translates to a very uneven playing field.  

I suspect we'll persevere for a season, take our lumps, get sent back down to the lower bracket in the spring and then flourish in the season after that when all the club players are restricted from recreational soccer.

Times have changed.  Kids putting in this kind of time into a sport before the age of 11 used to be rare.  It's common now.  Our recreational leagues need to realize this and group the club kids on separate teams in separate brackets.  My girls will have a tough time next season.  However, they're a tight team and I think they'll take care of each other just fine.

-Bill

Getting some U5 boys to play some soccer

Here's the deal. We have six U5 boys.

• One is the perfect player. He plays hard, he listens and tries new things. He's into the game. Needless to say, it shows on the pitch.
  
• Another player has a great "play hard" attitude. He can be a bit hard-headed when it comes to listening and trying to improve his game, but he's still a big impact player.
• Another one loves to dribble, but moves at a snails pace. He's creative, but easily distracted.
• Another one is a perfectionist. In order to avoid "failure", he would rather "not try".
• Another one is a most enthusiastic supporter of his team, but when it comes to actually winning the ball, well he would rather step away from that situation.
• Finally, the remaining boy just doesn't seem to have the ability to keep a sense of direction. In addition to avoiding the ball, when he does kick it, it could just as well be into our goal as theirs.

So that's the situation. Needless to say, we often end up playing 1 v 3 with the other 2 players on the field for our team either distracted, disengaged, or diffident.

So for the last game of the season, I had an idea. As the grinch would say, a wonderful, awful idea. I want my boys to be intrinsically motivated by a love of playing soccer, but for this game I broke that rule.

I asked the boys, "Do you know who Luke Skywalker is?"

They responded with an emphatic, "Yes".

"Is he a Jedi?", I asked.

Another, "Yes."

"Was he a great Jedi at first?"

"No, I guess not."

"Did he have a coach?"

"Yes, Qui Jon Jin (or however you spell his name). No, Yoda"

"Boys, I am your Yoda." (They thought that was funny.) "Right now, you are level 0 Jedi Knights. I'm going to tell you how to get to level 1, 2, 3, 4, and even level 5."

• Level 1 - Run fast.
• Level 2 - Run fast to a cover position.
• Level 3 - Run fast to a cover position and win the ball.
• Level 4 - Run fast to a cover position, win the ball, and dribble toward the goal.
• Level 5 - Run fast to a cover position, win the ball, dribble toward the goal, and score!

So what happened after that speech? Not two minutes into the game, the only player on the team never to have scored a goal in 15 games scored his first goal. And it was not a tap in. He had to take it from midfield and put it in the net under some pressure. "You're a level 5!" I yelled from the sideline. A few minutes later, the same boy made a nice run and almost scored again. Later that same half, another player that hadn't scored since last season dribbled it up the sideline and into the goal. Amazing! One of the "diffident" boys was playing so boldly, that when a boy a good 12 inches taller than him was about to score a goal, he stepped in front of him and cleared the ball away. I'm telling you, it was their best game of the season. Was it the speech? I'll never know for sure, but it would seem to be the case.

-Bill

What a Finish - What a Season

Our girls needed to win or tie to maintain their spot and earn a trophy. The other team consisted of girls primarily from the same elementary school as our team which made the game even that much more meaningful. The other team was much more experienced and coached much more emphatically, but we were as ready as we'd ever be.

It was intense from the start and halftime came around and they were leading 1 to 0. Shortly into the 2nd half, our most experienced player moved the ball up the sideline, crossed it to the top of the box, and found our 2nd most experienced player who one-touched it (under pressure) past the keeper into the goal. It looked really professional. The score remained tied for a while, then the other team got another goal to take a 2 - 1 lead.

We were still playing our game in great form. Compared to last season, when I couldn't get half the team to move up and pressure the goal, this season we often had 4 and sometimes all 5 field players up trying to score. This left us vulnerable to a breakaway, but our girls would get back so fast, we almost never let the other team get a good shot on our goal. And our girls were doing it all with almost no coaching from the sideline (other than occasional reminders about "balance").

With literally one minute left in the game, the girls pushed up hard to try and score. Again, we coaches were just watching. The girls were playing hard. We had all 5 up near the goal. One of our backs and a forward pressured the ball all the way up into the other team's corner. The ball got past them, but a 2nd back had them covered. She passed it toward the middle where our 3rd back crossed it to the top of the box. Our other forward was there to one-touch it past the keeper with a beautiful shot. The whistle blew and the game was over and tied. Let the celebrations begin. If we'd had one player not there, it wouldn't have worked. Everyone of them contributed on that goal. They played bravely and with their very best effort. I couldn't be more proud.

I have to attribute the change in attitude toward getting forward to working on the give-and-go early in the season. I still didn't really see a "classic" give-and-go started by a back in a match all season, but I think it put enough forward motion into our girls that it worked to get them moving forward. I think they got past the mental barrier that backs only defend and got them into the mindset that backs press forward too. With this being only the 2nd season for almost half the team, earning a trophy was a real accomplishment. It took all of them playing their hardest, taking care of each other, and playing with a smile to make it happen.

-Bill

Getting Benched for Smiling?

I couldn't believe my ears. The coach of the other team yelled at one of his players, "If you keep smiling, I'm putting you on the bench."

Wow. There's so many things I could say to branch off of this event. I could be sarcastic and talk about how winning in U9 recreational soccer is the most important thing. I could be self-praising and talk about the fact that one of our team's 3 points on "how we play" is "play with a smile". Tony DiCicco says, "If it isn't fun, it's not soccer." Our girls are 8 or 9 years old! Wow.

-Bill

Pressure, Cover, Balance, Balance, Balance

With my girls, I've talked "balance", I've shown "balance", we've practiced "balance", but we didn't really seem to understand "balance".

It's very rare now for the girls to have trouble with "pressure". I'm actually quite impressed at how little they dive in. They seem to have "pressure" down.

With our newer players, we still have some issues with "cover". Some of the time they forget to get back and cover or they run along beside or behind the "pressure" instead of sprinting ahead to cover for their teammate. Sometimes they forget to push up and cover for the forwards, but overall, we do pretty good.

However "balance" has been troubling. We allow the girls to play a very free-style of soccer. We don't assign left, right, or center positions. We let them watch each other and adapt to the situation. This has frequently led to having all 3 backs providing pressure and cover on a sideline and no one in the middle of the field. Well this week we played a team that kept a forward in the center of the field better than most teams. Wouldn't you know it, they found her on a fairly long pass and in a flash we were down a goal. I had 3 backs on the bench and told them, "Look at that. That's why we need balance. We can't leave that girl alone to receive a pass and score with no pressure." I substituted in the 3 backs and started coaching the 3 that had been on the field. Of course, the 3 I just sent in did exactly what they'd always done and left the forward by herself in front of our goal. It made for a great coaching opportunity for the 3 girls on the bench. "Look," I said. "They're doing exactly what you were doing. We have to mark up. We have to have balance." About that time they scored their second goal. "Sub!". Now the original back line was in the game again. Let me tell you, they got it. They marked up the center forward while still maintaining pressure and cover on the ball. The player marking may have changed as they played, but they looked out for each other and shut the door on the scoring. There were a couple of instances where a player actually was running so hard to recover her mark that she actually ran away from a ball she could have won, but her teammates were right there with her, so it was all good.

Now if I could just get most of my forwards to do the same to the other team....

-Bill

Frustrated then Fun - A Girls Soccer Team's Coach's Progression

Frustration.  That's what I felt.  Given time, space, and a ball, why wouldn't the girls be having a blast?  I would.  But they weren't.  Was it the heat?  It was the first hot practice of the year.  Were they getting "tired" of soccer?  It's getting late in the season.  Was it a side effect of a couple of girls not feeling their best and it spreading through the team emotionally?  Was it a lack of motivation?  We've been winning rather handily lately, but against some fairly inexperienced teams.  I don't know.  I do know I just wanted them to play some soccer, run around, and have fun.  However, several of them wanted nothing to do with it.  

Next practice - Fantastic.  I started it off with a little sit-down.  The first thing I did was apologize for getting frustrated the previous practice.  Some said they didn't even notice.  I guess I wasn't as obvious as I thought.  We also talked about the 3 most important parts of being a soccer team.

1. Try your hardest all the time.  This includes preparation in practice as well as effort in the game.
2. Take care of your teammates.  If you don't get back and support your teammates or push forward and support your teammates, you're letting them down.  
3. Play with a smile.  Tell your teammates good job and never say anything mean to the other team.

We actually discussed these points for several minutes just sitting in a circle in the middle of our practice field.  The girls told stories and extrapolated on all the points.  After that, practice picked up and they had a really good time.  It was very refreshing.  Was it the talk?  Was it the slightly cooler weather?  Who knows, but it was fun again.

-Bill

Keeping Practice Fun for the Girls

So our practice this week did not go as expected.  I made the mistake of telling some players to knock the ball around a bit rather than go for the score in a 3 v 3 scrimmage game.  I thought they might enjoy the challange of passing it around a bit rather than going for the goal as a change of pace.   I'm certain they learned something about spacing and moving off the ball, but I don't think they liked it.  I think they like to play their hardest and be fully challanged.  Come to think of it, I do too.  So the lesson for me is this:  Let them play their hardest.  Use imbalanced sides, change the goal size, do something, but let them do their best all the time.  Don't hold them back.

Youth Soccer and Children's Executive Function Ability

I've just read a very interesting article (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=19212514) It discusses the fact that certain types of play can greatly benefit children in the area of "executive function". In this, or perhaps a related article, they say that "...good executive function is a better predictor of success in school than a child's IQ ."  Apparently if a child does not develop this executive function, it correlates to all sorts of bad behavior.

As I understand it, basically executive function is the ability of a person to regulate their own behavior. In other words (to have this summarized by a very non-expert), when you talk to yourself to calm yourself down or take a little extra time to consider a situation before you act, you're using your executive function abilities. Apparently imaginative, free play is an excellent chance for kids to learn this.

But this is a soccer coach's blog...how does this apply to soccer.  Well, they say in these articles that  "leagues and lessons" are not conducive to developing this executive function ability.  Under these circumstances, the children are being regulated by adults, not themselves.  Since I'm "coaching" in a soccer "league", I figure this applies to me.

How do we know this isn't just a bunch of worthless hot air?  Well assuming they're telling us the truth, there are some interesting test results.  Apparently they did some tests back in the 40s on kids 3, 5, and 7 years old.  They just asked the kids to stand still to see how long they could do it.  Well apparently our 5 year olds now are at the level of 3 year olds back then.  Our 7 year olds are barely approaching the 5 year olds of the 40s.  This seems to me to be a simple enough test that the results can be believed.  

So as a coach, how can I help make this better?  Well I've looked back at some of the things I've been doing and I'm actually fairly pleased.  From day one, I've always let the kids choose amongst themselves who would do the kick-ins, kick-offs, corner kicks, and free kicks.  They've learned not to ask me, but to talk to their teammates.  I've been moving toward trying not even assign positions.  Instead, just pick which 5 girls will go into the field and let them figure it out.  I would like to see them shifting around to the position where they're needed rather than being locked into one assigned by me.  It's a work in progress.  I figure the more decisions I let them make themselves, the better off we'll be as a team.  I guess it would also apply to this executive function as well.  

The authors emphasize imaginative play completely self regulated by children of different ages.  Soccer practice and games on a league team will never be the ideal, but we can try to move it closer.

-Bill

So How goes the Give and Go?

It was a miserably cold, misty, windy morning, but the girls came out on fire.  We had 4 out of 10 girls score in the game.  For one of those 4, it was her first goal ever.  She had so many close ones in her first season (last season), but this one reached the back of the net.  But this is a coach's blog, not a game report.

How did our give and go tactic work?  I still can't say I'm seeing a lot of it.  Now frankly we still struggle with it in practice, so I shouldn't be surprised.  Now we have dramatically improved in a couple of areas:

1. We're doing a much better job of actually passing it wide from our end rather than just kicking it.
   
2. We're doing a much better job of crossing the ball in to the top of the box and actually having players there to score it.
3. Our goal tending is very solid.

Now when I say better, that doesn't mean we're good at it yet.  It's just I think that's where we're gaining some advantage compared to last season.  

A couple of areas we still need to work on:

1. Marking up the opposition with our third defender.  
2. Finishing the give and go with a "go".

We'll work on point 2 (finish the give and go) by simplifying the drill in practice where I think they can learn this with some repetition.  Instead of 3 or 4 players, we'll cut down to 2 players, a forward and a back.  The forward will back pass and move wide.  The back will touch the ball in the same direction and complete the "give".  We'll do that a few times, then add the "go".  This is simple enough I should be able to get several groups working in parallel.  

After that, we'll bump up the fun level and start some 3 v 3 or 4 v 4 on a very short field.  We used the very short field last week and I liked what I saw.  It didn't run the girls to death, so they seemed to have more fun.  (With 10 girls playing 6 v 6 and unlimited substitutions, their fitness level is fine with the amount of running we do.)  The keepers were very involved in the game and I think it encourages the girls to use the width of the field.  Since it is by getting the ball wide we start our give and go, I think I like the emphasis on this aspect of the game for now.  I want good first touches away from pressure, not hard kicks up the field.  

I'll keep you updated on how this is going.  

-Bill

Dribbling is harder than Driving a Car

(A parent sent me a message saying her daughter was smiling the whole time she was on the field, even if she wasn't kicking the ball around as much as we wish she would...and that they (the parents) were all laughing and smiling watching the girls play.)

My response:

Thank you. Fun is my primary goal. I'm not planning on any of our girls being the next Marta, but I do want them to love the game so much that they play until they're 90 years old.

I didn't play soccer as a kid, but I just started playing in MSA's adult league last season. It has given me such a good perspective on how the game looks to our girls. The number of decisions you need to make when you're dribbling the ball is unbelievable. First you have to be moving with the ball and not kicking it away from yourself. Much like when you first learned to drive a car, you had to really concentrate just to stay in your own lane. After hours and hours of driving, you finally were able to focus more on the surrounding traffic and staying in your lane was a subconscious activity. Dribbling a soccer ball is even harder (though not as dangerous). It takes hours and hours of dribbling to get to a point where you can really start to observe the "traffic" around you. Then once you get to that point, you have to decide if you should slow down, speed up, turn left, turn right, pass forward, pass back, shoot, kick it out of bounds, and don't forget to breath. Then once you decide not to dribble, kicking the ball is a whole different set of skills to work on. I love it and I want the kiddos to enjoy that challenge as well.

Thanks again,

Bill

Soccer Girls Just Want to Have Fun

I started the soccer practice with some boring old drill that was slightly confusing and only a little fun.  After that, we played some games that were much more soccer-like and the smiles certainly picked up.  In the end, we were playing 3 v 3 plus 2 keepers on a tiny field with huge goals.  The girls were just having a good time and enjoying the pleasant evening.  I tossed in a few words on some good plays and some opportunities missed, but for the most part, they just played.  The keepers had fun because on the really short field they often punted or goal-kicked the ball directly to the other keeper.  There were plenty of shots on goal by both teams.  To finish off the practice, we had the punting game where one girl punts the ball and the first player to touch it gets a point.  If it's a header, she gets 2 points.  When a girl gets two points, she becomes the punter.  They learn to bring down a bouncing ball and love doing it.  Its when you see this kind of enthusiasm and enjoyment of the game that you walk away from practice with a big smile.  Will they be ready for the match tomorrow?  We'll see.

-Bill

Coaching the Girls How to Move as a Team

The concept is simple to me: If you back-pass to your left (facing your own goal), then after the pass you move to your left in anticipation of getting the ball back. If you're the back, the movement will be to your right, so take your first touch away from the pressure (to your right) and then put the ball out wide of the forward in the direction she's already running. To finish off the play, after the back puts the ball out there for the forward, she should "go" and get the "give and go" started. It makes for a beautiful game.

We worked on this a couple of weeks ago when we only had 4 girls at practice and things went very well. This week, with 4 different girls (and 4 others working on their own), things seemed much more difficult. I suspect the difference was me. Having done it before, I probably tried to move to quickly from a simple thing to a more complicated thing. I'm not good at teaching the same thing twice. The first time I coach a concept, we're discovering it together. The second time, I'm waiting for the girls to catch up. It's a different perspective.

In the end, I just asked the 4 to play 3 v 1 keep-away for a while and encouraged them to take the first touch away from the pressure and ask the other girls to give some good support with good off the ball movement. This was basically more fun, and there was clearly plenty to learn still. It also took a lot fewer words.

I have to constantly remind myself that if it takes more than a sentence to explain a concept, I should probably simplify it. Going in to tomorrow's practice, I will keep that in mind. Simplifying makes if more fun for the girls and the coaches. Soccer games are always better teachers than a soccer coach's words.

Looking Good

I have to say the girls were playing some good looking soccer this weekend. We had only one practice in the last 2 weeks. In that practice, we worked on back passes and for some reason that really seemed to drive home what I was trying to teach them.

I can’t explain how awesome the player spacing and movement looked. They weren’t getting any direction from the sideline. We had all five field players up pressuring the other team. They were all moving and adjusting and not bunching. We had players passing to the top of the opponent’s penalty box and other players arriving simultaneously to take a shot on the goal. We had one back pass that came out of the corner and moved the ball right around the defense to the top of the box. It was fun to watch.

Of course, we still missed a lot of opportunities in the match which could be attributed to either players missing practices or just a lack of technical skill. But these things are just a matter of time.

We’ll continue to work on the back pass scenario. The way we practice it is:

• Setup with a forward and 2 or 3 backs providing cover.
• The forward starts with the ball.
• The coach pressures the forward forcing a back pass (the back pass “decision” is a bit contrived, but it works)
• If the forward passes to the back to her right (facing backward), she then moves square out to her right.
• The coach follows the ball and applies pressure to the back.
• The back then touches the ball to her left (facing forward) away from the pressure and passes the ball to the space even further to the left of the forward.
• After making the pass, the back “goes” to the top of the opponent’s penalty box.
• Make sure the remaining back(s) are covering and not getting up field and leaving us defenseless.
  
• The forward touches the ball even closer to the sideline away from the pressure while turning up field. She then crosses (passes) the ball to the top of the box.
  

That’s what we worked on. I think by giving the players a target on the field (the top of the box), it helped both the passer and the “goer”. Just the concept of taking the first touch away from the pressure before making a pass is quite a step of progress for the less experienced girls. It also highlighted some opportunities for improving left foot performance. I’m a little worried that by providing a fixed target, that they are missing the point that this technique can apply in different parts of the field. I’ll have to keep an eye out for that.

-Bill

Update on the Breakaway Fashions Website

Our Breakaway Fashions website has come a long way in the last year.  The image to the left is the top of our "home" page.  The image to the right is the bottom.  I think the design is very clever with the dictionary definition and the polaroid snapshots (I can't take the credit for that.  It wasn't me.)

Our shopping page has also come a long ways.  (Now if I can only get this blog to add the picture in a way that doesn't make the formatting of this article very awkward...no, that didn't work.  Let me type a few more words and see if that helps...no, that didn't work either.  Let's try it with a new paragraph.)

(That didn't work either, so I'm just going to cut and paste the raw html.  A yes, now let's see if I can continue writing.)

(It looks like its working.  Excellent.  Back to my article.)

So, we used to be lost in the backwaters of Google where pages wander in unread darkness.  With our new page and some research on webmastering, we managed to get to page 8 or 9 on Google if you searched for "girls soccer uniforms".  Well I checked this morning and we are now on page 2 of Google if you search "girls soccer uniforms".  I think that's pretty good.  My next plan is to allow buyers to add comments for each uniform.  I have yet to try this, but my plan A is to add a blog entry and then link back to it since people can enter comments on these things.  It's kind of a system work around, but I'll give it a shot. 

So please forgive the akward looking updates that will follow.  And give us a thumbs up for making page 2!

-Bill

First Game of the Season

The day of testing arrived.  Did our new offense yield results?  I must admit, the overall result was positive, but there is still a long way to go.  The girls were excited.  All the girls had found their jerseys and skorts (except for one which required an emergency re-order) and the player whose cleats were always coming untied had even gotten new laces.  They all wanted to play.  I wish I could've started them all, but I had to choose only 6 to start, but the rest got in quickly (though the others didn't want to leave the pitch).

I didn't see a lot of "gives" followed by "goes".  I certainly didn't see much rotation.  However, I did see significantly better spacing and positioning.  We had some technical issues with receiving the ball, but we can work on these skills.  I could go on, but I'll leave it at this.  As the game went on, we got stronger and stronger.  Our pressure on the other team built up over the whole game.  Though the scoring came slowly at first, the pace increased as the game went on.  I love a strong finish and that's what we got.  The girls had a blast and the coaches were very happy.

-Bill

One more practice until the first game

Practice seems to be going well.  It's hard to tell for sure.  I think I'm seeing significantly better passing.  I'm sure we have more diversified goal scoring.  However, it isn't the same as playing 6 v 6 against another team.  We just won't know until Saturday.

I did work on goal keeping a lot in the last practice.  I think we've got some good ones.  I'm still worried about them drifting off of their line even when they have a back pressuring the ball.  One of them has kind of the opposite problem and hesitates when it's time to come off her line.  Good goal keeping isn't really why most of the girls are playing soccer so we don't spend a lot of time on it, but it can make a big difference in the score.  

All in all, the girls pretty much just played on their and did a good job.  I made a couple of comments when I saw some good hustle (and a couple of comments when I saw some ball watching), but other than that, some of the girls really took a leadership role and kept their teammates moving.  This leadership is something that makes me very proud to see.

-Bill

Lots of Progress - Still so much more Potential

Our last U9 girls soccer practice went very well. We were actually missing quite a few players for various reasons, so with 6 girls and 2 coaches, we had a really good ratio.

We started off by breaking the girls into 2 teams. Each coach took 3 players. A team would start with a goal kick and the coach would defend against them. The girls understand the give / go / rotate movements, so emphasis was more on execution such as taking the first touch away from the defender and passing to the space before the pressure arrives. If the coach won the ball away from the girls, his team would leave the field and the other team would give it a try against their coach. The team that was off the field would work on some of those execution items such as keeping the ball on the ground and making a good first touch. Since each round would only last a couple of minutes, the girls didn't get bored with the game or the drills. I saw excellent progress too.

We ended with a 4 v 4 scrimmage with the coaches playing the back positions. Improvement was significant. We still have significant issues with players ball watching rather than moving to the needed position, but the degree of this problem has been significantly reduced.

Our first match is a couple of weeks away. I'm really looking forward to seeing how this goes.

-Bill

Oh those U5 Kiddos

My U9 girls are coming along.  But my U5 boys present quite a different challenge.  It probably doesn't help that 1/3 of the team consists of my own twin boys.  It is always difficult to coach your own children.  I think people assume I do a lot of coaching at home as well.  It couldn't be farther from the truth.  Sometimes I struggle to get them to participate in the activity we have at practice.  At home, (if I tried), it would be 100x harder.  Anyway, enough about frustration.

I have noticed something in the boys that is very obvious at this age.  Its an observation pertinent to the argument about coaching the skill with a drill and then trying to apply it in the game or learning the skill while playing the game.  I catch myself using both methods.  I certainly think that for recreational soccer, learning while playing is much more fun compared to drills, so this is where I put my emphasis.  However, opportunities to use a certain skill can be few and far between during small sided games.  Even if the opportunities are frequent, at these young ages, they seem to go purely on instinct.  

The example I have in mind with my U5 boys is dribbling under pressure.  I want them to dribble the ball, but instead they just kick the living daylights out of it.  In a drill environment, they'll dribble all day long, but put them in a match and legs and cleats are flying all over the place in an effort to put a permanent dent in the ball with their toe.  If they dribble even once, I drown them in at-a-boys.  Every time they boot it into the adjacent team's area, I point out that they need to "keep it close".  But in the heat of play, all coaching seems lost.  I'm told by a 3rd grade teacher, that you just have to expect to repeat yourself a thousand times and it will eventually sink in.  Once it does, they've got it.   I prefer to think that if I can create the "right" game, the realization will come around much more quickly and with more of a true understanding.  

I'm half way to 1000 and still trying to think of the "right" game.  I may get to 1000 first.

-Bill

Soccer season starting?

(An entry in the blog by Mari!  I didn't know she even knew we had this thing...)

Yes, it's upon us.  Order your jersey's early to avoid having to wear last year's or even worse having to buy those cheap t-shits and writing the player number on the back with a sharpie!  It takes us a maximum of 5 business days to ship out an order once it's placed so order now! 

If you're having trouble convincing your parents to purchase our uniforms, refer them to our website.  Besides being the cutest soccer uniforms on the planet (and we've looked), they fit great, keep our girls safe with the wicking and SPF and we won't discontinue a jersey EVER!  When you factor in the fact that we put your team name and player number on every jersey at a cost saving of $10-$18 per jersey, why would you buy a cheap one for $15 or even an expensive one?  So here it is, we're a one stop shop.  You get your jerseys in the mail and they are ready to wear to the game that day!  What could be easier?  No need to trek around town looking for someone who will put your players' number on the back (and hope they don't ruin the jersey in the process). If you want your team name, oh yeah, "they" charge you extra.  No wonder there's a whole bunch of nameless teams out there that we have to refer to as, "the green team" or "that team that didn't have a name but had a real good little player"). 

Barring any unexpected technical mishaps, we will be posting our new prints on the shopping cart this weekend!  We're always looking for your input so tell us what would make for a cool looking jersey.  Some have suggested tie-die, flowers and bugs (for all the Lady bugs, Bumble Bees, Yellow Jackets, Dragonflies etc.).  We will start with 4 new ones!

On a different note, we wanted to take the opportunity to THANK all the coaches, parents and soccer associations who have support us these past couple of years.  We love the pictures you send us, the emails and phone calls telling us how much your girls "love" their uniforms.  Just today a coach called to order a uniform for some new players on her team and said that her daughter had definitely gotten her $20 dollars worth out of the skort she bought from us!  That is the biggest compliment we get, when our teams come back season after season because no other uniform WILL DO!

-Mari

Give, Go, Rotate (cont)

The practice plan went really well.  Having the reform your formation race after I call out a series of passes was a great way for the girls to learn this strategy.  After making good progress, we played 4 v 2 with 2 girls off the field.  When the side with 2 allowed a goal or got a goal kick, their other two players came on and the other team lost 2.  This gave them a chance to run their offense with minimal resistance.  In the end, we played 4 v 4.  It is looking good, but we still have a ways to go.  The more assertive players tend to be drawn to the ball still and if our back goes forward, we don't always get someone rotating back to cover.  They're learning to watch each other though, instead of staring at the ball.

-Bill

Coaching Give, Go, Rotate

Another update on the Give, Go, Rotate offense.  I'm seeing glimmers of the method in 5 v 5 scrimmages.  I'm certainly seeing a significant increase in activity from the girls that often held back.  This in and of itself is a big success.  

This week I'm planning on a back to basics approach and let them race to reform the formation after making a pass.  I'll take the team and divide them in 2.  I'll tell each group to make their Vs.  I'll then tell them to make a forward pass and reform the Vs around the player with the ball.  It'll be a race to see who can complete their Vs first (with no direction from me).  After a few rounds here, then we'll go to me calling out a 2nd forward pass after the 1st.  Then to throw them out of sorts, I'll call a forward pass followed by a back pass.  The trick with the back pass is the receiving back becomes a forward and one of the forwards must rotate into a back position.  Then we'll go to 3 consecutive passes.  We'll see how it goes.  I'm thinking it might be very revealing to them why we do the give, go, rotate without me having to tell them anything.  I may just end of getting a good chuckle as they run into each other trying to reform the Vs.  We'll see.

-Bill

Coaching Offense (cont)

We started practice off yesterday by saying it was "Why" day.  I would ask them "Why" a lot and they would ask me the same.  Of course, I did most of the asking.  However, I think it may have worked.  It did seem to get them thinking a bit more on what they were actually doing.  

We're still struggling with a bit of confusion.  We're only playing 3 v coach to try and keep it simple.  I repeatably asked them:

1. What do you do after you pass the ball?   Go
2. Where do you go?  Toward the goal.

That's one situation of three.  The second situation is the girl who receives the ball:

1. What do you do after you receive the ball?  Pass it to the open "V".

Now she's in first situation.  The third situation is the player that didn't pass or receive the ball.

1. What do you do after your teammate passes it to your other teammate?  Rotate.

It's really not that complicated, but in the chaos of the game, if it's not almost automatic, it will get lost.  However, we only have to get it right a few times.  When things go wrong, it won't be any worse than the soccer we played last season.  The key at this point seems to be to get them to pass the ball to the space before their teammate gets there.  They tend to want to pass it to the person which actually puts the ball behind them.  That'll be the next thing we work on.  Pass it to the empty space on your "V".

-Bill

Coaching Offense (cont)

The briefest of updates: My U9 girls are getting the basic concepts of the offense we're putting together (give, go, rotate), but I'm seeing indications of a lack of true understanding. They're following a recipe rather than understanding the situation and the needs created by it. There is knowledge and there is understanding. Knowledge can be delivered quite easily. Understanding is quite another story. I have to help them to build upon what they already understand, but I they have to be willing to attempt to extrapolate on what they already understand and try new ideas. They have to be willing to fail. They have to be able to recognize that the extrapolation didn't work and they have to be willing to try yet again. They have to be willing to think. I'm not sure they're really giving it that much thought. I think they tend to do the easy thing and just stick with the recipe which is really only the "answer" under certain specific conditions. Rather than seeing that recipe as a starting point to build upon, they see it as the end, the final answer.

I have to keep in mind that I must encourage them think and extrapolate. Telling them the "answer" for every situation doesn't work. They'll never show the creativity that makes watching them play so much fun. Helping them learn how to discover the answers for themselves is my job. There just doesn't seem to be enough time...

-Bill

Our New Shopping Website is Released!

We are officially releasing our new and improved shopping website.  There are two really huge points associated with this website.  

1. It looks really nice and it's much more customizable!
2. It uses Google Checkout

You might wonder why I think Google Checkout is so great.  Well let me tell you.  They provide a secure method of shopping that doesn't involve us having to do much of anything.  We provide the information to the Google cart and then they handle to complicated stuff when you check out.

Since this is a new website, if you find any problems or have suggestions, you can email us, leave a comment on our comment page, or leave a comment on this blog.  We'd love to have your input.

-Bill

Coaching Offense

We finally had our first practice of the spring season.  I couldn't wait, because for the first time, I planned on coaching offense.  Until this season, I emphasized skills and defense (pressure / cover / balance).  As skills progressed, offense seemed to just happen.  I liked it that way because I feel like the girls will never get a better chance to learn to move with the ball then when they are young.  As they get older, the defenders get substantially better and the social repercussions of loosing the ball become higher.  

Last season, we had lost so many experienced players and gained so many brand new players that our offense just wasn't there.  That natural chemistry some of the players had always developed in previous seasons was missing.  Also, it occurred to me that most of the girls currently on the team had very generous dispositions.  They were highly inclined to pass the ball.  In fact, they seemed to prefer it.  Perhaps expecting them to develop like my offensive players had done in the past was a mistake on my part.  Perhaps I needed to leverage their social strengths.  With that in mind, I decided it was time to teach these girls to pass the ball.  

Now the hard part about passing, is know when and where.  How is a challenge too, but that will come later (understanding and experience motivate the desire for skill improvement).  So for the first practice, we simplified it down to 3 v coach.  This is difficult to explain in words, so I will just say this.  When you tell the girl with the ball she can pass either forward-left or forward-right, she can grasp that.  Then you tell the player that does not receive the pass to rotate to the forward postion infront of the player that does receive the pass; simple enough.  The player that made the pass runs straight up field to the forward position nearest her which was just vacated by the other forward.  Now you have the same situation as you started with; a player with the ball and a forward to her forward-left and forward-right.  Repeat until you score.  It's "give, go, get" or "give, go, rotate".  That's it.  A player only has to remember 2 sequences with 1 decision (pass left or right).  And I'm teaching them to pass it to the space, not the player.  The player will get there about the same time as the ball.  Now this will become more complex as we move to 3 v 1; a live player can be much more disrupting than the helpful coach.  After that we'll go to 3 v 1 + a keeper.  I have a feeling we'll spend a lot of time at this stage.  This will be a good opportunity for some keeper training as well.  Eventually, we'll go to 3 v 2 + a keeper.  Then we'll have to add in the 2 backs and go 5 v something.  

Now adding the backs works just like the front 3.  If a ball is passed backwards or won by the other team and passed behind the front 3, the first defender becomes the fulcrum of two V's.  One V facing the opponent's goal and the other V facing our own goal.  The 2nd back will move into a "cover" position.  The closest forward player to the back runs back into a back position just like she would run into a forward position after making a forward pass; she'll also be in the "balance" position.  Should the first defender win the ball, it's just like the 3 v game.  Should she get beat, the cover position becomes the first defender and another rotation occurs.  It sounds complicated when I write it, but the girls seem to be getting it.  

We just have a few weeks until the first game.  I'll keep you up to date.

-Bill