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