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."