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.