It's a Simple Game - 1 v 2 line soccer with goals with special scoring rules

A practice is successful if:

1. they have fun
2. they are challenged
3. they learn applicable skills without a lot of talking from the coach

This week my U10 girls played the "1 v 2 line soccer with goals with special scoring rules" game. (I think we need a new name.) It met the criteria for a successful practice by long shot. It really highlighted how little I've taught them about protecting the ball and supporting their teammates when we have the ball.

First, I'll explain the game. I setup a small field 15 yards wide by 20 yards long with 3 foot wide goals on each end. They play 1 v 2. The 2 person team can score by dribbling the ball through the goal. No shots. The 1 person team can score in 3 ways: stealing the ball, dribbling through her goal, or if the other team kicks the ball out of bounds. After 3 goals are scored by either side, you rotate who is the single player team.

The single players dominated. Most matches were 3 to 0 in favor of the single player at first. Toward the end, the 2 players were at least scoring a little bit, but they have a long way to go. The game is providing an excellent opportunity for them to learn how to protect the ball, how to support their teammate for a back pass, and even how to fake the pass to get by the defender. We even played some 3 v 1 and enforced the offsides rule. (We really need to work on understanding that rule this season too.) Finally, at the end, we played on a 20 x 30 field 5 v 2 with the same rules. You can see the wheels turning. It was very good.

Finally, We Practiced

We finally got in our first practices of the year.

For my U10 girls, we worked on holding / shielding the ball. I have not emphasized this enough in the past and we really need to work on it. By having confidence they can hold the ball under pressure, they won't rush their decisions in the match. So we did some 1 v 1 keep-away and some 3 v 2 monkey in the middle before some 3 v 2 scrimmaging. It seems like a good sequence to move through, but I have to tell you the results were not stellar. We have a long way to go. But it did feel like we made progress, they had fun, and they got a good workout.

For my U6 boys, they were thrilled just to have a soccer ball at their feet and some goals to shoot at. I let them just run around for 15 minutes. Then we did some 1 v 1 keep-away. At this age, they go at it so hard, it wears them out fast and their skills can be so unequal that it can quickly turn into something that is not so fun. I'm going to have to think about this. We also tried monkey in the middle and the middle quickly became the bunch. However, after some time, I did see significant progress. They began to understand spacing. We will definitely do more of this.

For those days when the ground is covered in snow

In North Texas, we don't get a lot of snow, but when we do, here's a couple of drills to keep those 6 year olds touching a soccer ball.

1. The drill where you alternately touch the top of the ball first with the bottom of one foot, then the bottom of the other foot, and continue alternating. (If anyone knows the name of this drill, please add a comment.) Sometime I call it "top hat" or "hat dance" for lack of a better name.
2. The other we call "ticky-tocky". You move the ball back and forth between your feet as quickly as possible like the pendulum on a grandfather clock.

These are challenging and very practical. If they just do it for a couple of minutes, I'm fairly certain it can make a big difference, but that's just a gut impression.

Reminders to Self

1. Bunch ball is good for them - particularly for the little ones. I know, the big kids have to learn to pass. It's a huge part of the game, but with the little ones and to a certain extent the big ones, if you can learn to move the ball out of the bunch, you've just learned a hugely important skill that will help you become a good goal scorer. I'd be willing to bet Messi played a lot of bunch ball as a kid.
2. Learn to handle 1 v 1 pressure - I think if the kids can learn to maintain possession under pressure from a defender, this will give them the confidence and time to make good decisions. We have to practice games that have players learning to hold the ball. You'll know you've succeeded here when they take a touch or two before kicking the ball in the game.
3. Teach them to anticipate what will happen next - This is the toughest. The best method I've come up with so far is unbalanced games such as 3 v 2. The short side has to look at the situation on the fly and determine which player on the long side is the least/most dangerous. If they don't learn to anticipate, they'll get beat every time. Learning to anticipate will allow to the become genuinely creative on the field. Ahh...Barcelona....

Now if we could just get the fields around here dried out with some warm, sunny weather, we'd be ready to go.