How to Achieve in Soccer - The Path

If our purpose for playing and coaching youth soccer is to achieve certain results in the players (thinking, skills, etc.), then how do we reach these goals?

First, we focus on the path. You can say you want to achieve one thing, but if you’re actions are not pointing toward that destination, you’ll never get there.

For example, if my primary goal for my kids is to teach them to recognize a situation, discover a solution, and communicate it to their teammates, then our practice should consist of activities that move us down this path. If my practice, instead, consists primarily of telling the kids the solutions to problems and then having them practice executing that solution, I’m clearly not moving toward my stated goal. The kids will play better soccer, but will they be reaching my goal of improved thinking and communication? I would have them moving down the wrong path.

This last season, in an effort to get more goals, I went down the path of practicing my solutions to the problems. It worked. We scored more goals. However, I had lost sight of my real destination. To top it all off, trying to get them to implement my solution was quite frustrating for me. Rather than enjoying seeing my players discover the solutions to their problems, I only experienced a sort of relief when they finally “got it”. Even then I could tell it was an artificial understanding because when the situation was not a perfect match to what we’d practiced, they’d often make poor decisions. I’ll be going back to my preferred method of letting them discover the solutions and designing games for practice that will guide them in this discovery. It takes longer to get “there”, but when they get “there”, they are truly “there” and ready to discover more solutions.

Why Do We Play and Coach Soccer?

Why do we play/coach soccer? Why do we spend several hours a week in activities focused on the sport of soccer. Our actions should have a purpose. We spend a lot of time on soccer. What is the purpose of this activity?

Fun? I like to have fun. However, doing something just for the fun of it is often a formula for trouble. True joy can be a result of achievement with a purpose. Fun is something a vandal may say justifies his vandalism. Fun is not a “purpose” for playing soccer.

Achievement? I think this might be it. Improving your soccer skills, growing a team’s chemistry, and putting together a good season are definitely accomplishments which you can be proud of (unlike my grammar).

Our world of soccer is like a simulation of our real world, but in the soccer-world consequences to actions are more immediate and obvious. It has as lot of the same appeal as many video games, but with the very important difference that it is not completely imaginary. It gives us an opportunity to achieve. The lessons learned can translate out of the micro-world of soccer and into the macro-world of everyday life.

As a recreational youth soccer coach, what am I trying to achieve? I think the key phrase here is coach. A youth coach, like a teacher, has to have the child’s achievements as his primary goal. I think where things get conflicting is that as a coach, we tend to adopt a professional coach’s metric and judge our achievement by wins. This causes us to put our achievements as a coach (wins) above the achievements of the players. There is no doubt, prioritizing winning will cause a coach to sacrifice player-learning in order to achieve the desired results. As a recreational coach, I have to have the discipline to prioritize the child’s achievements. If I actually think about it, those are the achievements that give me the greatest joy.

There are teams where everyone knows going in that the primary goal is winning. That’s fine, but on these teams, the parents and players are also conceding that player development will be secondary; I guess to them its worth it. On my teams, parents should know that the priority will be on player development. It will cost us some wins, but it’s worth it.

Select Soccer - They've reached that age

Over the years, we’ve had several players leave our rec soccer team to join academy soccer teams. Here in North Texas, there is no shortage of soccer clubs to choose from. If your goal (as a parent) is to see your little one get as good at soccer as quickly as possible, there is no doubt that doubling up the practice schedule and playing year around in various leagues and tournaments will do it. Concerning soccer, I personally put my priority on helping my kids have fun, get some exercise, and spend some time with Dad. Turning them over to another coach at age 6 doesn’t seem like the best plan to me.

Now my girls are old enough to start thinking about select soccer; actually, I should say the parents are thinking about it. I’m having trouble understanding the motivations of the parents that want to “go select”. Again, if “soccer skills” is the priority, which they say it is, then the extra time and professional coaching you get at a club is certainly justified. They say the girls need these skills so they can achieve their “dream” of high school and college soccer. I wonder how many of these girls have ever been to even one high school soccer game. I wonder how many have ever even watched more than 5 minutes of soccer on TV. I wonder how they acquired this “dream”.

Honestly, these parents are putting way more priority on soccer skills than they do on their child’s education. Their kids are in their prime learning years, but do these parents spend an extra dime on ensuring they’re kids are maximizing their “thinking skills”? A child’s “thinking skills” will play a far greater role in their success in life than “soccer skills”. Playing soccer does deliver some life skills, no doubt, I spend a lot of time and energy coaching soccer for that very reason; however, I don’t put it higher than my kid’s education.

If parents instilled in their kids the “dream” of becoming a entrepreneur, scientist, engineer, or some other productive occupation rather than “high school soccer star”, and then backed it up the time and resources they are willing to put into select soccer, imagine how this would carry forward in their children’s lives. These types of dreams that don’t end in high school.

Invite Them to Learn

It's so easy for us as adults to want to see instant results by asking our kids to be little robots that do exactly what we want them to do. I'm told by those who know, that kids don't learn under this kind of pressure. You have to invite them to learn. An invitation can be declined; it's not an order. As a coach, am I making my sessions an invitation to learn or a chance to drill a lesson into their head? In the attempt to get better results, I know I've leaned more toward the drilling side of things. This will have short-term benefits, but long-term consequences. It takes more effort and preparation on my part to have a session that is an invitation which is so attractive it won't be turned down. As a coach, I need to do my preparatory work as much as the players.

Win the Ball and then Protect It

Today we'll practice practice getting to the ball first. Then once you have it, don't let the defenders take it. Of course, it has to be fun.

One really good game which let's everyone work on dribbling at the same time is ball tag. On a small field, let the entire team go after one person and try to tag his ball with their ball. The target player has their hands full just dribbling around the square avoiding all the shots at his ball. Whoever gets his ball with their ball becomes the new target. The kids love it and really learn to keep it close and still keep their head up.

Next we play the Get it First game. In this one, we'll have two lines of players on either side of the coach. The coach will toss the ball up so it gets some good bounces. The first player in each line will try to be the first player to get the ball. Once they win the ball, they try to score at the opposite end of the field with the other player defending. While those two are busy, the coach can toss another ball and let the next two go at it. Emphasis here is on running through the ball while it's bouncing; it won't work if they stop and try and settle it. After that, they need to dribble and shoot under strong pressure from the other player.

After that, we may play the Star Wars game where you set up a couple of smaller boxes with a shared edge and set a defender in each box. The other players try to dribble through each box (going from one end of the rectangle to the other) without letting the defender kick the ball out. If the defender does get it, they retrieve their ball and try again immediately. If they make it, they count a goal and try again immediately.

I'm thinking we can't get enough of these games.

Positions vs. Positionless Soccer

I want the U11 forwards/mids moving, overlapping, crossing over, confusing the defense, understanding and anticipating the action. They want positions, a "safe" place, organization, to simply wait for the ball.

Do I give in and allow them to play with these fixed positions and clear instructions on what to do in the most common situations? Or do I allow them to struggle with the chaos and let their minds begin to really understand the patterns? Or is it just too much to ask?

I see a good response in some players. This gives me hope that letting them sort through the chaos is potentially a good idea.

I've learned a lot over the last several years and continue to learn. I have to admit that my U7 team playing 4 v 4 with no positions, always has someone in the cover position even though its often not the same person. They actually connected on some passes this week. They even maintained separation when their teammate had the ball. Yet they still dribbled aggressively and pressured aggressively. I think I may have done a better job with them and they are handling the chaos even though they're much younger.

I'm still not sure.

Passing in the Fast Lane

No, I'm not talking about driving. We played a new game yesterday that really seemed effective.

I like simple, self-correcting games that I can explain once and then let them play. In this one, I setup a "lane" 10 yards wide and 40 yards long. 3 girls started at one end and 2 girls we set to stop them. The object was for the 3 girls to dribble or pass their way to the other end without letting the ball get out of the "lane". Even though it was 3 v 2, they really struggled at first. However, with some tips on shielding the ball under extreme pressure and supporting your teammates, they got better. Then we pointed out that passes need to be to the side of your teammates away from the pressure. Then we talked about first touches away from pressure and even up the lane. We saw some quicker passes in a give-and-go situation. To top it off, we enforced offsides which made it really tough and certainly reinforced this tricky topic.

I really think they learned a lot. They had to be more precise and think quicker than normal. Hopefully, it will make the wide open space of the field seem slow and easy.