Sunday, January 22, 2006

Soccer Styles of Play

The style of the coach/team is how the ball moves once it is in possession of a player. We propose that there are two basic styles:

Penetration style:

Typically has the fewest touches on the ball to move play quickly into the opponent's penalty box. Uses long balls frequently.

Possession Style:

Typically has lots of touches by the same team. Builds up play through many passes to set up scoring chances.

The style is ultimately determined by the coach's preference in conjunction with the players skills.

Teams with excellent passing and receiving skills can string passes together to look for an opening in the opponent's defence. They also have the flexibility of breaking quickly.

Teams with poor ball control skills are probably better served playing more of a penetration game.

Saturday, January 14, 2006

SOCCER GOALKEEPER TRAINING

The key difference between soccer goalkeeper training and regular team training is the experience of the coach. Most coaches have played soccer and can easily understand player and team skill deficiency and are able to provide corrective help, including demonstrations.

Not many coaches have goalkeeping experience and quite a few struggle with what to do with goalies during practice. Those who come up with drills and techniques are to be commended, yet, when they see errors they don't have the knowledge to correct them. So what is one to do about training one of the key and only specialty positions on the team?

Our advice is to first of all not to ignore the goalkeeper(s) and to get a dedicated person to work with them. If that person is a former goalie, great.

Second, find some specific goalkeeper training material in your bookstore or on the web and work out a practice plan for your keeper, just like you do for the team.

Third, send your goalie to goalkeeper clinics. Most of them are well worth the money. If at all possible, observe or even take a clinic yourself so you learn what a goalie should do and you acquire the skill to help your keeper.

We, at soccerpracticebooks.com are developing a goalkeeper drills and practice plan book combined with a photo series to demonstrate key points. We expect to launch this addition to our portfolio by May 1, 2006.

Thursday, January 05, 2006

Physical Play - "Leaning In"

This is a bit of a controversial topic, mostly as it relates to if and when to teach a team physical play. In my opinion, this shouldn't happen until the age of 12-14 and then only in a competitive environment. However, reality has coaches at all levels and sadly, all age groups, teaching kids physical play instead of skills. So consider this article as a self defense primer which you can employ if circumstances dictate.

The basic concept for this is to put your body between the ball and the opponent, leading with the shoulder. Contact shoulder to shoulder is not a foul. What is a foul is if a player has possession of the ball and someone pushes/knocks them off. What is not a foul is if someone is dribbling, pushing the ball a bit too far ahead and someone else angles themselves in. For the latter case, teach your kids to dribble the ball close to their feet and when under pressure to shield the ball. When in possession, it is legal to move your arms away from your body to protect your space and prevent the leaning in or angling in by others.

To teach trying to get the body "in there", consider these drills:

1v1 Drill # 1

Put two players facing each other 10m apart. Put a ball in the middle. On coach's whistle both players sprint trying to get control of the ball. This is not trying to touch the ball or to kick the ball. This is trying to get your body between the ball and the opponent and then shielding it such that the opponent can't touch it with their feet.

1v1 Drill #2

put two players 5m apart facing a ball 10m out, such that the two players and the ball make a triangle. On whistle, players sprint trying to get control of the ball.
You can turn this into a whole practice session as a fun game by having 1v1 round robin tournaments, declaring a toughness champion at the end.

Team Drill

To get them used to physical contact, put all your players into a 5m x 5m grid. The object is to push other players out of the grid. Last one in the grid wins. This is a little dicey: make sure there are no pulls, grabs or other dirty tricks. Players can use hands to push, not throw. Use your coaching judgment to guide them so that it's safe and meaningful. If it doesn't work, stop it and move to something else. Again, it should have a fun element, not a nasty one.

Fundamentally, you may also consider sprinting/speed exercises. Getting to the ball first is more than half the battle.