U17 - Shape around the ball

Our U17 boys have been very good at establishing their overall shape, but we need to continue working on our shape around the ball.

The work and commitment these boys have put into establishing team shape has been good.  They've given themselves to the philosophy, put some stubbornness aside and have put forth some good team efforts.  We appreciate the trust they've shown us as coaches.  They also see that it opens up more opportunities for them and they've been successful.

What does need to be worked on  is our shape around the ball.  That being the shape of  2v1, 3v2, 3v1, 4v2 and 4v3 situations.

Next session we are going to work on the shape involving the player with the ball and his near support.

Some things that were bothering me during our game last night.  Maybe it's bothering me because I want to take them to another level:

• The movement of players after they use the support behind them (or lack of)
• The angle and movement of players in near support
• Players who don't know when to take 3-4 steps backward towards the touch line to create space
• Checking back to create space
• Body position of support players
• Ability to quickly recognize and execute 2v1

The 2v1 is the biggest.  All good things revolve around the 2v1.  When a player is coming up the field and then pressured, we sometimes have a teammate standing behind the pressuring defender.  This causes several problems:

• Takes away the 1v1 opportunity for player with ball
• Teammate behind the defender is not supporting the ball
• Takes away wall-pass option.
• Making defender's job easier

All that player needs to do is move 3-4 steps towards either touchline and VOILA, the 2v1 is there and you now have 3 options.  3-4 steps took the situation from no options to 3.

We have worked on it and some players are in the habit of making the right movements, but we need to do it until all players know what's expected of them in close quarters.  The right movement and positioning off the ball makes you a more attractive option for a pass, creates options for your teammate and causes problems for defenders.

We do have a lot of wall passes during games and pass our way out of a lot of tight spots, but we want to have that ability regardless of the combination of players present in a situation. 

Knowing how to move around the ball will make some of these boys more attractive to their respective college/university/senior  coaches in the future.

Over the years I've made an observation at all levels of play.  The guys who don't move intelligently/decisively off the ball are the same guys who complain of never getting a pass.  Hmmmmm.....

U13 - Keep teaching proper soccer, no matter what

The very nature U13 soccer is an exercise in finding positives in every situation.  The physical difference between players is a reality that will not go away.

At U13, the physical stature of boys ranges from those who are still boys to those who are turning into men.  Some of the Toronto based teams we play have "men".  Some of the Niagara teams have big boys, but not men.  By men, I mean the level of aggression, physical size, muscle tone and strength, speed, etc.  I am not sure of why this phenomenon is the way it is, but it's true.

We do not have a big team.  For me, it's important to teach them everything I can so when they catch up to their opponents, physically, they are equipped to compete.  This requires patience from coaches and co-operation from parents. 

Last night my team was literally run over.  We played a team that had 5 "men" who literally bulldozed their way to our net.  Speed, strength, intensity that you usually don't see until U15.  Had we had an inexperienced referee with a quick whistle, a lot of their play would have been halted, but their only "foul" was being big.  They deserved no whistles and I would not want to see a boy punished because he's growing faster than others. 

I could not be unhappy with our players.  Maybe I'm going coo-coo, but we did a lot of things well.  We executed wall passes, short-short-long plays, penetrating passes, stayed organized, strung together 5-6 passes on many occasions and had some very, very good ideas throughout the game.  Our goalkeeping has also been solid.  We just had no answer to their speed and strength. 

My fear for some early bloomers is that they succeed because of their physical dimensions and their coaches do not refine their game because they are having current success.  Then, when everybody else catches up, they are very average because their technique was not refined and their speed/size is no longer an advantage.  I've seen it over and over. 

More confusing is this is where (U12/U13/U14) boys become men at different stages yet it's also where we start discarding players in our provincial/national program.  Canada/Ontario Soccer's LTPD and the new Ontario Player Development League is directly addressing that.  A lot of late bloomers did not bother asking for re-evaluation and took other pathways to success.

Still, playing big boys, small boys, whatever, our 1v1 defending and commitment to denying forward progress still needs a lot of work.

I can't change our size or our opponents, but we will continue to strengthen their technical toolbox so they are ready when the time is right. 

The best way to make the most of the situation is to work to play faster/smarter and move the ball where they "ain't" and BEFORE they get there.  So we have to ensure our processing and decision speed is quicker than their running speed.

It's good for me to have Coach Paul in a situation like this.  His older son was a late bloomer in hockey and is achieving success later in his youth career.  He was discarded from travel teams several times up till 12 years old, yet, he stuck with the sport, worked hard and is regarded as a very good player.

On a lighter note, another thing that I find that needs work is our ability to "give 5".  Some of our boys are weak in laying a good "five" on their coach or teammates in the right situations.  I'm talking high five, low five, that type of thing.  We'll fix that too.  :-)

U17 Boys - Lots of footwork

How can you not want to do footwork?  In this game, your feet are your "money makers".  This holds true for most sports.

For our Sunday session it was all individual work, 1 ball per player.

For a lot of our sessions we were doing some individual work, then small group work, then our tactical/philosophical portion.

On Sunday, we did an hour of individual work.  We challenged the boys with different sequences with their feet and a lot of repetitions.  Some with the ball, some without.  Some of the boys were grumbling a bit but they all did it.

I did notice that some of them struggled, and they're 17 years old boys who play multiple sports.  Footwork is never a negligible area for soccer players.  For ANY athlete.

Watch young players closely when they play.  If they get caught up and lose an opponent see if you can notice them possibly leading off on the wrong foot.  Or if a player struggles to get a shot off in the box, you might notice their feet fighting each other to get set up to shoot.  Or a keeper who takes off from the wrong foot when they dive.  Footwork.

After our individual work played for 25 minutes.  The first 10 minutes was 2-touch soccer then we transitioned to free flowing soccer.  After 60 minutes of following instructions I did not coach them much other than the condition of 2 touch.

For the last 10-15 minutes we had a game, including the coaches.  Losers did 20 push-ups, winners collected the balls.

Did they enjoy the session?  I think so ... some of them thanked me afterwards.

Was there improvement?  Not sure yet ... but I did succeed in reminding them how important your feet are to success.

P.S.  I did 20 push-ups.

U13 - FIRST win of the season

We finally won our first season game tonight.  It was a good moment for the boys.  And a relief for me.

We had a few games that we could/should have won but let things slip away.  We've won games in tournaments, but season games are the true tests.

I could pick the game apart and mention that I was still not happy with our reluctance to challenge, but I will not.  I could mention that our restarts took a little step backwards.  But I will refrain.

We did a lot of good things with the ball and had 4 aggressive goals from four different players.  Our GK was sharp and he did have action.  We've scored 6 goals in our last 2 games and that's big for us.  Our wide defenders were very involve din the attack tonight.  Activity on the flanks encourages the boys to keep their shape.

We have been doing some fun things with the ball in training and they actually used some of it tonight, with confidence.  All involved playing the ball in the air to each other (wall passes, penetrating passes, etc). 

At U13, winning is not important in terms of standings etc.  But it is VERY helpful in terms of keeping the guys in tune with your message and trusting you as a coach.

We also told the boys that the more you lose, the more difficult the first win is.  Every game becomes increasingly tense and everybody worries about making mistakes. 

We had a few players who took serious leaps in the confidence tonight through their play. 

We'll see what the next game brings in terms of confidence and expectations.

We play again Saturday then train Monday.  We will continue the message of 1v1 defending through different activities, work on restarts and more finishing.

U17 - Commitment to smarter soccer

The U17 boys have demonstrated a commitment to being smarter players and a smarter team.

 This team has been a good experience so far.

Every game the boys are meshing into a more cohesive unit.  Every player has shown their own creativity, individually and in small groups and that is something you never want to program out of them.

Our shape is always getting better and everybody has a better understanding of how they fit into the situation regardless of where the ball is.  My personal little indicators of improving shape are:

• Wide defenders being used as options on the attack
• Wide defenders always being immediate options for the keeper
• Wide midfielders available, wide, at all times
• Strikers supporting each other when pressuring high
• Central midfielders always supporting, on angles, to each other
• Players sliding into positions to cover players who make attacking runs
• Player with ball always having a forward, lateral and backward option.
• Our shape opening holes in the defending team's shape

On the defensive side of the ball, they are showing a lot of patience in the right parts of the field.  This was a problem earlier in the season.  We now concede very few crosses from poor 1v1 defending out wide.  Our opponents rarely get a successful, first time direct pass out of their end because our strikers are goal side of the ball, one supporting the other.

More importantly, defensively, I hear the boys talking themselves into their shape.  When our strikers are flat and beside each other or a player is being challenged in different parts of the field teammates are giving the right information to help make things work.

Our intention was never to make the kids robots. Here's the thing ... if the players are systematically organized and understand what they are doing, they put themselves in a better position when it comes time to take that gamble and be creative.

We have some creative players who have great ideas and those ideas break games open.  We just want to make sure we are ready to defend or relaunch if those ideas don't work. 

If the boys continue to buy into the message, we will continue adding on to what we've built to this point.