U13 - Game Day session

This morning we had a session in advance of our home game tonight.  These are my favourite times to have a session as it gives each player a chance for low pressure and positive touches leading up to the match.

Day time sessions were common with my older teams during the summer break and I thought they were very productive.  With this group I have not had a chance to do them.  This morning it was Coach John from our second team and me.

This was done on short notice.  For one reason or another we have not been able to convene in over a week.  So I called  a session from 9:30-11:00 this morning.  We ended up with 11 of our 14 players and 5 players from our second team (who also have a game tonight).

We started with a group ball warm-up that covers a wide spectrum of movements, ball touches and techniques.  Everybody is busy and it's very organized, in my opinion.  I got this warm-up watching the South Korean U20 team train when they were in Toronto for the 2007 FIFA U20 World Cup.

I set up 2 rows of cones 10yds apart.  Each player has a partner and a ball.   Partners at at one cone each, 10yds apart.

• Start off by tossing ball back and forth, over the head, checking in and out "look athletic"
• Toss ball back and forth around mid section
• Roll ball back and forth.  Switching hands.  No feet.
• Player with ball dribbles to other cone while partner runs past him to other cone.  when player reaches the cone, they turn, pass to partner and repeat the sequence.
• Player dribbling with ball again, but partner does a take-over and dribbles back to cone, turns and dribbles out again towards partner who takes it back.  player who is dribbling and leaves the ball for partner runs to other cone and turns around
• Players pass back and forth 2 touch, checking out and in every time
• Players pass back and forth one touch
• Tossing ball , player brings down ball, and dribbles to other cone while partner runs past him to his cone.  Player with the ball reaches the end, picks up the ball and tosses it to partner.
• With the players switching cones, one player can be juggling while the other walks.  When the player with the ball reaches the end, while still juggling, they turn and lob the ball to their partner who starts juggling.
• With the players facing each other, the walk to switch cones while juggling the ball with each other while they walk and cross.  Could be one touch, 2 touch, etc.

We then went to some challenges for the kids to have in their pocket for when they are with a friend goofing off with a ball.  Some involved juggling and moving from one point to another.  Another was one player is on the 18yd line with a ball and the partner is on the 6yd line.  The challenge is for the player to chip the ball off the cross bar and his partner on the 6yd line to head it in. 

We then did some running sequences involving players with and without the ball, a lot of chasing, fast feet going backwards, etc.

When we got into our game, we played 8v8v on a mini field with NO KEEPERS, 2 touch!  My goal for the game was to enforce the importance of defending, 1v1 and in groups.  We stressed the importance of moving back when defending as a team.  This is a terrible part of our game.  It helps in your numbers around the ball, takes away opponents options and puts you in a better position to keep possession if you win the ball back.

Coaching points:

• When your team is not in possession, nobody should be walking.
• Pressure on the ball has to be immediate, to remove the threat of a long pass towards or shot to an empty net
• Stay alert ... do not be mesmerized by the ball and lose sight of what's happening around you.

I thought the session went well.  We kept it organized and flowing.  The attitude in the group was great as they are all anticipating their games tonight.  For me, I got what I wanted: the boys having positive time with the ball on their foot and a chance to show off if they could during our warm-up and challenges.

There was a bit of overbearing coaching happening during the early parts of the game but they were improving as we were going along.  I was happy with the work rate for a game day session.  It was very hot out so we didn't run them into the ground or get too intense.  There were plaenty of water breaks and time to be social.  I would like to think the players enjoyed it.

We'll see how tonight's game goes.

Nothing to do with soccer ... boxrun.ca ... what a great thing

A former Olympic boxer named Mike Strange from Niagara Falls has taken it upon himself to finish Terry Fox's run.  One of his inspirations for the run is young Matteo Mancini who is battling cancer himself.

I spent some time in Matteo's school as a supply teacher this year, and the community is really praying and supporting his battle.  You can tell by the outpouring of love at school that he is a well liked young man.

My sister-in-law, Alyson DiDonato, is a tech teacher at the school and she assembled this video with students as a message of support for Mike and Matteo:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxEGiYAIrBA

You can follow Mike's run and/or make a donation at http://www.boxrun.ca

He started at Terry Fox's famous start point in Thunder Bay, ON and is days away from taking a swim in the Pacific Ocean in British Columbia.

GO MIKE GO!

MLS - EPL - EURO 2012 - Are the kids watching?

With so much soccer available on TV these days, it blows me away as to how many young people who play have never watched a game from beginning to end.

I have troubling understanding how that's possible, as it hasn't been a problem with our extended family.  Even with Euro 2012 and all of the big names, I know some of my players have not taken in an entire match.

Where does my duty as a coach end?  On the field?  Making them passionate by introducing them to professional soccer? Is it appropriate for a coach to make plans that will cost parents more money and time?
 
One of the biggest marketing problems with North American soccer has been turning the incredible number of youth players into paying spectators.  People do not realize that in Canada there are more youth soccer players than ice hockey!  But getting somebody to a professional match a second time is very easy, after they experience the environment.

Some people will say tey want to see Europena football ... well, we don't live in Europe.  MLS matches have proven very entertaining and fun for the fans.  In 2011, MLS attendance average was higher than the top leagues of Scotland, Australia, Japan, Belgium, most of the South American leagues and all of the pro leagues in England (except EPL).

Whether watching on TV or live, there is so much for young people to see and emulate from high level professionals.  Ideas, styles and learning happens when a young set of eyes are watching the sport played correctly.  Great examples are young players emulating the NHL players while playing street hockey or young American basketball players mimicking their idols on street courts.

In 2012, seeing soccer at high levels is not a challenge.  The Canadian Soccer League has teams all over Ontario and Toronto FC is within a 2 hour drive of most of the population.  Soccer is available on TV at TSN, SportsNet, The Score, TeleLatino, Gol TVand ESPN.  We see soccer from all over the world on our screens.

Canada's Men's National Team is now playing all their home games in Toronto.

Most players rarely touch a ball away from the team environment and never watch the game on TV.  Everything they know comes from their own discovery and the coach's lips.  That's not enough.

The reality just may be that soccer will always fight the "participation sport" mentality.

U13 - two steps away - TWO HUGE STEPS

Challenging for 50/50 balls and patient 1v1 defending away from our net.  If we could sell the kids on those two things, our fortunes would be so different.

Easier said than done, but it's our job to fix it.  We do it in training but the games have been a different story.  We will keep doing it in as many different forms as possible until all of the boys are on board.  We love the boys and they are definitely worth every effort put forth on their behalf.

Last night we played the team one level up from the same club as the team that beat us last week 5-1.  We ended up losing 5-0 last night.

It was the same story.  It was 0-0 for the first 35 minute.  We weren't in there half as much as other games this year, but we were holding our own against a much better team.  The difference was, as always, the ability and willingness to challenge and properly compete for each and every ball.

Our shape was decent again and I was happy with what I saw considering we had to move some players around to cover for our absent central defender.   He's a fast, athletic boy who wins balls.  We had a lot of wall passes and they worked the ball around the back several times with some success.  We also used our GK more often when under pressure while facing our own goal.  Our width is happening as a reaction instead of habit and that is taking away options from our wide defenders when they win the ball.

Coach Paul and I will mix things up a bit at training but we will still bang our drums about challenging for balls and patient 1v1 defending.  The over-committing in 1v1 defending was at an all time high last night.  We will continue to emulate those situations at training.

The size difference is so much more noticeable this year at U13.  Not only height, but the level of "manliness" each boy has.  Some boys are literally intimidated by the physical structure of the player they are to challenge.  We have some big boys as well.  Some boys are simply dishing the ball off to whomever when somebody is attacking them.  Again, we have to continue simulating those situations at training and work to give them confidence when that happens in a game.

Practices have been touching on numerous technical components of the game, but the main theme of the session always revolves around what had to be improved from our last match.

We have 2 sessions before our next match.   We'll see what comes of them.

U17 - Phase of Play - 2 strikers in 4-4-2

On Sunday we had a session with our u17 boys.  The boys have been successful in league play but we have yet to have a session with enough boys to get organized in our 4-4-2.

Our back 4 and midfield have been relatively decent.  However our 2 strikers have not been organized at all and balls have been played to them in a haphazard manner and they have basically been sent on endless footraces on through balls.  They are playing well, individually, and scoring goals, but against a better team the lack of organization makes things more difficult.

So the focus of our phase of play was the movement of our 2 strikers.  What's been bothering me the most is that they have been playing flat and assuming roles of left and right striker.


We ran a phase-of-play practice.  The organization was a section of the field, full width, fixed goal on one end and 3 mini goals (6ft wide with cones) placed across the field at the back end of the centre circle (65 yds away from the fixed goal).

For the attacking team we had 2 wide defenders, central defender, 4 mids and 2 strikers.  For the defending team we had a GK, 4 defenders and 2 midfielders.  The attacking team scored in a regular fashion, on goal.  The defending team had 3 goals to choose from.  Offsides were in effect.  The game was started by playing a ball to the wide defenders on the attacking team.

We were working on the relationship between the 2 strikes and their movement in relation to the ball being in different areas.

In order to make this work we had to coach the team into shape first, keeping the ball moving and having them play 2 touch soccer.  We also had to get the defending team to push out and make the situation more realistic.

The message was:

• Regardless of where the ball was, the 2 strikers had to have an idea of what they could do so support the ball and look to play behind the defenders.
• For the purpose of early learning, we wanted both strikers on the same side of the field as the ball when the ball is wide.
• It is not the job of both strikers to make penetrating runs on every pass.
• Penetration is a result of the 2 strikers and 4 mids working as a unit of 6
• As one striker moves to support the ball one of the central mids or opposite wide midfielder sneaks up looking to get behind the defenders, if that play is one
• Balls had to be played through "now" to keep defenders scrambling and prevent offside situations.

I thought it went OK but things were derailing on occasion.  The team had to recognize when it was time to determine the forward pass was off and it was time to relaunch from a different point of attack.  We also need to involve our wide defenders more when it was time to relaunch.

We also had a problem getting the defenders to adopt an attacking mentality, and look to score and move out.  Getting them out and playing offside was a challenge that eventually happened.

This was the first time I had done anything overly tactical with this team and I saw it was the first time any of them had ever done anything tactical, on a field-wide level.  They did well enough and I think next time they will appreciate the setup of a phase-of-play and adapt quicker. 

Coach Ben has been working during games to keep good shape and avoid players being flat and I give him credit.   My pet peeve with the 4-4-2 is coaches just throw their players on at 4-4-2 and let the game happen.  There is no shape, players are flat, not enough width and large gaps exist when people are not running.  There is so much each player has to know in any formation, but 4-4-2 seems to be the fall-back setup of most people.   I see 4-4-2 a lot, but rarely is it played correctly.

I am not a fan of 4-4-2 for youth soccer and rarely use it anymore for teams.  In this case, all of their high school teams use it as well as most men's teams ... so I figured we may as well equip them with as much info as possible so they can make a transition and fit in.

Today I think the message sunk in for the 2 strikers.  We will see Wednesday.

I should have asked first if the boys had ever done something like this and that they would need to focus and listen as the field is big and they can easily feel left out of the coaching points.  I should have explained the purpose of what we were doing and the importance of everybody working to make it successful.  I did explain what we were doing, just needed more of the "why" and "how".  I tried to keep the coaching points to a minimum but ran into a few spells where I needed to make a few extra points.  I will do a phase of play session again to improve the defenders ability to win and keep the ball.