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.

There is something special about grassroots soccer

Every coach should make periodic visits back to grassroots soccer.  This week I lived it.  Working with those kids makes me a better coach, of this I have no doubt.

For the last 24 years, a majority of my coaching has been at the district, travel and college level.  But, for me, getting back to grassroots is always re-energizing and meaningful.

This past week I worked our club's annual camp with Coaches Rob and Gerry.  Youth Assistant Coach Cara from our u14 girls team was also on hand.  We had 42 players from ages 5-8, boys and girls and the camp ran from Monday to Friday, 9am-noon.

Working with grassroots players at the youngest age groups re-aligns your coaching methods and gets you right back to basics.  You cannot make assumptions on what the players already know and your tone of voice, coaching style and choice of words have to be bang on and suitable for the age group.

Physical literacy and familiarity with the ball was the order of the week with the camp.  One player.  One ball.  Show them something.  Everyday we ran 30 minutes of different movements with their bodies with and without the ball, then broke off into stations that offered more movements and situations to put their new skills to work.

The kids give you a harsh reminder of what they want and what keeps them coming back.  A nickname.  A free ball and shirt. Fun. Juice breaks.  They didn't even realize they were playing a LOT of soccer.

The length of the get together was not in line with LTPD, but the content was and matched the age group.  It was a camp and I am not sure where LTPD and camps find common ground.

"Working with grassroots players at the youngest age groups re-aligns your coaching methods and gets you right back to basics."

On Saturday, I went to run my friend's session in Niagara Falls and was surrounded by the buzz of younger age house league soccer at Niagara United SC.  This afternoon I took my son to officiate the Welland Soccer Club's annual house league festival and found myself walking around watching the U5-U6 kids from our camp playing.

The look on their faces when they are playing in priceless.  Excitement and nervousness all bundled up in a little kit.  The games were exciting and the parents and coaches were positive with all of the players.

My wife tells everybody that I love Saturday mornings.   How can you not?  The BS and intensity of competitive level sports disappears and it boils down to the players and the ball.  There is an electricity in the air at Saturday morning house league.  Every player comes with parents and siblings, umbrella, chairs and cooler.  You can't find a parking spot and the traffic on the street is jammed.

I make the occasional visit to grassroots soccer, as a coach, but this week I was immersed in it and came out a better coach.