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Travel Soccer teams around NOVA let's discuss
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Anonymous
Individual (1v1) comfort/ability/confidence should be #1 but I believe with a mix of tactical and decision making development. Kids are sponges and they absorb everything but you also have to evaluate the players you have before trying to focus on more than the individual skills and the basics of tactical positioning. |
Anonymous
It's an interesting question. I have seen kids who just have a knack for passing, setting other player up and getting assists. They pass to the right player before the defense can react and as a result put pressure on the defense. When they are in the game, the team scores and keeps possession. These type of kids are rare and do not seem to be valued. These kids usually have the skill to beat 1 vs 2 and draw the defense to them, but pass to the open man(who is open because of his or her work) or start the break out with a great pass from the back. All the attention will go to the goal scorer and the player who set to table is ignored. |
Anonymous
That's my kid exactly. Always prefers passing to the open man. His teammates love him, but yeh, not a 'star.' |
Anonymous
It's all about who you have coaching. My son is lucky to be on a team whose coach first congratulates the assist and others who set up the play (even some that don't touch the ball but made the run to take defender away) with goal scorer getting recognition after. People's minds are changing. Don't worry your kid will get the due recognition. My kid is also doing the passing and switching fields but not the main goal scorer. |
Anonymous
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I think if you're going to stress 1v1 with no passing whatsoever, why play 7v7? Seems like that should be 3v3 max.
Also -- how are kids supposed to develop a good first touch if they never have an opportunity? If you're just doing 1v1, the only first touch you'll have is when you win the ball, and that's not what we mean by developing a "first touch." I understand that we want to encourage players to be confident in taking on defenders. But there's still plenty of room for that if you're also trying to move the ball around, and I think players suffer if they don't even try to develop a first touch until age 11. |
Anonymous
Alexandria, Arlington...maybe others Really? I haven't heard of any new 2006 players in Arlington this mid-season. |
Anonymous
Stressing 1v1 is not the same as not encouraging passing. "Encouraging 1v1" might be a better phrase to use. Regardless, U7-U10ish, confidence on the ball in 1v1 situations should be encouraged. 5v5 at these ages simplifies the decision tree for kids and actually can encourage passing as well as the options are more obvious for the young player. 1v1s allow the player more opportunities to use all of their foot which improves their first touch. None of this happens in a vacuum. But if you are not comfortable on the ball you can't look up, if you can't look up you won't/can't pass. |
Anonymous
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At U9/U10 it is important that the kids develop good foot skills (basic ball control, agility, quickness, fakes, and 1v1 moves) so they can execute automatically.
I'm not a big fan of telling HOW your players to play the game at the younger ages, expose them to the right habits and let them create their own individual / team style 1v1 is the foundation of the game and is an important element to develop, but it is only one piece of the puzzle. At that age, coaches should spend some time on: 3v1, 3v2, 3v3, 2v3, 2v2, 2v1, 1v3, 1v2, 1v1 You can't expect the kids to get it right every time (and its hard for them to understand things like exact spacing and timing of combination play at the younger ages), but its important that they understand the concepts of numbers up, numbers down, and numbers even situations. Yes, that includes 1v3 and 1v2... I know a player has a mastery of foot skills when they can be successful once in a while taking on 2 or even 3 players at once on the dribble. You know those players when you see them. Also, risk vs. reward is important. In the attacking third, go for it... see if you can score or create an easy goal for someone else Midfield third, go for it if there's enough space around you, but then look to pass after you've beaten the player and you start to get swarmed by defenders. Defensive third, better to use a speed dribble or look to pass than try to go 1v1 in the traditional sense. |
Anonymous
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And yes, even though they play 7v7 at U9, I would not expect players to "properly" play the game anyway. Each coach has their own opinion, but here's mine and what I would expect out of players:
The off-seasons are good times to teach these "modules" because the players need to be using the larger goals in practice to help them with spatial orientation. Playing only 3v3 or 4v4 for the fall season during practice when your team plays 7v7 is confusing to the players. During the season, I focus on skills, skills, skills (first touch, dribbling, passing, shooting, or intermediate/advanced variances of these) because you can see the improvement from week to week. If you focus on tactics during the season at the younger age groups, you can do everything right, play a superior team, and it still falls apart. This is just my take, everyone will have their own opinion Season Theme Age League Game Format winter 3v3 U9 7v7 summer 4v4 U9 7v7 winter 4v4 U10 7v7 summer 5v5 U10 7v7 winter 6v6 U11 8v8 summer 7v7 U11 8v8 winter 8v8 U12 8v8 summer 9v9 U12 8v8 Ongoing 11v11 U13 11v11 |
Anonymous
I agree with the above poster. This is why players need to be rotated through the positions in the early years (even if you might lose a game!). Different skills are required for all positions and you want to develop into a player that can be inserted anywhere in a line-up. Granted, you will eventually as you age have a dominant position--let's not pigeonhole young. My older son was striker the entire U9 and U10 seasons and my younger son has been primarily center back this season at U9. My younger son used to have incredible ball skill and was a prolific goal scorer---now the very few times he gets put up front he has such a defensive mind sent. He hangs way back and has lost a lot of his former drive to goal. Also, in the defensive position primarily he doesn't get the ability to use his ball skill. His passing and reading the field has grown--but nobody wants anyone taking on players in the back 1/3. Unfortunately, when he's in back the opposing team never scores---they pull him out and other team rack up a few goals so he goes right in the back again. They say they can't trust anyone else back there. UGH!!!!!!!!!!!! My older son, thankfully, moved to a team this year (had to jump from U10 to U12--damn birth year!) where the coach really has him playing the entire field. It has improved his game tremendously. While every kid loves striker, to be stuck there primarily from age 8-10 hinders the overall development. Not to mention pissed a lot of other parents off. Unfortunately, it's hard for big clubs to be a one-stop shop. No club can provide a player with every thing they need to develop properly. Most importantly is how much a player does on his own time. |
Anonymous
I agree with everything you said except the my son "had to jump from U10 to U12--damn birth year!" bit. Your son did not jump up two years. There is no kid on your sons team that is more than one year older than your son is, the same as last year. I'm sorry that your son is now likely among the youngest on the team but every team has a youngest player. |
Anonymous
He goes to 13 v 13 one year earlier than he would have. That is a big deal. I don't give crap about him being younger in his age group because he's always been big for his age and always in the top group of players. I do care about missing out an entire year of more touches/smaller field/#s in field. |
Anonymous
Next season at only age 11-he will be playing 13v13 and heading came back this season (u12) and he is still 10 (11 next week/dec 2005). That is a bfd. |
Anonymous
| ^^if it's any consolation--he will have an advantage if he plays HS soccer which doesn't follow birth year. He will also be an older Freshman if he plays in college. |
Anonymous
Where is soccer anywhere played 13v13? He will not be alone in this transition and his playing 9v9 will be enough to prepare. In fact as the season progresses you will be begging to get off the little field as there is no more space for the kids. Regardless, all kids on his team and other teams in the same age group will be making the same transition to 11v11 and the big field the same way, nobody has any advantage over him. You are over thinking it. Nobody on my kids team died this year moving to the big field "early". |