Can speed of play be taught?

[Anonymous]

Noticed that playing speed is one of the major skills that sets kids on the highest level teams apart from kids on the lower levels. Can speed be taught or is it just an innate something that has to do with how aggressive a kid is on the pitch?

[Anonymous]

It's about technical ability first and foremost. That's why it's sad when a coach pushes one or two touch in practices with groups who can't possibly control the ball given the space and pressure. Only superior athletes have the technical ability, pure speed, and game speed to play super quickly in small spaces. That's why smart U- little coaches train specific technique first

[Anonymous]

Of course... in stages. Can't go from bench pressing 50 to 100 overnight

[Anonymous]

Starts in the brain.

Think fast and already anticipate the next step and you appear faster.

Slow brain- doesn’t matter your physical speed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Starts in the brain.

Think fast and already anticipate the next step and you appear faster.

Slow brain- doesn’t matter your physical speed.

It’s both. Some people are born with great coordination and reaction times and others aren’t. The ones that aren’t must spend more time learning these skills, but they may never equal those born with it who dedicate the same effort.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Starts in the brain.

Think fast and already anticipate the next step and you appear faster.

Slow brain- doesn’t matter your physical speed.

It’s both. Some people are born with great coordination and reaction times and others aren’t. The ones that aren’t must spend more time learning these skills, but they may never equal those born with it who dedicate the same effort.

Well- yes, have both is ideal. But- if you see a kid with zero soccer IQ but physical speed vs a kid of average speed, but with very high soccer IQ—the latter will appear faster.

Cruyff: speed is confused with insight. When I start running earlier than others, I appear faster.

I see this on my kids teams—-a smart player will start the run and be there when the ball arrives. It’s very frustrating to play with kids that can’t anticipate. As my youngest (11-year old) said “they make it look like it was a bad pass”. They are standing there like dopes instead of anticipating the play and making the run.

Now the top players have the entire package. But, the question was about improving speed of play and that can be made with quicker decisions. Don’t hand onto it as long, play it faster. Otherwise kid will continue to be stripped from behind. Kids also don’t use their hands to feel around them. Coaches don’t teach basic skill about feeling or how to receive anymore.

I am also aghast at how many players on older top area teams U14 and above have such shitty touch. They can’t get the ball under control quickly, but the long ball physical style they played their whole childhood—they didn’t need it and it really shows at the higher levels.

[Anonymous]

I'm not sure where I read this. Maybe it was "Making the Ball Roll", which is an excellent book, but I read somewhere that quick decision making is a skill and a skill that can be developed. So say you have kids doing a 4v1 rondo and you have touch restrictions. Sure it looks like crap because of the bad decisions but they are developing their decision making. Obviously they need the skill/technique to pass the ball correctly but this is an exercise where the brain is being worked. Now keep in mind that they are only making FAST decisions. In time they will make BETTER decisions in the same amount of time and that's at least one way to develop speed of play.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm not sure where I read this. Maybe it was "Making the Ball Roll", which is an excellent book, but I read somewhere that quick decision making is a skill and a skill that can be developed. So say you have kids doing a 4v1 rondo and you have touch restrictions. Sure it looks like crap because of the bad decisions but they are developing their decision making. Obviously they need the skill/technique to pass the ball correctly but this is an exercise where the brain is being worked. Now keep in mind that they are only making FAST decisions. In time they will make BETTER decisions in the same amount of time and that's at least one way to develop speed of play.

Mental exercises, numerical superiority—pep, Barca, Cruyff all train players this way. Most clubs just do “street soccer” majority of practice which is complete waste of training. Coaches are being paid for that crap. Plus- kids can do this on their own.

[Anonymous]

OP here, thanks for all insights. Thing is, my kid has had excellent technical training and has a pretty good touch on the ball. He usually plays on the wing so he’s generally not in the mix in the midfield. His way of anticipating the next step is to position himself to receive the ball from the midfield where most of the frenzied action is. He doesn’t go in there and try to get the ball but waits. When he does receive a pass he knows what to do with it - runs if there’s space, passes it immediately if pressured. Usually doesn’t lose the ball. But he appears slow overall because he’s just not as aggressive at proactively getting the touches. So I’m not sure if he actually is lacking the speed other teammates have or whether staying in his “zone” on the field is what is making him seem slower. I know he’s not a very top player in general but in terms of his development I’m trying to figure out whether he’s just not aggressive enough or his role as wing is why he looks slow. Would love to know your thoughts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Noticed that playing speed is one of the major skills that sets kids on the highest level teams apart from kids on the lower levels. Can speed be taught or is it just an innate something that has to do with how aggressive a kid is on the pitch?

From your question, I don't know if you really understand what "speed of play" means as that term is used in soccer. It has nothing to do with raw speed (i.e. - running speed) and even less to do with aggressiveness. Speed of play is the ability to make and execute decisions quickly. Yes, it can be developed, with good coaching and the right activities. As some have mentioned - technical ability is a must - especially a clean 1st touch, the ability to make a directional first touch, and make fast accurate passes. The activities are often going to be possession-based exercises. Good coaches will modify the space and attacker:defender ratio (using neutrals) to make it challenging enough to force players to play just past their limitations, but not too far. Good coaches will talk about things like body positioning/orientation, and remind players to constantly scan/check-their-shoulders. Good coaches will also demand that players work extremely hard and be very aggressive defensively to provide as much pressure as possible during these drills, and a good player pool will be able to provide that pressure.

That is what good development will look and sound like when it comes to speed of play.

Note that there are some very slow and non-aggressive players who have been able to play at the highest levels in the world, specifically because of their technical ability and speed of play. Xavi, Pirlo, Fabregas are some examples of this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Noticed that playing speed is one of the major skills that sets kids on the highest level teams apart from kids on the lower levels. Can speed be taught or is it just an innate something that has to do with how aggressive a kid is on the pitch?

From your question, I don't know if you really understand what "speed of play" means as that term is used in soccer. It has nothing to do with raw speed (i.e. - running speed) and even less to do with aggressiveness. Speed of play is the ability to make and execute decisions quickly. Yes, it can be developed, with good coaching and the right activities. As some have mentioned - technical ability is a must - especially a clean 1st touch, the ability to make a directional first touch, and make fast accurate passes. The activities are often going to be possession-based exercises. Good coaches will modify the space and attacker:defender ratio (using neutrals) to make it challenging enough to force players to play just past their limitations, but not too far. Good coaches will talk about things like body positioning/orientation, and remind players to constantly scan/check-their-shoulders. Good coaches will also demand that players work extremely hard and be very aggressive defensively to provide as much pressure as possible during these drills, and a good player pool will be able to provide that pressure.

That is what good development will look and sound like when it comes to speed of play.

Note that there are some very slow and non-aggressive players who have been able to play at the highest levels in the world, specifically because of their technical ability and speed of play. Xavi, Pirlo, Fabregas are some examples of this.

You’re right I think I’m confused, mom still learning so appreciate your comments. And I’m starting to understand the gaps in son’s training.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here, thanks for all insights. Thing is, my kid has had excellent technical training and has a pretty good touch on the ball. He usually plays on the wing so he’s generally not in the mix in the midfield. His way of anticipating the next step is to position himself to receive the ball from the midfield where most of the frenzied action is. He doesn’t go in there and try to get the ball but waits. When he does receive a pass he knows what to do with it - runs if there’s space, passes it immediately if pressured. Usually doesn’t lose the ball. But he appears slow overall because he’s just not as aggressive at proactively getting the touches. So I’m not sure if he actually is lacking the speed other teammates have or whether staying in his “zone” on the field is what is making him seem slower. I know he’s not a very top player in general but in terms of his development I’m trying to figure out whether he’s just not aggressive enough or his role as wing is why he looks slow. Would love to know your thoughts.

Hi, OP. How old is he? A lot happens just in the natural course of development. I have seen both of my kids that were certainly not renowned for pure physical speed at U9 improve greatly in this aspect--at now U11 and U14. Everyone now talks about how fast my U11 is and one of the reasons the Club he was at the first 2 years didn't put him on the A team was that they said his physical size/speed wasn't as great as those on the first team. He now certainly out speeds almost all players as primarily a Center defender/center mid on a first team elsewhere and he is still on the small-side. He does play the ball very quickly as well with very quick decision making. But, again, at 8, 9, 10---I wouldn't have put him in the top half speed wise. Switching environments helped him greatly. He has been given a leader type role from the current coaching staff. I am sure it will change again as players change so much over time when they are growing and it is not always in a linear fashion.

Now, wingers are usually very fast. It sounds like your kid could be on a team that does not value field space/smarts. My kids always appeared slow and did not look as good when playing for teams that were more long ball style and they looked god awful at tryouts in those little crammed spaces. The reason is that they were always taught to get open, make space---so they would go to these tryouts waiting for the ball to be played to them. I would have to watch my kid not go into the scrum and be on the outside line wide open waiting for a pass that would never come and it looked like he was just not aggressive (further thing from the truth--as he is scrappy as hell). They would like absolute duds at times. Also, on the one chance the ball actually came his way he would know when to dribble vs when to pass, then he would pass and never get it back. IT would end up back in the scrum with a ball hog that would lose it. This is why I will never put my kids at a Club that runs tryouts this way. With a very big turnout, a kid like that is not going to look good.

Now- I'm not sure what you mean about 'not proactively getting touches'. I am thinking it may be something like my kid---knows not to pull defenders into an already crowded space on the field. Many coaches tend to value the spazzes the kid that has his foot into everything while being ineffective at all of it. "What a hustler!' people will exclaim---meanwhile nothing is coming from it. Or---I'm not sure if he is just a shy kid. This happens too to some players when there are a lot of very dominant kids on a team. My older one lacked confidence in those situations and will tend to defer to more mouthy, loud kids and not fight for his position. The team dynamic can also come into play. We are seeing a bit of that now in the middle school years on the field when the hormones and insecurities rear their head again. The kids that have gone through puberty tend to be the more dominant now and you see the same retreat of some of the kids and its like a 'lord of the flies'.

Environment of the club and the team is very big in the younger years and it can be the big reason why so many kids drop the sport early. Reassess if he is happy and don't get caught up in the Color wars. Kids change so much. They can have an entire season (even a year ) where they don't look so hot and then a year later look like a different player. We have both thought are kids sucked at various times, and then been highly impressed with them at others. Of course, we don't tell them this.

[Anonymous]

HOW TO EXPLAIN SPEED OF PLAY TO YOUTH SOCCER PLAYERS

Speed of play is a quick release time + the movement of the ball being passed from player to player, usually using 1 or 2 Touch passing to possess the ball, with players who can get rid of the ball within 2 seconds. When a team is playing with good speed of play you can actually hear, see & feel the tempo.

Whether it be a 1-Touch pass or a Trap then a pass, these will be what you want for speed of play. With 2-Touch you want to be comfortable with the time and steps between the first touch and the pass. There should usually be a time of only 2 seconds on the ball.

If you watch good soccer you will see there is 1 common thing going on, which is the time each player spend with the ball. When you see a team possessing the ball, you will notice that 80% of the time the player get rid of the ball within 2 seconds, sometimes faster. If they spend 3 seconds or more it slows up the speed of play and usually drives the coach crazy.

So people who dribble all the time they are slowing the tempo up, though there are times where a player needs to dribble/hold the ball. There are the times when a player is waiting for a window/space/gap to open up a deadly pass. Another good time a player needs to dribble is when a team cannot keep possession. You just need someone to make a play and open things up. Playing 1-Touch Soccer is by far the hardest thing in soccer. Even Barcelona has to trap the ball after 2 or 3 passes. You just don’t see teams making 1 touch passes 4 times in a row and hardly even 3 passes.

WHAT ‘SPEED OF PLAY’ IS NOT

5 things select students often guess define ‘speed of play’ (Note: these things are not speed of play, but they help with speed of play):

Touching the ball faster
Up tempo – high energy
Running faster
Movement off the ball
How fast a certain play is


3 WAYS TO PRACTICE ‘SPEED OF PLAY’

Team Possession Drills (5v5, 7v7, 10v10): Larger number of players to make things complex forcing decision making. If it’s just 1v1 or 2v2 you can’t work on speed of play. There is no way to keep making passes with 1 and 2 touch. Eventually in a 2v2 someone will have to slow the game up and dribble or shield. Even with 4v4 but can be done just a lot harder because there is NO time to rest in 4v4 type situations. If you watch a real game 11v11 you only see about 2 or 3 players actually running and everyone else is walking. This is because the field is so big that there will not be action every moment for one player. The only time you see most of the players all running at the same time is a counter attack or a situation in the attacking third. But when teams are in the middle third or possessing the ball you only see the players near the ball running.

Small Groups of 2-5 players can work on precision passing in small space. The more players the better or else it’s not much in decision making with groups of only 2-3 players. If you have 4 players then the coach can make 5 players which can make for a better session. At the end of the days you want the player to be as clean with both feet as possible and most players never get there unless they practice 4-6 times a week either with team, trainer or on their own. Using a wall or racquet ball court is a great way to work on this. You don’t even need a trainer for this because the 4 walls act as players.

Private 1on1 training you can work on really fixing the root of most players problem. This means being able to pass with both feet different ways. Using the inside of the foot, bending inside, bending outside. But especially able to open up their body/hips and use both the left and right foot to make precise passes. Also you can get involved as a trainer and set up training sticks or cones that force both the trainer and players to work hard off the ball and making 5-6 passes to goal.

https://www.gftskills.com/how-to-explain-speed-of-play-to-youth-players/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

HOW TO EXPLAIN SPEED OF PLAY TO YOUTH SOCCER PLAYERS

Speed of play is a quick release time + the movement of the ball being passed from player to player, usually using 1 or 2 Touch passing to possess the ball, with players who can get rid of the ball within 2 seconds. When a team is playing with good speed of play you can actually hear, see & feel the tempo.

Whether it be a 1-Touch pass or a Trap then a pass, these will be what you want for speed of play. With 2-Touch you want to be comfortable with the time and steps between the first touch and the pass. There should usually be a time of only 2 seconds on the ball.

If you watch good soccer you will see there is 1 common thing going on, which is the time each player spend with the ball. When you see a team possessing the ball, you will notice that 80% of the time the player get rid of the ball within 2 seconds, sometimes faster. If they spend 3 seconds or more it slows up the speed of play and usually drives the coach crazy.

So people who dribble all the time they are slowing the tempo up, though there are times where a player needs to dribble/hold the ball. There are the times when a player is waiting for a window/space/gap to open up a deadly pass. Another good time a player needs to dribble is when a team cannot keep possession. You just need someone to make a play and open things up. Playing 1-Touch Soccer is by far the hardest thing in soccer. Even Barcelona has to trap the ball after 2 or 3 passes. You just don’t see teams making 1 touch passes 4 times in a row and hardly even 3 passes.

WHAT ‘SPEED OF PLAY’ IS NOT

5 things select students often guess define ‘speed of play’ (Note: these things are not speed of play, but they help with speed of play):

Touching the ball faster
Up tempo – high energy
Running faster
Movement off the ball
How fast a certain play is


3 WAYS TO PRACTICE ‘SPEED OF PLAY’

Team Possession Drills (5v5, 7v7, 10v10): Larger number of players to make things complex forcing decision making. If it’s just 1v1 or 2v2 you can’t work on speed of play. There is no way to keep making passes with 1 and 2 touch. Eventually in a 2v2 someone will have to slow the game up and dribble or shield. Even with 4v4 but can be done just a lot harder because there is NO time to rest in 4v4 type situations. If you watch a real game 11v11 you only see about 2 or 3 players actually running and everyone else is walking. This is because the field is so big that there will not be action every moment for one player. The only time you see most of the players all running at the same time is a counter attack or a situation in the attacking third. But when teams are in the middle third or possessing the ball you only see the players near the ball running.

Small Groups of 2-5 players can work on precision passing in small space. The more players the better or else it’s not much in decision making with groups of only 2-3 players. If you have 4 players then the coach can make 5 players which can make for a better session. At the end of the days you want the player to be as clean with both feet as possible and most players never get there unless they practice 4-6 times a week either with team, trainer or on their own. Using a wall or racquet ball court is a great way to work on this. You don’t even need a trainer for this because the 4 walls act as players.

Private 1on1 training you can work on really fixing the root of most players problem. This means being able to pass with both feet different ways. Using the inside of the foot, bending inside, bending outside. But especially able to open up their body/hips and use both the left and right foot to make precise passes. Also you can get involved as a trainer and set up training sticks or cones that force both the trainer and players to work hard off the ball and making 5-6 passes to goal.

https://www.gftskills.com/how-to-explain-speed-of-play-to-youth-players/

Yep...I'll summarize...Rondos!

[Anonymous]

OP - I'm sitting in a god awful meeting so I'm going to ignore all the comments and just address yours.

Speed is genetics, some people are just faster, there is no changing that. With that being said, you can maximize your potential by improving on technique.

The great thing is that this isn't a 400M race. You have to play smart during the game. Move the ball efficiently and that all comes with in game IQ which isn't learned overnight. Players just don't accidently show up as a target, they know how to move without the ball. Also tell your kid...there is one object that is faster than everyone else and never gets tired, the ball. So make it work for you.

Run and kick soccer tactics die by the time they are u14 when everyone is bigger and faster.