Reply to High play level catch up

Forum Index » Soccer

Reply to "High play level catch up"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous]In youth soccer - 90 percent of “speed of play” is first touch.

1.  You have to have positional awareness.  Where are you.  Where are your teammates (in the immediate vicinity).  Where are the players on the other team (in the immediate vicinity).  That isn’t that difficult but it takes practice, because you have to “know” those things before, and when, the ball is coming to you.

2.  You must use your positional awareness to make an effective first touch.  What’s an effective first touch?  One that gives you control and helps what’s next.  It might be a first touch pass, a first touch shot, a first touch dribble that possibly gets you away.

What first touch you can effectively do depends on several things.  Where you are.  Where your defenders are.  Where your teammates are.  What the ball is doing (hard, slow, bouncing, high, low) and what your team has been working on (got a wing sprinting up the side?, need to pass back and release? Etc).

But, it all starts with the first touch.

The biggest difference in the level of play at the teen ages is the number of decent athletic kids who have a good first touch.  They know where players are whether that’s a 3v3 drill or an 11v11 game.  They can effectively handle and control balls sent their way however they come, at least 80-90 percent of the time.  And, they can keep play moving effectively with their handling of the ball - dribble, pass or shot.

What happens if you do not play with or against athletic players who also have been, and continue to work on, these first touch skills is you fall behind.  You can be very effective against weaker competitors if you are fast/quick with okay ball skills.  Opposing defenders on lower level teams likely won’t make you pay for a bad first touch.  But, bump up levels and now your bad first touch means you lose the ball.  How many times can you lose the ball before your teammates keep the ball away from you?  Before you are pulled off after minimal playing time minutes?

Can you get better?  Sure.  But, your teammates and your opponents are all also working to get better too.  Your line to “catch up” is constantly moving forward.

Years ago I followed a coaching website with some youth player discussions.  One long thread was a discussion about what was the oldest age could you get a girl youth player and trainer her up so that she could be a good D1 candidate.  The thread went on for quite awhile.  The issue quickly came down to; could they catch up at all?  I recall the consensus being - in the end - that if you had a fast athletic kid who was willing to work hard on their own in addition to practices you could maybe make it work if they started when they were 11.

First touch being the key.  The nice thing is you can work on your first touch by yourself.  Ball and a Wall and Juggling.  If a coach tossed your kid a ball and said show me how you juggle - could they flick it with their foot and get it going?  Could they do 50 plus with no problem?

Want to make the top level girls team in your area?  Be comparatively fast and quick.  Show up an hour early for a tryout.  Check in and then find an out of the way, but still very visible place to warm up and juggle.  Have 1 or 2 basic “tricks”.  Juggle to warm up.  Be friendly when others arrive but stay focused on juggling until the coach calls people together to get things started.  The assessing coaches will all have seen you juggling and will be watching to see if you are otherwise reasonable good on the field.  Coaches are always looking to replace the bottom 5 kids.  They will take a chance on a kid with potential over returning a kid they don’t see getting better.  Be the kid with potential.

[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics