Preparation is the Key to Increasing Pace of Play

It is better to look ahead & prepare than to look back & regret. -Jackie Joyner-Kersee

Soccer is a game that’s played with the brain. - Johan Cruyff

By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail. - Benjamin Franklin

Everybody has a will to win. What's far more important is having the will to prepare to win. - Bobby Knight

What the mind can conceive and believe, the mind can achieve and those who stay will be champions. - Bo Schembechler

A good hockey player plays where the puck is. A great hockey player plays where the puck is going to be - Wayne Gretzky

There are no secrets to sucess. It is the result of preparation, hard work and learning from failure. - Colin Powell

 

PREPARATION

 

Breaking lines is one our favorite warm up activities.

(See Emma Hayes of Arsenal's Ladies Academy demonstrate Breaking Lines here)

 

Why breaking lines? 

My analysis of our recent play revealed slippage in our quality of first touch and execution of the basic push pass. We were beginning to struggle possessing the ball despite improved tactical recognition. The intent was to sharpen our technique and by extension take fuller advantage of the improved tactical recognition I was observing. In short, I planned a practice to solve a problem we were encountering on the field as we prepare to play again this weekend.

The coaching points for breaking lines are centered around preparing to play and proper technical execution in receiving and the push pass.  I worry a bit when addressing fundamentals with teenage players as they often approach such activities with an attitude of having progressed beyond the need to work on basics.  Silly boys. 

As I watched the players participate in this exercise many of the quotes listed above began to come to mind. With a small group and by utilizing only one ball I was able to concentrate on individual players. Technical assesments ranged from very good to fair to below average. At times I brought forth the coaching points associated with breaking lines to both individual players and the collective group.

Coaching points, especially in this case, serve the purpose of helping players to solve the problem of self-inflicting pressure. There were fascinating dynamics at work within this group activity. Some players paid particular attention to the minutest details in an effort to hone their skills. Other players continued to make the same mistakes over and over again with little apparent interest in improving.  What I was actually seeing is varying degrees of problem recognition and problem solving skills being demonstrated by the players as well as varying commitment levels to the team and teh game itself. Some were taking to my suggestions, others were tweaking and adapting aspects of their play on their own accord. A couple just went through the motions of the exercise largely unconcerned with the fact the exercise broke down on their watch more than anyone else's.

As I watched the players who continued to struggle with the exercise it occurred to me that in at least one case the player would have been classified among the "biggest, fastest, strongest" players coming through the youth ranks. I make this point because he largely relied upon physcal dominance to be successful. He did not "need" technique at the younger ages because he could cover for lack of technical excellence by outworking almost everyone else. He put forth great physical effort and was handsomely rewarded with praise and results. Now in his teen years he is slipping down the depth chart despite continuing to give huge effort and doesn't understand why. He has been unable to solve this problem and until or unless he does he will continue to struggle.

I blame his struggles on lazy coaching during his younger years. No one held him accountable for learning proper technique. His youth coaches played to his strengths - size, speed, strength - without addressing his weaknesses - technical skill and tactical understanding.  They failed to prepare him for more advanced play. A result is this player does not understand or appreciate the value of preparation. By extension the huge effort he gives on the field is now far less productive than it once was in youth leagues.  In his case, it really isn't a matter of working harder, but a matter of learning to work smarter.

At one point during the training session driven, or at least lofted, service was required in order to work on directing balls taken off the chest. One player who is quite good with his foot skills struggled mightily in attempting to chest the ball let alone direct it where he wanted it to go. I am quite certain he is capable of doing so, but lack of quality service was a problem at least in his mind.  I watched time and again as the service to him went over his head. Granted he is one of our shortest players, but he never got to the point of adjusting and adapting his preparation to play the ball. If the ball was not perfectly delivered to where he awaited it, he would expend energy jumping or lunging  in an attempt to make the play as asked in the exercise. He never progressed to expending the same amount of energy in preparing himself better to receive the ball. For instance, he could have checked away as his partner was preparing to serve him the ball thereby allowing him more time and space to adjust.  Instead he chose to remain stationary and demand perfect service from his teammates. 

The season plan has been to extend our on-field thinking from one decision soccer to playing multiple decision soccer - a wordy way of stating increasing our speed of play. 

Preparation is the key consideration in playing fast soccer.  Before your first touch you need a plan for what you will do with the ball on your first touch and any succeeding touches.  Even before that you must anicipate the flow of play and "get in the vision" of the teammate who has yet to execute his first touch on the ball.  Why?  Because once the teammate looks down to execute his first touch he becomes blind to 99% of the pitch - he needs to know his options for play before he ever touches the ball just as you will.

In contrast, "one decision soccer" involves gaining possession of the ball and then figuring out what you want to do with it.  This is a serious means of self-inflicting pressure and slowing the pace of play for your team.  The thought process becomes "See ball. Win ball. Dribble Ball or Whack Ball." and results in a lot of 50 / 50 balls won but nearly as many created or given away. The ratio of physical effort expended to mental effort expended is completely out of whack.

As Johan Cruyff stated,  "Soccer is a game that is played with the brain."  Playing fast is about problem solving. It is about preparing to play in advance of touching the ball both in terms of receiving it and setting yourself up to execute a quality first touch as your play or leading into your next play.  Preparation to play is about expending mental energy moreso than expending physical energy although the physical component is equally as important in its own right.

Breaking lines... a simple, basic, perhaps remedial exercise incorporates all this and more. The emphasis cannot be on successfully moving the ball around the grid. That is just part of the process in improving the various techniques involved. The tweaks I make to the exercise to include checking away and checking back to the pass helps simulate the rhythm of the game just as the prescribed route of the ball helps to re-inforce the idea of having a plan for what to do with the ball before your first touch on it.  It is a little static in nature, but just as muscle memory is important in establishing proper technique so too is developing the proper pattern of play important to increasing the pace of play.  Scan, touch, look, play is much more effect than touch, scan, look, play.

Failing to prepare properly is preparing to fail.

Lack of proper preparation leads to slowed pace of play that results in lost possession which leads to expenditure of energy in regaining possession. It's a vicious cycle that requires huge amounts of physical energy especially in relation to the amount of mental energy being expended.  The one thing I seek to impart to the players is that soccer is a game that is played with the brain.

Soccer is a game that is played with the brain.

Soccer is a game that is played with the brain.

Soccer is a game that is played with the brain.