Who influenced my vision of and for soccer?

As the regular season wound down teams throughout Ohio celebrated Senior Night usually recognizing players playing in their final home match of their high school careers.  Through the teams I coach, train and conduct camps for I am sometimes mentioned as someone important in a players soccer development. One such player recently turned the tables on me asking who made the biggest impact on my soccer career. Two names immediately came to mind; Graham Ramsay and Greg Shak.

Now, some of the readers of this blog will know both of these individuals as people who were at one time associated with Lima Shawnee High School Boys Soccer. Graham is an internationally known coach and soccer personality whose annual late July camps were instrumental in building a winning tradition at Shawnee. Greg was a superior student athlete with a stubborn vision of how he fit into the program. The two of them combined have served as catalysts in evolving my own vision of what the game can and perhaps should be.

How can two such disparate people combine to influence my vision of and for the game of soccer?

On one of Graham's visits to Lima we had a long discussion on the concept of Total Soccer which is a Dutch method of coaching based on utilizing small sided games in training to develop players capable of playing anywhere on the pitch. The theory is there should be complete interchangeability among the 10 field position players.

Let's allow that to sink in for a minute as we consider why Greg was also an big influence in the evolution of the system of play I advocate for and coach.  Greg came to us a physically gifted freshman player.  There was an opening in the back line on the varsity team and it was the consensus on the coaching staff that even as a freshman Greg was physically ready play. There was just one catch; Greg had never played any position other than forward coming up through the youth ranks. His heart was not in being a defender.  Long story short, Greg spent most of his high school career as a JV forward when he might have been a four year varsity starter had he been trained in multiple positions and been willing to initially play as a defender.

Total Soccer as introduced by Graham and rebelled against by Greg has been the strongest influence in the development and evolution of my vision of soccer and how it should be played.

Last years Grand Lake United U17 team came close to being able to play total soccer. It was a slow process encompassing 3+ years and roster makeovers each season to get the right fit of players. A lot of the process involved intentionally moving players out of "their" positions and convincing them they could in fact play elsewhere on the pitch.  As players were moved from their comfort zones and worked to reestablish said comfort zones in new positions our ability to play total soccer grew.

A key part of being capable of playing total soccer is developing a strong Soccer IQ in the players asked to play it.  Perhaps the simplest and most basic recognition of the concept can be illustrated by a defender moving forward into the attack and a midfielder dropping off to fill the defenders role.  A simple interchange of positions. There is bit more to it than that and this is where Soccer IQ comes into play. 

For instance, it is not necessary for a midfielder to drop off every time a back goes forward.  There is advantage in moving a defender into the attack in order to create a numbers up situation or cause confusion amongst opponents and force them to change their defending shape to account for the new threat.  When this happens, when a midfielder does not drop back, then the remaining backs must  play passive defense keeping the ball in front of them and delay the attack until someone can join the back line providing the necessary support for the backs to transition from passive defense to aggressively defending and attempting to win the ball back.

If you watch high school soccer you will often find forwards hanging out with opposing backs watching their teammates defend and waiting for a clearance to run onto.  Some teams successfully employ a target forward who plays back to goal in front of opposing backs or makes diagonal or bent runs onto through balls. It is a very simple and singular role. It is also a very predictable and fairly easily defended role.  What if there is constant interchanging of position by the "forward" or target player with midfield players?  Now the opponents do not know where a double team might originate from and also cannot key on one individual as a target player. Less predictability and a far more dangerous proposition for opponents to contend with and defend against.

Prospective players (and their parents) often want to know what formation we will play.  My answer is our defensive shape will be 4-4-2 played flat / flat and paired up top.  Our offensive shape will be based on what the opponents gives us.  I believe in total soccer, in total freedom of movement on the attack.  Therefore the phase of the game we must master is transitioning from attack to defending.  It is not so important that a specific player mans a specific position within the 4-4-2 shape as it is each position within the 4-4-2 is manned and done so from back to front.  Dead ball situations and the brief moments before a game is restarted are when we reorganize and sort out positions.

As with any system of play, it takes buy in by the players and a patience and understanding by parents accustomed to players "staying in position." I would much prefer that youth coaches rotate players through all soccer positions but am resigned to acknowledging while in pursuit of wins this is unlikely to happen.  Development of total soccer players takes time and an understanding that winning or losing a youth soccer game is not all that important in the long term prospects of players.

Graham Ramsay and Greg Shak planted the seeds for total soccer in my mind. For that I am as grateful to them as some players are to me for the role I have played in their soccer careers... and lives.  For me, it's all about empowering the player to explore the full realm of possibilities in their game. A focus on what they can do  rather on someones perception of what they cannot do so they define themselves as a soccer player instead of a forward or an outside midfielder or a left back.