The Coach's Perspective on Tryouts

The Coach's Perspective on Tryouts

We have looked at some generalities of the tryout process and then at the parent / player side of the process. Now, let’s take a look at things from a coach’s point of view.

A coach should enter the tryout process with both an open mind and a well mapped plan for assembling a team.  The balance between the two is important. So too is the ability to remained focused throughout the process of selecting your team. I think the best way to approach this article will be to share some experiences I have been a part of or a witness to.  Cynicism will unfortunately creep in to this article at times. I apologize beforehand, but it is a necessary ingredient for making some of the points that need to be made. Through these experiences I hope the coaches reading this will learn and avoid some of the mistakes others have made before them. 

The guiding principles when selecting a team should be honesty and fairness.

There are no shortcuts on the road to success.

This is something I preach and teach to my teams.  It is also something I watch for in tryouts. If a player allows himself to take shortcuts in practice or at tryouts he will look to do the same during games and that is a recipe for mediocrity at best.  There can be no place for this on winning teams.

Fear has two Meanings

FEAR has two meanings

 

1) Forget Everything And Run

 

or

 

2) Face Everything And Rise

 

The choice is yours!

The importance of the the little things.

When considering the consequences

 

of not doing the little things,

 

you realize there are no little things.

 

~ Brad Stevens ~

If you can't pass, you can't play.

(originally published August 4, 2012)

I have at times referred to Graham Ramsay on this site. "If you can't pass, you can't play" is a phrase I have heard him utter often during the camps he has conducted for us. I have myself repeated it to players and teams I coach. It is a basic and simple truth of the game, but I have come to realize it is also much more and that players tend to receive different and varying messages from the phrase.

Technical excellence
Vision
Soccer IQ or Game Intelligence
The Will to Prepare
TEAM First attitude

The ability to pass begins with mastering proper technique and maintaining it at the highest level. "Toes up. Heels down. Strike with the ankle bone." is a mantra echoed during training sessions around the soccer world. Unfortunately for many coaches and players alike the process of passing begins and ends here when there are actually several other significant elements that go into being able to pass the soccer ball.

"Vision" is another word commonly associated with passing. Left to stand on its own "vision" implies "seeing the pass" within the context of the game about you. At first glance this seems like another basic and simple truth, but once again there are layers of complexity involved.  Every player has "vision" but what separates good passers from the rest is what they see and when they see it.

Soccer IQ or Game Intelligence are terms that apply to a players decision-making process.

When do I shoot?
When do I dribble?
When do I pass?
Which direction - diagonally, forward, backward, laterally - should I pass?
What do I do after having passed the ball?

The correct decision is the one that scores the ball or maintains possession of the ball for your team. In terms of passing the decision-making process is all about possession and creating scoring opportunities. What is the longest secure pass I can make?  How many defenders can I defeat with a single secure pass? What is the safest pass I can make to relieve pressure and maintain possession? What is my next movement after having passed the ball.

Timing is also a critical element in Soccer IQ. The timeliness of a players decision making often determines the success of failure of the action take. Too early or too late breaks the rhythm and flow of the game and can lead to lost possession.

Hall of Fame basketball coach Bobby Knight stated "Most people have the will to win, few have the will to prepare to win."   Preparation is the king consideration to successful passing. Before your first touch on the ball, you need to have a plan for how you will play the ball.  EVERY option for play must be explored before your first touch - Do I shoot, dribble, pass? Which technique should I use to execute my decision? In what direction should my play be made?

A willingness to pass, a willingness to share the ball with teammates must also be in evidence. If a player is unwilling to pass he will soon find others are unwilling to pass to him. However, is a player truly unwilling to pass or is his decision-making process leading to the pass short circuiting? Is the player selfish or merely struggling with proper individual pattern of play?  It is important to analyze and work with the player to establish good on-field decision-making skills for these are the basis on TEAM play.

When any of the above facets are missing a players ability to pass is impaired. Aside from technical excellence a player must get in the habit of collecting all the information available concerning what is happening in the game.  Scan the field constantly and consistently, but especially before receiving or winning the ball. Secure the ball in a manner that leads into the play you will make based on your scanning of the game. Then look to the play you have decided to make and execute the correct technique.

What happens if part of the process breaks down or is skipped altogether?  

For instance, what if the player fails to scan the game before securing the ball?  The focus is on "winning the ball" and figuring out what to do with it after that fact?  "Win and whack" is often the result. A player "wins" the ball only to turn it over by creating another 50/50 ball when his winning touch is nothing more than whack the ball in whatever direction he happens to be facing. 

Or what if the player does win and secure the ball but has no plan for how to play it?  If he has space and time he may look up and find a quality play to make. If he secures the ball under pressure without a plan for play excessive touches will ensue as he attempts to find space and time to get his head up and find a play. Often times the player will eventually find the correct play but his excessive touches have broken the rhythm and flow of the game.  The timing that would have made the pass easy is lost. A success rate of late or mistimed passes is significantly lower than well timed, accurate and properly weighted passes. It is often the lack of preparation / vision / game intelligence that dictates success of a pass more so than a lack of technique. 

Once again, success is found in the details of the process.  No single detail of the process can be ignore or overlooked without impacting the quality of the process. "If you can't pass, you can't play" runs much deeper than imploring players to pass.  Is the player selfish, inept or does his thought  and decision-making process need a tune up?  As coaches we must be able to discern the root cause of a players struggles and do our best to help them fine tune their game. As it concerns passing, this can be a more complicated process than it seems at first glance, but since a player really cannot play the game without being able to pass effectively we must be diligent in improving our players ability to pass.

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.

The Process

The process of reaching our goals takes place every day.

The process is taking place when working on your own,

 

in every practice and during every game.

The process is taking place at every meal 

 

and in the amount of rest we get each night.

We cannot allow ourselves to become bored with the process.

Ultimately the quality of our performance, 

 

our ability to achieve the goals we have set,

 

will be determined by

 

the attention paid to the details within the process.

The value of small-sided games is found in the details of the process.

I considered titling this article "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing" or something to that effect. The prompt for this article comes from a question recently posed to me; What are some good small sided games for teaching zonal defending?  I knew what the questioner wanted to hear, but I also knew what she needed to hear. 

Let's set the background before diving head first into the question.  The high school program I began with has been playing zonal defense for a couple of decades. They were the zonal defending pioneers in our area.  Great attention to the details within the process were stressed in those early days of defending zonally. At a time when Pressure, Cover, Balance were stressed as the pillars of defending we focused on Pressure and Cover.  Balance was a consideration for sure, but not emphasized as strongly.  There was implied necessity for balance and a general understanding of what it entailed through nomenclature such as (hockey) Stick and Arrow (head) whose descriptive qualities included both cover and balance positioning.

Small sided games seek to isolate specific game situations with a phase of play and train players decision-making abilities within that context. To this day, most of the zonal defending exercises and small sided games focus on pressure and cover with an implied consideration for balance. I stress this because when a team is just learning to defend zonally the breakdowns occur in two generally areas. One is balance. The other is secondary or high cover. 

As an old basketball coach I realized early on many players of the 1990's were well versed in on-the-ball man to man defense and cover,but balance was somewhat nebulous at best.  I began teaching the basketball concepts of back to goal Ball / You / Man and Man-and-a-half defending to soccer players.  This served to address overall defensive team shape including balancing the shape. This allowed our teams to define with purpose what the roles were within our zonal defending scheme. We added a better defined structure to the nomenclature of stick and arrow. 

That's all fine and dandy, but how does a team set about training to play in such a manner?

First and foremost the coach must define the defensive system the team will employ.  This goes much further than simply saying "we are going to defend zonally" and introducing any of the regular staple of drills and exercises for zonal defending one can find in books or on videos / YouTube. 

1) Select the shape or formation you wish to defend in.  Four in the back or three in the back are common.  There is a bit of a trend developing to play 5 in the back and I have even seen some alignments utilizing 2 in the back. 

2) Where on the pitch do you want to win the ball.  This can be "geographic" location and involve establishing a line of confrontation or it can be position / player specific within a teams shape and specific player positioning.

3) Design a small-sided game that focuses on the area where and the timing of when you wish to regain possession of the ball. These conditions will differ when focus is on regaining position in your attacking third as opposed to the middle third of the field to the defending third of the field.

4) Although utilizing a small-sided approach be sure to incorporate emphasis on team wide play related to the moment in lay you are directly coaching.

For instance, if I were training the outside backs to pressure in our zonal system while defending in the final third, I would utilize a small sided game with a strong focus on opponent flank play.  When an outside back moves to pressure the ball carrier what do we specifically task him with doing?

1) Stop or delay the advance of the ball.
2) Make the ball carrier predictable by channeling or forcing him in a certain direction.

Our general rule of thumb for the outside back is to force the ball carrier inside towards the help waiting in the form of a center back in  (hockey) Stick! positioning. There is "Balance" implied with the correct position of a second center back and / or remaining outside back.

For most coaches, this is where the thought process stops.

There are other considerations. 

For instance, if the midfielder assigned to provide high cover to the inside and in front of the center back providing coverage is not in place, forcing the ball inside might be an extremely dangerous thing to do in allowing the ball carrier to "load up" for a shot while moving centrally toward goal or allowing for a cross to the back post. 

So, if high cover is not available, then the ball should be forced outside. This presents an entirely different set of circumstances that must be dealt with. A tactical decision must be made on how to support the pressure defender (outside back) to the outside.  The easiest solution is bring the nearest center back further outside to be available in support or to double team.  However, in doing so this will stretch the back line and open areas in front of the goal.  So, a second tactical decision must be made on who will drop back into the back line to fill the gap in front of the goal or on the backside.

A good small-sided game to train the outside back will cover all these situations and more. It is why small side games or situational training remains an effective way of teaching the game to players. While the primary focus is on training the outside backs, the secondary considerations pertaining to nearest teammates and the team at large are just as important.  The point is simply if a small-sided game viewed in a book or on video / YouTube or perhaps witnessed at a coaching convention or course is just rolled out there for the kids to play it will at best only be marginally effective.  It is all the other details of the process that hold the true value of using small-sided games to train decision making in specific game situations.

What position do you play?

I often think about "Greg" who came to us as a varsity ready athlete as a freshman. It just so happened the varsity had an opening for a wing defender that year. Greg was physically gifted enough to man that spot. Through summer workouts and team camps Greg was worked with to prepare him for the role. He played as our left back during scrimmages and acquitted himself well.  If I recall correctly it was after our first regular season match that Greg came to the coaching staff and proclaimed "I'm a forward. That's all I have ever played and that's where I want to play in high school." Greg spent the next 3 seasons toiling away as a forward on the JV squad. As a senior he played forward for the varsity.I guess he was happy with his decision even as his coaching staff and teammates were not.

One might think "Greg" is an exception, but that really isn't the case.  I see this attitude on a regular basis.  In recent years I have had a goalkeeper who believed she was a center midfielder until it became clear to her that she was the teams 4th or 5th best option as a center midfielder.  I have had a defensive midfielder who insisted he was a forward. I have had a center defender who insisted he was a attacking midfielder. The commonality between all these players and others like them is a "me first" attitude.

Other players are more than happy to fill any role asked of them. Perhaps they have a different type of "me-first" attitude, one that serves the team. These are the kids that sacrifice the position they want in order to play and help their team by doing so.  In exchange they have almost always expanded their game and become better all round players. If one looks at the youth playing expeience of our national team players you will discover almost all have changed positions as they advanced through the ranks. I have to wonder about those who refused to change positions or stubbornly proclaimed they were "a forward" as Greg did all those years ago.

To paraphrase John F Kennedy, "Ask not what your team can do for you, ask what you can do for your team." 

It's such a great quote.  It speaks to sacrificing for the greater good. I think it is an indicator of the quality of "team chemistry" that is present in the individual and by extension the collective team. I believe it speaks to embracing opportunities instead of blaming obstacles. It speaks to an open mindedness instead of a closed mind. 

As a coach, give me the kid that wants to play. Period.  One of my favorite players of all time was a starting defender / center midfielder who when the need arose to train an emergency goalkeeper volunteered without hesitation to fill that role too. "Kevin" worked with the goalkeepers every day in addition to working as a center defender and center midfielder. His goalkeeping abilities improved to a degree that he would have sufficed in a pinch. Thankfully the need never arose, but I love, love, love the attitude and spirit!

My advice to players is this, if a coach asks what position you play, your response should be "I prefer _____, but am more than willing to play wherever you and the team need me to play"  and mean what you say.

Ballwatchingitis

The following is adapted from a handout I received from Graham Ramsay years ago.  If you do not know who Graham is, google search his name.  In short, he is an internationally known coach / clinician. Not to mention a good friend.

BALLWATCHINGITIS

“Ball Watching” is another phrase for losing. The more you “Ball Watch” the more likely you are to lose the game. When you watch the ball, the BALL gets bigger and the GAME becomes smaller.

 

On the other hand, “Game Watching” is very much about winning and thinking faster than your opponents. The faster we think the game the faster we can play the game.

 

Saper Vedere

 

 

Saper Vedere

 

Knowing How to See

 

This is a theme for my spring club team. So often young players here in the United States play with a primary focus of winning the soccer ball. So little consideration is given to ideas about what to do with the ball once it has been "won". This leads to turnovers or the creation of another 50 / 50 ball to be won. Curious this, why players work so hard to win the ball and then treat it as if it were the plague, eh?

So it is that we will spend the next few months reprograming the on-field thought process of our players.  My hope is to transform ball watchers into game observers. That we might progress from the closed singular thinking of one decision soccer based on winning the ball to an open minded creative and free flowing style of soccer based on anticipating the run of play through seeing multiple decisions ahead is the goal.

Know what you will do with the ball before your first touch on the ball.

Failing to prepare properly is preparing to fail.

Solve pressure as opposed to self-inflicting pressure because you don't have a action plan for when you gain possession of the ball.

Be a game watcher not a ball watcher.

These are some of the coaching phrases and points of empahsis we will be attempting to establish with our players in providing them with a broadened spectrum of knowledge based in learning to see the game differently.  We want to develop within them a deeper appreciation of the game by helping them learn to see more of the game being played about them.

Looking forward to the journey!

The Process

The process of reaching our goals takes place every day.

The process is taking place when working on your own,

in every practice and during every game.

The process is taking place at every meal

and in the amount of rest we get each night.

We cannot allow ourselves

to become bored with the process.

Ultimately the quality of our performance,

our ability to achieve the goals we have set,

will be determined by the attention paid to

the details within the process.

Lasting Impressions of Leadership (updated)

A friend recently asked, "Good and bad, who were the most memorable athletes you have coached?" Surprisingly to me two names immediately came to mind, Morgan and Ryan, although Ryan I had not actually coached much at all.  The common trait between the two is leadership. One a negative leader who held her team back. The other an extraordinarily positive leader who raised his team to achieve more than anyone expected possible of them. Both strong personalities, but each with far different agendas.

Morgan was a good player on her team but clearly not the best player. She is also a megalomaniac. At some point before I arrived on the scene Morgan had realized she was not the best player and therefore would never receive the recognition or power associated with being "the star" so she did the next best thing. She became the best friend of the person who was the star. From that sidekick position she manipulated things to always be in and remain the center of attention even to the detriment of the team. It should be noted that Morgan considered it to be her team and often to referred to it as such.

Ryan was an exceptional player who realized he needed the team as much as the team needed him. He worked diligently to include everyone in the team, to make sure everyone knew their contributions, no matter how minor, were vital to the team's success. He sacrificed for the team and in turn was rewarded by and through the team's success. Ryan received numerous individual accolades but always credited the team for his success.

Both Morgan and Ryan recognized the power of effective leadership but took very different approaches. Morgan's was self-serving and quite destructive to "her" team while Ryan's approach was one of service to and for "the  team".  For obvious reasons both players remain memorable.

A good player does not necessarily equate to being a good coach.  Ryan was one of the top player leaders I have ever encountered.  As a coach, thus far, he has proven to be quite inadequate as a leader.  I myself am guilty of assuming his leadership qualities would transfer seamlessly from playing the game to coaching the game.  You know what they say about assume?  It makes and ass our of you (u) and me.  Such is that case here for I recommended Ryan for a coaching job based on his leadership skills as a player that included coaching on the field / in-game.  His first season as a head coach was a failure of substantial proportions.  The truth, trust, belief that he was able to channel as a player to those around him were absent in him as a coach.  At this point, I am unsure he is capable of becoming even an average coach.

Morgan?  I recently saw a YouTube video of her. It was about sky diving.  She needed one more credit hour to maintain full time student status. Her choice was to take a class on sky diving.  She displayed the same "me first" attitude as always in the video.  All about the attention being received instead of what was really at hand.  Once a megalomaniac, always a megalomaniac in this case.  No amount of giggling and batting the eyes can change the reality of that, imo.

Each day brings dozens of opportunities

to demonstrate your commitment.

Each individual decision you make

defines your success

or failure.



Why?

When our son's were young and learning to think critically and write extended response answers my wife and I came up with a little call and response game to help them remember the questions that need answering when solving problems. It goes like this,

Call: Who?
Response: What?
Call: Where?
Response: When?
Call: How?
Response: Why?
Call: Because.
Response: I
Call: Love
Response: You

Okay, the last parts are obviously an expression of our family's love for one another, but the first parts are the key to problem solving. I share this with you today because a coach of a team I conducted camp for this summer asked me for help in identifying why his team struggled to possess the ball and build an attack.

Why?

In analyzing play most coaches can identify areas of the game their team struggles with.  However, many coaches end up addressing symptoms of the problem they identify instead of focusing on the root cause of the problem. 

For example, this particular team struggled mightily with their first touch. As we watched the film together their coach described to me how they worked on first touch constantly.  One of the activities was to pair up facing one another with one person serving to the other. In this manner, they worked on every conceivable form of receiving or trapping the ball. Even though their technique was improving it didn't seem to be translating into better possession play in games.

I didn't have to wait :15 until I paused the film. What we saw was a perfect in-game example of the drill work he had just described to me. The technical execution of the first touch wasn't bad, but still possession was lost.

Why?

Anyone who has ever parented a toddler knows they typically go through a period of development that sees them ask "why?" constantly. It can drive the best of parents to the point of covering their ears and sing "la, la, la, la, la" to avoid having to hear the question repeated yet again.

We should all pay closer attention.  Kids are way smarter than we give them credit for.  In my opinion, "Why?"  is the most important question we can ask in problem solving and a primary consideration when analyzing game film. From the mouths of children ...

The film showed one teammate passing the ball to another teammate at a distance of approximately 15 yards. The receiver was lightly guarded, the pass was to feet, weighted properly and accurate. So, why did this sequence of play result in a turnover?  It was a text book example of the drill work they did in practice.

That was the problem.

The teammates, passer and receiver, were facing one another. This meant the options for play the receiver had, without turning into pressure on the reception, were in the general direction the ball had just come from.  Why was the ball being passed to him in the first place?  Because the passer was being pressured.

We discussed how the now identified problem could be solved. On the most basic level, what needed to be addressed was the receiver's preparation to play. There were other facets of play that would need to be addressed as well, but proper positioning to receive the ball was the first priority.  How could the receiver have been better positioned to receive the pass? 

By being sideways on and receiving the ball across his body to the back foot. This would position the receiver's hips open to the field of play and provide him with many more options for play while avoiding the one option for play most dangerous to his team - playing the ball back into the pressure it was just passed from. Receiving sideways on was the technical issue to address.

So, once we identified the problem and then identified why the problem existed, we were able to design a camp experience that would help equip the players to solve the problem. By the end of camp, the players were much improved in their possession play. Receiving sideways on was not the only correction we made in their play that week, but it was the starting point that we built all else upon.

Coaches, when analyzing play to identify problems remember to ask all the pertinent questions,

Who?
What?
Where?
When?
How?
And most especially, Why?

Knowing what to correct is not enough. You must identify why it must be corrected and then design a proper activity for how to correct it. Falling short in any of these areas might result in exasperating the problem more so then helping with it.

How to Become a Student of the Game

I remember as a kid watching sports on TV and then going out to the yard or the drive way to imitate what I had just seen. Loved the sweet swing of Roberto Clemente, the bank shots of John Havlicek, and the scrambling of John Tarkenton and every once in awhile I got a glimpse of some guy named Pele doing incredible things with a soccer ball.  Emulating the sports heroes of the day was a natural thing for us to do.. Little did I realize it also held the key to developing an ability to play the games.

I have at times mentioned Graham Ramsay, a friend of mine, in my writings. When I first met Graham back in the late 1990’s he was always referencing great soccer players and spectacular plays he watched on TV.  Quite frankly, most of it went right over our heads as we did not have Fox Soccer Channel and soccer in general was not shown on TV much outside of the Olympic or World Cup games. I think I became somewhat immune to his constant references of players and plays that I hadn’t any means of seeing.  It wasn’t until much later that it dawned on me that Graham was reminding me of how important it is for young players to watch older players and professional players play the game.

 

Commitment

I found this while cleaning up / organizing some files.  I'm not 100% sure who to credit this to but believe it is from Jeff Janssen, so I'm going with that.

Every day you get to CHOOSE your commitment level.

 

Choose to be at least COMMITTED if not COMPELLED today!

 

Yeah, so, Jeff Janssen it is.

 



At what level do you practice?

At what level do you play?

At what level would your coach place you at?

Or if you are a caoch, where do you believe your players would place your level of commitment at?

At what level do you believe your teammates would place you at?


RESISTANT - athlete resists the direction of the program and actively works against it, disagrees with team rules and standards and openly opposes them, stubborn and uncoachable

RELUCTANT - athlete questions the direction of the program, skeptical, hesitant and holds back full effort

EXISTENT - athlete floats, seems like they have checked out, there in body but not in mind and spirit, apathetic, contributes little more than their physical presence

COMPLIANT - athlete obediently does what is asked but not much more, does just enough to get by, motivated when directed by others but not very self-motivated

COMMITTED - athlete is highly bought into the program and willingly does extra, understands the vision of the program and supports it, self-motivated, heart is into it

COMPELLED - athlete is fully bought into the program, on a mission to do something special, undeterred by obstacles, consistently holds self AND teammates accountable to a high standard

OBSESSED - athlete goes overboard and is consumed with success, overtrains, fails to connect with teammates, tends to be more concerned with individual success than team success

Fighting Yourself.

Anyone that sticks with the game of soccer throughout their youth and as they enter adulthood certainly has a passion for the game. As coaches, especially those working with the young, we are charged with helping to develop a love for the game. Love for the game can often be sparked by success. Therefore how we achieve and handle success becomes very important.

I am currently coaching a couple of young men whose early success was apparently defined by an ability to score goals.  The ability to score goals is a very fine thing, indeed!  While it is certainly true that Defense wins Championships it is also true that a team must score to win games. The means to the end is what concerns me with these two players and is what today's writing is about.

I do not find it a coincidence that both players are sometimes referred to by teammates as "the great black hole". This goes directly to the fact neither is very keen on passing.  Once they obtain possession of the ball their first thought is to shoot and if not in range they will attempt to take on all comers to advance the ball into shooting range. Passing the ball is a secondary thought even if by doing so their ultimate goal of scoring a goal might be made easier. In essence, they have become their own worst enemy in pursuit of what they desire.

The one gentleman plays on the wing and at some point early in his career must have enjoyed success (scored a goal or two) by making an inside run from the weak side.  This undoubtedly occurred at an age when crosses from teammates were not strong enough to carry to the back post. There is evidently an indelible memory of making inside runs to goal scoring opportunities in his mind.

Now as a young adult he continues to make inside runs from the weak side flank without consideration that his teammates have little difficulty in driving the ball to and beyond the back post area.  We have instructed and reiterated ad nauseam the approach for a wing on the weak side should be from the corner of the 18 through the corner of the 6 to the back post.  This approach allows the wing to adjust their path to the crossed ball whereas a path inside these parameters all but eliminates an ability to do so.  The inside run is so ingrained, the bad habit so firmly established, this player seems unable to stop himself from making it.  He is addicted to the inside run because at one point in his early development it was successful for him.  There is no cognizant recognition that since the game has changed as he has grown older that his recipe for success (scoring goals) needed to change as well.

The second player is of a similar single mindedness.  He plays forward and regardless of field position or situation his first instinct with the ball is to take on any and all defenders while attempting to get to goal.  He is quite obviously a product of kick and run youth soccer that featured "big, strong and fast" as the primary tactical considerations. The only problem is at this point in his life he is undersized and below average in speed although physical strength does remain. His role in youth leagues was to stand with the opposing backs waiting to be fed the ball by teammates and then take the ball to goal. He really struggles with any deviation from this pattern.

With both players their primary focus remains on scoring the ball. With both players they have become their own worst enemy in pursuit of their scoring goals. Both players are stubbornly insistent on sticking with what once worked well for them while missing the fact the game is passing, or even has passed them, by. They stubbornly refuse help from coaches and teammates alike in pursuit of scoring goals.  They become frustrated because the help offered deviates from what has previously been successful for them.  In short, both of these athletes seem to have fallen in love with soccer at a young age based on an ability to score goals, but have failed to nurture and develop that love since then.

This may well be the fault of their youth coaches who might have viewed these young men as budding stars.  The coaching attitude may have been, "why fix what isn't broken" as they watched these individuals and probably by extension their teams have success. In actuality we as coaches must fix what isn't broken as a proactive or even preventative maintenance program.  We need to help flame the spark of passion in players by expanding their game beyond initial success. As coaches we need to continually ask players to move from their comfort zones and expand their games.  It is obvious that these two players have been in an arrested state of development for some time before they came to us.

Our mission with them has been to break down the established and ingrained habits allowed to take hold when they were young youth players and provide them with the means to branch out of their comfort zones, to explore and expand their games in order to become unpredictable and more dangerous in pursuit of scoring goals. 

It's tough love at this point.

The first player refuses to stay wide and make his weak side run corner, corner, post run. Last night his stubbornness cost him 3 splendid opportunities to score goals. Instead of learning, he offers excuses.  The second player refuses to utilize drop passes when playing as a target with defenders draped all over him. He continues attempting to turn and take on defenders in these situations with the result being lost possession and growing reluctance on the part of his teammates to feed him the ball. He blames his teammates for not passing to him or providing him opportunities.

In both cases, it is the player himself who must recognize that what they have always done no longer works. They must seek, ask for and willingly accept help to expand their game that their strengths might be accentuated instead of being minimized as is the current trend. In short, it is their decision to make.  The quality of their soccer will be directly impacted by the quality of their decision making. 

My fear is the frustration both are displaying will continue to grow instead of their passion being nurtured.  They will never again be goal scoring machines on the scale they were in youth leagues, but they both have the potential to be solid goal scorers at their present level of play provided they recognize the need to expand, to nurture and grow, their individual games within the game itself.  The game at their age is about freedom of play and both seem ready to embrace this yet remain reluctant to accept the responsibility that comes with freedom. I'm not sure we will ever get to that point with either of these young men. It certainly has been a struggle to date.  I do know this, it is their decision to make. They hold the key to success in the palm of their own hand. Whether they decide to keep the door locked or open it to new possibilities is entirely up to them. It is a battle they fight with themselves.

Today I do the work others will not

So tomorrow I will make the plays others cannot.

Three ideas about mistakes

1) Own up to making them

2) Learn from them

3) Do not repeat them