The Four Pillars of Youth Soccer

When constructing a building the formal or ceremonial corner stone is given a lot of consideration, but the other cornerstones are just as important to establishing a firm foundation upon which the rest of the building can be built.

At a recent meeting with a local soccer organization I posed this question to its board members; Name the four pillars of soccer development.  Everyone immediately agreed upon technique and tactics. Then there was a pause before someone mentioned "conditioning" or the physical aspect of the game.  There was a longer pause before someone ventured a guess for the fourth pillar, mental?  Psychological is the actual term most often applied to the fourth pillar.

Technical

The technical component of the game simply refers to an individual player's relationship with the ball. It is important that players learn to obtain and then manipulate the ball in order that they may maintain possession of the ball. It may help to consider developing technique as empowering the player to solve the problems he will encounter when playing the game.

Establishing the ability to gain and maintain control of the ball is a critical element to the development of young soccer players. However, the end game does not necessarily equate to producing 1 v 1 phenoms.  How the player utilizes his technical skills is more a function of the team environment - the system or style of play the coach / team / club employs.

The real purpose and value of technical skill with the ball is developing player confidence on the ball. Confident players tend to play in a clam and poised manner.  It is confidence with the ball that allows players to combine their techniques in tactical applications for the game.

Tactical

Tactics are often misconstrued to mean strategy for winning games. While tactics can certainly be used in pursuit of winning games an over-emphasis on tactics too early in the process can stifle Technical development.  Tactics are actually the process of empowering teammates to combine their skills sets to solve the problems they encounter in the game.

Introducing tactics  too early goes to the heart of the Development vs Winning debate that continues to permeate discussions on how to fix the approach to youth soccer in the United States. It is generally accepted and acknowledged that too early an emphasis on winning subverts the development of well rounded technical tool sets required to compete successfully in older age groups. 

The development of tactical understanding should be about exploring the relationship between a player and the game itself, not a particular or specific style or system of play. Establishing a general understanding of the game early allows for a much larger range of tactical possibilities later in a players development. 

Physical

The physical pillar of development often falls prey to the same type of shortsightedness the tactical pillar is subject to. In pursuit of wins players may be unduly valued for their size, strength and speed relative to others in their age group. This is a dangerous message to send to young players for it devalues the development of technical skill and tactical insight.

The physical pillar is more about active pursuit of physical activities that produce a well round athlete.  Frankly, this is a major concern in today's world of electronics and Internet.  Kids today simply do not spend the time outdoors playing that past generations did.  Think of the neighborhood pick-up games you played as a youngster - baseball in the summer, football in the fall, driveway basketball, kick-the-can, tag or even hide and seek.  Kids were physically active.

The reality of today is kids are not as active physically of their own accord leaving the coach / trainer to address this pillar of the game to a greater extent.  What we find today is parents paying beau coup dollars to physical trainers to get their child "in shape" to play.  Think about that for a moment.

Another aspect of the physical pillar that must be dealt with today is specialization in a single sport at an early age. Studies are showing specialization is directly related to "over use" injuries that are becoming ever more problematic in the game today.  This physical specialization is not unlike an over reliance on the technical pillar to develop players - it leaves the player out of balance.

Personally, I encourage every player I coach to be a multi-sport athlete even if that means I must share him with another sport or that he takes a "season" off from soccer to play another spot.

Psychological

This pillar is sometimes labeled "mental" and while I understand the desire to do so, I do not believe this is appropriate nomenclature. 

The psychological pillar deals with developing the athletes mind.  More specifically it deals with the natural progression of development in young minds and relating this to the game of soccer.

It is said the ability to think critically does not begin to truly develop until around the age of 10 or 11 +/- a year or two.  Until that age children tend to be fairly self-absorbed. They do not like to share and often resent being told they must share. Yelling at an 8 year old to pass the ball may not only be futile and distressing to the coach / parents, but may well be confusing and stressful to the child. 

It is important for the coach (and parents) to address and coach players on the players level of psychological development.  I like to use the following illustration to help explain the importance of this: With young soccer players such emphasis is placed on developing foot skill wizards capable of taking on and defeating opponents in training only to have the coach and or parents scream at the player to pass the ball when playing the game.  Talk about mixed messages!  

We admire international players such as Messi and Ronaldo for their individual flair and ability on the ball.  The foundation for their 1 v 1 skills was learned in their youth when they were allowed to explore the game and learn its lessons through owning and managing the ball. I did not see either man play as a youngster, but I bet they were extremely selfish with the ball until their critical thinking ability begin to develop naturally around the age of 10 or 11.

Conclusion

Each pillar of soccer development is of equal importance to the others.  While emphasis might be placed on one pillar over others dependent on the age and maturity of the individual this cannot be allowed to take place at the expense of the others.  The eye must remain focused on what the finished product - a player in his late teens - should like. Well rounded and balanced in his knowledge of and ability to play the game. 

Individual player strengths will emerge and we do not wish to discourage this happening unless it would be to the exclusion of other areas. Just as you would not wish to live in a house that tilts to one side, four equally developed pillars are necessarily for a firm foundation of success to be in place for a soccer athlete. 

You may also enjoy a "companion" article Winning versus Development

Four Phases of Development. Part II

This is the second installment of a four part series looking at the development phases for youth soccer. I believe one of the priorities in coaching is to prepare those who wish to move on to a higher level to do so. It is with that premise in mind that I write today. I am going to look at a microcosm of the overall developmental process - U6 through U19 or Kindergarten through the end of high school. So, the end game here would be to prepare an athlete to play in college or professionally.

Part II

Passion - strong and barely controllable emotion.

The ages of 10 through 13 years of age are when a passion for the game fires up.

These are the years of rapid growth as players emotionally, mentally and physically begin to transform themselves and mature. These are also transitional years in the development of soccer players that see focus shift from a primary emphasis on skill development towards tactical application of skills in the game environment.  Both work loads and work rates increase as the ability to concentrate and focus strengthen and mental toughness begins to develop. Coaching begins to transition from predominantly enthusiastic toward introducing an element of being more demanding.

Receiving - The player's first touch on the ball. Receiving on the move. Playing bouncing balls cleanly. Taking a ball out of the air. Turning with the ball as part of the reception.

Shielding - The ability to maintain the ball under pressure remains critical but should in some ways diminish as other skills become stronger decreasing the need to employ shielding skills as often.

 

Dribbling - The ability to run with the ball becomes more important as a tactical consideration. Decision making begins to enter the equation on a grander scale. Learning how and when to engage an opposing defender to create numerical advantage becomes a focus.

 

Footwork - Applying moves to beat an opponent with forethought and intention. It's not enough to simply defeat an opponent. We learn how to set an opponent up to be defeated in a certain manner that is to our best advantage.

Combining Dribbling and Footwork to maintain possession while defeating an opponent through individual moves or combination passing.

Passing - The ability to accurately convey the ball to a teammate with appropriate pace. Developing knowledge of both how to and when to pass short, intermediate or long and the techniques for doing so. The push pass remains the primary pass but the ability to play a driven ball, a bent ball, a chip using various surfaces of the foot become a stronger focus.

 

Shooting - The ability to score the ball. Combining receiving and passing skills. Developing the ability to score on the move, off runs, on the turn, from crosses and from volleys - half and full. It is important to establish an ability to score from a variety of angles using a variety of skills.

Contain - The ability to be patient on defense. Stay in front of the ball carrier to slow forward progress of the attack.

Force - The ability to take options away from a ball carrier and make him predictable thereby allowing your teammates to easily provide defensive help.

Tackling - Teach the cues for when it is appropriate to tackle as well as the proper technique for doing so. Do NOT attempt to tackle when the ball is between the ball carriers feet. Stay BIG when tackling. Do not dive in, stab or turn sideways.

Tactics the Passion stage of development should focus on developing pace of play through the ability to make quality decisions under pressure.

 

1 v 1

Attacking - striking a balance between maintaining possession and taking risks predicated on where the ball is on the pitch.

 

Defending - how to pressure from in front, behind or the side. Channeling attackers to make them predictable. Pursuit angles to where the ball will be.

 

Small group tactics continue in 2 v 1, 2 v 2, 3 v 1, 3 v 2, 3 v 3, 4 v 1, 4 v 2, 4 v 3 and 4 v 4.

 

Attacking - Maintaining possession through support ad combination play. Introduction of Penetration, Depth, Width and Mobility as elements of the game. Simply set pieces for restarts.

 

Defending - As a group and with intent. Pressure including the angle of approach, bounce step, channeling and making the ball carrier predictable.  Combined with defensive spacing in the former of cover.  Difference between and value of intercepting passes as opposed to tackling the ball away.

 

Team

 

Attacking - Gain and maintain pressure. Safe Pass as a means to establish rhythm. Play away from pressure. Penetration, Depth, Width and Mobility. Spacing and Balance. Interchanging positions through the run of play.

 

Defending - Coordinated pressing to regain possession. Recovering behind the ball to establish defensive shape while teammates are pressing. Line of Confrontation is introduced. The difference between containing an attacking and destroying an attack - when each is appropriate.

 

System of Play - The relationship between attacking, defending and transitioning from one to the other. They must fit together in a cohesive plan with each position and positional unit knowing how they link with other positions and positional units within the system of play.

Positions - Players should continue to be given access to explore all positions. Interchangeability is becoming an ever increasing consideration in modern systems of play that specialization at this age is no longer an option.  This is the only way to develop an awareness for the  game in its entirety. Emphasis must be on developing an understanding of all principles of play and exposing the player to the total game.

 

Formation - At one time there was a huge emphasis on playing either a 3-4-3 or a 4-3-3 formation during the developmental stages of youth soccer. I personally believe with the growing emphasis on playing Total Soccer or having complete interchangeability of players in the game formational considerations are not what they once were. It is true that some formations do provide artificial sub formations of triangles and diamonds conducive to passing or defending and the corresponding support angles. However, todays game increasingly calls for players to recognize, create and utilize these concepts in a disciplined free wheeling environment.

Physical Training - Any and all fitness work at these ages should be done with the ball.  Both dynamic (pre-game or pre-training) and static (post game or post training) stretching should become a staple.  Core training for strength, explosiveness, balance and agility should begin to be introduced.

Psychological Training - Training and playing should remain FUN!  Exploration of the game should be encouraged to foster imaginative and creative problem solving abilities.  Mistakes are still okay. Mistakes are still learning opportunities. Discipline increases as demands increase.

The Game - 4 v 4 without goalkeepers or 5 v 5 with goalkeepers remains a staple of training. The game itself moves to 11 v 11 and focuses on developing and sustaining a coordinated effort to establish rhythm when attacking and developing and sustaining a coordinated effort focused on disrupting and destroying the opponents rhythm when defending.