queensparkfc.net - Coaching Page

The ideal youth soccer coach

Knowledge. Coaches should know their sport well and most children prefer coaches who have participated in the sport. It provides them with credibility. The fact that you are a footy4kids member tells me that you want to increase your coaching knowledge and there are plenty of resources in the footy4kids shop if you're hungry for more.

Personality. Children like coaches who are friendly, happy, patient, understanding and have a sense of humour.

Authority. Children like coaches to be firm but fair, and while boys, particularly, like to be worked hard they don't like to be shouted at.

Taking personal interest. As they get older and more able, many young athletes like coaches to take an interest in the things they do besides sport.

Reaction to performance. When they do well, children like the coach to say "Well done" but they don't like them to "go over the top." (OTT) When they do poorly, they like to be given some encouragement and told what went wrong. They want to be told how to correct mistakes and not to be shouted at or ignored.

Encouragement. Most children, particularly in team sports, like to have the coach shout encouragement to them when they are competing.

Decision making. Few young children express a wish to have a say in the decisions which affect them; they expect coaches to coach and trust them to make the right decisions. As they get older and more experienced, they are more likely to want to be consulted. This may be the case with 13+ children.

Organization. Children like coaches to be organized and present structured coaching sessions. They also like them to take responsibility for seeing that they are in the right place at the right time.

Instruction and feedback. Children do like to be shown what to do, how to do it and to have mistakes corrected. In short - teach them!

DO:

Be aware of the effect you have upon growing children.
Find out what the kids expect to get out of sport with you.
Be firm, fair and organized.
Give credit where it is due and give help where it is needed.
Be consistent.
Provide learning experiences: teach.
Make practice and competition fun; it needn't be silly.
Set challenging goals tailored to the individual.
Recognize the value of friendships between children.
Show your approval whenever you can.
Listen to the children.
Relax and enjoy yourself with the kids.
Emphasise learning skill, not competing.
Reward children for effort.
Help children over the realisation that they might not have the ability of others.
Build confidence by being positive.
Reduce competitive expectations.
Help those who do not want to compete.
Tell children about how outcomes are affected by things other than their own ability.
Remember that mistakes are part of learning.

DON'T:

Put kids down for not doing as well as you wanted.
Shout and humiliate them.
Ignore them when they need some support.
Blind them with science they don't need.
Overdo the praise; they won't believe you.

Basic defending - pressure, cover, balance

If you're leaking too many goals, mastering this simple tactic will, without doubt, dramatically reduce the number of goals your team concedes and might even increase the number of games they win!

What's it all about?

With young players, the hardest, and in my opinion, the most important single aspect to get across is that the closest person to the opponent with the ball does not have the responsibility to win the ball! Once defenders understand this, about 90% of diving in is eliminated and the attacker's job becomes much harder.

It also reinforces the next most important concept: that somebody had better be moving to cover the space behind the closest defender! That is the player who will, most often, end up winning the ball.

You can demonstrate this quite easily by selecting the best defensive soccer player on the team, placing that player isolated out on the pitch, point to a goal for him or her to defend, and then tell them to "get the ball" from you.

Then simply dribble up to the player, push the ball past them into space and run onto it. If you can get the defender to step towards you, you will do this quite easily.

Ask the team why this was so easy. Now ask how you can prevent it from happening.

Somebody should come up with the idea of having a team mate behind the pressuring defender.

Now repeat the demonstration with another opponent who has been instructed to cover the space. Also ask the closest (pressuring) defender to not win the ball unless a mistake is made by the attacker. Run it again and you should see a huge improvement.
What to tell your players

1. The player closest to the ball

Your job is to slow the attack, not win the ball;
Slow the attacker down;
Apply just enough pressure to get the attacker's head down;
Make the attack predictable and push the attack to the least dangerous part of the field (the sidelines are your friends!);
Only attempt to win the ball if the attacker makes a mistake and you are sure to win it; and
Be patient

2. The next closest player to the ball

Your job is to back up the pressuring defender;
Cover the space behind the pressuring defender;
Adjust your distance based on the speed of the attack, and the skill and speed of the attacker;
Communicate with the pressuring defender, let him or her know that you are there, tell them which way to push the attack, if necessary.

3. The rest of the players on the goal side of the ball.

Your job is to watch the rest of the attackers and stop them getting the ball;
Mark any attackers who could receive the ball;
Watch attackers who are moving or could move into threatening positions;
Cut out any passing lanes;
Talk to each other - point out any unmarked threats or any opponents making runs;
Be ready to assume the role of pressuring or covering defender if the situation changes;

If you work on this simple defensive tactic your team will concede fewer goals, your players will grow in confidence and ultimately you will win more matches!

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3 or 4 lane football

Objectives

Teach players to play in a basic shape

Equipment

Flat cones to define the playing area. Coloured bibs to identify teams. A couple of balls.

Set up

Mark out a 40 x 30 grid with goals at each end. The grid is divided with flat cones into three channels (or lanes) that run from one goal line to the other.

Play 3v3 to begin with (one player in each zone). Goalkeepers are optional.

How to play

Each team must have at least one player in each of the three channels. They can receive, pass and dribble but can't go out of their channel. They run, get open and mark defensively inside their channel. If they leave their channel (even if it is just by stepping over the line), they concede a free kick wherever the infringement took place.

After a few scores, swap the players to a new zone.

Progressions

After playing 3v3 widen the centre lane and play 4v4 (2v2 in the centre lane).

When playing 4v4 allow two players of each team to be in any lane at one time. If a third player from that team wants to enter that same lane, one of the two players from his team must leave the lane before he can enter it. This reinforces the need to keep the team shape. It also teaches players to make "ball side" runs within their lanes to receive the ball.

Set up three teams of 4 players. Two teams play on the field and winning team stays on. Winning can be one, two or three goals (we play just one goal wins a game). When playing "winners stay on" we add these conditions for balls played out of bounds: Balls kicked over the goal line outside of goal result in corner kick or goal kicks, BUT balls kicked across the touch-line mean an automatic loss for team that last touched the ball. The team sitting out must be ready to immediately defend their goal (or attack) when the ball goes out of touch.

Do not assign players to a specific zone and allow movement between zones provided at least one player from each team is in each zone.

Why small-sided games work

by Michael Beale, Chelsea FC Youth Development Officer

The inspiration for the use of small-sided games in coaching lies in street football and "kickabouts" on the nearest available patch of grass - small groups of players playing intense, high-tempo, skilful, competitive-yet-fun football.

It's widely held that the practise was first adopted as a structured coaching method by the Dutch Football Association back in the 1970s under the guidance of Rinus Michels, the inspiration behind what became known as Total Football.

The Dutch recognised the decline in street football and the damaging effect that would have on developing players in future generations. They formulated the 4v4 method as a response and it became widely known as "the Dutch way". The Dutch produced some of the best football teams the world has ever seen - an amazing achievement for a nation of that size.

Michael is the author of 64 Small-Sided Football Games.

4 goal game

Objectives

To practice and reward quick decision making, rapid transition and high pressure defence.

Equipment

Flat cones to define the playing area. Coloured bibs to identify teams. A couple of balls.

Set up

An area approximately 60X60 yards square is used; four small goals are placed at each corner.

How to play

Each team defends two goals at one end and attacks the other two at the far end.

No goalkeepers.

The players play 'ordinary' soccer.

Coaching points

The key to winning the game is to 'pull' the bulk of the defenders over to one goal before switching the ball suddenly towards the less well-guarded goal and trying to score there.