For my new players...a few notes on my approach.

Way back, twelve years ago now, when I first started coaching one of my kids in recreational league soccer it occurred to me that for some of the kids on the team the first step was not learning some basic soccer skill but rather just learning how to run or how to maintain their balance. This was U6 soccer so for some of them it was even questionable as to whether they understood the fundamental concept of "a game"  Based on these observations the guiding principle for all the coaching work I've done since has been “nothing is obvious”.  I try to pay close attention to every player during practices and games to assess where they each as individuals need help.  With some players I might be working on helping them to add a new deceptive move or sharpen their shooting skill.  But with some players it might be that we need to actually work on their posture or their running stride, something so basic that you might take it for granted. Some players might have some basic athletic ability but need lots of help learning how to actually understand the flow of a game.  With each basic skill that I try to teach, including the mental skills, I consider it important that I be able to break that skill down into smaller parts so that when necessary I can teach it gradually and in a way that will reach every player, not just the more advanced players.

    When I begin working with new players I need the player and the parent to buy in to what I’m doing.  What I need the players to get is that I’m going to be encouraging them to try new things, to struggle with new skills and to put those skills into play in games.  My attitude is always going to be “let’s play to win by just playing.”  In that way I want to foster an atmosphere of casualness about the game so that the kids feel free to try their skills without fear that I’ll be upset if we don’t win.  Then I have to sell the parents on this idea too since for most of them it will be hard if they see their kid’s team getting clobbered.   They’ll be yelling for me to keep them in position.   They’ll be yelling for the kids to “kick the ball” when that’s not what we really want.  We can set the kids up to play “effectively” as a team now so that they might get some wins but what happens when they reach the next age level or next competitive level and only a few kids on the team actually have real ball skills?

     As coaches and parents we do want them to compete and to love to do so but they need to know that the competition is its own reward regardless of outcome.  Some parents may hear this and think that I’m trying to teach their kids a wishy-washy “winning isn’t everything” point of view.  That’s not the case.  You compete to win.  But if you do not love the competition for itself you are not likely to stick with it when you aren’t earning victories.  I’ve heard many athletes, most notably Michael Jordan, say that if you are afraid to fail you’ll never win because the path to victory at the highest level leads through many small failures.  For players on Fusion teams those “small” failures begin in training settings where we challenge them to master difficult ball control skills, skills that they may not think are obviously valuable for game situations.  Then we’ll push our players to try to execute those same skills in actual game situations where they will most certainly fail many times.  Yet that is how they’ll learn to use those skills and how to win with them.   A critical factor though is that players trust their coaches and their parents to be proud of them for playing fearlessly and creatively, for struggling to put those difficult skills to use.  Players have to know that that’s what you’re looking for and that you really do think winning is secondary.   But again, not because winning isn’t important but rather because competing is more important.  I want them all to be unrepentant soccer field rats who’d take a pick-up game in a pouring rain if it was their only chance to play.

   With all of this in mind I have a few simple principles that guide my coaching approach:

1) Be Patient.   Obviously I try to be patient myself as a coach but I’m also trying to instill that willingness to be patient in the players and in their parents.  Learning a new skill can take time and many repetitions and a lot of failures.  It can be a struggle.  I try to show my players and their parents through my words, my attitude and my body language that I am patient and will work with them for as long as it takes.  I try to impress upon them that struggle is just part of the work and they shouldn’t waste time with any unrealistic expectations as to how fast they can master something or make any unfounded assumptions about what their “natural abilities” might be just because it’s taking a little while to learn a new skill.   Stay focused and be patient with yourself and remember why you’re working on developing new skills...so you can take them with you into the game.  

2) Nothing is obvious.  Take as much time as necessary to teach a skill and don’t hesitate to break it down into its smaller parts.  Don’t assume one way of demonstrating a skill will work with every player.  Observe the players closely and coach to their individual strengths while trying to expand their abilities. From the players' perspective this means never be afraid to raise your hand and ask for another demonstration or a clearer explanation.

3) Stick to Fundamentals.  The primary focus has always got to be on skill development with much less time spent on development of tactical understanding of the game.  Teach the kids how to control the ball first then put them in game situations and with a little guidance they’ll start getting the foundations of tactical understanding on their own.  With the younger age groups, U6 through U8, I generally avoid any sorts of passing drills or any other tactical drills and always favor practice work that gives the players lots of repeated touches on the ball. There is no doubt that at some point players reach a point where they can grow very rapidly in their understanding of the game, their field awareness and their ability to anticipate each other's movements. But if we jump into working in tactical training situations before most of the players have some basic ball competence then those training drills will be a mess and of little long term value.

4) Teach them to be unafraid of situational failures.  If we spend time in practice learning a new deceptive move I want them to feel free to try it in the very next game without worrying about when is the right time to use it or when it will work.  Only game experience can teach them how to use their skills effectively so I encourage them to just go into the competition committed to trying to use those new skills.  Let's say we work in training one week on doing a step-over combination. I could use a skill like that as a player in a game situation to actually win a 1v1 or maybe just to get a defender to hesitate for a moment, just long enough for one of my teammates to get open for a pass. Either way though, if I don't actually try to use that skill I'll never get a feel for when or how to use it effectively, and no doubt, the first time (and a lot of times after that) that I use that skill I'll use it ineffectively or just mess up technically. As a player I've got to feel that getting to the point where I can reliably use a skill under pressure is worth all the times I have to struggle just to get it right and for that I need to know that my Coach and my family have my back in the whole process.

As a parent you've got to really be prepared for what this means. What if your kid or one of their teammates decides the right time to try out their new skill is just as they are dribbling through our own penalty area...and they mess up and lose the ball...and the other team scores. Will your emotional response be "Oh no! Don't do that!" or will it be "I saw what you were doing! Try it again! Take it to 'em!"?

5) Keep the focus on playing.  A lot of what they need to learn as players they must learn through game experience so I try to keep a balance in my practices between focused technical work and teaching through playing games.   We spend half the practice working on a skill then the second half playing 1v1 or other small sided games where we try to put that new skill into action right away.

Time

    During the mid '90s Chris and I were living in Chicago and like everybody else there we were fans of the Bulls.  I hadn't followed basketball very closely before then but watching Michael Jordan could make anyone a fan.  While watching a Bulls playoff game during one of those championship years I had a realization that has stuck with me since and has informed a lot of what I try to do as a youth coach.  In this case it was a game situation that the Bulls and their fans were familiar with; less than twenty seconds on the clock, the Bulls tied or down by one or two and of course the play would be to get MJ the final shot.  As Jordan received the in-bounds pass you could see how relaxed he was, in no real hurry to take the ball up the court, just casually letting the seconds burn off.  He floated up the court drifting to his right then cutting left.  Just getting to the three point line he rises up and as he falls back away from the basket he lets the ball fly.  Bulls win.
     After the game in conversation with some friends I said out loud what I'd been thinking as I watched Jordan move toward that final shot.  "It's like to him, ten seconds is a long time, right?"  The moment was so tense for everyone watching but Michael seemed calm, as though the seconds we agonized over were actually stretching out for him, as though time were moving more slowly.  Every fan in Chicago was yelling at their TV screens "hurry, hurry!  Only ten seconds left!"  while in his own mind I imagine Jordan was thinking "relax, plenty of time."
     Think about it this way:  Looking at the clock as the game winds down you or I see 00:20:00 and think "twenty seconds! that's not enough time" because what we're really seeing is that twenty seconds is all that's left of the game.  This is the last twenty seconds.   But I tend to think that a supremely gifted and trained athlete like MJ or Lionel Messi or Megan Rapinoe would reply "yeah, but it is still twenty seconds and I can do a lot in twenty seconds." In other words it's a matter of perspective.  While I might panic in a late game situation and think 'I've only got twenty seconds to get the ball up field and create a shooting opportunity...that's only time for one try" one of the athletes mentioned above might reply "Yeah, but I only need one chance and twenty seconds is plenty of time for one chance."  That is, they go forward without a thought about the limit the situation places on them and rather embrace the opportunity the situation presents.  The pressure of a last minute game situation could be crushing if your mental focus is on the dwindling amount of time you have.  But a player of a resilient frame of mind is one who views the time remaining as just more time to act.
     My tendency to focus all of my team's training activities on fundamental skills is obviously informed by the fact that for high-level performers those fundamentals are indispensable.  No amount of tactical training can overcome poor technical execution so I think I need to devote the majority of my training sessions to skill development.  As all the players reach a higher level of broad technical competence we can then afford to devote more time to tactics.  I have begun introducing some tactical training exercises to my teams, especially Girl Power, as I think that these exercises help to drive them to improve their technique.  You can't effectively run a passing pattern drill if your first touch and passing stroke are not consistently good so my hope is that by being put under the pressure of running such drills my players will experience and internalize the necessity of technical excellence.  As Coach Eric used to say, "don't just practice until you get it right...practice until you can't get it wrong."
      And when you do that, when you make a set of skills so second-nature that you can't get them wrong, that's when game time starts to slow down for a player.  So that's the other reason for insisting on a focus on technical excellence.  When players can really rely on their skills under pressure then they are more mentally resilient.  They see pressure situations in games as opportunities rather than limits.
     I'm a little concerned that recently I've not properly helped my Girl Power team to remain focused on that long-term goal of skill development.  When they aren't having a good game it's easy to focus on the tactical shortcomings of the team, their failure to cooperate more.  Conversely, it's easy to overlook all the little technical mistakes and deficiencies, mostly because they pass by so quickly in games it's hard to even place them into the overall context of the flow of the game.  Maintaining a disciplined detachment regarding wins versus losses is difficult but necessary...assuming, that is, that the point really is to train them all to be the best player they can be.
   

GP vs Nelson County, 4/1/2017

   



   

Nobody likes losing but I hope everyone can appreciate what a good game that was yesterday for Girl Power.  They played a good team that had a lot of very skillful players and they had a considerable size advantage too.  Girl Power never backed down, never fell into a panic defense, and they showed repeatedly how reliable dribble skills can be effective even when you're opponent is a little taller than you.  I hope everyone also noticed the team's efforts at moving the ball around more often with passing.
     At the end of my last post I highlighted a brief passing sequence involving Ava, Abby and Peyton.  I was trying to describe a moment where it was clear that the players involved were anticipating each other's movements in a way that allowed them to essentially decide what to do with the ball before they'd even received it.  In the situation I was describing from that game Peyton received a pass from Abby and made an immediate one touch pass back to Abby, not directly to her but rather to open space about five yards to Abby's right.  So before Peyton had received the ball she had already anticipated that possible pass, had already anticipated that Abby could follow a pass into open space past two defenders.
     The exercises we ran at training this week are meant to encourage more of that sort of thoughtful cooperative interplay between players.  We ran the familiar Hot Corners game and then we worked on learning a new pattern passing game that is somewhat more complicated than Hot Corners and that really emphasizes the concept of a "give and go" movement with the ball.  I'm very encouraged at the extent to which our players are picking up the idea of moving the ball cooperatively, especially their individual willingness to release the ball when their dribble options don't look so good.  Where we're lacking, and this showed in yesterday's game, is in their individual willingness to anticipate that a pass might be coming their way.
     A great example of what I mean happened right in front of me in the second half.  We were headed down hill in that half which I hoped would give us the same advantage it had clearly given the other team.  And it did as our attack certainly became faster and more penetrating.  So at one point Zoe is bringing the ball up the line after a brilliant tackle to repossess and she makes a beautiful hesitation move to dance around the biggest player on the other team.  But then as she continues her run along the touch line she looks up and sees three things: two more defenders closing on her; Peyton running with her about four yards to her right; wide open space up the line.  Zoe took one more dribble touch and to me her intentions seemed clear.  She was going to release the ball up the line for Peyton.  Zoe made that pass flawlessly with her left foot.  Well struck with just a little left to right hook on it so it hugged the line without going out.  Peyton made the effort to run onto the ball but unfortunately she had started about two steps too late.  She hadn't "read" Zoe's intentions early enough.
     That was typical of the whole team's performance yesterday and I don't want it to sound like a criticism.  Rather it's meant as an observation of how close they are to some really brilliant play.  There were many other instances of sequences of play where one or two of our players would demonstrate wonderful individual skill to regain and possess the ball.  We had lots of fantastic 1v1 victories.  But we also did have a lot of really great penetrating runs into the final third that did end with very smart through ball or crossing ball passes.  The problem was simply a matter of timing and of touch.  Sometimes the through ball was hit too hard and sometimes the intended target player hadn't taken off early enough.
     So I'm not disappointed by this performance in any way and as I told the team after the game I'm actually thrilled about the potential they're showing.  Their technical skills are solid and still improving so each of them is formidable in those 1v1 situations.  And now they're showing that on the tactical side, the cooperative aspect of the game, it's really just down to needing more experience so they can hone their timing.  Throughout the game yesterday I felt they were consistently only a knife-edge away from finding that first goal and they kept up the pressure right to the end.  We can go back to the training field knowing what we've got to focus on and knowing that we're at a point where a lot of what we're doing in training is fine tuning.

KSSL season opener for Girl Power.

     It is so hard to be focused when you're cold.  When you play in the heat you may be uncomfortable and it can sap your strength but you can have long stretches in a game where you're so caught up you just don't notice the weather.  But the cold nags at you, pulls you down, makes you feel smaller.  And it hurts.  In Saturday's KSSL season opener for Girl Power I saw girls with hands and ears as red as an apple but rather than being weighed down by that they played beautifully and energetically and with a wonderful gamer's attitude.
     Best of all, despite the cold and wind they largely did maintain their focus.  You've probably heard me say to them before that there are three things they have to know "where-it's-at" all the time in a game: the ball; the goals; the players (both teams).  That's a lot to keep in focus all at once and raw weather conditions make that even tougher but our girls were doing their best and it showed in their play.  Their defense was organized and smothering.  Their attack was a great combination of individual skill and cooperation.  It's been a long process to get to where they are as a team now and I'm really proud of their progress but in this last game I was most proud of their toughness and grit.  Despite the weather they came out anxious to play and they were upbeat and supportive of each other from start to finish.
    I was really happy to see that the FC Kentucky team we faced seems to have adopted a training strategy similar to ours.  When we faced them last season they were kicking the ball a lot but in Saturday's game I heard their coach frequently admonishing them to dribble rather than kick it away.  Possession of the ball certainly made the difference in the game and Girl Power's combination of good first touch and good dribble skill meant we had the ball more often than they did.  We only managed two goals, one for Hailey and one for Abby, but I feel like we had a ton of good chances.  Both the goals were the result of some really fabulous skill too.  Hailey beat a couple of defenders to get into the box and then held the ball right until the keeper stepped out for it then she took a calm touch to her right and put it away.  Abby's goal was off a corner kick and she received the ball with her back to goal then made a lovely turn to beat two players before firing the ball into the net.
     I also want to note a beautiful little passing sequence we saw in the first half where we had a throw-in from Ava to Abby who then made a quick pass up the line to Peyton.  Peyton then brilliantly one-touched the ball splitting two defenders to put Abby open and headed into the penalty area.  It happened too quickly for Peyton to have time to think about what to do with the ball after it came to her.  Rather she'd already seen the situation unfolding before Abby sent her that pass so when the ball arrived to her she'd already decided what to do next.  That ability to anticipate, to see the situation so that you know what you're going to do with the ball before you get it is something that will be a point of emphasis in our training this season.
 

Enjoy the wins, endure the losses and always love to compete.

     A few years back I started telling all of my players that there are three things they need to be aware of at all times while playing.  I introduce the concept by asking "what are the three things that you need to know where-it-is all the time while you're playing?"
     Players usually get the first one easily.  It's the ball.  The second is the goals.  That's your basic orientation for the play of the game so you've got to know all the time where the goals are and which end is which.
     The third "where-it-is-all-the-time" is the players...your team and the opponent.  So, as players we have to keep these three things in the front of our mind at all times.
   
     I have to know where the ball is, where the goals are and where all my teammates and my opponents are...all the time.  And my coach is yelling to me to remind me of that...and to remind me of what position I'm playing...and to remind me of what's behind me...and to demand that I use a particular skill.  And then it's cold...and snowing a bit...and windy.  Or it's hot and this one girl on the other team keeps grabbing my shirt from behind...and then there's my mom or my dad...what are they saying?  Are they mad?  Now, what was I supposed to be remembering all the time again?  

     It's a lot to ask of a ten year old to remain focused enough to be aware of all three of the where-it-is-all-the-time things simultaneously and the ultimate goal is to get them to have that focused awareness as their default position, as simply the way they approach the game naturally, reflexively.  It takes a lot of time, a lot of patient development to get players from their precocious "me and the ball" phase to a more subtle team oriented understanding of how to play.  Keeping in mind of course that as players develop more of a team mentality for the game they aren't shedding that early "me and the ball" selfishness but rather finding a way to incorporate that into the team effort.
     As with the players and their where-it-is-all-the-time attitude, the coach also has to have a sort of default position for approaching the game.  It's patience.  The arc of player development is long and there are no shortcuts.  Every minute of training and game time my players get is part of that development and it's all valuable, even the failures and at the most basic level a coach's job is to let the players have those experiences and then to let them "percolate" on them, as it were.
     So this past weekend one of my teams came away with a lot to percolate on.  Their opening game for the KSSL season was a tough one played in raw conditions.  Despite the score it was a good game for them and I was generally happy with the level of skillfulness and the overall commitment to energetic play.  Then in the evening they played their final indoor game of the season and, again, took a tough loss.   But again, they played with good energy the whole game, constantly pressing to come back.  And there was plenty of great skill on display.  The team had, throughout both games, what I'd call a "gamer's" attitude, meaning they played like they were there for the love of the competition, regardless of the outcome.  As a coach I can't ask for more.  If I watch them compete with real commitment and even some joy but they finish with a loss I cannot go into the post-match chat with them with anything but a positive attitude.  The moment the final whistle blows in a situation like that I have to immediately let go of any disappointment I might feel at the loss and begin thinking about how to talk to the team positively about how they played and how we can build on it.
     My comments to the team after that evening game ended with me telling them that I was glad to be their coach, that I love watching them play and I love training with them.  I told them that being a select player means you've made a commitment to the game, to your teammates and to your own longterm development.  "That development is a long arc" I said.  "And if you're committed to following it I'm committed to guiding you.  I'll be with you all the way."

Spring 2017 training goals

One of the training goals I have for Ninjas and Girl Power this season is to help everyone perfect the "roll-over" dribble touch.



I think most of my players can execute this skill but very few of them will use it in games so that's what I'll be focusing on this season, getting them to adopt that skill as a regular part of their game.  This dribble skill is valuable for two reasons.  First it allows a player to move quickly with the ball in a way that keeps the ball moving at the same speed the player is running.  Secondly, it can be used as a simple and effective deceptive dribble skill too.

Tactical Thinking and the Three Questions

     I've been reading a wonderful little book on coaching called Soccer IQ by Dan Blank, a coach for the women's squad at the University of Georgia.  In each brief chapter of the book Coach Blank shares his observations on what constitutes the "soccer iq" that good players have in common.  You might think this "iq" would include a lot of technical skills, things like having a good passing stroke or having mastered some particular deceptive dribbling skills, the sorts of things I work the most on with my players.  But for Coach Blank those skills are the tools you have to have in order to make and execute tactical decisions in games and it's in that decision making that we find the soccer iq that separates great players from good ones.  It's qualities like speed of thought, empathy and anticipation and developing a habit of observing the game closely even as you're playing.

     For some time now anyone attending one of my teams' games would be able to hear me calling to my players to "use your eyes" as I encourage them to know what's going on around them.  So I was tickled to get to chapter 10 of Soccer IQ, and find Coach Blank emphasizing just how important it is for players to really learn to use their eyes.  Here are a few passages from the chapter which is entitled Three Questions:

     "A soccer player's most important body part is her pair of eyes.  Your eyes are your very best way of collecting information...Your eyes prepare you to make the decisions that enable you to play quickly and keep the ball for your team.  And too many players don't utilize them very well.
     In a ninety minute soccer game you will probably spend between two and three minutes on the ball.  That means that 87 minutes, roughly 96% of your day, is spent off the ball.  Smart players understand that when they don't have the ball, they've got to plan for those moments when the ball finds them.          

     A smart player is constantly asking herself, "What if?" and "What's next?"
     What if the ball comes to me?
     What's next when I get it?
     What if we give the ball back to them?  What's next?
     What if they give the ball back to us?  What's next?
     And she is always asking, "What's behind me?"
      

Average soccer players make their decisions after they've already received the ball. That's not a good thing...Smart players make 90% of their decisions before the ball ever gets to them.  Even if that decision is to face up a defender and take her on the dribble (1v1), the smart player already knows that's what she's going to do before the ball gets to her."

     Share that with your player if you can.  I think all of the players I coach are capable of understanding what this is about.  If you're interested in hearing more of Coach Blank's ideas on Soccer IQ you can go to his website www.soccerpoet.com and he's also got a SoccerPoet channel on YouTube where he actually talks through and illustrates some of the book's chapters.  Good stuff.