Well, this weekend did not go as planned at all. In order to avoid reliving the torment, I'll avoid posting scores, but suffice it to say that I was blindsided by what happened over the last three days.
I had no idea how my team would perform against another team or where my players were technically in relation to other U9 players. I put us in the top division of the tournament to see how we measured up against the top teams in the area--I found out the hard way.
The first game came at us quickly. We struggled to hold the ball, and the other team's players were more advanced technically than mine. For example, while my players have trouble making clean 5-yard passes, the players on this team were capable of 30-yard passes easily. We showed flashes of good play and created some pressure at the end of the game. In fact, we hung with them well in the second half.
Throughout the first game, we played a 2-1-2 formation, as was suggested by several coaches at the club. We continued with this formation during the second game, but it was really a struggle. I don't think the players have learned positioning, so we often left opposing attackers unmarked. As I explained to my players, a team doesn't even have to be better than us to score on us--we leave them open. Anyone can score if they are left wide open.
During the pre-game warmups until this point, I had the boys work on attacking by forming two lines, essentially a left and right forward, and had them string passes together before taking a shot. I changed this drill during the third game this morning.
I changed our formation from a 2-1-2, to a 1-2-1-1/diamond defense. I basically had a sweeper, left and right back, and a stopper/midfielder. I then maintained a single striker. It was important for our team to learn to keep their shape and mark opposing players. So, during the pre-game warmup I had them line up in this formation and just pass to each other. I showed them that they could maintain possession even by hardly moving from this shape. I thought they looked good in the warmups.
It showed instantly in the third game--we scored the first goal and allowed the other team to touch the ball only twice before we scored. Even after the goal, we maintained possession pretty well. We soon fell apart, however, and went back to some old habits: leaving players open, losing the ball in the middle of the field, not coming back on defense after pushing up, not looking before we pass, not playing aggressive and contesting 50-50 balls. It was frustrating for me because I could tell that the boys knew what I wanted to do at times, but couldn't maintain it. Some things, however, we have just not worked on enough--positioning, defending, communication--and so those errors, as well as many others, are clearly on me.
Moving forward, there is a lot we need to work on; however, the weekend was not a total loss. I now know what is realistic for these kids. I've seen U9 players that can make 30-yard passes, shoot from the 18, and make composes passes under pressure. I see no reason why my guys can't do the same things. While I thought I was going to be a more tactical coach, I now see that I also have to be a technical coach as well. This will probably be good for the kids, as I'll be able to focus on the fundamentals with them and improve their mechanics. It will also be good for me, as I'll be able to teach the kids how I want them to play.
Sunday, August 26, 2012
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Mid-Camp review
So this week has been all about the club's camp. We go every day from about 6-8:30. I'm usually pretty tired at the end of the day, but it's a great opportunity to get the kids immersed in soccer and allows me to teach them a lot of things quickly. With the tournament fast-approaching, it's important that I can get them up to where I want them quickly.
The format of the camp is that I get my players for the first half--I can use that time however I want. During the second half of camp, kids from all age groups are put together on "international" teams and we play a mini-World Cup. If someone didn't know what was going on, they'd laugh at some of the things they would hear during this camp. For example, yesterday the Scotland team beat Brazil 8-5. Hearing someone shout in a serious tone "Scotland beats Brazil to advance to the quarterfinal" is just hilarious.
Once again, the Dutch team has struggled to score goals. I guess it doesn't matter who you put on the field, if they represent the Netherlands, they will not score!
As for my squad, they looked good on Tuesday. We focused on passing and dribbling. I have conveyed to my team that I want us to have the ball all the time. I want us to control possession because if the other team doesn't have the ball, they can't score. The kids enjoy my emphasis on keeping the ball, and usually laugh when I say I want it all the time. I'm trying to toe the thin line between being the funny coach and making sure they can still take me seriously. This goes back to trying to simultaneously help the kids fall in love with the game while also teaching them things they'll need for their development. We did some drills that emphasized 5-yard passes, and then worked on passing into space. That's a pretty difficult concept for some of these kids, but if they can learn to use their pass to lead their teammates, they will be able to do a lot more on the field than other kids their age.
Wednesday, however, did not go as well. I was hoping to be able to just quickly review what we did on Tuesday and then move on to better drills. However, kids who had done well on Tuesday were not bottom of the group, and kids who struggled on Tuesday shined on Wednesday! There was really only one player who did well both days, but even he had his fair share of mistakes.
I've learned that I'm the type of coach that gets annoyed with easy mistakes. We did a drill where the players lined up in two lines, basically like right and left wingers, and had to connect on passes down the field. When they were about five yards from the goal, one of them had to shoot. They shot on a Pugg goal, that's about two yards wide and a yard high. There were no goalkeepers. Because of the wide open goal, I told the players that if they didn't score, they would run suicides. I said it didn't matter to me whether they needed one touch or seven to make sure they scored, they had to score. I wanted to emphasize passing and finishing. It also didn't matter if it was the shooter or the passer who missed the shot, both would run if they didn't score.
Surprisingly, the suicides are bringing the kids closer together. The attitude is generally, "OK, next time I'll get you a better pass so you can shoot it with your strong foot," or "I'm sorry man, I stubbed my toe on that shot. We'll score next time." That's encouraging to see, as I thought some of the players would blame their teammates for making them run.
Today again I'm going to reemphasize possession with more passing and dribbling drills. Hopefully we'll see some progress. We have a tournament this weekend, so I want them to look their best!
The format of the camp is that I get my players for the first half--I can use that time however I want. During the second half of camp, kids from all age groups are put together on "international" teams and we play a mini-World Cup. If someone didn't know what was going on, they'd laugh at some of the things they would hear during this camp. For example, yesterday the Scotland team beat Brazil 8-5. Hearing someone shout in a serious tone "Scotland beats Brazil to advance to the quarterfinal" is just hilarious.
Once again, the Dutch team has struggled to score goals. I guess it doesn't matter who you put on the field, if they represent the Netherlands, they will not score!
As for my squad, they looked good on Tuesday. We focused on passing and dribbling. I have conveyed to my team that I want us to have the ball all the time. I want us to control possession because if the other team doesn't have the ball, they can't score. The kids enjoy my emphasis on keeping the ball, and usually laugh when I say I want it all the time. I'm trying to toe the thin line between being the funny coach and making sure they can still take me seriously. This goes back to trying to simultaneously help the kids fall in love with the game while also teaching them things they'll need for their development. We did some drills that emphasized 5-yard passes, and then worked on passing into space. That's a pretty difficult concept for some of these kids, but if they can learn to use their pass to lead their teammates, they will be able to do a lot more on the field than other kids their age.
Wednesday, however, did not go as well. I was hoping to be able to just quickly review what we did on Tuesday and then move on to better drills. However, kids who had done well on Tuesday were not bottom of the group, and kids who struggled on Tuesday shined on Wednesday! There was really only one player who did well both days, but even he had his fair share of mistakes.
I've learned that I'm the type of coach that gets annoyed with easy mistakes. We did a drill where the players lined up in two lines, basically like right and left wingers, and had to connect on passes down the field. When they were about five yards from the goal, one of them had to shoot. They shot on a Pugg goal, that's about two yards wide and a yard high. There were no goalkeepers. Because of the wide open goal, I told the players that if they didn't score, they would run suicides. I said it didn't matter to me whether they needed one touch or seven to make sure they scored, they had to score. I wanted to emphasize passing and finishing. It also didn't matter if it was the shooter or the passer who missed the shot, both would run if they didn't score.
Surprisingly, the suicides are bringing the kids closer together. The attitude is generally, "OK, next time I'll get you a better pass so you can shoot it with your strong foot," or "I'm sorry man, I stubbed my toe on that shot. We'll score next time." That's encouraging to see, as I thought some of the players would blame their teammates for making them run.
Today again I'm going to reemphasize possession with more passing and dribbling drills. Hopefully we'll see some progress. We have a tournament this weekend, so I want them to look their best!
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Practice #1
Wow, today was an exciting and tiring day. It felt great to be back out on the field, and it was different to be a coach instead of a player this time.
We started with a team meeting, where the team manager and I discussed the goals of the season, my coaching philosophy, our upcoming tournament, and the season's budget. Then I took the players and started what would be a short and fun practice.
First, I showed the team how I wanted them to warm up before each practice and game. I explained that this was part of the discipline I wanted to instill in the team. The warmup involved team running and stretching, and it was pretty how much my team always warmed up when I was growing up.
Next, I did a short exercise where we all introduced ourselves, so the team could get to know one another. After this, we moved to game action--keep away with offensive-minded players against defensive-minded players. After about ten minutes of that, I put together teams with equal amounts of offensive and defensive players and had them play keep away. What I quickly learned was that to 8 and 9 year olds, keep away means pass it to the best player and let him dribble. The kids also bunched up way too easily and there was no room to play. So I changed the game a little bit to encourage wider play.
I played a drill I call "Channels." In this drill, I set up a big enough field for them to play a small-sided game. I think I used 30x30 dimensions. Then, I set up about a 5 foot wide channel on both sidelines. I put a player from each team in each of the channels on the sidelines. So, for example, today we had 10 players at practice, and were playing 5v5. I took two players from each team and put them in channels on opposite ends of the field. Their teammates would then play 3v3. The rules were simple--before a team could score they had to have their teammates in each channel touch the ball. The players in the channels are untouchable and cannot be challenged, so they have time to find good passes. This drill was a little advanced for this age group, but it still got the players to play wider and opened up the play a bit. I think I'll try it again next practice and see if the kids will develop better wide play.
Another problem with this team is that some of the kids want to try passes they are not capable of completing yet. Basically any pass over 10 yards is impossible, at least without the opponent intercepting it. This makes wanting to play wider a bit more difficult, but I think the players began to understand that you can string together several short passes to complete one "long" pass.
We ended practice with a nice "1, 2, 3, Lyon FC" chant and off the players went. Our next practice is Thursday, and I'll post another update then.
If you have any ideas for drills for my team, I'd love to hear them. I'm open to any ideas.
We started with a team meeting, where the team manager and I discussed the goals of the season, my coaching philosophy, our upcoming tournament, and the season's budget. Then I took the players and started what would be a short and fun practice.
First, I showed the team how I wanted them to warm up before each practice and game. I explained that this was part of the discipline I wanted to instill in the team. The warmup involved team running and stretching, and it was pretty how much my team always warmed up when I was growing up.
Next, I did a short exercise where we all introduced ourselves, so the team could get to know one another. After this, we moved to game action--keep away with offensive-minded players against defensive-minded players. After about ten minutes of that, I put together teams with equal amounts of offensive and defensive players and had them play keep away. What I quickly learned was that to 8 and 9 year olds, keep away means pass it to the best player and let him dribble. The kids also bunched up way too easily and there was no room to play. So I changed the game a little bit to encourage wider play.
I played a drill I call "Channels." In this drill, I set up a big enough field for them to play a small-sided game. I think I used 30x30 dimensions. Then, I set up about a 5 foot wide channel on both sidelines. I put a player from each team in each of the channels on the sidelines. So, for example, today we had 10 players at practice, and were playing 5v5. I took two players from each team and put them in channels on opposite ends of the field. Their teammates would then play 3v3. The rules were simple--before a team could score they had to have their teammates in each channel touch the ball. The players in the channels are untouchable and cannot be challenged, so they have time to find good passes. This drill was a little advanced for this age group, but it still got the players to play wider and opened up the play a bit. I think I'll try it again next practice and see if the kids will develop better wide play.
Another problem with this team is that some of the kids want to try passes they are not capable of completing yet. Basically any pass over 10 yards is impossible, at least without the opponent intercepting it. This makes wanting to play wider a bit more difficult, but I think the players began to understand that you can string together several short passes to complete one "long" pass.
We ended practice with a nice "1, 2, 3, Lyon FC" chant and off the players went. Our next practice is Thursday, and I'll post another update then.
If you have any ideas for drills for my team, I'd love to hear them. I'm open to any ideas.
Monday, August 13, 2012
Pre-season update
Well folks, our first practice is tomorrow and to say I am excited is a ridiculous understatement. I've seen a few of my players at the club's "Street Soccer" sessions, and I've been pleased with what I've seen. The kids are coachable, enjoy playing, and want to be better. I've only met three of the players so far, but I'm excited to meet the rest and see what we've got.
I've learned a bit more about the U9 age level. It is still difficult for me to gauge how good a player is when he is not playing with other U9 players, but I am starting to understand the skills typical of the age. I've also learned that the kids have pretty short attention spans when it comes to coaching--it's important to keep my coaching tips short and sweet.
I'll post an update after tomorrow's practice, but I anticipate doing a bit of getting to know the team and seeing what they've got. Tomorrow should be a fun practice for the kids (lots of scrimmaging) and for me!
I've learned a bit more about the U9 age level. It is still difficult for me to gauge how good a player is when he is not playing with other U9 players, but I am starting to understand the skills typical of the age. I've also learned that the kids have pretty short attention spans when it comes to coaching--it's important to keep my coaching tips short and sweet.
I'll post an update after tomorrow's practice, but I anticipate doing a bit of getting to know the team and seeing what they've got. Tomorrow should be a fun practice for the kids (lots of scrimmaging) and for me!
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