Hi All,
Even though we're "between" soccer seasons, there are
still plenty of training opportunities. I think it's important for kids
to play other sports - it helps work other muscle groups, may reduce the risk
of overuse injuries (it depends upon the activities), and can definitely help
change their mental focus, allowing them to come back to soccer with renewed
enthusiasm.
But it's still good to touch the ball in the "off
season". See the note about soccer homework below.
Barry
1. coach training
2. fall training
3. MYSA/USSF coach training
4. MYSA Winter Symposium
5. Soccer homework
6. website of the month
7. videos of the month
8. article of the month
1. we had a Coaches Coffee Talk
event on Sat Nov. 1. We had about 12 participants with a theme of
"The Importance of Basic Technique". We discussed the basic
elements of the Dutch and Brazilian approaches to soccer (both focus heavily on
basic skills), viewed some video, and shared info and experiences. The
idea of the Coffee Talk is share information among our coaches since everyone
has experiences which may be valuable to others. Of course, we had coffee
and donuts!
The slides, plus links to the videos and
material will be posted soon at http://www.bjb.org/soccer/
2. fall training - is underway each Tuesday evening
at the Rosemount Irish Dome. See http://www.vusc.org/page/show/
3. MYSA/USSF coach training - There are E certificate and D license classes
underway now. No new classes at these levels have been announced though
there is a new Y module opportunity. Watch http://www.mnyouthsoccer.org/
4. MYSA Winter Symposium - is coming up on Feb. 6-7. It's loaded with
great coaching information. You can't sign up yet, but information is at http://www.mnyouthsoccer.org/
5. soccer homework - Do you give your players
soccer homework? Please let me know and share your homework
information. Keith Randa, AVHS girls varsity head coach, shared his soccer homework list
with us at last year's annual meeting (it's posted here: http://www.vusc.org/
Please share your soccer homework with me and I'll post it on
the coaches page (www.bjb.org/soccer/coachinfo)
6. website of the month - http://www.soccer-training-
7. video of the
month - some skills suitable for soccer homework:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
8. Article of the month - To Jump, or Not to Jump?
by Robert Parr, www.soccerrom.com
Consider the following game situation, where one team has a direct free kick
to be taken from just outside the defending team's penalty area...
In this situation, should the players in the wall jump, or not jump? The
answer is straightforward, yet many teams--even at the highest levels--still
make the wrong choice!
Put simply, the wall should never jump. Not ever, and not at any
level of play.
To understand why, you must first understand the role of the wall when
defending a direct free kick. Above all else, it is the job of the wall to
protect the near post. To prevent balls from going through the wall, we insist
that the players in the wall remain touch-tight with each other, and require
them to have the courage to block any shot driven at them, sacrificing their
bodies when necessary to deny a goal!
The wall exists to limit the shooter's options. By taking away certain
shots, the remaining defensive players (including the goalkeeper) can
concentrate on protecting their goal against the other options that remain
(such as chipping over the wall, serving a ball to runners at the far post, or
shooting around or over the wall). Once the wall is in place, the goalkeeper
can take a position that favors the far post, relying upon the players in the
wall to keep the ball away from his near post. This off-centered placement
makes it easier for the keeper to see the ball before it is struck (by looking
around the wall) and provides cover for the option that remains most inviting
to the shooter (the far post).
If the wall can't be trusted to stay together and protect against the low,
driven shot, then you've made three crucial tactical mistakes...
- You've put your keeper in the
wrong position to make a save.
- You've left attacking players
open away from the ball, because you've tied up too many of your own
players in a porous wall.
- You've positioned most of
your field players poorly, as half your team will be bypassed in a single
touch (once the ball is struck on goal). Not only are they then not
providing defensive cover, but they are also out of position offensively
and don't allow you to counterattack quickly should you win the ball back.
Thus, if you can't rely upon the wall to stay together and protect the near
post, then you would be better off not having a wall at all. Instead, you would
use all your field players to mark players and spaces away from the ball and
simply rely on your goalkeeper to defend against the direct strike from the
free kick. Keep in mind that if there were no wall, the keeper would take a
different position in goal relative to the kicker, because that would maximize
his ability to make the save and would minimize the shooting angle for the
opposition.
The only tactical reason a defender would jump in the wall is that he thinks
the shooter is going to attempt a shot over his head, and he wants to try to
block that shot. The problem with this logic is that good defense is never the
product of guessing! Rather, good defense comes from making the play of the
attackers more predictable, through individual and collective actions that
reduce attacking options.
Once you decide that you want to have a wall, and that you want the players
in the wall to take away some of the shooter's options, then you must decide
which options to eliminate. Without question, the defense should seek to
eliminate all the easy options, and force the attackers to score using a more
difficult option. Which is more difficult--striking a ball hard, on the ground,
straight at goal? Or striking a powerful bending ball that goes over a 6-foot
high barrier 10 yards away and then dips back down inside the near post? Most players
can do the former with some degree of success, but very few can do the latter.
Putting these ideas together, the answer is simple. Again, the wall should
never jump. The vast majority of teams at the youth and amateur levels will not
face a single opponent capable of scoring with a bending free kick over the
wall, so you are setting yourself up for disaster if you allow players to open
up the near post by jumping over the ball.
Would you encourage one or two players in the wall to "duck" as
the ball is coming toward them? Of course not! Would you allow one of your
players in the center of the wall to turn to the side (letting the ball go
through the wall) so that he doesn't get hit by a hard shot? Not a chance. So
why would you teach them to jump over the ball, when the result is the same as
these other failures of courage and discipline? You shouldn't.
The correct decision remains the same even for those teams (say, at the
collegiate, senior amateur, professional, or international levels) who do face
more gifted kickers. In this situation, you can position an extra defender on
the goal line inside the near post, and rely upon this player to head or volley
away any balls that swerve over or around the wall into his vicinity. The
obvious risk with this tactic is that you have one less player available to
defend against runners attacking a service into the box, but if the main threat
is coming from the player lined up behind the ball, it may be a trade-off worth
making. Keep in mind, though, that this also drops the offside line even with
your goal line, and thus may invite opposing players into your goal area before
the kick is taken. If so, the defender on the goal line should consider a quick
step forward just before the kick is taken to place any nearby attackers in an
offside position.
You also can't leave this decision to chance. All your players must know
their roles, and that means that they must all understand how the wall is
positioned, and that the wall will not yield any easy strikes below head height.
If the players in the wall will do their jobs, then their teammates behind them
have a reasonable chance of performing theirs. If just one player makes the
wrong choice and opens a gap through the wall, then that player has caused the
tactics behind the positioning of every other defensive player to be wrong.
Look at it from the keeper's perspective. Your wall is 10 yards closer to
your own goal than the shooter. If the ball is struck through (or under) the
wall, it is already 10 yards closer to your goal before you have a chance to
react, greatly increasing the odds that the next thing you'll be doing is
retrieving the ball from the back of your net.
Look at it from the shooter's perspective. If you've scouted your opponent
and learned that the wall is inclined to jump (or had it happen during an
earlier free kick in the game), then what shot would you try next? Personally,
I'd hit a shot as hard as I could on the ground toward the wall, expecting it
to slip through and reach the goal before the opposing keeper even sees the
ball coming.
Finally, consider the choice from the perspective of a sports psychologist.
Which is harder for your team to overcome mentally--a goal that could've easily
been prevented, or a goal from a once-in-a-lifetime
strike by your opponent? You never want to concede a goal, but when players
make poor choices that cost you games, infighting tends to set in quickly,
inflicting further damage to team cohesion and morale.
The bottom line is this--when defending free kicks, take away the easy
options, and make your opponent do something special to beat you!