The Game Within the Child

Way before the concept of hashtags, I developed a set of simple phrases that I used in training to help my players understand some key principles of soccer. In this article I wrote a long time ago, I talk about the top 10 phrases I use in training with my players. I think it will be helpful to you as you work on communicating more effectively with your players. Remember that your goal is to do less talking and have the kids play for longer periods of time. With a few good memes, you can easily accomplish this goal.  Now on to the phrases:  I have noticed that many times I say something and I assume that the people I am speaking to know exactly what I am talking about. Somebody pointed this out to me one time when they asked what “playing good soccer” actually meant. For years, I would say we want out players to play good soccer without ever defining what I thought it meant. It was up to each person to interpret that in whatever way they could. This is not ...

So one of the most difficult tasks for our U8 and below players is changing directions, especially turning, with the ball. They are amazing at going fast in a straight line, but it takes a lot of coordination and concentration to change direction and go the opposite way. Often, you will see a player dribbling towards their own goal and the parents/ coaches are shouting at them to "turn around." I have already described in an earlier post why this is a counter-productive behavior, but today I wanted to show you how to play a game specifically designed to get players to change directions. It has a nice progression that is appropriate for the U6 and younger crew, but it can also be scaled up to U10 as well with just a few tweaks and can even be scaled up to a small-sided or expanded small-sided activity. Oh NO!! starts with a grid divided into three sections. The center section is narrow and the two end sections are wider. Have one coach/parent at each end of the grid. You get...