03-20-2008, 09:43 PM
Picking A Defensive Style of Play
With just a little direction, even very young players will be able tounderstand that if their team sends everyone to the opposing goal,their own goal will be wide-open and vulnerable to a counterattack.But, of course, if everyone stays back to guard their goal, they won'tever score or have any fun at all.
One good approach is to ask your players to think up some solutions tothe defensive problem. One of the first suggestions that you'llprobably get is to leave somebody by the goal. However, when you askfor volunteers, you are likely to find that everyone will want to be inthe attacking group. Well, if nobody wants to stay to guard the goal,then what other solutions are available?
Option 1: Man-MarkingOne defensive solution is to have everyone pickone of the players on the other team to guard when the other team hasthe ball. Instantly, you have introduced the concepts of marking andfollowing your mark. But, what happens if somebody loses his mark,either because he gets distracted or is slower than his mark or issimply beaten? Well, then you need to have the nearest available playerjump in and cover for him, right? This is the second basic element ofdefensive support and needs to be learned and re-learned constantly.However, man-marking may be unsuited for players below U-10s, as theytend to be very easily distracted. In addition, because of the lack ofsize and strength in the younger groups, most opposing players tend notto be scoring threats until fairly close to goal so it may well be awaste of defensive manpower to mark players outside of scoring range.Option 2: High Pressure Defense (Defensive Swarm)If young children areput onto a field with a soccer ball, divided into teams, and just toldto use their feet to kick the ball into the goal of the opponent, theywill instinctively play "swarm ball" (or "magnet ball" or take the"beehive" approach to the game. Why? Because they all like to be wherethe action is which, oddly enough, is where the ball is. As a result,they instinctively are applying a defensive style which is known as"high-pressure defense", in which several players try to surround theopponent and keep him from going forward.
Is the swarm a "bad" thing? Not necessarily so, at least from adefensive standpoint, as long as any attackers that choose to stay outof the swarm are accounted for. The swarm actually tends to be veryeffective at shutting down attacks by an opponent until the oppositionlearns to spread out on its attacks and develops the skill toaccurately pass the ball to open players. Moreover, kids tend to adjustautomatically as the swarm becomes less effective, so the size of theswarm naturally gets smaller over time even without coachingintervention.
Whether or not to permit a swarm obviously will depend on the number ofplayers that you have on the field. In 3v3 or 4v4, it will be harder toswarm with more than 2 players, because you will leave your goal wideopen. In 6v6 or above, it is possible to use a multi-person swarmfairly effectively.
Option 3: Low-Pressure DefenseThere is also another defensive solutionavailable which is relatively easy for younger players to execute. Inthis solution, you can send 1 player to slow down the person with theball and another one to back him up in order to give everyone else onthe team time to get back and set up in front of the goal area. This iscalled "low-pressure defense," and is an approach which can work wellIF 1) the pressuring players know how to do their jobs and 2) theretreating players are ready to become the pressuring playersthemselves if the ball is played to an attacker who is close to them.In fact, many top-level international teams use the low-pressuredefensive system, so we weren't kidding when we said that a defensive"swarm" is not necessarily a bad thing. Of course, attacking playersmust be closely marked when they get into scoring range, particularlywhen they've developed the leg strength to make lofted shots on goal.
Handling Other Common Defensive Problems
What happens if the other team has some really fast players? Well, ifyou also have some really fast players who are good defensively, oneeasy solution is to man-mark these particular threats even if you areusing a low-pressure or high-pressure system overall. Also bear in mindthat even a slow defender can be quite effective in stopping a speedyattacker once he learns basic defensive footwork and positioning. Lotsof players who have had exposure to other sports such as basketballwill already have been exposed to these concepts. Essentially, the jobof the initial pressuring defender is to slow the attacker down bygetting in his way, giving ground as slowly as possible, but not makingany attempt to win the ball until cover has arrived. This is a job thatanyone can do with practice, so don't allow your slower players toavoid learning these vital skills because of their lack of speed.
With just a little direction, even very young players will be able tounderstand that if their team sends everyone to the opposing goal,their own goal will be wide-open and vulnerable to a counterattack.But, of course, if everyone stays back to guard their goal, they won'tever score or have any fun at all.
One good approach is to ask your players to think up some solutions tothe defensive problem. One of the first suggestions that you'llprobably get is to leave somebody by the goal. However, when you askfor volunteers, you are likely to find that everyone will want to be inthe attacking group. Well, if nobody wants to stay to guard the goal,then what other solutions are available?
Option 1: Man-MarkingOne defensive solution is to have everyone pickone of the players on the other team to guard when the other team hasthe ball. Instantly, you have introduced the concepts of marking andfollowing your mark. But, what happens if somebody loses his mark,either because he gets distracted or is slower than his mark or issimply beaten? Well, then you need to have the nearest available playerjump in and cover for him, right? This is the second basic element ofdefensive support and needs to be learned and re-learned constantly.However, man-marking may be unsuited for players below U-10s, as theytend to be very easily distracted. In addition, because of the lack ofsize and strength in the younger groups, most opposing players tend notto be scoring threats until fairly close to goal so it may well be awaste of defensive manpower to mark players outside of scoring range.Option 2: High Pressure Defense (Defensive Swarm)If young children areput onto a field with a soccer ball, divided into teams, and just toldto use their feet to kick the ball into the goal of the opponent, theywill instinctively play "swarm ball" (or "magnet ball" or take the"beehive" approach to the game. Why? Because they all like to be wherethe action is which, oddly enough, is where the ball is. As a result,they instinctively are applying a defensive style which is known as"high-pressure defense", in which several players try to surround theopponent and keep him from going forward.
Is the swarm a "bad" thing? Not necessarily so, at least from adefensive standpoint, as long as any attackers that choose to stay outof the swarm are accounted for. The swarm actually tends to be veryeffective at shutting down attacks by an opponent until the oppositionlearns to spread out on its attacks and develops the skill toaccurately pass the ball to open players. Moreover, kids tend to adjustautomatically as the swarm becomes less effective, so the size of theswarm naturally gets smaller over time even without coachingintervention.
Whether or not to permit a swarm obviously will depend on the number ofplayers that you have on the field. In 3v3 or 4v4, it will be harder toswarm with more than 2 players, because you will leave your goal wideopen. In 6v6 or above, it is possible to use a multi-person swarmfairly effectively.
Option 3: Low-Pressure DefenseThere is also another defensive solutionavailable which is relatively easy for younger players to execute. Inthis solution, you can send 1 player to slow down the person with theball and another one to back him up in order to give everyone else onthe team time to get back and set up in front of the goal area. This iscalled "low-pressure defense," and is an approach which can work wellIF 1) the pressuring players know how to do their jobs and 2) theretreating players are ready to become the pressuring playersthemselves if the ball is played to an attacker who is close to them.In fact, many top-level international teams use the low-pressuredefensive system, so we weren't kidding when we said that a defensive"swarm" is not necessarily a bad thing. Of course, attacking playersmust be closely marked when they get into scoring range, particularlywhen they've developed the leg strength to make lofted shots on goal.
Handling Other Common Defensive Problems
What happens if the other team has some really fast players? Well, ifyou also have some really fast players who are good defensively, oneeasy solution is to man-mark these particular threats even if you areusing a low-pressure or high-pressure system overall. Also bear in mindthat even a slow defender can be quite effective in stopping a speedyattacker once he learns basic defensive footwork and positioning. Lotsof players who have had exposure to other sports such as basketballwill already have been exposed to these concepts. Essentially, the jobof the initial pressuring defender is to slow the attacker down bygetting in his way, giving ground as slowly as possible, but not makingany attempt to win the ball until cover has arrived. This is a job thatanyone can do with practice, so don't allow your slower players toavoid learning these vital skills because of their lack of speed.