03-20-2008, 09:44 PM
Picking An Attacking Style of Play
Once you have decided on the best way to defend your own goal, then youare ready to decide on the best way to attack your opponent's. Manyyouth coaches are inclined to put their biggest/fastest kids asattackers to try to outrun the opposition, and to try to get the ballto these speedsters as quickly as possible by having their defenders'boot it" down the field. While this approach, known as "boot-ball", issomewhat similar to an attacking style known as "direct play" it isdone with considerably less finesse.
Although this approach may be effective initially, it doesn't tend toproduce good soccer players in the long run for a couple of reasons.First, it promotes over-specialization since nobody gets to be anattacker except for 1-2 stars and all the rest of the team learns ishow to kick the ball hard and far. Second, it fails to teach any of theplayers how to retain the ball in tighter spaces by using teammates.Over time, the early-maturing players who were the "stars" on theseteams lose their size/speed advantage as puberty starts to level theplaying field. Additionally, since all they know is how to be afast-break forward, most upper-level teams will not be interested inthem. Meanwhile, the supporting players whose only job was tomindlessly boot the ball up-field to the stars will not have any ballcontrol skills and will likely have only mediocre defensive skills aswell. So, resist the temptation to adopt the boot-ball style of play.
In the long run, the best future training for players is to teach"possession-style" soccer based upon the basic offensive positioningnoted above. In this approach to the game, players are taught tocontrol the ball well by using their body and feet to shield it from anopponent. They are also taught to use supporting teammates to move theball in tight spaces by means of short passes which get longer as theydevelop strength and ball control. Additionally, they pick up thecourage/ability to take on a pressuring opponent by dribbling. Afterdeveloping these skills early in a small-sided setting (e.g. 1v1, 2v1,3v3, etc.), the players will have little difficulty when extra playersare added into the mix as the extra players will simply provideadditional options on where to move the ball.
Once you have decided on the best way to defend your own goal, then youare ready to decide on the best way to attack your opponent's. Manyyouth coaches are inclined to put their biggest/fastest kids asattackers to try to outrun the opposition, and to try to get the ballto these speedsters as quickly as possible by having their defenders'boot it" down the field. While this approach, known as "boot-ball", issomewhat similar to an attacking style known as "direct play" it isdone with considerably less finesse.
Although this approach may be effective initially, it doesn't tend toproduce good soccer players in the long run for a couple of reasons.First, it promotes over-specialization since nobody gets to be anattacker except for 1-2 stars and all the rest of the team learns ishow to kick the ball hard and far. Second, it fails to teach any of theplayers how to retain the ball in tighter spaces by using teammates.Over time, the early-maturing players who were the "stars" on theseteams lose their size/speed advantage as puberty starts to level theplaying field. Additionally, since all they know is how to be afast-break forward, most upper-level teams will not be interested inthem. Meanwhile, the supporting players whose only job was tomindlessly boot the ball up-field to the stars will not have any ballcontrol skills and will likely have only mediocre defensive skills aswell. So, resist the temptation to adopt the boot-ball style of play.
In the long run, the best future training for players is to teach"possession-style" soccer based upon the basic offensive positioningnoted above. In this approach to the game, players are taught tocontrol the ball well by using their body and feet to shield it from anopponent. They are also taught to use supporting teammates to move theball in tight spaces by means of short passes which get longer as theydevelop strength and ball control. Additionally, they pick up thecourage/ability to take on a pressuring opponent by dribbling. Afterdeveloping these skills early in a small-sided setting (e.g. 1v1, 2v1,3v3, etc.), the players will have little difficulty when extra playersare added into the mix as the extra players will simply provideadditional options on where to move the ball.