Coaching Youth travel soccer, I don't know anything about soccer (1 Viewer)

[AcerFC]

Honest question - why are you involved in the sport?  Seems like every other post of yours is a complaint about hating something.  Not meant as a dig, it's just something that's jumped out.

My kids love the tournament setup since it's virtually non-stop soccer for the weekend.  Makes for a long weekend for my wife and I, but I enjoy very few things more than watching the boys play something they love.  

I love sports. I love playing them, I love coaching them. I wanted my kids to be involved in a team, playing for the same goal, friendships that are formed and bonds made through sport. To give some perspective, the last year I played travel soccer was 1992. The landscape is much different today than it was back then.

I do not hate sports, I hate what youth sports has become. And it has nothing to do with the kids. It has to do with the parents and what the expect somewhere down the road. I have no illusions that either of my kids are scholarship athletes. I want them to enjoy sports. My son, who is 6, is feeling the pressure to compete when his one friend tells him he has been at the rink for 2 hours with personal trainers and another who says he cant come over after practice because he has a 1 on 1 goalie lesson and then extra skating. THEY ARE SIX. 

I just feel like youth sports can be and should be a lot better than what we are presenting the kids right now. And tournaments are included in that

 

[Ned]

Sounds like great teaching moments with your son. 

I agree with you, and while it's pretty widespread, let's not pretend it's every club in every sport. Don't let all the negativity take over -  look for clubs that have the same vision as yours. They're out there. 

Im sure I'm preaching to the choir...  

 

[PIK95]

Honest question - why are you involved in the sport?  Seems like every other post of yours is a complaint about hating something.  Not meant as a dig, it's just something that's jumped out.

My kids love the tournament setup since it's virtually non-stop soccer for the weekend.  Makes for a long weekend for my wife and I, but I enjoy very few things more than watching the boys play something they love.  

He LOVES Disney.

 

[The Gator]

The tournament fascination in this country sucks. Practice to game ratio is way out of whack. It should be about 5:1 but it's closer to 2:1

 

[SwampDawg]

My son's team is gonna be in Hershey, PA this weekend for a tourney.  Hershey Park is having a private event sat night just for the kids.  Should be a blast.

I've heard that is a lot of fun. Our team looked at that but decided to do one in the Lehigh Valley instead, if we had done Hershey it would have required over night stays and being just a small town club team we wanted to see how they stacked up with something a little closer to home first.

 

[SwampDawg]

The tournament fascination in this country sucks. Practice to game ratio is way out of whack. It should be about 5:1 but it's closer to 2:1

We struggle with this in baseball all the time, the first part of the year we get a ton of practice time but from mid May through June the better kids are playing in-house during the week and tournaments every other weekend and because most of the coaches have kids on the tournament team no one else will step up so the in-house only kids can practice on the weekend. We are a small organization and if the tournament kids didn't play in-house as well we would have 2 very weak in-house teams that would get killed by the bigger organizations around us, this way we have 3 competitive in-house teams when they play neighboring teams.

Soccer is actually much better, the boys practice twice a week 1.5 hours (was two hours until they ran out of light) and then play one 60 minute game on the weekend so depending on time of year it is 4:1 or 3:1, they only play one tournament and then the end of year league playoff tournament if they qualify. Our biggest issue is once the time changes getting practice in, last year I was able to convince the rest of the baseball board they could use the lighted outfield since we were having work done on the field anyway but this year they may have to try and find indoor time which is a premium.

 

[BassNBrew]

I love sports. I love playing them, I love coaching them. I wanted my kids to be involved in a team, playing for the same goal, friendships that are formed and bonds made through sport. To give some perspective, the last year I played travel soccer was 1992. The landscape is much different today than it was back then.

I do not hate sports, I hate what youth sports has become. And it has nothing to do with the kids. It has to do with the parents and what the expect somewhere down the road. I have no illusions that either of my kids are scholarship athletes. I want them to enjoy sports. My son, who is 6, is feeling the pressure to compete when his one friend tells him he has been at the rink for 2 hours with personal trainers and another who says he cant come over after practice because he has a 1 on 1 goalie lesson and then extra skating. THEY ARE SIX. 

I just feel like youth sports can be and should be a lot better than what we are presenting the kids right now. And tournaments are included in that

That's what it's going to take to compete in soccer globally especial when our pool is generally the inferior talented atheletes.

 

[belljr]

My son's team is gonna be in Hershey, PA this weekend for a tourney.  Hershey Park is having a private event sat night just for the kids.  Should be a blast.

We are looking into a Softball event for this year

 

[SwampDawg]

There is nothing worse to me as a coach and parent than a tournament. 3-4 shortened games means less time for all players to play and also a far greater chance for a lesser team to win. No idea how this idea took off. And hockey is worse than soccer bc you have to travel further for meaningless games. I often wonder why I encouraged my kids to play sports. Playing and instrument or enjoying photography would have been much more productive. Live and learn. Too late for me now

Must be different in different areas or maybe as they get older but U11 they are playing 60 minute games in the tournament same as they play during league games.  Baseball same thing we play 6 innings same as normal games, I have seen Mercy rules after 3 innings in tournaments instead of 4 just to keep things moving (10U).

 

[scorchy]

My kids love the tournament setup since it's virtually non-stop soccer for the weekend.  Makes for a long weekend for my wife and I, but I enjoy very few things more than watching the boys play something they love.  

Totally agree.  We have a great group of kids, and a great group of parents, and the one or two non-local tournaments we play a year seem to be a great experience for everyone.  It's not just the soccer, but the goofing off between the games, pizza (and beer for the grownups) around a crappy Days Inn pool after the games, etc, and for this upcoming tourney, they get to hang at Hershey Park with all of their teammates.  I know my son loves it, but honestly, I'm really gonna miss it when it's over too.

 

[Spin]

I love sports. I love playing them, I love coaching them. I wanted my kids to be involved in a team, playing for the same goal, friendships that are formed and bonds made through sport. To give some perspective, the last year I played travel soccer was 1992. The landscape is much different today than it was back then.

I do not hate sports, I hate what youth sports has become. And it has nothing to do with the kids. It has to do with the parents and what the expect somewhere down the road. I have no illusions that either of my kids are scholarship athletes. I want them to enjoy sports. My son, who is 6, is feeling the pressure to compete when his one friend tells him he has been at the rink for 2 hours with personal trainers and another who says he cant come over after practice because he has a 1 on 1 goalie lesson and then extra skating. THEY ARE SIX. 

I just feel like youth sports can be and should be a lot better than what we are presenting the kids right now. And tournaments are included in that

Heh, when I was 6 years old playing rec soccer up in Wisconsin, at some point the coach pulled my parents over and told them that my brother and I should find a new sport, that we'll never be any good at soccer.  We were 6 and 5 at the time.. Wtf?

We both got college scholarships to play...

 

[belljr]

Must be different in different areas or maybe as they get older but U11 they are playing 60 minute games in the tournament same as they play during league games.  Baseball same thing we play 6 innings same as normal games, I have seen Mercy rules after 3 innings in tournaments instead of 4 just to keep things moving (10U).

My problem is this.  a) Games have a drop dead time of 60-80 minutes so sometimes in softball you might be coaching to the drop dead time.

b) You lose a game and you may have to play 5 games in a row on sunday.  There is very little chance a team that plays 5 games on sunday has enough pitching vs the team that plays 2 or 3.

9-12 year olds should not be playing 7 to 8 games of softball/baseball in a 48hour window

 

[fatguyinalittlecoat]

9-12 year olds should not be playing 7 to 8 games of softball/baseball in a 48hour window

Right, because those sports suck.  Quit littering up the soccer coaching thread with this nonsense.

 

[belljr]

Right, because those sports suck.  Quit littering up the soccer coaching thread with this nonsense.

 

[Righetti]

righetti - Have you put one in the win column yet?

0-4 so far and we took a beating this weekend.   I meant to post about it but kind of got caught up with things

our issues continue to be the same one from last week, we play good defense but cannot consistently clear the ball, so we wind up with the ball in our half for 40+ minutes per game.  I'm focusing on kick and chase this week, as opposed to always trying to dribble through traffic when we get a turn over.  It seems to me that we have to get the ball in space and just getting the ball down the field should lead to some breakaway scoring opportunities

as for the coaching, I'm absolutely loving it and am having a blast with the girls   They are a great group and aren't upset that we aren't winning (more than for a few minutes after the games)  I have 12 girls and think that it breaks down to 6 girls who can play, 3-4 who are reasonable athletic but not great soccer players (yet) and a couple who are a bit lost.

the better girls seem to be getting better at a much quicker rate, too and part of that is that you hear from their parents that they are playing at home on their own    All the kids seem to be enjoying it and just getting to know them all has been awesome

tbe parents have been great overall, with one exception   One dad came up to me and said "it'a strange that the other teams we play are more athletic, why is that?"

sort of a weird comment as "athleticism" isn't something I can control.   I also don't see this guy taking his daughter for any extra work outside of practice, so felt like he put that on my feet but I guess it could be nothing.  

One thing I'm disappointed in is that I had hoped that the British guys would come in and really improve them, but they aren't game changers and maybe I shouldn't expect them to be    They run similar drills that I do, focus on similar skills and run them around for an hour.  They are good dudes but they don't have a secret formula for this age.  We practice twice a week and those guys run it once and I run it the other time.  I think that practicing twice per week is great and I couldn't consistently do both, so if nothing else it is a help in terms of my time commitments 

we are off this weekend (no games on Columbus Day weekend) but hope to get one extra partial practice in next week with the kids being off for the Jewish holiday for those not celebrating.  

All in all it's a very rewarding experience for both me and the (I think) the kids 

 

[AcerFC]

I think I said it somewhere in this thread. Trainers are just trainers. They dont hold any magic beans

Athleticism or lack of will win/lose games for you. I dont want to bore you with the whole story, but my club had two girls teams in u8 @ u9. The other team got almost every athletic kid on the field. It just happens that way sometimes. Stupid thing to say. Borders on Passive aggressive. I bet he looks elsewhere next season bc winning is the only thing to people like that

 

[Righetti]

The trainers are definitely just trainers and I wasn't really expecting magic beans but thought they'd show them a bunch of stuff that I couldnt because I had no idea about it.   

They are running similar drills as I do which would have seemed to be pretty impressive for me two months ago before I ever coached any competitive soccer but after having run twenty practices, watching a ton of YouTube videos and getting info from this thread, there was nothing they did that made me say "whoa".  

Not a complaint at all, but rather commentary to my own development as a coach in a couple of months.  I'm not at all an expert but have learned quite a lot about it in a short period of time  

 

[SpurrierisisGod]

Use getting caught up...

1st - let your best player take the goal kicks. No one has time (nor should they) to work on goal kicks at u8, 9 &10.  Start to teach the defenders to go wide for the short kick. It will open up other things. Keep the keeper in the goal.  I even have a girl that naturally slides into the goal when our keeper makes a save and goes to punt or play the ball.  No one taught her, she's just a natural protector.  Fine with me. When I was coaching boys, I didn't even let my keeper do goal kicks until u12.

2nd - goal scoring - at u8 it doesn't matter how it gets in the goal just that it goes in the right one. They need to learn aggression and urgency in both boxes offense and defense). Poke, push, kick, whatever. Just put it in the right goal and keep it out of yours.  World Cup is a good game to teach this at this age.

3rd - you mentioned getting the F license.  Someone brought up the D.  First issue - to get the D you have to hold the E for a full year.  E is 100 bucks and a weekend and really just goes over a lot of basics. Decent info.  The D is usually 2 separate weekends (at 150 a pop), usually out of town (hotel and food) and depending on where you live could cost 800 by the time you are down.  It is more hardcore and requires a decent amount of on field work.  I'm not trying to discourage you from getting it but unless you plan on coaching high school or state level club I would recommend looking into the NSCAA courses instead.

 

[Otis]

Between Righetti's 0-4 soccer team and Righetti's 0-4 fantasy football team, which is more likely to get the first win of the season in week 5?

 

[Righetti]

Use getting caught up...

1st - let your best player take the goal kicks. No one has time (nor should they) to work on goal kicks at u8, 9 &10.  Start to teach the defenders to go wide for the short kick. It will open up other things. Keep the keeper in the goal.  I even have a girl that naturally slides into the goal when our keeper makes a save and goes to punt or play the ball.  No one taught her, she's just a natural protector.  Fine with me. When I was coaching boys, I didn't even let my keeper do goal kicks until u12.

2nd - goal scoring - at u8 it doesn't matter how it gets in the goal just that it goes in the right one. They need to learn aggression and urgency in both boxes offense and defense). Poke, push, kick, whatever. Just put it in the right goal and keep it out of yours.  World Cup is a good game to teach this at this age.

3rd - you mentioned getting the F license.  Someone brought up the D.  First issue - to get the D you have to hold the E for a full year.  E is 100 bucks and a weekend and really just goes over a lot of basics. Decent info.  The D is usually 2 separate weekends (at 150 a pop), usually out of town (hotel and food) and depending on where you live could cost 800 by the time you are down.  It is more hardcore and requires a decent amount of on field work.  I'm not trying to discourage you from getting it but unless you plan on coaching high school or state level club I would recommend looking into the NSCAA courses instead.

Good info here..

I'm definitely having one of my strong legged defenders take the goal kicks which has helped a lot.   My bigger issue is on the ones that the goalie stops, in those cases the girls have to step all the way out to the end of the box to throw in and our goal is left vulnerable.  At this age the girls can't punt it at al.   Am I allowed to slide a girl into goal while she does this?  Or does everybody have to be out of the box

your comments on scoring makes sense too.  I'm not as worried about technique as I am about just aggressive shots.   We tend to be trigger shy when we get close. I worked a lot on shooting right off of a deflection or rebound this week and tried to have them be reactionary and not think too much, which I think will eventually help

I think I was considering the F license and then maybe the E.  From what you say, the D at this level is overkill

 

[SpurrierisisGod]

Yes, a defender can slide into the goal while the goalie punts/throws.  Just can't use their hands

Also, the keeper can roll it to anyone after a save.  You don't have to be out of the box like a goal kicks.  Just had to go over that this week with my u11 keeper.

 

[SpurrierisisGod]

Yes, a defender can slide into the goal while the goalie punts/throws.  Just can't use their hands

Also, the keeper can roll it to anyone after a save.  You don't have to be out of the box like a goal kicks.  Just had to go over that this week with my u11 keeper.

 

[Annyong]

I have a pretty athletic/coordinated 4 year old, he likes soccer I think.  How do I make him good.  Nah t robot. 

 

[SwampDawg]

Thanks guys for the info on the GotSoccer rankings, as you said it meant very little. The best team we played also didn't have a ranking going in, that team went 4-0 in the bracket winning three games by shut out, happy to say our boys kept it tight falling 3-2 to them.  Overall they beat both teams that had rankings and went 2-1-1 and got second place in our bracket so they were happy. One thing I noticed playing decent travel teams that was different then the teams we play in our league was that they play much faster, not so much overall speed but getting the ball after it is out and making really quick throw ins before anyone is set or quick punts on a save to try and get a break away. It was enjoyable to watch a 2-0 win or even a 3-2 loss that was hard fought.

Looking forward to hear how Righetti's off week went and then if it helped him get that first W next weekend, I have a good feeling about it.

 

[AcerFC]

Thanks guys for the info on the GotSoccer rankings, as you said it meant very little. The best team we played also didn't have a ranking going in, that team went 4-0 in the bracket winning three games by shut out, happy to say our boys kept it tight falling 3-2 to them.  Overall they beat both teams that had rankings and went 2-1-1 and got second place in our bracket so they were happy. One thing I noticed playing decent travel teams that was different then the teams we play in our league was that they play much faster, not so much overall speed but getting the ball after it is out and making really quick throw ins before anyone is set or quick punts on a save to try and get a break away. It was enjoyable to watch a 2-0 win or even a 3-2 loss that was hard fought.

Looking forward to hear how Righetti's off week went and then if it helped him get that first W next weekend, I have a good feeling about it.

Unfortunately, they play the table leaders who are 3-1, with the only loss coming to the team who is 3-0 (was a 4-2 loss for them)  

 

[SwampDawg]

Unfortunately, they play the table leaders who are 3-1, with the only loss coming to the team who is 3-0 (was a 4-2 loss for them)  

Nobody expected the 1969 Mets either, order up a cold, windy Saturday morning and a good fire and brimstone speech by our hero coach and the upset happens.

 

[Otis]

Between Righetti's 0-4 soccer team and Righetti's 0-4 fantasy football team, which is more likely to get the first win of the season in week 5?

Congrats to the 1-4 Silly Putty Sacks*

*Not a girls soccer team name.

 

[swirvenirvin]

so next week my U8 team is facing the team with the superstar who should be playing travel ( would still dominate that) and is good enough to play U10 (he jumped over there after this weeks game).  Last time we played them he scored 2 goals in about 90 seconds then we adjusted a bi as it was the first game of the season and I realized we couldnt hide my suckass players on defense,  and the other coach made him play defense, goalie and sit.

Shoud I have one of the faster kids on my team shadown him?   My team is really young and under talented compared to the other teams. 

We are 2-4 record wise with some close losses becuase of "everyone plays"

 

[AcerFC]

I actually know the result, waiting to hear about game

 

[SwampDawg]

I actually know the result, waiting to hear about game

This is too much of a tease....come on Righetti !!

It's funny how much interest these games can draw on a very small town level. My sons team (4-0 in league, 1 goal allowed, 30 scored) plays the local city clubs team (5-0, 3 goals allowed, 47 scored) this weekend for first place and likely the number 1 seed come playoffs. Last night when we were at an open gym before basketball tryouts I had multiple people who have kids playing in other age brackets come up and mention the game this week and that they might come out to watch. Very cool that they are getting that support.

 

[fatguyinalittlecoat]

so next week my U8 team is facing the team with the superstar who should be playing travel ( would still dominate that) and is good enough to play U10 (he jumped over there after this weeks game).  Last time we played them he scored 2 goals in about 90 seconds then we adjusted a bi as it was the first game of the season and I realized we couldnt hide my suckass players on defense,  and the other coach made him play defense, goalie and sit.

Shoud I have one of the faster kids on my team shadown him? 

Yes, I highly recommend this strategy.  At least give it a try.  Often teams with one great player have trouble adjusting when the defense shuts that one guy down.  Just tell your player to stay close to him all the time, even when your team has possession, and just make every effort to prevent little Messi from ever getting the ball. 

 

[Ramsay Hunt Experience]

Yes, I highly recommend this strategy.  At least give it a try.  Often teams with one great player have trouble adjusting when the defense shuts that one guy down.  Just tell your player to stay close to him all the time, even when your team has possession, and just make every effort to prevent little Messi from ever getting the ball. 

Also, kick the **** out of him.

I kid.  Kind of.

 

[Righetti]

I actually know the result, waiting to hear about game

We took another one on the chin this weekend, right before I flew out to Europe but I was very happy with the way we played

let me lay out the week a bit, we were off last weekend because of Columbus Day, so went some time between games  this was good for our girls are the losses, although not demoralizing are not fun   We had a couple of very good practices and I even called an extra practice during one of the Jewish holidays when the girls were off of school.   Three of our better girls also went to a one day soccer camp, which never hurts either, so we had a full two weeks of practice  

a few days before the weekend, the U9 girls challenged us to a scrimmage as they didn't have a game scheduled this week and their coach didn't want them to go three weeks between games   I was a bit skeptical as we are having enough issues with competing against other U8 teams but accepted as I assumed that the more game time the better and I was glad we did.

As expected we got beat pretty badly by the U9 girls but since we didn't officially keep score, nobody was the wiser. The other coach was good by calling off the dogs and they let us play with a ringer goalie in the second half which kept the game close.  

What was great was that as opposed to standing on the sideline, I was on the field and spent the entire game being able to directly teach and direct game situations. It was probably the best practice we ever had and it showed the next day

Sunday we played our normal game and despite not having our goalie (she hurt her knee a few weeks ago and hasn't recovered) we were down 1-0 at half to a far superior team.  The girls played determined and hard and we actually had a fair amount of chances and were close to two goals with our center-mid.  Our  keeper played well giving up a tough goal but we walked in at halftime feeling great  she had given up 5 goals in the last game, when she was obviously rattled but bounced back very nicely

The problem was that by the time we went in for the second half our legs were dead.   Between the game the day before on a much bigger field than usual, a town 5k in the morning that a few girls ran and a hard fought first half, we just died.  Our keeper, playing her first game at the position, struggled but honestly she had her hands full.  The other team had a midfielder who had tremendous lift and she score one from the middle of the goalie box (the bigger of the two rectangles).  It was a riser over the head of our defenders and way over the head of our keeper...just impossible to defend.  

All in all, a good effort and the girls continue to have fun (as am I).  Our defenders stay back but I have not convinced my forwards to stay up, so we always get the ball back very deep in our area without anybody anywhere near the mid line.  Was actually thinking of telling my forwards  that they cannot get below the circle, to try to create space.  It works on defense with me telling them they cannot get past midfield, so it might work on offense, too.  

I know it probably isn't totally "right" but it might be a start to create space.  

Also was going to run that drill somebody suggested where you have them pass the ball with their hands to show them what spacing should look and feel like which I hope to do this week since I'm due back from Europe in time for practice on Thursday. 

 

[SpurrierisisGod]

We took another one on the chin this weekend, right before I flew out to Europe but I was very happy with the way we played

let me lay out the week a bit, we were off last weekend because of Columbus Day, so went some time between games  this was good for our girls are the losses, although not demoralizing are not fun   We had a couple of very good practices and I even called an extra practice during one of the Jewish holidays when the girls were off of school.   Three of our better girls also went to a one day soccer camp, which never hurts either, so we had a full two weeks of practice  

a few days before the weekend, the U9 girls challenged us to a scrimmage as they didn't have a game scheduled this week and their coach didn't want them to go three weeks between games   I was a bit skeptical as we are having enough issues with competing against other U8 teams but accepted as I assumed that the more game time the better and I was glad we did.

As expected we got beat pretty badly by the U9 girls but since we didn't officially keep score, nobody was the wiser. The other coach was good by calling off the dogs and they let us play with a ringer goalie in the second half which kept the game close.  

What was great was that as opposed to standing on the sideline, I was on the field and spent the entire game being able to directly teach and direct game situations. It was probably the best practice we ever had and it showed the next day

Sunday we played our normal game and despite not having our goalie (she hurt her knee a few weeks ago and hasn't recovered) we were down 1-0 at half to a far superior team.  The girls played determined and hard and we actually had a fair amount of chances and were close to two goals with our center-mid.  Our  keeper played well giving up a tough goal but we walked in at halftime feeling great  she had given up 5 goals in the last game, when she was obviously rattled but bounced back very nicely

The problem was that by the time we went in for the second half our legs were dead.   Between the game the day before on a much bigger field than usual, a town 5k in the morning that a few girls ran and a hard fought first half, we just died.  Our keeper, playing her first game at the position, struggled but honestly she had her hands full.  The other team had a midfielder who had tremendous lift and she score one from the middle of the goalie box (the bigger of the two rectangles).  It was a riser over the head of our defenders and way over the head of our keeper...just impossible to defend.  

All in all, a good effort and the girls continue to have fun (as am I).  Our defenders stay back but I have not convinced my forwards to stay up, so we always get the ball back very deep in our area without anybody anywhere near the mid line.  Was actually thinking of telling my forwards  that they cannot get below the circle, to try to create space.  It works on defense with me telling them they cannot get past midfield, so it might work on offense, too.  

I know it probably isn't totally "right" but it might be a start to create space.  

Also was going to run that drill somebody suggested where you have them pass the ball with their hands to show them what spacing should look and feel like which I hope to do this week since I'm due back from Europe in time for practice on Thursday. 

Sounds like it's going well. The wins will come. It's a process.

I did the hand passing drill last week and will do it again Thursday right before our last tournament this weekend.

We got clubbed again last weekend but still are the only team that passes and moves to space.  These other teams just have too many kids that can really shoot and kick from far out for us to keep up.  Just takes practice and experience.  This weekend will really show how much we've improved since it's more local competition closer to our level.

 

[Righetti]

Good luck GB.  Let us know how it goes 

 

[Ned]

One of the drills my son's U9 travel team has been doing has been a fantastic drill for teaching them how to create space and completing simple passes.  

Two teams of 4 with a modest sized box (I'm guessing 20' x 20').  Team A owns the ball while team B sends in only 1 defender (the other 3 are outside the box) making it a 4v1.  The object is for Team A to complete 5 consecutive clean passes = 1pt.  Once a point is scored, or the lone defender wins the ball, or the ball is played outside of the box, play swaps with Team B owning the ball and Team A sending in a lone defender.  First one to 5 wins.  

At first they're going to follow their instincts and group up on the ball with the defender usually winning before a point is scored.  After a few cycles they start to realize spacing and will open up. It's gotten to the point where they're outgrowing the drill and score too easily, so now they're using 2 defenders instead of 1.  

 

[fatguyinalittlecoat]

I do a similar game but team A and team B each have a ball and a square to pass in.  Each team sends a defender into the other square at the same time and the team that maintains possession longest gets a point.

 

[AcerFC]

Yeah, you guys are running rondo dirlls. Its essentially how Barcelona became Barcelona. Do a youtube search and you can get all types of rondo activities. Great all the way up to the pro level. I think I even sent Rags a pretty decent video earlier in the season. 

 

[Ned]

Yeah, you guys are running rondo dirlls. Its essentially how Barcelona became Barcelona. Do a youtube search and you can get all types of rondo activities. Great all the way up to the pro level. I think I even sent Rags a pretty decent video earlier in the season. 

Yup. My 10yr old's team does a ton of rondo and coerver stuff.  Their growth has been fantastic to watch. 

I do remember you posting about the rondo drills some pages back.  

 

[AcerFC]

How was the goal you scored this week. Circle that vikings game in a few. I think you can beat them. 

 

[SwampDawg]

So was this the weekend of the Vikings game that our hero had circled for his team ?  Where are we at ?

 

[AcerFC]

So was this the weekend of the Vikings game that our hero had circled for his team ?  Where are we at ?

If he doesnt pop in tomorrow, ill tell you how the vikings game went. The score at least. It was played today

 

[Righetti]

We tied 1-1 and it felt like we just won the championship

my girls have played so hard all year but have just gotten beat by better teams.  Today was different, as Acer said, this was a game we had circled on the calendar as we knew we could hang with them   Last time we lost 2-1 IIRC and we played great just couldn't generate enough offense, today was similar but we only let one past us  

one girl who I didn't mention much early on has really stepped up, She joined lye and I had her playing defense mostly and she was fantastic   She was the one who took my penalty kick a few weeks back and nailed it   She is also the one who has taken all the goal kicks and she'd played great back there but it took Mrs righetti to tell me to play her up, we need her on defense but for a team that doesn't score, we need her there more  

i had her play midfield the last few games and she's a natural    She played great, had a goal on a riser and two near misses

My center-mid had a very good game, setting up the goal and playing well and my other midfielder also played great (she scored her first goal last week and her confidence is sky high)

we were 1-1 at half and I decided to put my center-mid in goal knowing it would stifle our offense but also knowing it meant that we wouldn't give up any cheap ones and she rocked it  she is super aggressive out there which makes a huge difference, has good field awareness and actually could punt it  (don't allow her to do that yet)

the rest of the team has also played great, I have spent so much time on positioning that it is finally paying off  my forwards are (mostly) staying up and it is starting to pay off    I promised the girls a jelly bean for every successful pass, there were 8 or 9 passes and a few more fair attempts

feel so good for them, they were so happy   

The few girls who are playing the best are all practicing at home (parents, siblings, camps etc)  it makes a huge difference

 

[AcerFC]

The last thing is the most important for young players to develop. Send them those youtube videos that were posted here and have them do it on their own. 

Unfortunately, my daughter shows no desire to practice on her own and it shows in her skills. She is getting bored of soccer and loves field hockey. As long as she is happy, I dont care. But you can tell she does nothing on her own as others are getting better. 

Well done coach

 

[Otis]

Great stuff Coach Righetti. 

 

[Righetti]

The last thing is the most important for young players to develop. Send them those youtube videos that were posted here and have them do it on their own. 

Unfortunately, my daughter shows no desire to practice on her own and it shows in her skills. She is getting bored of soccer and loves field hockey. As long as she is happy, I dont care. But you can tell she does nothing on her own as others are getting better. 

Well done coach

Thanks again for all the support Acer

sleeping on it a night, I really am thrilled with how much they have improved in the 12 weeks I've had them.  I've learned a ton from this thread and just watching videos and reading stuff online 

we have two games left against the #1 and #2 teams in the league.  Both beat is pretty handily and this will be a heck of a challenge. 

I don't want to downplay our ability or chances but those will be very tough games for us.  With that said, we have 4 or 5 kids who can play, so we're not totally overmatched and hopefully we found one or two really good ones  

What I've seen is that some of the really good teams have one or two absolute studs   Girls who can rocket the ball, can see the field and just seem to be in the right place, we haven't had that girl but maybe we're finding her  

Pur center-mid has handle and can use her body to shield the defender and is aggressive but doesn't have the strongest pure shot   A few weeks ago she would have been our best player who could hang but is not a stud.  She played goal in the second half because I wanted to preserve the tie for a winless team 

But the midfielder who had been playing defense most of the year really thrived yesterday   The girl has a great leg and it is the first time that I felt like we had one of "those" girls.  She boomed one in for our only goal and had two more than were near misses.  

If those two can learn to play off of each other, it can start to happen for this team.   They are also the two who compete the hardest against each other in practice, I often pair them up against each other in drills as they have similar skill sets (strength, aggressiveness, able to use their body to shield the defender)

im sad that the season is only two more weeks, it has gone by fast 

 

[Righetti]

Great stuff Coach Righetti. 

Thanks GB.  Been a fun season, will miss it in the winter although we are going to try to play a couple of indoor tournaments 

 

[AcerFC]

im sad that the season is only two more weeks, it has gone by fast 

Oh, its not done. You have the indoor season and then the Spring season. 

I hope you knew that

We have a tournament we sponsor in the winter. If you are interested, let me know and I will get you the info.

 

[Righetti]

Oh, its not done. You have the indoor season and then the Spring season. 

I hope you knew that

We have a tournament we sponsor in the winter. If you are interested, let me know and I will get you the info.

Oh I know, just will be a break for me as I'll go from coaching them 2-3 times per week to a lot less frequent..

the girls are going to work with a training group for the winter who come highly recommended.   I was a bit leery as they work on a gym floor instead of turf, but I've read a lot of people say that working on hardwood at this age is actually great as it helps them with their footwork since the ball moves to quickly.

I'm planning on doing a couple of tournaments, I am signed up for our first one on the Sunday after Thanksgiving, we'll enter two teams as it's 5v5..

send me the info to your tournament.. 

 

[Mookie]