In my last blog I introduced the idea of play and how important this was to the overall development of our young children. As football coaches, adopting a games-based approach and a coaching style that embraces empowerment, experimentation and freedom of expression is a great way to maximise the development of our young children. If you are eager to try this approach then here are some guidelines to help you provide an enjoyable and vibrant environment for your players.
The first thing you must do is to KNOW your players. If you have players of different abilities then playing matched up games may disadvantage some players and favour others. Part of your session planning when using small-number practices is to decide who plays with who and who you play them against. This is critical if you are trying to provide an appropriate challenge for every child.
If you begin with 1v1 practices I would like to introduce you to two terms that may help you explain things to the players and ones that can become part of your help, guidance and information to them. The two terms are HIDING and MANOEUVRING the ball.
Hiding the ball is when, as a player, you are under pressure from an opponent and you are challenged with just keeping possession of the ball for your team. HIDING the ball means that you can use your body effectively to keep your opponent from taking it from you. You know how to use your arms, your hips, your strength to keep the ball until you either escape from the pressure yourself OR a passing or travelling option presents itself. The important thing is that you are able to keep the ball even under the most extreme pressure.
Manoeuvring the ball is the player’s ability to twist, turn and manipulate the ball out of pressure so that when the opponent thinks they have you just where they want you, you are able to escape and be positive and threatening for your team. This builds upon an initial reaction that might be to hide the ball. As player’s confidence under pressure develops the next stage is to become great at escaping from pressure so that your attacking play can continue. Manoeuvring the ball is great for this.
This does not happen overnight so please incorporate this type of practice into your sessions throughout the Foundation Phase and beyond. Individual technical ability is what great team play is built upon so we must prioritise this when the players are young-there is no substitute.
Having explained these two terms let’s now look at other considerations for you when planning your small-number games. If you play on small pitches you will create pressure so players will get increased opportunities to practice hiding and manoeuvring the ball. 1v1 and 2v2 practices are great for this so try to match up your players appropriately to get the challenge point about right for all players. You don’t need the latest session from Barcelona to do this, you need to know your players and then be prepared to offer little bits of advice to help them during the activities. The practices on our website will give you and the players lots of opportunities to develop these abilities (your observation skills - the players confidence on the ball)
“A ton of practice to an ounce of information.”
If you have players of slightly lower ability then give them more space so that the intensity and pressure is reduced. This will give them more time for their decisions and for their technical actions. Again, this is good coaching. The session doesn’t have to be complicated or have lots of rules and constraints it just has to be engaging and full of praise and appropriate feedback. Managing difference is the hardest thing for coaches to deal with so don’t be too hard on yourself if you don’t quite get it right. The main thing is that you are TRYING to meet the needs of all your players.
Next time: I will build upon how, through play, we continue to develop the individual ability of our young players and what this means to small-number session design. Pete