Typically boring start to the work week. As soon as I can manage it, I decide to down tools and continue work on my coaching manuscript. I need to flesh out the chapter dealing with helping coaches figure out which players are best-suited to which positions. Deciding who to play on offense is an easy one.
At the first practice of the year, you hold a sprint-off to find the fastest players. It’s that simple. If you are lucky, at least one speed merchant will emerge who has significantly more pace than all the rest of the squad. He is your number one striker. His level of ability doesn’t matter. Indeed, you shouldn’t care if he has any skill at all. His main job will be chasing long balls over the top and trying to get on the end of booming kick-outs.
A lot of U-10 coaches make the mistake of trying to pass their way to goal. I call this carry-on Barcelona disease and the virus is running rampant through the American game just now. It’s ridiculous. It’s misguided. And worst of all, it just teaches kids bad habits for life. Long high balls over the defense for the fast kid to chase, that’s the way forward for your team.
Now, you will want another boy up there with the speedster. Sometimes I’ve opted for the second fastest kid, creating a one-two punch, a sort of thunder and lightning approach. My personal favorite tandem however is to pick a tall, awkward boy to complement the fast guy. The big player is a target for the goalkeeper, a handful for defenders (it helps if he has uncontrollable elbows), and sometimes, if he has any skill at all, he may even knock the ball on for the faster team-mate to chase.
Some people call this stuff tactics, I prefer to call it common sense.
No comments:
Post a Comment