Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS
This weekend is the US Youth Futsal National that are held here in the KC area. I have one team in the tournament and I’m looking forward to seeing how they do against some very good opposition. It’s great to finish up the season with an event like this. It lets me see how far we’ve come and gives me ideas on how to improve in the future.
Last year we were down a goal and the other team packed it into a tight diamond. We couldn’t break them down. This year we’ve worked on using a ‘Fly Keeper’ or ‘Fifth Attacker’ Done it in training and in games where the score wasn’t in question. Hopefully we don’t need to use this tactic but with the quality of the teams we’re playing I think we probably will. I’ll let you know how it goes next week.
This week’s question comes from Kacey. He’s asking about playing against a very physical and aggressive team.
Kacey says,
“We are playing a very dirty team in our state cup match next week. Last time we played there was tripping, elbows, very rough play and taunting by the coach and players. My U10 boys were not ready for this the last time we played and did not fare well. This might not happen due to the state cup games having three refs who are competent, compared to the usual U10 ref who is just starting out there.
What’s your advice in preparing the boys for a game like this in terms of dealing with the dirty play? I will not tolerate our team playing that way. We are a very different team from when we played last, so our physicality is way up, but I just don’t want to see the game spiral out of control. We can beat them if they don’t get in our heads with all the fouls and such.”
Thanks for the question Kacey!
My suggestion is to prepare your players to play, “Tough but Fair”. This is a phrase I borrowed from another local coach because it describes how I always want my players to act.
You can’t control how the other team, or it’s coach, will act and you never know what the referee will call. All you can worry about is focusing your players on competing hard but within the spirit of the game.
If you win, you and the boys will have a victory to be proud of but if you lose at least you will lose while playing the game as it should be played.
In This Episode
I want to share the training session I’ve been using to bring together all of the concepts we’ve worked on this winter. This Attack vs Defense game requires the players to use the techniques and tactics they’ve learned but most importantly they have to make decisions about what the defenders are giving them and what they’re taking away.
THANKS!
I said it last week but I really appreciate everyone who takes the time to leave a comment on CoachingSoccerWeekly.com or emails me a question. I received some great feedback and questions this week. Keep’em coming!
Future Episodes
Next week I’ll share what I’m doing with my teams to transition from winter Futsal indoor back to outdoor soccer.
Hi Tom I just like to say I look forward to listening to your podcast every Saturday morning here in Australia.Its good to here ever week occurrences of another coach .You know you not a lone in the experience of being a coach.
Thanks for listening Frank!
Tom – Great work again on this Podcast! I listen to you religiously from San Diego.
Question for you: Will you do a Podcast on Soccer Conditioning Training for 13-15 Age Group?. I am currently coaching a competitive girls team in that age group and am looking for material to get my team stronger and to have my players develop a faster reaction time. Any suggestion of materials that I could incorporate once per week during an extra conditioning training session with my team during the off season? Thanks – Fabrice L
Thanks Fabrice! I’m a huge fan of the work done by Scott Moody and AthleteFIT. You can see what he has to offer at http://athletefit.com/.
I’m going to be talking to him in the next few weeks about a new app they’ve developed that might be what you’re looking for.
Loving this Attackers Vs Defenders drill.
Will implement something similar on our 5 a side full size pitch as I think the drill will still work. Maybe due to pitch size will have 5 vs 3 defenders.
I’m assist coach for a under 7s team in Sheffield 🇬🇧
Thanks! Let us know how it goes.
Hi Tom- awesome podcast as always. Just wanted to share this free course I took online. It talks about player-centric coaching and goes into a lot of great detail on the differences between coaching/player-centric approach, reviewing and planning, approaching players in winning/failure, and how to implement player-centric mindset into player development. It’s hosted by Deakin University which is a university in Australia.
Not a promo in any way, I thought it was brilliant material and wanted to hear your thoughts on it if you get the time to look over it. It only is about <2 hours of actual video content, you may find a lot of the concepts to your knowledge already. Also wanted to share for anyone else in the comments, as it is great for any coach looking to create/further improve their player-centric developmental environment.
https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/player-centred-coaching
Thanks for sharing this Ryan. I look forward to watching it.
Great job. Thank you for sharing your ideas. Great material to impement. Lets see how it works here in China. “Making decision” is a thing that my chinese U10 footballers struggle a lot.
So did you need to use the ‘Fly Keeper’ in the Futsal tournament?
I went and watched some of the matches on the last day, saw the SKC Academy U-19 team play the Ambassadors in the final. The goalie for the Ambassadors would push up occasionally but he never stayed up as you describe in the ‘Fifth Attacker’ above. Once it actually bit him and he got scored on, here’s a video of it, https://soccerstripes.com/futsal-national-championships-youth/, the last goal. Although it was really b/c he made a dangerous pass that was intercepted.
Ben,
I’m sorry but I didn’t see your question until just now! We did need to use it but unfortunately the girl that had been trained to be or Fly Keeper got the flu on Saturday and couldn’t play in our last game!
The lesson is to train at least two players to understand any specialist role like that.
appreciate it for the post.