Some bullet points (it's amazing how much goes through my head after a 3-match weekend...) coming out of the weekend's events.
- Inverted the boy's team from Saturday (backs up top, mids in the back, etc.) and faced a team more like ourselves and won a good, close match.
- Girls were a little flat, really failed to take on wide defenders or to run hard off the ball.
- On the up side, balls into Lexi's feet (the theme of finding the center forward's feet whenever possible) in particular turned into breakaways...
- Lilly did a pretty fine job in goal! She may become a fixture there until this foot/heel pain issue is resolved...which should be fairly quickly, I'm happy to report, for her sake!
- Jed, CJ and Wyatt all put in their best games. CJ locked down the middle well, and showed the precociousness and skill that was expected of him. Better energy. Jed, clearly relieved to be out of the back line, was active, dangerous and effective at helping his teammates advance the ball by being a good target. Also had success running at the backs and creating shots. Wyatt, mostly from wide positions, became a playmaker (as Issy did on Saturday) by taking players on, but mixing it up coming inside often and combining, or then turning back to the outside. Generally effective, at times not so much, but the aggression and confidence with the ball is the root of making the best decisions whether to run inside, run goal line, pass, or what have you.
- Isabelle was quietly the woman of the match for the girls (though Lexi and Liza created a very good goal together) defending very well, and bringing stability to every area of the park she occupied. Took players on well, and passed with thoughtfulness, though the uneven team performance hid some of her better moments.
- Areas where the girls will be asked to do better this week: 1v.1 defending- more control when confronting an attacker, when we tackle, we take possession. Pressure on the ball...get within 2 yards of any player with the ball, esp. at/near midfield, and keep the play to one side. Attacking, get to the goal line/shooting positions, get behind the opponent's defenders. Wide players must run at defenders, or use central players as "wall passers" to 1-2 (give and go) themselves into the space behind the backs. Communication, mainly in the area of just constantly updating the player with the ball as to where "I" am...Too often it's one shout and then nothing- echo-location is a critical skill to develop! Every player must develop the comfort of "moving" their first touch. If the ball is left stationary at a player's feet, she is too easy to defend. As the players receive the ball, they ought to take the touch a yard or two (sometimes much more, depending on the location on the field) into space (preferably forward) where the defender(s) are not occupying.
- Areas where the boys need to focus: pressure on the ball when out of possession. 1v.1 is pretty good, but when we lose it, the reaction to pressurize the opponent is too slow. We must force quicker turnovers after we lose it, and certainly prevent any sort of patient build-up by the opponent. Defending together, in 2's mainly. Communicating where help is, who "has" the ball, where to direct the attacker, etc. When in possession, much the same as the girls...attack with more intent on the wings, and get wide players/center forward played in behind the defenders- we play in front of the defense a little more than we need to. Pass the ball and run forward hard.
A couple macro-level thoughts for both sets of folks to reflect upon.
- "Step to the ball!" shout the fans...Wyatt did, and was summarily 1-2'd and beaten.
This was funny to me...all good intentions, both on the adult who hollered it, and Wyatt who was trying to make a play. But, herein lies the risk of paying any attention to the folks on the sideline (to be fair, he may have not heard what I did, and just arrived at the same conclusion...but the play was in front of the spectators not the bench, and I still heard the shout...) Wyatt was just about at midfield, the opponent's outside back had the ball, and was running at Wyatt. Wyatt, though he had a defender behind him who could have helped him out, got caught stepping to the player with the ball...and, simple usually being the answer, that boy just passed the ball beyond Wyatt to the wide player on his team, ran up the field past Wyatt and was able to use the 2 v. 1 against our back (I think it was Cole at the time) to get the ball to the goal line, though nothing came of it in the end.
The specifics of this situation aside, the main gist of this is simply to let the kids play the game. If Wyatt had stepped of his own accord, then it's easier for me to offer some instruction after the fact. If he steps because some other adult told him to, well, it's a little trickier for me to do my job. And while this may have seemed a simple situation, ultimately it is not. Whether a team is holding a high back line, has a line of confrontation at/below/above midfield, is showing in or out, is creating pockets in which to trap, or even wants that kid on the ball to have the ball (backs being what they are, many teams, defensively, want them to have the most touches as the midfielders and forwards are the ones who can really hurt you!)
So for our enthusiastic supporters, try this: if the idea in your mind is a tactical-level one, as in, a decision, bite your tongue. If it is technical- or effort-oriented, holler your brains out. For one, these kids are not yet at a point where the nuance of team defending is manageable. Two, they haven't got the technical ability to begin team defending. Until a group has the ability to defend effectively 1 v. 1, moving on to defending 2 v. 1, 2 v. 2 or in bigger numbers doesn't make sense. Four defenders working together is worse than one on his own if all four are lunging, diving and/or directing the attacker the wrong way! U12s make very few correct decisions when we consider team play. The main thing is to get them making good decisions in their 1 v. 1 situations consistently so that we can then add players to the mix. That I have to teach the basics of 1 v. 1 attacking and defending (and, oh, do I ever) says a lot about the shortcomings of youth soccer. My teams at LMSC are hardly exceptional in this regard.
Decisions on a soccer field are made based on teammates...so a player must be mature enough to think of others as important (I'm not sure when empathy develops in kids, but it takes a while) and see rather intangible connections between first, second and third defenders/attackers. Given a choice, with 11 Y-Os, technical training is far more rewarding, simply because they are developmentally predicated for it...to say nothing of two nights per week training hardly leaves time for tactics; four nights per week is stretching it at the college level. Throw in the rarity of perfect attendance at training sessions, and it's completely worthless to teach tactics- come game day, there are 1-2-3 or what have you kids who are clueless. And like a chain...
- Five goals from two players on Saturday, mostly on the virtue of those two boy's exceptional speed. So OK, but we must bear in mind that those kids won't be so much faster as adults; they're closer to top speed earlier in life is all.
This gelled Sunday night for me after the Springboks' match. The boys got caught by a couple lads who possessed speed that approached adult-speed to a much greater degree than the QBs. As a team, the QBs really don't have speed...nor do the 'Boks. Which is alright. But the reality is most 11 year old kids are pretty normative, and true breakaway speed is rare. And if you ain't got it, it's gonna get you. Teams that don't out run us, we contend with very nicely. Teams that do have have that physical edge beat us. The 2-1 final loss over the Labor Day tournament (much bigger team, stronger, though not a whole lot faster); the narrow loss to Hackworth's team -size advantage to them, maybe not too much of a speed advantage...bit closer game- and the loss Saturday, to a team with two speed merchants. The 'Boks got hit with a single remarkable, fast player in their first match, but were able to equalize, though it wasn't easy. Overall, without the one outlier for the Fire squad, our team was more athletic, though only just. Sunday was a match-up with a team that was certainly bigger, though dubiously faster, and perhaps our own flat performance (as well as some good chances gone begging) made the advantage bigger than it should have been.
Point being, losing to a team with speed at this age isn't terribly concerning. As per the point above, this is the halcyon period of 1 v. 1 battles, and the fast kid usually wins. In time, a slower player will continue to improve their speed - most adults get on down the line at about the same speed, if training and experience (think fitness/conditioning/technique and strength) roughly equal out. So...the real question is, does the kid who is fast now learn the skills that will keep him/her at the top of the heap when everyone else reaches the limits of human performance? Being fast at 11 does not mean you'll be fast at adulthood...just that you might get to adult speed quicker. Whoop-dee frickin' doo, if you don't have the skills to escape other players who move at adult speed as well.
As a for-instance, consider the difference between a Gareth Bale and a Theo Wolcott. Bale is much the more-rounded player, whereas Wolcott is a fast guy who plays soccer. When the dust settles, it'll be Bale who is better regarded as a player- and that without the platform of the English national team to showcase him...Like Giggs before him, he'll be playing uphill internationally as a member of the Welsh side. He's just as fast, more technical, and more adept in different areas of the field. Speed is what gets Wolcott into Bale's class...Technical ability is what keeps Bale ahead of him, now and always.
Watching the LMSC girls U12 "A" team with Grant on Sunday it was pretty clear. The game was faster...but if watched closely, the mistakes were the same, the technical shortcomings were the same, and someday, most women playing the game with today's "A" teamers will be roughly as fast. I'll rant on the challenges of "A" "B" "C" teams later on, but for now, suffice it to say, the 'Boks and the 'Boys will not fall short because of a lack of individual technical ability.
