The Most Important Skills to Teach

(part 3 of 3)

The next thing to learn is basic defense including simple delay as well as ball-stealing. The first thing to teach is simple delaying tactics by use of good footwork to get in the attacker's way. Time is the defender's friend, and speed is the attacker's friend, so you want to delay and delay and delay to allow teammates to come and help. Once you're "numbers up", it's easier to steal the ball! The second skill is the standing tackle followed by the shoulder charge.

Of course, after you've taught these very basic skills, you'll need to work on passing technique and kicking technique since most kids won't be able to pass accurately or do a laces kick or a chip without instruction ( although most will toe-kick just fine ). Whatever you do, please don't teach your kids that the "proper" way to score is to break the net with a hard shot. Many kids get the impression that they cannot play forward unless they have a very hard shot. This is garbage. Most goals in games will be scored by passes, not by blistering shots on goal ( pull out your WC tapes and watch - this is universally true for most goals, except for set plays). So, get them used to scoring by simply passing the ball into the net and their future coaches will thank you. Nothing wrong with scoring by a kick, mind you. Just don't get them into the mindset that their spectacular dribbling run through 6 defenders needs to end with a bullet shot as they'll inevitably put the ball out too far in front of them to get the shot off and the keeper will make a meal of it. On the other hand, they most likely would have scored if they had simply kept their head up; watched the keeper; and pushed it past him.

Depending on your age group, the next stage is often to introduce wall passes but these take lots of ball control/receiving/passing skills, which often are not present at younger ages or with newer players. You'll also want to introduce the basic cutback or drop at some stage, as well as the square pass. The cutback or drop ( where the on-ball player takes the ball to the goal line and cuts it back to the penalty mark ) are common support options. These are all basic 2v1 options for support - and I haven't even added the overlap!

There is not much point in even adding much in the 3v1 or 3v2 attacking category until your kids have mastered the basic jobs of the on-ball player and the player who is closest to him ( the 2nd attacker, in coach speak ). Once the kids have figured out how to keep the ball; take somebody on; and provide simple 2v1 support; add in the concepts of basic triangles for support and focus on the job of the off-ball players to promptly move so that the on-ball player always has 2 safe, short passing options. Along with improving first-touch and some more basic take-on, finishing and defending skills, this should be quite enough to occupy your team ( and you ) through the next World Cup.

Along the way, expect them to make mistakes in deciding what was the "best" support option. Expect them to go to sleep from time to time, and not move into a good support position. Expect their first-touch to fail them. But, if you work them in these basics and push them to learn these simple rules, they are likely to be among the best players on the field in a few years.

Next week - Competitive Edge - Asking the Right Questions...