You've surely seen this unfold on a local soccer field near you. You head over to your kids soccer game prepared to see how much skill and technique your player has earned from all their hard spent hours at practice and not to mention your money and precious free time, only to have to see a game against "that team" or a team with with "that player".
You know the one I'm talking about, little or no soccer skills but completely willing to push and shove their way to the goal regardless of who is in their way. Use of arms and elbows are usually the 'weapons' of choice. Most often that same team has "that coach" who has decided that his voice is so amazing that every player should hear him bark directions nonstop the entire game.
Now it comes as no surprise especially at the youth level to come across a player who is bigger or faster or even more aggressive possibly even all of these attributes combined. And of course there is nothing wrong with being any or all of these things on the soccer field. My objection comes from the coaches and parents who stunt the development of these players into better soccer players by simply teaching them to "muscle" their way past the other team.
The short sightedness of encouraging this player or team to continue to rely on there physical attribute or aggressive play leads to an underdeveloped player. After a few years pass, the rest of the players in the age group who have been focusing on skill and technique year in and year out eventually grow into their bodies and end up catching up to there counterparts.
The result is a once "athletic" and dominant player and/or team who has never been asked to develop soccer specific skills and ability gets left behind.
Lets be honest as coaches and parents it is great to see our players succeed and win games or even win tournaments but is that the only objective of youth soccer or sports in general. Of course not, but this cycle of win now by any means possible seems to never fail in repeating itself.
I like to think in terms of the school yard bully. At first all others are afraid of the bully,then one kid gets sick of being bullied and fights back, beats the bully and takes away his mystique of invincibility.
As coaches and fans of the Beautiful Game we have a responsibility to our players and the next generation to teach them what it is that has led soccer to be called the Beautiful game. It is not beautiful because the biggest, strongest, meanest players or teams always win rather the players with the most amazing footwork, awareness, and finesse such as the most popular names to ever play soccer like Pele, Maradona, Cruyff, Ronoldinho, Messi, and Ronaldo CR9 (my favorite current player to watch).
I would rather watch this:
As opposed to this:
I prefer the beautiful version, I'm just saying.
From my experience, I see athletic ability at the expense of technical ability in the girls game. I did a series of tests on my squad a few years ago. I had 4 girls finish in the top 4 in every category which required athletic ability. They finished in the bottom 4 when a test required technical ability. Speed is a huge asset and a youth coach who wants to win is going to encourage knocking a through ball onto someone who is faster and can create opportunities to score by outrunning the opposition. The team is successful and the coach is a genius. Unfortunately, when that player gets older, speed is negated.
ReplyDeleteI have always said skill will win out. There will be someone faster out there who will take your asset of speed away. There will be someone stronger out there that will take your strength away. No one can take skill away. People criticized Ronaldo for all his stepovers and yes they didn't work all the time, however, he generally won out with his abundant skill.
Steve,
ReplyDeleteGreat points. Now the question is how to change this focus for coaches and how do we encourage parents and players to be patient with the process of developing skill and technique versus the immidiate gratification of winning through athleticism?
At an early age I would always promote the technical side of the game. As players get older and grow with the game they are going to have to be more athletic in order to compete at the higher levels.
ReplyDeleteHowever I have seen players at college teams who seem to lack basic skills, tactical understanding, and knowlege of game strategy. Often teams have two or three relatively skilful players and the rest of the team are 'Lumberjack/enforcers'. To be honest I would not select many of them for my Youth teams!
I still think there is too much emphasis on winning at very early ages, this is partially down to the American psyche of 'winning at all costs' but also the worldwide problem of competetive parents.
Players AND parents need educating in the game early on that not winning all their games when they are U10 isn't really a problem as long as the players in that team are seen to be progressing and becoming more comfortable on the ball. Similarly, players should be pigeonholed into positions but should be allowed to play in various roles in order to get a better tactical understanding as they grow with the game, and prepare them them for different formations and team shape when they are older.
When the players are older it is up to the coach to combine various types of players into a cohesive unit that is BOTH technically adept and athletically competitive.
I don't believe you can have a good team/squad without both elements in fairly equal proportion, especially in particular roles.
The age old debate continues. At the highest level, athleticism is becoming more and more important. Ask the Germans! A tremendous tournament record based on the physical parts of the game with one or two difference makers to score goals.
ReplyDeleteThere is too much emphasis on winning at the younger ages - that will not change in this country. Our challenge - as coaches - is to find a way to combine the athletic with the technical and continue to be successful. It is a huge problem in the USA
The fear is allowing the "athletic" players to rely on physical attributes at a young age and then falling far behind in technical skills.
ReplyDeleteLook at the Brazilians, both men and woman, amazing skills far beyond the rest of the world. All of them start learning these skills at the youngest ages. Some might even say at birth.
Paid coach's have the need to win in order to keep their teams and jobs. At the younger levels the teams should be coached by licensed volunteers. The teams can have paid trainers that teach the skills. The rise of paid coach's at an early age (U9-U13) are killing skill development in the US.
ReplyDeleteCoach George, good point. Where does the push for paid coaches at the youngest levels come from though? Is it from within the clubs themselves or is it from the parents wanting their children to have the "best" training/coaching from the very begining?
ReplyDeleteThe physical attributes will come, what we need to teach our youth is how to see the game. Ronaldo's step overs is not necessarily a deke move. If you start that 15 yards from your opponent he/she will react. He's looking for their reaction, it will determine what he does next. Ronaldo is very gifted player but, he also sees the game. Most players "veterans" do this later in their careers. Imagine if they could see the game when the were physically better. Scary thought
ReplyDelete