This is our tenth post in the Possession Series here. This is a follow on from our Scanning the Field installment. Playing the way you face is one of those topics that is very counterintuitive to younger players. For the most part of their soccer experience everyone has been teaching them (inadvertently at least) that the path to glory [...]
This is our ninth post in the Possession Series here. This is a follow on from our Passing Angles installment. This installment is not really about your players' ability to look up with the ball. While that is a definite prerequisite, what we're actually covering here is the tactical side of how you leverage the technical skill of being [...]
This is our eighth post in the Possession Series here. This is a follow on from our Width and Spacing installment. Back in Movement Off Ball our focus was on getting players moving to space to support the ball carrier. As your players get better this you can start to sprinkle in some more specific advice on [...]
This is our seventh post in the Possession Series here. This is a follow on from our Movement off Ball installment. In our previous post we defined some ground rules for what constituted acceptable off-ball movement. As your players get very good at the keep away style drills and you move into more realistic game scenarios, you'll [...]
This page will serve as a landing page to build out content related to teaching both Core and EXTRA teams to play a possession style of soccer. UPDATE: If you wish to view/print/export the entire series from a single page, go here. What is a "possession style"? Possession-based soccer is characterized by: Methodically moving the ball [...]
At the intermediate level of play and above, tactical instruction begins to outweigh technical instruction. To aid in this instruction, player positions are replaced with a standard numbering system that provides: A consistent scheme/system across the United States, simplifying tactical discussions among disparate coaching staff Refinement of positions (e.g. a defensive vs center vs attacking midfielder) [...]
A document was recently circulated which provides a very rare glimpse into how one of the best youth programs in the world was run. The AFC Ajax have helped create some of greatest players of all time including Johan Cruyff. Though this document was from the late 90's, it's amazing to see how well its held [...]
During your initial 2-3 practices for 10u and above, your most important job (other than Creating A Successful Culture) is to inventory your players' skill sets so that you can start building your formation early. Since you know The Importance of Scrimmages, you'll need to be able to educate your players on your system early. For 8u and [...]