How many times have you
heard a coach or parent call out "John, remember your position!" or "John,
you're supposed to be playing fullback!" during a game? How many times
have you done it yourself? I'll plead guilty right away. Sometimes it
seems like coaches (and some parents) are obsessed with getting the kids
to play position. Is this ok or are we making unreasonable demands on the
kids and as a result spoiling their enjoyment of the game? Remember, in
AYSO, the game is for the players, not the coaches or parents. The short
answer is that there is no short answer, but in this note I will try to
cast some light on the matter, and perhaps help you see the issue of
playing position from a different perspective, that of "team shape".
First, the answer depends a great deal on
the age of the kids. I would expect that by 12-14, most players understand
why positional play is important and what the field positions are, but I
would not expect everybody to succeed in translating that into actual game
play until 14-16. In contrast, at age 5, I would expect no understanding
and no interest at all in playing position. Obviously sometime between
ages 5 and14, coaches are expected to teach positional play and (we hope)
that the players will catch on. The key question is when and why? My
belief, based on many years of coaching this age group, is that we
generally try to do this too early, and that this is the root cause of a
lot of the sideline shouting on the subject. Sadly it sometimes also leads
coaches to teach bad habits that become a liability in later years.
Anyone who has watched 11-a-side (or even
7-a-side) at the 6-8 age is familiar with the "swarm" - everybody chasing
the ball and nobody playing position. In contrast, you may also have seen
players standing in fixed positions on the field, especially defenders
standing on the edge of the penalty area. Which mode of play is more fun?
Since the kids will chase the ball if given the chance I think the answer
is the swarm. It is obvious which is better exercise. You might be
surprised that I also believe that the swarm is better at developing
soccer ability. But isn't it important that the kids learn to play
position? Certainly, but not until it is necessary, and definitely not at
the expense of developing the basic instincts that a soccer player needs.
If I had to pick the most important characteristic of a good soccer
player, it would be "hustle" - the desire to win the ball, get open for
passes and deny opponents space to play or receive the ball. These
abilities can go a long way to make up for pure soccer skills. Every coach
loves a player with hustle! Yet it's hard to teach, especially if the
formative years are spent standing around playing position!
Playing position only matters once the
skill level and mental development of the kids has risen to the point
where it makes sense to them and is also actually useful in the game. This
happens rather later then most people think, not usually before the age of
nine in average kids. Defensively, the need to play position arises once
the opposition can kick the ball a long distance or can dribble or pass
out of the swarm and break away. In either case it becomes more important
for the defensive team to cover the strategic areas of the field. As
defensive abilities improve, the offensive team has to pass the ball to
find open space and try to isolate defenders one-on-one. This requires
that the players spread out and stretch the defence. Once players mature
enough to loft the ball thirty yards or more, as happens between age
eleven and fourteen on average, good positional organization becomes very
important, both offensively and defensively. But playing position away
from the ball requires mental maturity, putting team before self,
something that also only develops in the early teen years. Fortunately the
game moves much faster at this level and frequent changes of direction and
location of play occur, so that participation is ensured for everyone,
even when playing position. This is simply not the case in the younger age
groups and playing position often literally means no touches of the ball
for long periods. This can't be right for young players.
If you watch a top-level game, you will
see that the players position themselves so that the team as a whole has a
definite "shape", with the players generally spaced evenly in that shape,
so as to cover the whole territory. As the game develops, players are
constantly adjusting their positions relative to one another and to the
actual play. On defence the shape contracts in an attempt to deny space
and put more players near the ball (a kind of swarm!). On offence the team
shape expands to try to create space and break the shape of the defence.
What you will hardly ever see is a player standing still. Players are
constantly in motion, fine-tuning their position, covering for their
teammates and compensating for changes in the opponents' strategy. The
offside law plays a key role in encouraging a compact shape on defence. By
making it illegal to for an opponent to receive the ball in an offside
position behind the defence, the law encourages defences to push towards
their opponents' goal and limit the space for their opponents to play in.
This is another reason why teaching defending players to stand on their
penalty area is wrong - it allows the opposition to freely use the space
between the half-way line and the penalty area without the risk of being
offside and develops a bad defensive habit that is hard to break later.
Team shape is what I concentrate on when
introducing positional play. More than anything else, I want the players
to "stay connected" as a unit and not break into separate groups. I want
the whole team involved all of the time, so I am always encouraging my
defence to move up the field to at least the half-way line when we are
attacking. Sometimes my team will give up goals on breakaways that might
have been prevented by having the defence on the penalty area. That's a
small price to pay for teaching the right long-term strategy and having
all my team involved in the game.
Many of the difficulties of teaching
positional play are made worse by playing too many players on a team,
because this increases the "need" to assign them positions in an attempt
to avert the swarm. The right answer is to adjust the number of players on
the team to the development level of the players! AYSO National is
committed to reducing team sizes in the younger age groups and we are in
the forefront of this process in the Palo Alto region. In 1998 we
introduced the 4-a-side program for the boys Under-7 age group and it has
been very successful. It has many benefits, not least that teaching
positional play is a non-problem by design. In the 2000 season, 4-a-side
was extended to both the Under-8 and Under-7 divisions, and 7-a-side was
introduced for the Under-10 and Under-9 divisions. In 2002, the Under-9
divisions switched to 5-a-side, as the jump to 7-a-side was too much for
many players. The gradual increase from 4 to 5 to 7 players allows coaches
to teach the beginnings of positional play, without becoming overwhelmed
by the complexities of 11-a-side.
| A soccer coaches guide
to basic formations and positional training. |
|
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