Paging Ted Lasso - Soccer Coaching Help | The Boneyard

Paging Ted Lasso - Soccer Coaching Help

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Entering Year 12 at my current school and after a decade of coaching fall cross country, our program has been shelved for the fall. I'm bummed: we have a very good program and it's such a relaxing sport to coach. Our AD, who is a soccer guy, is worried about #s. If we have XC, usually a popular sport, then we might not have enough players to field all four of our soccer teams.

With XC on hold, I've been asked to coach 5th/6th grade boys' soccer. I have basically zero experience: I stopped playing when I was 12, don't generally care for the sport and starting from scratch on a coaching perspective.

Basically, I'm Ted Lasso.

Any ideas in terms of drills and/or coaching strategies for this level will be greatly appreciated!
 
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Entering Year 12 at my current school and after a decade of coaching fall cross country, our program has been shelved for the fall. I'm bummed: we have a very good program and it's such a relaxing sport to coach. Our AD, who is a soccer guy, is worried about #s. If we have XC, usually a popular sport, then we might not have enough players to field all four of our soccer teams.

With XC on hold, I've been asked to coach 5th/6th grade boys' soccer. I have basically zero experience: I stopped playing when I was 12, don't generally care for the sport and starting from scratch on a coaching perspective.

Basically, I'm Ted Lasso.

Any ideas in terms of drills and/or coaching strategies for this level will be greatly appreciated!

Be a goldfish.

get a middle eastern airline to sponsor the team
 
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Entering Year 12 at my current school and after a decade of coaching fall cross country, our program has been shelved for the fall. I'm bummed: we have a very good program and it's such a relaxing sport to coach. Our AD, who is a soccer guy, is worried about #s. If we have XC, usually a popular sport, then we might not have enough players to field all four of our soccer teams.

With XC on hold, I've been asked to coach 5th/6th grade boys' soccer. I have basically zero experience: I stopped playing when I was 12, don't generally care for the sport and starting from scratch on a coaching perspective.

Basically, I'm Ted Lasso.

Any ideas in terms of drills and/or coaching strategies for this level will be greatly appreciated!
Interesting that the school has a 5th/6th grade team. IN MY OPINION, at that age getting them as many touches as possible is more important than tactics anyway. Here are a few minor tips that may or may not be remotely useful:
  • Don't share that you don't care for the game, but I don't see anything wrong with sharing your lack of experience. My daughter plays for a club team and JV for her high school team. The JV coach knows little about soccer, but she cares and treats the girls well. My daughter likes the team even though she probably knows more about soccer than the coach.
  • Sounds like there are at least 3 other teams in your school(s). Get support from those above you. The varsity coach help out since these are the kids he/she will get soon enough.
  • If your town has a club that some of these kids play for, reach out to them and see if they can provide some guidance and support. Be careful though. Don't make any contact with a club detrimental to any kid that doesn't play for that club. Stay out of the politics.
  • Maybe take a coaching certificate class. I had to take an F certificate to coach my daughter's team a while back. They'll teach you some drills and other basics.
  • I'm assuming this isn't a win at all costs team. Come up with some basic formations and substitution patterns so you get everyone proper playing time. It can be tough to substitutions while managing the game. It's easy to forget a kid/kids.
  • Keep it fun!

Good luck!
 

SubbaBub

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Google Soccer U12 practice drills
 

meyers7

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Interesting that the school has a 5th/6th grade team. IN MY OPINION, at that age getting them as many touches as possible is more important than tactics anyway. Here are a few minor tips that may or may not be remotely useful:
  • Don't share that you don't care for the game, but I don't see anything wrong with sharing your lack of experience. My daughter plays for a club team and JV for her high school team. The JV coach knows little about soccer, but she cares and treats the girls well. My daughter likes the team even though she probably knows more about soccer than the coach.
  • Sounds like there are at least 3 other teams in your school(s). Get support from those above you. The varsity coach help out since these are the kids he/she will get soon enough.
  • If your town has a club that some of these kids play for, reach out to them and see if they can provide some guidance and support. Be careful though. Don't make any contact with a club detrimental to any kid that doesn't play for that club. Stay out of the politics.
  • Maybe take a coaching certificate class. I had to take an F certificate to coach my daughter's team a while back. They'll teach you some drills and other basics.
  • I'm assuming this isn't a win at all costs team. Come up with some basic formations and substitution patterns so you get everyone proper playing time. It can be tough to substitutions while managing the game. It's easy to forget a kid/kids.
  • Keep it fun!

Good luck!
All good ideas. Also at that age work on dribbling, passing and most of all receiving (trapping the ball). As I've told the kids I coach doesn't matter how good you are at dribbling, passing, shooting, IF every time the ball is passed to you, you can't control it, or it bounced 5-10 yards off your foot/chest/etc. You'll never get to use your other skills.

I would add check out YouTube. Tons of drills demonstrated on there. I've been coaching at the HS level for years, and I am always finding new stuff.

Entering Year 12 at my current school and after a decade of coaching fall cross country, our program has been shelved for the fall. I'm bummed: we have a very good program and it's such a relaxing sport to coach. Our AD, who is a soccer guy, is worried about #s. If we have XC, usually a popular sport, then we might not have enough players to field all four of our soccer teams.

With XC on hold, I've been asked to coach 5th/6th grade boys' soccer. I have basically zero experience: I stopped playing when I was 12, don't generally care for the sport and starting from scratch on a coaching perspective.

Basically, I'm Ted Lasso.

Any ideas in terms of drills and/or coaching strategies for this level will be greatly appreciated!

The one thing about Ted is he is extremely positive, if you can be half as positive as him, it would help the kids immensely. i.e. don't let the kids know you don't care for the sport they are wanting to play.

I can feel for you having to coach though. One thing I don't like is teachers coaching sports they know nothing about just because they happen to teach at the school. Always felt sorry for the kids.

Although we lose players to X-Country most years, I don't like the idea of cutting out a sport. Give the kids more opportunities. On the other hand, soccer players will run as far, if not farther than x-country runners....AND....they get to kick a ball while doing it. :cool:
 
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Thanks all. Two weeks in and it’s been a lot of fun. As @meyers7 said, it stinks lamenting a storied program being cut, but I’m enjoying my time outside with the kids.

What’s helped is my transferring basketball to soccer drills. Lots of work on spacing, 2-on-1 and 3-on-2 drills. Bring an international school, our kids play a lot of soccer outside of school, so thankfully their development of skills doesn’t ride on me.

Overall, a very nice roster of 16 with just one attitude issue…I’ll take that ratio every season.
 

meyers7

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Thanks all. Two weeks in and it’s been a lot of fun. As @meyers7 said, it stinks lamenting a storied program being cut, but I’m enjoying my time outside with the kids.

What’s helped is my transferring basketball to soccer drills. Lots of work on spacing, 2-on-1 and 3-on-2 drills. Bring an international school, our kids play a lot of soccer outside of school, so thankfully their development of skills doesn’t ride on me.

Overall, a very nice roster of 16 with just one attitude issue…I’ll take that ratio every season.
I've always found soccer and basketball to be very similar.
 
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I've always found soccer and basketball to be very similar.

Had corp tickets to to Knicks game a few years back at MSG and John Starks was there. My youngest son, who is basketball crazy, eventually built-up the nerve to talk to him. They chatted for a bit and then my son asked what he could do to get better. Starks asked him if he played soccer, the answer was yes. Starks said soccer will help him build-up the running stamina to play hoops, will teach him how to use his shoulder/body to protect the ball, and the footwork is very similar.
 
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Had corp tickets to to Knicks game a few years back at MSG and John Starks was there. My youngest son, who is basketball crazy, eventually built-up the nerve to talk to him. They chatted for a bit and then my son asked what he could do to get better. Starks asked him if he played soccer, the answer was yes. Starks said soccer will help him build-up the running stamina to play hoops, will teach him how to use his shoulder/body to protect the ball, and the footwork is very similar.
Yes, but... My daughter and a bunch of her soccer teammates were on the town travel B team. In their second year they were still playing soccer when basketball started. An opponent was dribbling down the sideline and when of our players (soccer defender), planted the girl into the stands. The ref called a foul and technical to which our girl yelled "It was shoulder to shoulder!" It was pretty hysterical (because the opponent wasn't hurt). Basketball physicality is there, but different. As the kids get older, soccer gets much more physical and all players (offense as much as defense) need to be ready to throw their shoulders into opponents.
 
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When I coached (national D license)...I found that some kids could learn the technical skills but the smaller number who also had "vision" were stars...knowing when and where to put the through ball, when doubled being able to spot an open man, seeing someone coming unmarked for a cross.....like a good point guard has vision.
 
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Yes, but... My daughter and a bunch of her soccer teammates were on the town travel B team. In their second year they were still playing soccer when basketball started. An opponent was dribbling down the sideline and when of our players (soccer defender), planted the girl into the stands. The ref called a foul and technical to which our girl yelled "It was shoulder to shoulder!" It was pretty hysterical (because the opponent wasn't hurt). Basketball physicality is there, but different. As the kids get older, soccer gets much more physical and all players (offense as much as defense) need to be ready to throw their shoulders into opponents.
This used to happen to me all the time as a kid. Soccer was my main sport and I played rec bball for fun. I used to get called for reaches in basketball all the time because I would forget and instinctually just ride the kid carrying the ball down the court on breakaways with my arm across him. I was so used to being able to get shoulder to shoulder and arm bar the other player to gain position.
 
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I was lucky enough to be on the pitch in Tallahassee when the Nigerian Olympic team practiced prior to going to Atlanta for the Olympics...(they won the gold)...

I learned a lot from their dutch coach...they played the dutch "third man" philosophy now used by many clubs....the object is always to create a man who becomes free of a marker...and to immediately recognize and take advantage.
 
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When I coached (national D license)...I found that some kids could learn the technical skills but the smaller number who also had "vision" were stars...knowing when and where to put the through ball, when doubled being able to spot an open man, seeing someone coming unmarked for a cross.....like a good point guard has vision.

This is true in pretty much every sport but soccer really brings it to the surface. The great ones can anticipate and see the future intuitively.

This is the problem with American players. We’ve always had good athletes. But the ones with vision are few and far in between. Reyna, Dempsey, Donovan (when he actually wanted to play soccer), Pulisic. It’s not just making the the through ball, it’s making the run off the ball.

Over here we have to teach kids to make plays off the ball. Over there kids figure out how to do it almost by osmosis.
 
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Zoo...

Europeans are taught that if your marker moves off you, make a move to space immediately....and others are taught to look for that open man.
 
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Zoo...

Europeans are taught that if your marker moves off you, make a move to space immediately....and others are taught to look for that open man.

Billy,

Whoosh.

They don’t need to be taught that. They are practically born with that knowledge among other things. It’s what happens when the sport is embedded in your culture.
 
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Zoo....in Florida, my guys often played South American immigrant teams from Dade County when it got to the quarterfinals.... true that they benefit from very early coaching and a primary sport focus ....Some of our young men trained in Peru in the summer....they came back in awe of some of the local Peruvian clubs they played...they talked of boys in villages growing up playing without cleats on hard clay fields and with minimal professional coaching. But with an understanding of where their pass target would be and a game that, to our kids, appeared to be coordinated through telepathy.

Soccer has changed somewht in my lifetime...40 years ago, the Brits like Man U went over the top.a lot..played "hard men" in the middle and sent flyers like Giggs (as a left winger) to chase the long ball....A game that young Americans readily adopted because it was easier to understand for kids raised on American football.

Building from the back and the "beautiful game" propelled Brazil and Argentina and enveloped the sport. In South America, they were teaching the Concepto Del Tercer Hombre ...and our kids were starting to pick it up in the late 90's...South American coaches were hired by clubs from Miami to Tallahassee.

I learned soccer in the way back from Brits who had played for Newcastle, the Scotland National Team, etc...I had to relearn when I played on an adult club team named the Green Cards...players from Britain, France, Argentina, Nigeria, Tanzania, Morroco, and the US. I was never as talented as my compatriots because I played like what I was...a man who grew up playing football.
 
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Zoo....in Florida, my guys often played South American immigrant teams from Dade County when it got to the quarterfinals.... true that they benefit from very early coaching and a primary sport focus ....Some of our young men trained in Peru in the summer....they came back in awe of some of the local Peruvian clubs they played...they talked of boys in villages growing up playing without cleats on hard clay fields and with minimal professional coaching. But with an understanding of where their pass target would be and a game that, to our kids, appeared to be coordinated through telepathy.

Soccer has changed somewht in my lifetime...40 years ago, the Brits like Man U went over the top.a lot..played "hard men" in the middle and sent flyers like Giggs (as a left winger) to chase the long ball....A game that young Americans readily adopted because it was easier to understand for kids raised on American football.

Building from the back and the "beautiful game" propelled Brazil and Argentina and enveloped the sport. In South America, they were teaching the Concepto Del Tercer Hombre ...and our kids were starting to pick it up in the late 90's...South American coaches were hired by clubs from Miami to Tallahassee.

I learned soccer in the way back from Brits who had played for Newcastle, the Scotland National Team, etc...I had to relearn when I played on an adult club team named the Green Cards...players from Britain, France, Argentina, Nigeria, Tanzania, Morroco, and the US. I was never as talented as my compatriots because I played like what I was...a man who grew up playing football.
I learned like you. As goalie, I never threw short to my defense. Long punts. I think there is a lot to be said about youth teams learning to play from the back. That's the time when you shouldn't really care if it backfires and you give up a goal. That said, at some point you need to score (especially when the kids get older), and I think some American coaches need to remember that it's still the goal. I've seen a number of teams look great passing the ball around the whole field and losing.

My son's team just changed tactics a bit and it's worked great. Because they were pushed to play out of the back and play possession for the last couple youth seasons, they've all become better with the ball at their feet and finding space. But they didn't have the skill or size to score. They've gone back to playing some diagonal through balls for the last half of the field and it's been working wonders because they have speed. So, in essence, they are pulling the defense up with possession and then going back to their roots with a long pass into open space.
 
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I learned like you. As goalie, I never threw short to my defense. Long punts. I think there is a lot to be said about youth teams learning to play from the back. That's the time when you shouldn't really care if it backfires and you give up a goal. That said, at some point you need to score (especially when the kids get older), and I think some American coaches need to remember that it's still the goal. I've seen a number of teams look great passing the ball around the whole field and losing.

My son's team just changed tactics a bit and it's worked great. Because they were pushed to play out of the back and play possession for the last couple youth seasons, they've all become better with the ball at their feet and finding space. But they didn't have the skill or size to score. They've gone back to playing some diagonal through balls for the last half of the field and it's been working wonders because they have speed. So, in essence, they are pulling the defense up with possession and then going back to their roots with a long pass into open space.
Caught most of the first half and half of the second half last night between Farmington and Glastonbury at Tunxis as my son was down the street at basketball tryouts (already!?). Farmington has just been upset by Newington earlier in the week, likely caught looking ahead to this game. Interesting contrast in strategies. Glastonbury played style closer to what I played in high school - physical, long balls from the keepper, and possession oriented. Farmington was content to let Glastonbury have the ball in midfield, but were very well organized in back where the played out of and used their speed and ball skills to leathal effect on the counter. The Haks beat the Guardians (what?) 3-0 and all of their goals were came from a counter. Hope to catch Hall play at Farmington next week.
 
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Zoo....in Florida, my guys often played South American immigrant teams from Dade County when it got to the quarterfinals.... true that they benefit from very early coaching and a primary sport focus ....Some of our young men trained in Peru in the summer....they came back in awe of some of the local Peruvian clubs they played...they talked of boys in villages growing up playing without cleats on hard clay fields and with minimal professional coaching. But with an understanding of where their pass target would be and a game that, to our kids, appeared to be coordinated through telepathy.

Soccer has changed somewht in my lifetime...40 years ago, the Brits like Man U went over the top.a lot..played "hard men" in the middle and sent flyers like Giggs (as a left winger) to chase the long ball....A game that young Americans readily adopted because it was easier to understand for kids raised on American football.

Building from the back and the "beautiful game" propelled Brazil and Argentina and enveloped the sport. In South America, they were teaching the Concepto Del Tercer Hombre ...and our kids were starting to pick it up in the late 90's...South American coaches were hired by clubs from Miami to Tallahassee.

I learned soccer in the way back from Brits who had played for Newcastle, the Scotland National Team, etc...I had to relearn when I played on an adult club team named the Green Cards...players from Britain, France, Argentina, Nigeria, Tanzania, Morroco, and the US. I was never as talented as my compatriots because I played like what I was...a man who grew up playing football.

You’re not telling us anything we don’t know already.

Players here are being coached to learn things that players elsewhere learn playing pick up games and in other less structured venues.

This isn’t even debatable
 
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That might be why the USA Women are more competitive....maybe the girls in other cultures don't spend their youth kicking the ball around a makeshift pitch as much as their boys do...
 

Waquoit

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That might be why the USA Women are more competitive
The USA has provided subsidized training for 1000's of women players annually for decades. That gave us a head start.
 
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That might be why the USA Women are more competitive....maybe the girls in other cultures don't spend their youth kicking the ball around a makeshift pitch as much as their boys do...

Actually you just proved my point. Soccer is perhaps the most popular team sport in America for women. We also have the most robust developmental system in the world for girls-for now. While the USWNT is the most athletic they aren’t the most technically sound.
 
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The FSU Women are currently #1....12-0...bolstered by foreign born players.

The role of international players on college teams has grown at FSU and other programs....the roster has women from Jamaica, Ireland, Canada, Sweden, Shanghai, England, Bermuda, Japan, and Peru....

Students who are international students and grew up with soccer naturally gravitate to the sport.
 
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