U10/U11 2010K

Good sportsmanship is essential and expected from all soccer players.

Examples of things players should do (good):

• Congratulate teammates or opponents on good plays
• Thank the referees

Examples of unsportsmanship conduct, what players should NEVER do (bad):

• Disrespecting fellow team mates, opponents, referees, parents or coaches.
• Spitting
• Disagreeing with the referee (that's  a yellow card offense)
• lieing about what happened on the field (did the ball fully cross the line? did you touch it before it went out?)
• Swearing

Thus, players should never complain about fellow team mates and never make faces if the team mates make bad plays or mistakes. Players are all here to learn and have fun. Players are encouraged to try new moves they learned even if it doesn't work.

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Possession is the key to winning. Possession means having and controlling the ball. Goals usually only happen when the team has possession. The exception to this are fluke shots (own goals by the other team, goals from kick-offs, etc.)

The more the team has possession of the ball, the higher the chances of winning are. If you watch professional matches on TV you may see possession stats, for example, Team A has 70% possession.

We want to have the ball more than the other team. Even if we don't score, the other team can't score either.

Possession may be by moving up the sidelines of the field, or it may be by switching all the way from the left to the right, and vice-versa.

Transitions

A key part of possession is the transition from defense to attack. A quick transition catches the opponents disorganized and usually the attacking team can find holes in their defense. Often opponents attackers stay in the attack, either because they are tired or because they don't know better. So a quick team can take advantage of this.

Quick but controlled transition from defense to attack is key.

Also important is the transition from attack to defense. When our team is attacking and loses the ball, it is crucial that the team as a whole (including forwards) very quickly comes back and positions itself behind the ball (between the ball and the goal).

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A successful team needs to move together. When the team attacks, all players move forward, including the defenders and even the goalie.

Note where the defenders and the goalie are in this typical attack formation:

And look where our forwards are when the other team is attacking. They all run back to help:



When the other team attacks and our team defends, all players come back to help, including the forwards.

Move Often

When the team has possession of the ball players should move often. Move to support the player with the ball, move away from the wall to attract a defender away from where the ball is, move into open space, shift places wit another teamamte to create confusion for the other team.

Move, be always on the move.

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The team must be able to work as a group together. To work together, the players have to be able to talk and listen.

• tell teamates what is happening on the field
• help direct the player with the ball to an open teammate
• communicate about the strength and weaknesses of the other team

 Remember that listening is as important as talking. Pay attention to what your teammate is saying.

Clear and brief directions works best.

Make sure not all players are talking at the same time! Imagine you are running with the ball and you hear your name called from left, right and center... Where do you go?

Examples of simple words or codes to use:

• "Man on": a defender is very close
• "Back": send the ball back to me
• "Go Right, Go left": direct the player with the ball to his best choice of direction
• "Cross": directs the player wt the ball to pass or kick the ball into the center of the opposing goalie area
• "Switch sides, or Switch left/Switch right": direct the player to pass the ball all the way to the other side of the field
• "Clear": send the ball out to the field immediately
• "Time": you have plenty of time, no defenders near you
• "Down the line": pass the ball down the sideline

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Soccer is the most popular sports in the world because it is a true team sport. With a big field size and the typical duration of a match, a single player simply cannot win the game.

Success is determined far more often by the ability of the group to play as team than by the skills of a single few start players.

'Support' is what we say when players help each other. There are three main kinds of support:

1. offensive:
2. defensive: 
3. emotional


1. Offensive support

Players can support a team mate by doing different things:

making yourself available to receive a ball:
move into open space so that your team mate can easily pass to you
running into passing lanes
supporting the player that has the ball by positining your self behind the player. if he lsoes the ball, you are there to get it back.
emotional

In summary, there should be a player that is free beside the player with the ball, another one running in front (or to the side, in front), and another one behind him/her

When different players take on these different supporting roles, then you have true team work nd it becomes very difficult for the team to lose the ball, and a lot easier to create scoring chances.

Players moving without a ball have two very important functions:

• they create a space to receive the ball, and 
• they pull a defender away from the ball, making life easier for the teammate that has the ball.

2. Defensive support

All players must work together. Forwards must come back, and very fast,  to help the defenders. If they don't, imagine if the forwards stayed out in front and there are 5 players on the opposite team attacking the three poor defenders!

When the opposite team's attacked, the first defender challenges him/her (usually by pushing the player to the side of the field), while a 2nd defender must position himself behind the first defender.

Defensive support means:

• Getting behind the ball (between the ball and your goal). Usually only one forward must be in front (ahead of the ball, to initiate a counter attack).
• Move into positions to help your teammates
• players must communicate
• hard work: solid defense mans hard work!

3. Emotional support:

This does not mean holding hands. This means:

• encouraging your teammates
• never becoming upset at your teammates (and never making faces), because they lost the ball or they did not pass to you, or they made a mistake. Remember we are all learning to play.
• maintain positive attitude when the team is struggling
• high-hiving your teammates
• yelling "good try", "nice work", "good hustle", etc.

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Shape is the way the players are position on the field. The shape of the team should be so that there is both:

• width: covering the field from side to side, left to right and center
• depth: covering the field from defense to attack and center

In 11-player teams that play of full fields, there are usually goalkeeper, defenders, midfielders, and forwards players.

In the U10/U11 league we have 7 players, so we typically use:

• goalkeeper, 
• 3 defenders
• 3 forwards. 

 The team needs to move as group, all players will cover the midfielder position.

A team with bad shape is like a two legged stool...

Starting positions

Starting position at kick-off (when other team starts the game). We are the yellow players:


Starting position at kick-off (our team starts):

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