“KICK! KICK THE BALL! YAY!!!” – What parents and coaches need to understand about directing players on the field.

This was written in collaboration with http://www.montrealsoccercoach.com

I always said that parents are the pillars of youth soccer and without them and their commitment as coaches and fan of the game, the game of soccer would be at a standstill. I have a tremendous admiration for parents and coaches who take time out of their week (many 4 to 5 days a week even!) to give their child a chance to experience this wonderful game.

As parents and coaches, we always have the best intentions for our children and players. We naturally associate success as something positive and we try as much as possible to steer away from failure. It’s a natural instinct that lives in all of us.

SOCCER: AN INVASION TYPE GAME

Soccer is considered an invasion type game. Two teams must protect their own zone and try to invade the opponent’s zone to eventually reach a goal (score in the net). As the ball enters one’s defensive zone (a team’s own half), it is instinctive to want to clear the ball out of the zone and send the danger the other way. In essence, when a player from a team enters the opposite team’s zone with the ball, the opposing team automatically enters a defensive mode in order to protect their goal. The more players enter the defensive zone with the ball, the greater amount of danger and pressure the defensive team will face. Relieving that pressure would consist of clearing the ball (essentially the danger) past their own half.

When the game is broken down the way I just did, one would not see a problem encouraging players to kick the ball up the field. At the end of the day, you’re simply helping them guide the danger out of their zone. Hey, if the ball is not in your zone, no goal can be scored against you right?

POSSESSION IN SOCCER

Here is the thing: soccer is also considered a possession type game. This means that in order to take full advantage of this sport, a team must try to keep the most amount of possession of the ball possible because the amount of players on the field (7 or 11) as well as the dimensions of the field allow you to do so. When a player gets possession of the ball, he/she has the possibility to move and pass the ball in all 360 degrees. Nothing forces a player to necessarily get rid of the ball right away, even if a player of the opposing team is right there in front of the player. A player is technically only limited to the boundaries of the field and within those boundaries, they can move, pass, shoot and dribble in every single direction. If your team has possession of the ball, the other team cannot score on you unless they take the ball away.

THE IMPORTANCE OF NUMERICAL ADVANTAGES IN SOCCER

A very important aspect to understand in soccer is numerical advantage. When 3 players from the red team with the ball are face to face with 2 defensive players of the blue team, the blue team find themselves in an impossible situation to fully be able to defend against the red team. Yes, in technicality they can “stop” them, but physically it is impossible for them to cover all 3 players, leaving one player completely open at all times. This is an essential part of soccer as well as any team sports. Numerical advantage situations are mainly created in three ways in soccer:

Example #1- The red team’s midfielder has the ball and he and his 2 attackers enter the blue team’s half. As they try to pass the ball, the midfielder of the blue team intercepts the ball and now runs with the ball with 4 of his teammates into the red team’s half. The red midfielder and his 2 attackers now start running back to help their teammates in their own zone but they are delayed in coming back as they were all running forward and now must stop and turn back around. The blue team now entered the red team’s zone with 5 players and the red team only have 3 players back. In this specific situation, the blue team started a “counter attack” – a sudden change of possession that allows a team to attack the opposite team with more attacking players than there are defensive players left from the opposing team (usually happens because as the play moves up the field, the players of that team are following the play (ball) up field and when they lose the ball, there is a delay in coming back whereas the opposing team has a faster opportunity to get into the opposing zone). This also translates in the now attacking team having more space to attack in the opponent’s zone because there are less players (3 in our example) that are not covering their zone.

Example #2- A red team’s right midfielder has the ball in the blue team’s defensive zone and finds himself in front of a defender. As soon as this player passes his defender, even if he finds himself in front of another defensive player, he has created a numerical advantage. Why? Because if we consider the fact that for every attacking player there is a defensive player, every player on the field is technically matched 1 to 1. As soon as a player dribbles and passes one player of the opposing team, he/she naturally creates a numerical advantage. In our example, the red team’s midfielder passed his matching defensive blue midfielder. Now he ends up in front of a blue defender. However, that blue defender most likely was watching and surveilling the red team’s attacker. He now has to leave his player to try and stop the blue midfielder with the ball – which now creates a numerical advantage (and technically an open pass to his attacker).

Example #3- A set of quick passes are made by a team and during and after those passes, the players of the passing team are moving up the field faster than the defensive players are able to come back in defense. This creates a numerical advantage by a team moving the ball collectively and following the play up the field.

WHY IS YELLING “KICK!” A HUGE DISADVANTAGE FOR THE PLAYER?

Consistently yelling “kick!”, “kick it up!” or any variable of those terms is actually quite detrimental to a player’s development in soccer. What is indirectly being taught to the child is the following: BALL = DANGER. The reality is the complete opposite! BALL = OPPORTUNITY TO KEEP POSSESSION OF THE BALL AND SCORE A GOAL! When a player gets the ball and has space to move forward, yelling “kick!” is actually forcing him/her to give the ball away – the complete opposite of what soccer is all about!

What are two reoccurring things in the 3 examples of numerical advantages that was explained before: you need to have more players than the opposite team and the players must follow the play (ball) up the field. When parents and coaches are yelling at the players to just kick the ball up for the simple reason that the ball is in their defensive zone, they are simply preventing a numerical advantage to take place for their team and they are also forcing the player to potentially give the ball away because “KICK!” has no specific meaning except the action of kicking (unlike “Pass the ball to Johnny” that actually gives the player a direction to execute his movement to).

SITUATIONAL GUIDE FOR PLAYERS WITH THE BALL

As a parent what do I tell my kid and his teammates? Technically speaking, only the coach should be giving his players’ directives on the field. However, twelve years and 4000+ games has shown me otherwise (not in a bad way! Parents care, it’s completely normal!). So here is a small guide for parents and coaches alike to help guide players during the game.

** Notice the exclamation mark at the end of each exclamation – I’m assuming you will always be screaming 🙂

1- “You have time!” – When a player gets the ball and no defensive player is very close to him/her. This allows the player the ability to stop the ball, look up and make a decision based on where they are on the field, the space that they can move the ball up to and who is open to receive a pass.

2- “Carry the ball!” – A player receives the ball and has an ample amount of space in front of them. Remember the numerical advantage concept! If the player moves up with the ball, a defensive player has no choice but to leave his/her position and zone to try and stop them. This allows more space for the player’s teammate to get into and receive a pass. A player with more than 3m to 4m in front of them uncontested should almost ALWAYS dribble the ball up to take as much space as possible going towards or in the opposing zone.

3- “Man coming!” – When a player receives the ball or dribbles the ball and a defender is getting close to them. This essentially alerts them that they need to quickly and actively look for a solution (pass or clear the ball depending on where they are on the field and how much help is available). This DOES NOT mean that they need to kick the ball right away – it means they have 2 to 3 seconds to make a decision. Also feel free to use a direction such as “Man coming from behind!” to prevent the player from turning into them.

4- “Man on!” – When a player with the ball has a defensive player directly on them or within milliseconds of reaching them and potentially taking the ball away from them.

5- “Clear!” – When a player is in a compromising position with the ball (very close to and in front of his net) and you see incoming danger that they may not notice right away. This should only be said if deemed necessary – a player with the ball next to his net is not necessarily in a dangerous position at all times (for example he’s outside the box next to the corner – he’s close to the net but doesn’t necessarily need to clear the ball).

6- “Shoot!” – When a player is in a good enough position to take a shot and doesn’t need to go any more forward or dribble any more players.

7- “Look at (name of player)!” – When a player is open and the player with the ball can make a safe pass to them. Notice you are not telling them to pass but instead to look at a specific player as an option.

DISCLAIMER: It is very important to let players make their own decisions on the field. You may guide them but I highly suggest not “telling them” what to do. The above guide is to help your players (child) make better decisions with the ball. Notice how none of those term/phrases forces the players to specifically do something (like kick the ball up).

CONCLUSION

I decided to write this article after refereeing a game last night where one team had 95% of the possession of the ball because the other team were constantly told to just “kick the ball up!” then entire game. Even when the forwards got the ball and had space to move up the field, they were instructed to just kick the ball up and chase after it. The result? They gave the ball away 90% of the time and the other team easily spent 55 out of the 60 minutes in their zone (miraculously it ended 0-0).

Soccer is about keeping the ball within your own team. Asking players to kick the ball up only instills fear in them and gives them a false image of what the game is all about. Sure we all want our kids to succeed whenever possible. However success in soccer is measured by progress and improvement – not by the numbers of wins and numbers of clearances a player can make. Making 4 passes in a row as a team and increasing those numbers of passes per game is what defines success. Without possession of the ball a team and its player cannot progress in the game.

It is important that your players (child) understand what soccer really is about. At the youth level it’s not about winning – it’s about developing into better future players. Coaches and parents are the ones who can insure this – but to do so, your players (child) needs to keep the ball at their feet.

It’s never a bad thing to encourage your child and his teammates – children need that from you! When parents scream of happiness when the ball is kicked up the field, children automatically associate this to success. Although in some circumstances this may be a good thing (1 minute left in the game, your son’s team is winning 1-0, the goalie made an incredible save and the defenders cleared the ball up – that’s completely ok to scream when the ball is cleared!), screaming “YAY!” every time a ball is kicked up when the player actually had time to control it, dribble it 7 meters and make a good pass is actually taking away from their learning experience and progressing in the sport.

Thank you so much for your time and for your kind consideration,

Mike

P.S I welcome any comment!

How many parents and coaches does it take to referee a game?

Two years ago my soccer association joined the many other cities that offer competitive soccer. We started with two competitive teams and this year we are up to five teams. Obviously creating competitive teams is moving towards the right direction for a club as those teams train two to three times a week on top of their weekly game – from a player development standpoint this is ideal.

Unfortunately all those efforts that players are putting off the field, come game day, sometimes gets absolutely ruined by the atmosphere created by the coaches as well as the parents on the sidelines. It’s ironic because those same individuals are doing the necessary sacrifices for their kids and players to become better players and yet, on the most important day, they are able to turn the attention around from the game itself to themselves and to the referee.

According to my general observation, every parent and coach happens to be a certified referee. Everyone knows when to exclaim “Handball Ref!” and as soon as a player of their team makes contact with the ground, the game should be immediately stopped and a foul should be given right away (also known as the “Hey ref! He pushed him! That’s a foul!”). Parents and coaches are also throw-in experts and despite the two assistant referees that are constantly aligned with the before last defender to call any offsides, they are able to make precise judgement calls from the stands and from the sideline.

Obviously I’m just pulling your leg. The reality is that parents and coaches are fully aware of the rules of soccer. However what they most likely don’t know are the technicalities of the rules that referees have been taught to apply as the game goes on. Not EVERY ball that makes contact with a player’s hand is a handball. Not every throw-in without a perfect form is necessarily illegal. Not all contacts between players fighting for the ball should result in a foul, and a player who is offside but who is not involved in the play, well, he’s NOT considered offside and there is no point in yelling “Hey Ref! He’s offside!” – he’s in an offside position which is actually completely legal.

Where I’m trying to get at is the following: 3 out of the last 4 cities that came to play against our club team at home put on a show on the sidelines, as much the parents as the coaches. Last week, the verbal abuse towards one of my referee during and after the game was absolutely deplorable. Things such as “Congratulations Ref! You’re the worst referee we’ve ever seen! “, “Hey! Are you sure you’re actually a referee? ” and “You should find another job because you can’t referee for %#? Ref! “. All this, in front of 9 year old kids…

I’ve been around long enough to know that there is a psychology behind referee abuse and I call it the “Domino Effect“. There are two types of “domino effect“. The first one starts with the coach contesting multiple calls that the referee makes. This in turn gives the go-ahead for parents to join in and start contesting with and without the coach. The second type of “domino effect” starts with the parents themselves. Once a single parent starts making remarks and contesting the referee’s calls, other parents start to naturally join him. The thing is, once this effect starts, it will continue throughout the entire game. As soon as a referee will start to get criticized, I can guarantee you that no one will come to him at the end of the game and say: “Good game referee“.

Anyone can disagree with a call on the field. In that particular game I spoke about earlier, I was supervising my referee and he did indeed miss many calls and wrongfully called quite a few. The interesting thing is, he refereed a very good first half. During that first half the parents and coaches kept to themselves and barely any comments were directed towards him. During the second half however, the game’s intensity picked up and that’s when things started to degenerate on all sides. Absolutely every single call was contested – not only by the away team but by the home team as well! This put my referee is a very difficult position because he knew that anything he would blow the whistle on or even give a throw-in to, he was going to get yelled at from 360 degrees.

Here is what needs to be understood by anyone watching or coaching: you are not doing your team absolutely any favours by contesting calls and verbally abusing the referee. Despite the quality of the refereeing, anything besides encouraging your kid and his team is incredibly detrimental to them. Instead of “C’mon Ref! That’s not a foul!“, how about “It’s ok Johnny! Apologize and everyone get back on defence and make a wall!”. Respect is always preached but that somehow seems to go out the window as soon as people’s emotions get the better of them. Remember this: once the whistle is blown and a call is made, there isn’t any amount of contesting, swearing or condescending remarks that will overturn the call. It’s much more productive to remind the players to pick up a player on defence than it is to argue a call that will not change whatsoever.

I personally respect a coach and even a parent who comes up to me at half-time or after a game and asks me about a specific call that I made in a game. I have absolutely no problem answering and justifying my decision to them even if I have no obligation to. I would even suggest that to any coach who feels some calls were wrongfully made, to go see the referee at the half and speak to them. I promise you that this will have a much greater impact on the second half of the game than simply letting the emotions get the better of you. Coaches should also expect the same level of respect from parents and parents the same of the coaches. Children are influenced very easily and as someone who has been doing this for a very long time, your team, your players and your kids will benefit from showing respect, even when we disagree with someone.

So to answer the question to the title of this article, how many coaches and parents does it take to referee a game? It takes absolutely everyone’s cooperation and respect to referee a game.

Thank you so much for your time and for giving this a thought or two.

Mike

Thank you to Coach Zarmati from http://www.montrealsoccercoach.com for their insight on this piece!

 

Youth Soccer : A Game of Fear

I spent the last 12 summers of my life as as part of a youth soccer association in Montreal. I started off as a referee, moved up to head referee (and field director), technical director of the club as well as technical trainer of competitive teams. I built the infrastructure of their youth development center, coordinated it and was asked to associate my soccer academy to it as well. Over the years I have refereed over 3500 youth games and supervised and overseen over 4000 games in total. I have also had the chance to train over 2000 youth players through my soccer academy, personal trainings and through the soccer association.

Tactically soccer has evolved in the last decade – but at the youth level it has barely moved. The coaching tendencies at the youth level that I first noticed when I started refereeing in 2002 have absolutely not changed whatsoever. To me this is extremely alarming because youth soccer is essentially the future of the sport in this country (or any country for that matter) and it’s at a pretty big standstill in terms of development at the youth level (predominantly at the house league level). I have easily witnessed over 600 coaches coach their youth teams in over a decade and I would say that 90% of them share 1 thing in common: FEAR.

What is fear in youth soccer? Coach Mike from http://www.montrealsoccer.com describes some of the most common tendencies (7 on 7 soccer) from amateur youth coaches that you may recognize:

1- Defenders are kept next to their own net when the team is in the attacking zone.

2- The ”best player” is more than often the go to player to take most free kicks, penalty shots and corners.

3- Defenders are asked to always clear the ball up or kick it out when they get it.

4- Goalies are asked to always boot the ball up as far as possible when they make a save – even if a teammate is completely open next to him/her.

5- The coach panics if any player happens to play the ball back (i.e ”Always kick it up, never back!”).

6- Coaches will rely on his/her best player(s) to even the score or run up the score against a weak team.

7- Goalies have no other role but to make saves and are never used as a last player and a passing option for players in trouble.

8- The best player(s) are kept on longer than weaker players.

The reality is plain and simple: coaches do not want to lose games. They may think that losing will look bad on their CV, that parents will judge them based on the success of the team or simply, they dislike losing. The game has been bubble wrapped and there is a tremendous urgency to play the ball up the field that seems to be contagious from one coach to another. A big part of the game involves taking extreme preventative measures in order to prevent a player from the other team to find himself on a breakaway against the goalie at all times (i.e the two defenders that stay back no matter what). This not only gives the wrong idea of what soccer is to those players but creates a developmental delay in their game since they are away from the action whenever the ball is in front of them.

For players to develop properly, they must absolutely be actively involved in the game. This means, for example, that defenders at all times should be ready to get the ball passed back to them if the play cannot continue forward. For this to happen, players from every single position need to move together up and down the field. Not doing so creates a gap between positions that become neutral zones for the opposite team to heavily exploit if they get the ball (because they can go up uncontested as much as possible until they reach the players from the next position – usually the defenders).

Until this culture changes, overall player developments will suffer tremendously. Only a selected few players get to develop themselves in games and most of the time, it’s only the top players of each team. Even then, these players are mostly developing their individual skills and not being taught to play collectively. What you end up with are players who are very dominant at the 7 aside level (the field is smaller, players are younger and less experienced – therefore technically skilled players are able to exploit those factors tremendously). However, once they start playing 11 aside, everything changes.

Dominant players at the 7 aside level experience shock and frustration once they transition to 11 aside. Whereas before they had to dribble 3 players to get to the net, they would now have to dribble 5 to 7 players in a row to achieve the same result. At the 7 aside level these players were all over the field – wherever the ball was, they were most likely within a few meters of it at all times. Now? These players are unable to keep up with the level of physicality that the game requires because the field is so much longer and wider than a 7 aside field. Many of them will leave their positions to recuperate the ball but will end up losing it by the time they advance a few meters and wind up in front of 3 or 4 defenders.

I have witnessed thousands of players transition from playing 7 aside to 11 aside in the last 12 years and the reason that they struggle so much is simply because they have not been taught to trust their teammates with the ball. Top players still feel like they must carry the team, do all the work and score all the goals. Passing back is a foreign concept that is very difficult for them to adopt since they have been playing a certain way for so many years and always been praised for it.

On the other hand, less developed and weaker players are even more discouraged when playing 11 aside. At the 7 aside level they have had little involvement during games (usually asked to kick the ball up or pass it right away) and now they are faced with a much bigger space to cover defensively and offensively on the field. The distance that the ball must cover to reach teammates are much bigger and many will lack the power, precision and accurate decision making skills in such a big game.

At the end of the day, the equation is pretty simple: players who get more touches on the ball during games will develop faster than others. Youth amateur coaches tend to look at the short term benefits of having really strong players on their teams and yes, at the 7 aside level, one player can make the entire difference and win games for you. Little do they know that once those players move up to a full size field with 11 players on the other side, their instincts won’t be sufficient to help them perform they way they did anymore.

Obviously all that has been said so far doesn’t apply to every single team and coach at the youth level. These are my general observations. I have also seen many coaches who are not scared to teach their players to pass the ball back, keep possession of the ball and distribute the many responsibilities of a team to its rightful players on the field. We do however need more of this and it’s imperative that soccer associations provide the necessary resources and training for coaches to implement a team strategies and not only rely on their best player(s) to get the job done.

Thank you for reading!

Mike