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I have thought about this for nearly the entire time I’ve been a youth coach (10 years). My reasoning was more socioeconomic – something I don’t want to get to deep into here, but fair to say youth sports is a great way for children to find acceptance in social circles.
My idea was to recruit local businesses to sponsor a team to cover the expenses of playing – fosters a stronger sense of community and a team that everyone could rally behind.Personally, I’ve lived a charmed life. I’m by no means a choir boy, but I was able to get my life in order and succeed beyond what I might have ever imagined. I feel there is a duty to “pay it forward” – I can’t do much, but I do think I can coach. As coaches, we have an incredible responsibility and influence over children, but it’s also an opportunity to teach life lessons through athletics. In the 10 years I’ve coached, there is no greater feeling than watching a child smile when they have achieved a stated goal, or knowing that they return to play for you, year after year.
This is a great idea – I don’t know if it would fly en masse in the US, but I do think if you have a plan, and it’s managed well, it could succeed. Good luck!
Personally, I think there is something to be said about passing patterns. I know of one low level team that does it and does it extremely well – so much that the “punch above their weight”. My team passes well for a low level team, but it’s not patterned, it’s more “creative” – the movement is there, but the girls pass based on whether the nearest players are open or not.
I prefer the patterns, but I’m ok with the fluid / on-the-fly approach as far as my team is concerned, as it’s still “with a purpose”.
I can vouch that using the 3four3 patterns as a reference has certainly helped – while we may not follow the steps exactly, the girls better understand what to look for and the proof is in the pudding. Through 6 games, we’re the 2nd best in flight in terms of goals scored and 2nd best in terms of goals against. We have always been at the top in terms of goals against, but we’ve NEVER been a high scoring team. One could infer that we are playing against inferior teams, but these are essentially the same teams we’ve played over the past few seasons, the only change for us has been more intense application of the 3four3 methodology.
Have had a lot of the same as Simon – not perfect, but then we modified ours a little too. Basically, we adhere rigidly to building from the back, but I include keeper. We also use the 3four3 goal kicks (which I have to say is unbelievably great – amazing that even elite teams we’ve played don’t even bother attacking when we play wide to our center backs).
We struggled with the attack patterns, but since we have our outside backs playing to the outside wingers (4-3-3, one holding mid), we encourage the girls to be “creative”, but play a few passes to feet then try to space with runs off the ball.
The flood gates have opened. Traditionally, my team is all defense. We are now the leading offense in terms of goals scored, and the goal scoring is distributed across all 3 forwards (including 2 subs) and both attacking mids (plus 1 sub). Both my starting outside / fullbacks have wide open shots on goal, and 1 sub fullback has a few. None have scored, but the opps were there and they took them. Surprisingly, once you start passing it around the lower level teams, the defense softens / opens up.
If the attacking patterns aren’t sinking in, use them as a training / reference point but also work a more free form attack. We’ll line up the front 3 and all 3 mids + 2 outside backs (looks like a 3-2-3) against no opposition other than a keeper and have them pass around. We’ll put some restrictions (make 5-10 passes, then go to goal) and we’ll also add a defending unit to provide pressure and make it more realistic.
Most important thing – KEEP WORKING IT! To any parent that disagrees, remind them that this is derived from Barcelona, who is now in the Champions League final and one of the most successful teams of the past decade (if not most successful). If they don’t buy in, they’ll be weeded out.
Buy in is critical. I went into this season having 2 down seasons after 3 extremely successful seasons. I was on verge of losing some kids and parents. We’ve been on a tear, won 3 in a row and the girls’ confidence is through the roof. We may not look like Barca, but we pass more than any other team we play, string together 10-15 pass sequences, and break down teams (albeit not quickly, it starts slow, then the frustration and exhaustion sets in and we seem to pour it on late).
I’d love to keep the 3four3 curriculum “my little secret”. I am also so confident right now as a coach using the core activities that I am comfortable saying I could coach most low level teams from U10 – U15 (beyond that, I may be challenged). I’m hoping that Brian and Gary introduce more activities, but I swear by the core – it works. You just need patience and buy in…
Good luck!
Hey all – signed up for the coaching membership late last year, just stumbled on to the forum. My name is Rich DeFabritus, I’ve been coaching about 10 years, 5 years at a competitive travel level, albeit at a lower competitive level. I coach a U14G team that I started 5 years ago, and I am the assistant on a U11G team that has been together for 3 years.
In terms of background, I played soccer when I was a kid, about 3 years. I was horrible, and I was not trained to play the game properly. I am 46 years old, so you are talking about 35+ years ago (I believe I stopped playing around 12), Americans just didn’t know anything. However, I have a brother that was a very strong player, coached by an Irish national with a lot more knowledge of the game (at least of the game compared to what the American parent coaches knew). Always loved the game, and since I wasn’t a great player, I watched any chance I could get. I am fortunate enough to have grown up in the NY metro area, and the Cosmos were still huge when I stopped playing. I’d go to games or watch on TV. Into the 90’s, I would watch World Cup when broadcast, always rooting for Italy (since the US wasn’t very strong) – my grandparents are immigrants from Italy, so there’s a bias.
The fact that I wasn’t a strong player has helped open my mind tremendously. In my 10 years of coaching, I can’t tell you how many experienced coaches / former players suffer from myopia. They know in their hearts that what they know is “right” and the “best”. In my mind, my lack of “knowledge” drove me to learn, and I’ve trained with plenty of coaches above and beyond my licenses (I hold a NJ State “E”, and a USSF “F”, both of which haven’t done much for my training, but necessary evils if you will). The EDP league (elite level league in the east) very often holds coaching training, which has been fantastic – I’ve trained under first-team coaches from Club Bruegge, Valencia, Sky Blue, and youth coaches from Chelsea and Liverpool…absolutely eye-opening. Among the best training I’ve received was in the area of tactical periodization, or more specifically what Mourinho calls the “global method of training”. Since I coach girls, and they tend to have higher rates of injury than boys, it’s important that I protect the welfare and development of the players I coach, and the global method encompasses warming up using soccer-specific movements (e.g., small sided games, etc). Many coaches I see still warm up using static stretching (!!!).
Of course, that all pales in comparison to the 3four3 courses. When I started my U14G team, we were a rag tag bunch of kids that were either cut or not offered the opportunity to play on a travel team. I started the team just to have fun, but realized that there was tremendous upside if I developed them properly. My view was that training them to be “more athletic” than other teams (e.g., play kick and chase) would be nothing more than a 50/50 proposition, and given that I had “lower level” kids, it was a losing proposition. I knew that if I could drive a possession style of play, that would even the playing field.
Well, the team that was laughed at (we were called a “rec team”, I was labelled “not a real coach”) became a team that no one wanted to play. We were at the top of our flight(s) for a few years, got promoted, won some tournaments, even played a few so-called “elite” teams and beat them. 2 of my players moved on the elite teams – one of whom had been cut before she came to my team.
The team will never compete at the top level, but the 3four3 curriculum has made this team quite competitive, and we are doing extremely well in our flight this season.
Sorry to be long winded, but I fully endorse the 3four3 curriculum, especially the set tactical work – I’m looking forward to learning more and applying it with both of my teams for the future.
Without question, the set tactical work is outstanding and can be applied pretty easily IMHO, just so long as there is repetition. I’ve been doing that a lot with both my U11G and U14G team, with both teams showing excellent composure – especially when building from the back. A little more struggles with the offensive patterns, but using them as a guide while instructing them to be creative has helped possession up top as well.
Rondos are a given…a staple of my training since day 1. I do like the 4v0 game proposed by the coach in this thread – may try it tonight with my U11G team.
