Need More Than One Club In Your Bag

When working to improve a player’s finishing, the most important part is helping the player choose the right shot when going to goal. Although striking the ball well, with proper technique, power and accuracy are all important, a brilliantly struck ball with great technique, power, and accuracy can still not produce a goal. Finishing is not just striking the ball harder. It is more about striking the ball SMARTER. Just like a golfer cannot show up at the golf course with only his driver in the bag and expect to do well, a player cannot hit every shot on goal with just power and expect to score. Like a great golfer, you need a lot of different clubs in your bag to hit the right shot, at the right time, when the game demands it from you.

Watch a highlight reel of some of the best finishers of the game. Is every goal a laser hit from outside the penalty area into the side netting? I would bet that most of the goals are not scored that way. If you study the world’s best goal scorers, most goals are scored by the player being very aware of his surroundings and then taking the RIGHT shot to beat the defenders and the goalkeeper. Sometimes this type of shot is hit low and hard to the corner, sometimes it is a chip over a goalkeeper’s head, or possibly a ball hit with some bend to move outside of the goalkeeper’s reach and into the side netting. In all of these scenarios, the player made a decision about what type of shot he was going to hit based on what was going on in the game. Picking the right shot, at the right time, can create a moment of brilliance when the player finds the back of the net in an unexpected way.

Players who are not as savvy around the goal, probably would have just pulled out the driver and just hit the ball as hard as possible at the goal. By trying to strike the ball hard, the player will either miss the mark completely, or the ball’s path makes it easy for a goalkeeper to cut down the angle and make the save. A well positioned goalkeeper is very hard to beat by just hitting the ball hard.

Like a great golfer, great goal scorers look at the shot they need to hit, pick the right type of club (part of the foot/position of the foot), decide how hard they need to swing, and if they need the ball to be low, high, or curve the ball left or right. Then they try to hit that shot. A soccer player needs to do it in a fraction of a second while the golfer has some more time to think about it, and often, both do not hit the exact shot they would have liked. Even the best in the world, golfers and soccer players, miss the target more often than they hit it. Although they get a lot closer, more consistently than anyone else.

When working with players on finishing, this is what we are really trying to get them to learn. Not to just strike the ball hard with great power and accuracy, but to also pick the right shot at the right time to give themselves the best chance to score. A technically perfectly hit shot with great power and accuracy can still give the player little chance to score, but a well hit shot that makes sense in relation to where the player is to the goal, where the ball is in relation to the player, and where the goalkeepers and defenders are standing gives the player the best chance to have success.

Most players do not have the discipline from close range to use the inside or outside of the foot to slot the ball past a goalkeeper in the corner. Even from 10 yards away, the player steps in to try to hit the ball with an incredible amount of force that often causes the technique to break down. It is completely unnecessary to get that much power, but most players fail to see that causing them to miss easier goal scoring chances.

I get it. Hitting the ball hard is a lot of fun, but there are no bonus points for how fast the ball is going when it hits the back of the net.

On the flip side, when players are farther from goal, they need the ability and courage to not just step in and strike the ball hard, but try to aim at a part of the goal and hit the ball with more power. From distance, the goalkeeper has much more time to move to the ball, so a shot needs to have the right path, velocity, and be aimed at a target on the goal that keeps the ball as far away from the goalkeeper’s reach as possible until the ball crosses the white line. Most players are afraid to miss the target, so they hit a straight shot at the middle of the goal giving them little chance to score.

It is my preference for a player to give himself the best chance to score by aiming away from the goalkeeper rather than just hitting it somewhere on frame. I would rather see the player miss the target trying to give himself a chance to score than hit the goalkeeper in the hands with the ball because he is afraid to miss. I am not looking for a shot on goal. I want a player to try to score. Those are two different approaches.

On top of this, finishing is just another form of ball striking. It is the same as passing. All throughout a game, players pick their teammates out from different distances, often with incredible accuracy, when passing and moving the ball around the field. But when they get the chance to score, the mentality changes. A player who can drive a ball 30 yards to a teammate and hit him in the chest without the player having to move cannot hit the side of the goal from 10 yards away. Does that make sense?

Often in training, I will stand in the goal and tell players, “Pass me the ball.” One after the other, the players step up and play an accurate ball to my feet or drive a ball into my chest. Strange, those “passes” would all be brilliant finishes going to goal. What has changed? The approach and mentality of the player.

When passing, players, like a good golfer, are more concerned with getting the ball accurately to the target. With that in mind, players are more likely to “to pick the right club” and the right pass of the ball to get it to a teammate with pace and accuracy. When passing, players tend not to just blast the ball in the direction of their teammates hoping it gets there. Instead, they are much more calculated, and their consistency and accuracy are much better.

If players can take the same approach to finishing, realize they have more than just “one club in their bag”, it will make them much more efficient at putting the ball in the back of the net. Instead of the players only taking out their driver in front of the goal, they will utilize the other clubs in the bag to hit the correct shot to give themselves the best chance to score. As stated above, most players already do this in regards to passing and moving the ball around the field to their teammates, so the ability is there.

Like a great golfer, great goal scorers can hit the shot they need, when they need it, during a game to give themselves the best chance to score. Helping players become great finishers is not just about striking the ball harder or more accurate. It is about helping them to hit the ball SMARTER and picking the right shot, at the right time, that can create a brilliant moment when the ball hits the back of the net.

Development Requires Competition

Often when talking about development and soccer players, it is assumed you are reducing the importance of trying to win or the will to compete for the players. Since development is the focus, than whether you win or lose is irrelevant, right? No matter what, after each game, everyone is given a gold star, ice cream cone, and patted on the back and told they are great. The kids should feel no different after a loss than they do after a win. Results do not matter, so who cares who won, right? In reality, nothing can be further from the truth. In fact, competition is at the heart of development and learning.

When I was a kid, part of the reason I trained so hard was because I hated to lose. I still to this day despise losing at anything. With that in mind, I also had a coach who made it crystal clear that in order to give myself the best chance to have success, I had to get better. It is not enough to show up at a game and want to win really really really badly. It is not enough to show up and just feel like you can work harder than everyone else on game day and expect to get positive results. From early on, my coaches, and parents, made me earn every ounce of success I had on the field by helping me understand it would be a direct result of what I was learning and how I was improving.

Part of any player’s development is learning how to compete, and what is required to have success on the field. The problem is that kids can be set up and put into situations by adults to have success without earning it, to be set up to win without having to compete. I call it “bumper bowling success.” By manipulating the kids’ actions or the challenges of their environment to make things easier or only asking them to do what they already can, success is handed to players. The success is not earned.

When players are set up to succeed, they are not really being asked to compete at all. Although a player can have success initially, eventually without the development and learning, the success will end. The player may have assumed he was getting better due to the wins or positive reinforcement from the coach or parents, but all of a sudden he will find himself in a situation where he has no chance of being successful. Without the fundamental skills to play the game, there is no way he can compete. Not only will he not know how to compete, the player will also lack the tools to even give himself a chance.

Is there a crueler thing to do to a child? Make them believe they are heading down the right path, when actually, they are going the wrong way.

It is really a simple concept. The players all need, and should, develop a desire to win when they play. But, you know what, if they want to win, then they need to learn how to play and earn it. They need to compete the right way and try to finish first. That is how life works. There is no logic in wanting to win and not wanting to learn the skills needed to play. This is true in school, business, sports, and every aspect of life. You should want to do well and want to have success. Not for the sake of the success, but for the fact that is the standard you hold yourself too. And that is what kids need to learn. If you do not want to learn how to play soccer, you do not want to learn how to control the ball, dribble, pass, receive, defend, move off the ball, and everything else needed to play, then you really do not want to compete at all. You really do not have a strong enough desire to win because you are not willing to do what is necessary to win, not once, not just now, but for as long as you play.

Winners, true competitors, win because they work harder than their competition to get better. They want to win, so they know they need to get better. They work hard, get better, and win they win more than those who do not. As they win, the competition gets tougher so they still strive to continue to improve.

When players do lose, there are plenty of lessons from the loss that need to be addressed and learned by the players and the coach. A "development-first" focus is not saying, “Hey, we lost. No big deal.” There is no room for learning or development in that statement. Developing players is using those times to look at the games and identify where the team and each player need to improve to get better. Again, development is key. The players are asked to reflect on what went well and what did not, and how can they replicate the things that worked and improve on the things that are currently out of their reach.

On the other side, a loss does not mean that the game was a waste, and that is where the line is drawn. Those who just want to win, and do not care about development, fail to find the important takeaways from those games. The only thing focused on is the fact that the player or team lost. If a team loses but the players are executing and utilizing skills learned throughout the week with the coach, then there is success there that needs to be recognized and acknowledged.

When any player or team tries new skills or tactical approaches on the field, it does not work perfectly the first time or the first full season attempting what is being learned. While trying to learn those skills, the players and team expose themselves to a higher possibility they will lose some games. Not until they have mastered those skills will the players have the best shot at winning playing that way and using the new skills.

This is where the lessons are found when a player loses. Those lessons are what they take back with them to training to work on to improve before next game. If the approach is “who cares that we lost,” then it does not give the kids goals to work towards at the next training session. On the flip side, if the kids are just scolded for losing and their attempt to use those skills are not recognized and praised, then what is their motivation to continue to get better at those skills or try them again?

In training and in games, competition is key for player development. The drive to win and have success on the field is connected to the drive to improve and get better at the game. A player cannot only focus on one or the other as it would not allow the player to develop. If a player just wants to win, but is not willing to train to improve, there will be no development and winning is not possible. If a player just wants to get better but does not want to win, then they have no reason to use what they are learning. If you cannot use what you are learning, why learn it? And frankly, if you do not want to win, there is no reason to play.

Competition is healthy when it is presented in the correct way to the players. We cannot ask kids to compete without giving them the tools to play the game, and we cannot ask them to develop the tools if we do not want them to compete. It is when winning is the only goal and the development is sacrificed in order to take short cuts to help players “cheat” themselves into a win and out of getting better that competition is grossly warped by adult influence.

The purest form of competition can be found in the streets and parks when kids play pick up on their own. With no adults or added external pressure, the kids will still compete because they want to win. Because they want to win, they will take risks, take charge, and assert themselves into the game. This is part of why “free play” is an important part of player development. Free play creates some of the most competitive environments kids will find themselves playing.

When someone mentions favoring a player development focus over a focus on winning, it does not mean that winning is not important. It usually means that the goal is to develop players which requires learning how to compete and win games, but there is no room for taking shortcuts to win a game if you want to create an environment to develop players. As with a developmental approach, it is understood there are no shortcuts to developing players but plenty of short cuts to win games.

The Wrong Message

This article is in response to a disheartening conversation I had with a local youth soccer coach. He is part of a club who is trying to do the right things for the youngest age groups by providing a playing and training experiences that are age and developmentally appropriate. They are trying to create an environment where players can flourish while learning to play this game. They are providing a platform for games and training that goes against traditional leagues and archaic approaches used by many. For as much progress as I feel we are making in our community and across the country, I am continuously baffled by adults who not only want to put kids in an environment that is inappropriate for their age and level of play, but consistently send kids the wrong message that I feel is detrimental to their development on and off the soccer field. In short, the coach has arranged inter-squad games for all the teams in the club’s age group. The kids are intermixed among teams and play games against one another. The coaches referee the games, and use the opportunity to stop the games at teachable moments to help the kids learn. This type of game environment is fantastic for the young age groups as it allows them to compete against and with different players, and expand their understanding of how to play the game. The coaches can influence the games to make sure the environment is developmentally appropriate and challenging for the players. Upon hearing that these were inter-squad friendlies, the coach received many emails and calls from parents letting him know that their child would not be there. The most common reason given to the coach was, “It is not a real game, so I do not think it is important.” If you need a visual image of my reaction to hearing that, just picture me banging my head repeatedly against a wall. Where to start…. First, this sends the absolute wrong message to the player. At some point, the player will wonder why he is not going to the event. If the parents are being honest, they will tell the player, “Well because it is not a game, so it is not important for you to go. We are going to do something else.” When there are conflicts in schedules and kids have to miss a soccer practice or game, that is completely understandable, but to just choose not to go because it is decided it is not important is a completely different situation. What message does this send to the player? The only thing that really matters is games. Anything that is not a “real game” or does not count is not important. Is that the message we want to send to kids? If this is the message, it will be difficult to get the players to put forth effort in practice or encourage the them to play and practice on their own. Why would they? It is not important. Why would they waste their time? They will just put effort in and show up when it matters. Only for the games. As that is what has been taught. Isn't this approach a little backwards? I do not think a parent would tell a child that everything done in the classroom is not important until it is time to take the test. No matter how much effort the child shows or how much he wants to do well on the test, the fact that little effort and importance was given to the preparation for the test, the child will be set up to fail. But that is obvious right? It would be irrational and silly to think the child would do well on the test without proper preparation and learning leading up to it. If the child “skipped” all the unimportant lessons before the test, the test will quickly and harshly show the importance of those lessons. In my mind, everything that a player does outside of a “real game” is the most important part of their development. It is the preparation and training, the opportunities to improve, that are really the most critical moments for players, and that is what each player needs to understand. And parents need to support that message. Without that message being supported, when kids do compete, they will be unprepared. There will be a lack of ability to play the game, and a lack the ability to compete. Secondly, kids cannot just show up and want to compete when they think it matters. Competitors do not just compete on game day. We want kids to compete and give their best effort at all times. A message that has a resounding positive impact on all aspects of their lives. You do not just “show up” some of the time. You show up and work hard all the time. Whether they are playing on their own, at practice, or in a championship game, their effort and focus, should not fluctuate. Competitiveness and drive to do well and have success should be the same no matter what the circumstances. Frankly, it is a mindset that cannot be turned on by just flicking a switch when convenient. The toughest competitors I have ever played with or against played just as hard or harder in training or on their own as they did in the game. Why? They knew it was critical for them to get better, and they needed to develop their ability to compete at all times. When you start picking and choosing when you will do your best, you run the risk of picking and choosing the wrong times. But there is never a wrong time to give your best effort. As my coach said to me, “When you play, anywhere or at anytime, you never know who is watching, but most importantly, you should always play and compete in a way that makes you proud.” You cannot expect kids to approach the game, or other things more important than soccer, this way when we start telling them it only matters when a score is recorded, credit is given, or there is some type of reward. In reality, it is every moment leading up to that moment that is much more important, and that is what we hope each child will recognize so they do have success when it counts. That is the message we want to send kids...that their best effort is always required. It is what life demands of all of us. Do not pick and choose when you can give 25% or 75% effort. If you are going to do it, the effort is always your best. That is a sign of a true competitor, on and off the field, and someone who takes pride in everything thing they do. I feel most parents want their child to improve and learn how to play the game. If so, why would we label training and playing opportunities designed to help kids improve as “not important” because it is not a real game? If that is the case, why show up to any practice, ask kids to play or practice on their own, or participate in anything with a soccer ball unless it is a game. Unless there is an opposing team, a referee, and the score is going to be recorded for league standings, it is not important or worth your time going is the message being sent. Obviously this idea, goes way beyond the soccer field. The wrong message is letting kids believe that some aspects of learning or developing any skill are more important than others. When in reality, there are no short cuts, and everything is important. I think this is a key trait of very successful people. They pay attention and give effort at the same level to the small details as they do to the major ones, and in their mind, they probably do not see a difference between the two. If it is a step, even a small one, to help them reach their goal, it is critical and it is approached that way. This is probably why successful people are also labeled as “zealots” in a lot of ways because of their attention and effort to details that most people see as irrelevant or not important. Although it may seem strange to most, true competitors know different and it shows in their results. Again, this is not a rant about kids missing practice. This is about prioritizing what a player attends because some things are seen as more important than others. Kids will miss practice because families are busy and there are conflicts with other activities. This is not only acceptable, but it should be expected. What was heart breaking about this is that the coach was trying to create a playing opportunity for the kids that will help them get better, and parents made a choice for their kids not to attend because they decided it was not important. Since it was not a real game, it was not important enough to show up. If we want kids to be successful when they compete, then everything leading up to that is important. And that is the right message to send, and one that will help the kids have success in anything they choose to do.