Soccer is a player centered, not coach centered, game that requires players to make countless choices throughout an entire game in real time. There are no “plays called in” or time outs. The coach cannot give a hand single to set up a certain type of offense. Instead, the game continuously moves freely without much coach interference. This means that the players must, on their own, make a lot of choices and solve problems before a coach can help. Usually, when the coach steps in, it is after the fact, and it can only help with future choices. So how do we prepare players for this type of game? We have to help players become active and effective problem solvers.
As the game goes on, a team goes up a goal, down a goal, the other team changes line ups, formation, tactics, or new players are subbed in with different strengths and weaknesses. Added on to that is all the players on the field moving and interacting with one another. With all of this going on, with the constant fluidity of the game, the players cannot wait for the coach to solve problems for them. The players must solve the problems on the field as they arise. Like anything else in soccer, this is a skill. A skill that is developed over years of playing and training, that players pick up the tools needed to make the best decisions possible when presented with a problem on the field.
If this is a key skill, then how often is problem solving part of a coach’s practice plan? During training, are players consistently faced with challenges that they need to solve on their own? From the warm up to the final scrimmage of a training session, there should be problem solving elements inserted into the activities as often as feasible. The more the players are being engaged in training to figure out solutions to problems presented by the coach in the form of the activities the players are experiencing, the more prepared the players are going to be when they step on the field to play the game.
Often during training, a coach gives the players an activity to do, the coach explains how to play the activity, and the players proceed to doing what the coach has asked. For example, the players are doing a basic warm up activity, dribbling the ball in a box, and on the coach’s command the players are suppose to perform a turn with the ball. The coach is giving the players different turns to work on, and doing a great job of teaching the technique of each turn. He is making sure the players are changing speed after the turn and keeping the ball close. The activity looks like it is going great!
But what is the activity missing? Yes, any type of decision-making or problem solving by the players. To add this, the coach may ask the players, “How are you deciding which direction to turn?” Most players are probably just turning to turn, and have not thought about why they are going right, left, or back. Now as the players resume, the players will be thinking about which direction they are going to turn. The players will start turning right versus left because there is more space and it is less crowded. The players may go back because there is a wall of players ahead. By simply presenting a question into the activity, the coach has introduced a decision making opportunity. Before, the kids were just turning because the coach told them to. Now, the players are actively thinking about why and where they are going to turn, and making a choice.
Another way to add problem solving into training is by changing the number of players on each team as a game or activity is going on. When the number of players is changed, players will need to recognize if their team is up or down players and are they the team in possession of the ball. These type of games require players to problem solve based on the changing situation of the game. If they are down players and lose possession, what should they do? Is that a good time to press or sit back and hold a deeper defensive line staying more compact? If that decision is not made quickly, as a group, the team in possession with more numbers could counter very quickly and score.
Instead of just telling players what to do, you allow the game to challenge their ability to recognize these situations on the field and solve the problem individually and as a group. This needs to happen in training, repeatedly, or it will never happen at the time needed in the game. As a coach, you will find yourself always telling your players after they conceded a goal. “Hey, in that situation we need to drop off and stay compact.” It is a good coaching point, and it may help in the future if the players can recognize that situation occur again and make a decision in time.
Having players work in these situations in training helps with awareness. The players are training in an environment that requires them to constantly pay attention to what is happening around them in the activity. This will translate when they step on to the field. As a group, the players will be able to communicate and see what is going on in the game. Take that information and solve problems as individuals and as a group, in real time, with less needed guidance from the coach. Although at times, the coach may get up and point out something the players are not recognizing, for most of the game, the coach can observe and watch the players play the game. The coach should take notes on the game and see where the players are struggling in certain areas and then use training activities to recreate those situations for the players to work on it. In a strong program, these areas of focus are in line and on pace with the developmental curriculum for that age group. In other words, the proper decision making of a 9 year old is different than a 16 year old. The 9 year old you may be focusing on solving the problem of when to dribble versus pass. With the 16 year old, it could be on how to an attack a team playing with three players in the back.
Players are asked to make a lot of independent decisions on the field and problem solve as the game is going on. From the opening whistle to the final whistle, the game requires kids to think on their own. With this demand of the game, in line with the player’s cognitive development, the training sessions should challenge the player’s ability to solve the problems of the game. The coaches can control variables of the training activities to cover any problem a player can face in the game, and the players can repeatedly work on it with the coach’s guidance. The goal would be that when the situation occurs on the field, the players will be better prepared to make the best decision possible.
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