| Can you teach defending concepts to younger | | | | Have you ever seen a great defender chasing a ball |
| players? | | | | near his sidelines and he simply kicks the ball out of |
| When teaching defending to developing soccer players | | | | play? There is a reason for this. If he is all alone and |
| we should keep two things in mind. There is the | | | | knows that pressure is coming from the other team, |
| "concept of defending" and the "skills of defending". | | | | he has no other SAFE option but to kick the ball out, |
| Here, we will take a brief look at some of the | | | | stop the play and give his teammates time to come |
| concepts and thoughts. | | | | down and help. |
| While we don't want to start teaching 9 year olds | | | | If he were to stop and turn the ball there is a good |
| about the thirds of the field, it does help expose them | | | | chance he will have a created a 1 v1 and a good |
| to the theory that we act or behave differently in | | | | chance he will lose. If you feel all alone, clear the ball or |
| these areas. A simple explanation about the field being | | | | stop the play. Help will arrive shortly. |
| three parts is good enough for any age. | | | | Rule 4: Who is pressure and who is cover? |
| The defensive third has its own set of rules. We | | | | When a player attacks in our zone and we have 2 or |
| should follow the rules at all times. | | | | more defenders, one player is the pressure player. |
| Rule 1: We are not trying to win the ball; we are trying | | | | That player puts close on pressure and becomes the |
| to protect the goal. | | | | nuisance. |
| Defenders often get "beaten" because they STAB or | | | | The other player(s) stay back and wait for the |
| reach in trying to win the ball from an attacker. Our | | | | pressure man to be beaten or the attacker to pass. |
| goal should to be a nuisance that stays in the way of | | | | Too often both defenders become pressure, which is |
| an attacker and never gives them a clear shot or | | | | an easy way to get beaten and leaves a straight line |
| passage to the goal. Keep space and leave room. | | | | to the goal. |
| This is known as jockeying. It is fine to be aggressive | | | | Rule 5: The sidelines are your friends. |
| in their zone, but in ours we want to be safe. | | | | Pressure can come from anywhere on the field |
| Rule2: Every pass we make is 100%. | | | | except for one place, off the field. Unless you have a |
| We never make a pass that has ANY chance of | | | | parent that decides to "jump in and play" you have |
| being intercepted by the offense in the defense third. | | | | eliminated an avenue of pressure by using the sidelines. |
| Often you will see a defender pass back to a keeper. | | | | You can always shield the ball and work it up the field. |
| Most of the time this is due to the fact he does not | | | | Getting caught in the middle of the field, battling it out is |
| have a 100% options. Our passes need to be firm and | | | | not what we want our defenders to do. |
| TOTALLY away from any other player on the team. | | | | These are five simple rules that if shown through visual |
| If no safe pass is present, clear the ball out into the | | | | setups on a small field, will often stick with younger |
| middle or attacking zone. | | | | players for the rest of their lives. |
| Rule 3: Don't try and do it yourself. | | | | |