Club Style
Soccer is a simple game since players basically perform one of three actions:
Dribbling, Passing, or Shooting. The art of the game is in how and when the player chooses to perform any one of these skills. The purpose of using these skills, of course, is to advance the ball on the opponent's goal and score. Well unfortunately it's so simple that the true objective is often ignored in everyone's haste to score. Phrases like "boot it," "get going," and "run faster, play faster" all lead to a jumbled mess without either team really having possession of the ball and control of the game. Yet one thing is for certain; without the ball you can not score! It is true enough that young players make many errors in controlling the ball. In fact, the ball is often times a greater opponent for young players than even the opposing players. This is why the "boot it" style of play seems to work in the short term when observing the younger players in a game. However, the little ones grow very quickly and soon find themselves playing against skilled players that do not make many errors (certainly not enough to plan on them) and that spend all of their game time in search of possession of the ball. These skillful players would choose to either dribble, pass, or shoot the ball (whichever would be worse for you and your team) even before you have a chance to get near the ball. Therefore, an observant eye will tell you right away what skill level the teams are on. If your player kicks the ball away immediately so that the other team either touches the ball or kicks it back, then this is boot ball play. A soccer player wants to maintain possession of the ball and, if at all possible, never give the ball to the other team. Notice whether your player touches the ball and then successfully plays it to another one of his or her teammates, dribbles it behind the opponent without losing it or shoots on goal. These are the skills of a soccer player which lead to intelligent, creative and entertaining soccer! As parents, you can help a great deal by reinforcing these ideas and working on them with your player at home. Encourage your child to practice these skills throughout the year. It will be well worth the effort when you see the player's skills advancing and probably even surpassing the skills of other players.
