1. The people who employ the club head coaches are looking for better coaching and better results with their "showcase" teams.  Perhaps, even worse, some of those volunteer board members have an ulterior motive.  They want the best coaching for their son or daughter, who is now a teenager and a real "prospect."

2. This preoccupation with the best players is often compounded by the professional head coach who wants to, and prefers to, be in a more competitive environment.  This is sometimes ego, but it might be the genuine motivation to prove that they can coach successfully at a higher level.  It's called ambition and there is nothing much wrong with that.

However, if we don't get a community soccer organization working developmentally from the bottom up, those players graduating from the younger groups and into 11 vs. 11 soccer will be no better than those players of five or more years ago.

So this month we look at what should be done with practice activities for the U6 to U11 - and then with the U12 - U18.

One of the Technical Directors I talked to, who has made a commitment to the U6/U11 development area, told me that he thought the most important thing was to get the children running with the ball in different activities.  I know where he is coming from, but I'm not going to entirely agree with him.

Dribbling - running with the ball - is the most basic instinctive response from a child with a soccer ball and we must not take that away from them.  "Pass it!  Pass it!" is the most common sideline shout in soccer programs for the younger players.  And this may be "coaching" out creative and exciting dribbling experimentation for young players.  We all know that is wrong.

We also know that dribbling, passing and kicking are the only ways to move the ball forwards in the game of soccer (other than a throw in and a throw from the goalkeeper).  So we have (for the moment) identified four main components for development in the younger age groups.  These are

1. Pure running with the ball (dribbling)

2. Kicking the ball (shooting,/passing)

3. Receiving the ball (first touch/away from pressure/shielding)

4. Combination play (possession games, co-operative defending, small sided games, etc.).

In order not to discourage dribbling we are going to suggest a couple of situations/games where it is a no brainer for the players to pass.  We make the game rules such that passing is a "natural" skill - and not one forced by a brainwashed response to coaches and parents ("Pass it!").

Inside Out	3 vs. 3

4 v. 4

 In the Inside Out warm up activity, both the outside "windows" and the inside "players" must look to pass and to receive a pass.

In the 3 vs. 3 amd 4 vs. 4 games, the rule from the goal kick (or from the kick-in played in place of the throw in) is the first pass is for free - meaning that no opponent can intercept the first pass.  They can mark (good way to start 1-on-1 defending) while the attackers must find good space to receive the ball.  This way we work on making space, receiving the pass (first touch) and for the passer an incentive for an accurate and properly weighted pass.  Thanks to Geoff McCormick of Creative Soccer who I first saw use this "condition" to help 6-year old  children move the ball out into play on a goal kick (http://www.soccertots.net/locations/info.asp?id=28).

For the players U13 and older, the attacking game is conditioned by three major areas:

1. Tight spacing and the need to keep possession as the ball is moved forwards or from one square to another (see 3 vs. 1 Tennis example).

2. Attacking in the Final Third - and particularly attacks from the flank (see Crossroads example).

3. Finishing attacks (see Attack vs. Defence example).

3 vs. 1 Tennis	Crossroads

Attack vs. Defence

Of course, in this age group, defending skills and heading skills assume a much greater importance, but two of the three practices above (Crossroads & Attack vs. Defence) include these considerations.