Best way to teach possession ball?

[Unregistered]

No doubt the one was very possession oriented and the other was not. However, you fail to recognize the difference in skill level of the players on the various teams. I hate bootball as much as the next person and I have never had a coach that advocated or taught bootball. However, if you have a highly skilled and athletic team vs. one that has weaker athletes and doesn't have good skills, guess what happens?

Therefore, I ask all the parents who love possession soccer, "how skilled is your kid?" Can they receive a ball cleanly? Can they pass cleanly? Can they take a ball down out of the air, drop it to their feet and then play the ball? Can they pass accurately and with appropriate weight on the ball? Do they play with their head up? You should be honest in your assessment. The reason your team may not play possession soccer as well as you wish they played could be because of your kid and the other kids on the team who don't have appropriate level skills.

It's hopeless. I mean either somebody slipped me something during lunch and reading this post has kicked off a really bad trip or I've entered an alternative universe where 2+2 equals 37.

May I ask you a simple question. How do you think it is that the younger team is more skilled than the older team? Magic fairies?

On second thought, don't answer that. I'm not sure I can bear to hear the answer knowing that we are of the same animal species.

[Unregistered]

I didn't see any team score in the 5 minutes I watched. I would say it looks like most of the OPL teams when they play out of the OPL. Until they start awarding points for time of possession the GOAL is still to put the ball in the GOAL.

Completely and utterly hopeless.

[Unregistered]

I didn't see any team score in the 5 minutes I watched. I would say it looks like most of the OPL teams when they play out of the OPL. Until they start awarding points for time of possession the GOAL is still to put the ball in the GOAL.

I thought I might post this video of a team playing good possession soccer scoring tons and tons of goals, maybe a bazillion trillion, against really good teams, in case there was a random primate that had escaped from the Portland zoo and was reading these post and having a difficult time conceptually with the whole possession thing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQFlrRW2ZlI

[Unregistered]

I didn't see any team score in the 5 minutes I watched. I would say it looks like most of the OPL teams when they play out of the OPL. Until they start awarding points for time of possession the GOAL is still to put the ball in the GOAL.

I'm confused. When you say they look like most OPL teams, which team are you referring to? The younger team in the first half of the video or the older teams in the second half?

[Unregistered]

It's hopeless. I mean either somebody slipped me something during lunch and reading this post has kicked off a really bad trip or I've entered an alternative universe where 2+2 equals 37.

May I ask you a simple question. How do you think it is that the younger team is more skilled than the older team? Magic fairies?

On second thought, don't answer that. I'm not sure I can bear to hear the answer knowing that we are of the same animal species.

Good God you are stupid.

We all know that older teams, just by virtue of them being older, are more skilled.

I've entered the world of 2+2=37 apparently and it's main inhabitant is you.

[Unregistered]

Good God you are stupid.

We all know that older teams, just by virtue of them being older, are more skilled.

I've entered the world of 2+2=37 apparently and it's main inhabitant is you.

Then why was the older team so utterly unskilled in the video?

[Unregistered]

They can't do what they aren't taught

No doubt the one was very possession oriented and the other was not. However, you fail to recognize the difference in skill level of the players on the various teams. I hate bootball as much as the next person and I have never had a coach that advocated or taught bootball. However, if you have a highly skilled and athletic team vs. one that has weaker athletes and doesn't have good skills, guess what happens?

Therefore, I ask all the parents who love possession soccer, "how skilled is your kid?" Can they receive a ball cleanly? Can they pass cleanly? Can they take a ball down out of the air, drop it to their feet and then play the ball? Can they pass accurately and with appropriate weight on the ball? Do they play with their head up? You should be honest in your assessment. The reason your team may not play possession soccer as well as you wish they played could be because of your kid and the other kids on the team who don't have appropriate level skills.

I hope the underlying lesson of the discussion here is that Oregon players by and large are NOT taught the fundamentals of possession soccer at the earlier stages of their development. I would flatly say to you don't have to overly skilled or even overly strong to play age appropriate possession soccer because field positioning and spacing are adjusted by age for the game and thus field awareness is equally important.

I'm not saying that a physically superior team wouldn't make that hard but they make direct soccer even harder as they get MORE opportunities to possess lose balls than balls moving with PURPOSE.

The topic of the thread is HOW and the answers is start young with a coach and club dedicated to the concept and then educate the parents so that they understand that building a complete player is what will provide wins in the later years and life long enjoyment of the game!

[Unregistered]

Then why was the older team so utterly unskilled in the video?

Why are some U15 teams utterly unskilled? Maybe because they are a b team? Those videos don't compare anything other than showing a skilled team (vs. an overmatched team) and an unskilled team (vs. what appears to be an equally unskilled team). You can't claim that the only difference between the two teams is coaching philosophy.

My sons team is young and we are not one of the top teams. However, in general the team has pretty good skills and our boys do try to apply possession soccer. The thing that stands in our way is that our skills are still a work in progress. However, the coaching is there and the attempt to play a possession game is there. We match up very well with the second tier teams at our age group but struggle with the top tier teams. However, regardless of whom we play, the emphasis is on passing, working the ball out of the back, hitting diagonals, triangles, give and go. Some times we connect as many as 4 passes. Sometimes we struggle connecting 2. The reason we don't connect more is because at some point, we have a bad touch, or too much weight on the ball, or a bad decision, or .... Things that will become less and less as the team matures.

[Unregistered]

Another TROGLODYTE speaks

I didn't see any team score in the 5 minutes I watched. I would say it looks like most of the OPL teams when they play out of the OPL. Until they start awarding points for time of possession the GOAL is still to put the ball in the GOAL.

Ah the got to score to reflect development approach.....priceless. How many posters have to point out to you that this is the very problem with US youth soccer in general and Oregon soccer specifically? Will 10 more responses get it through?

As a coach I might have the goal of simply controlling the ball in the first half to work on a specific thing from practice or for specific players to work on and in the second half we might be working on shooting or forward rolling passes and you would be the parent on the side line yelling send it or shoot or other IGNORANT male bovine excrement!

[Unregistered]

Three Cheers for your COACH

Why are some U15 teams utterly unskilled? Maybe because they are a b team? Those videos don't compare anything other than showing a skilled team (vs. an overmatched team) and an unskilled team (vs. what appears to be an equally unskilled team). You can't claim that the only difference between the two teams is coaching philosophy.

My sons team is young and we are not one of the top teams. However, in general the team has pretty good skills and our boys do try to apply possession soccer. The thing that stands in our way is that our skills are still a work in progress. However, the coaching is there and the attempt to play a possession game is there. We match up very well with the second tier teams at our age group but struggle with the top tier teams. However, regardless of whom we play, the emphasis is on passing, working the ball out of the back, hitting diagonals, triangles, give and go. Some times we connect as many as 4 passes. Sometimes we struggle connecting 2. The reason we don't connect more is because at some point, we have a bad touch, or too much weight on the ball, or a bad decision, or .... Things that will become less and less as the team matures.

Congratulations you sons team has a coach dedicated to the development of their full potential regardless of their current stage of development. Hip Hip Hooray

[Unregistered]

I hope the underlying lesson of the discussion here is that Oregon players by and large are NOT taught the fundamentals of possession soccer at the earlier stages of their development. I would flatly say to you don't have to overly skilled or even overly strong to play age appropriate possession soccer because field positioning and spacing are adjusted by age for the game and thus field awareness is equally important.

I'm not saying that a physically superior team wouldn't make that hard but they make direct soccer even harder as they get MORE opportunities to possess lose balls than balls moving with PURPOSE.

The topic of the thread is HOW and the answers is start young with a coach and club dedicated to the concept and then educate the parents so that they understand that building a complete player is what will provide wins in the later years and life long enjoyment of the game!

We moved here a few years back. We left a team who really emphasized possession, spacing, passing. And that was at U5 through when we left, which was U8. The team was great.

We got here and the emphasis on the individual was paramount and passing and possession and spacing and playing your position was not emphasized. It frustrated us. It was on individual skills. Not boot ball. It was one kid never passing and always trying to be a one person team. I hated it. However, now we are older and I see that the team we are on now does have a number of skilled players and I think that was a result of the emphasis on the individual vs. the team.

So, to me, the big difference was the development here, in PDP, seems more on individual whereas elsewhere it was more on team. Neither place emphasized boot ball.

[Unregistered]

Congratulations you sons team has a coach dedicated to the development of their full potential regardless of their current stage of development. Hip Hip Hooray

Well, we do resort to some big clears on occasion and if we have an opportunity, we will crack one over the top. However, working it out of the back, being calm, moving it with purpose, not forcing the issue and playing it back through the back line, .... are always attempted. By the end of the year, we will see where we are with this. Hopefully, we will have closed the gap with the top teams.

[Unregistered]

That's a great video that illustrates the point perfectly. And the parents' and coaches' comments that can be overheard throughout the video are priceless. The younger team that was working the ball around beautifully in the first half of the video was very well put together and if they weren't U11, they certainly weren't much older than that. The older kick and chase teams in the second half looked at least 4 or 5 years older and looked horrible, incapable of anything, including dribbling and effective one v one. This is what years and years of boot ball creates, and unfortunately, OPL tends to the secondary example overwhelmingly. Thanks for sharing.

Interesting that you can tell that the 2nd team was 4 or 5 years older than the first team.

Interesting also that you make the comment about OPL, but the 2nd video was taken at a Cal South tournament.

Aren't they supposed to be the ones that are heads and shoulders ahead of everyone else. Why are both teams playing bootball then?

Everyone looks brilliant against a slow team. Our team looks like a World Cup team when we play a 1st division team. In the first video the other team did not look like much of a challenge.

Put any top 3 Premier team in the area and have them play against a 1st division team. I guarantee you that they will look like a possession team.

Go up against big and fast team and I guarantee you it will be a different game.

[Unregistered]

Why are some U15 teams utterly unskilled? Maybe because they are a b team? Those videos don't compare anything other than showing a skilled team (vs. an overmatched team) and an unskilled team (vs. what appears to be an equally unskilled team). You can't claim that the only difference between the two teams is coaching philosophy.

My sons team is young and we are not one of the top teams. However, in general the team has pretty good skills and our boys do try to apply possession soccer. The thing that stands in our way is that our skills are still a work in progress. However, the coaching is there and the attempt to play a possession game is there. We match up very well with the second tier teams at our age group but struggle with the top tier teams. However, regardless of whom we play, the emphasis is on passing, working the ball out of the back, hitting diagonals, triangles, give and go. Some times we connect as many as 4 passes. Sometimes we struggle connecting 2. The reason we don't connect more is because at some point, we have a bad touch, or too much weight on the ball, or a bad decision, or .... Things that will become less and less as the team matures.

I absolutely can claim it's coaching philosophy. A team, B team, C team, there's no excuse for playing that kind of soccer the older team was playing. The video is a great video that illustrates the point and if you don't see that then I doubt you recognize anything about what your son's coach is or isn't doing.

[Unregistered]

Interesting that you can tell that the 2nd team was 4 or 5 years older than the first team.

Interesting also that you make the comment about OPL, but the 2nd video was taken at a Cal South tournament.

Aren't they supposed to be the ones that are heads and shoulders ahead of everyone else. Why are both teams playing bootball then?

Everyone looks brilliant against a slow team. Our team looks like a World Cup team when we play a 1st division team. In the first video the other team did not look like much of a challenge.

Put any top 3 Premier team in the area and have them play against a 1st division team. I guarantee you that they will look like a possession team.

Go up against big and fast team and I guarantee you it will be a different game.

They look a lot older and bigger, but who cares if it's 4 or 5 years or one or two. Feel free to guess their age all you want. It's irrelevant.

Nobody said Cal South is heads and tails above. Not sure where you get this from.

Lastly, excuses, excuses. Boot ball is full of excuses.