From this summer onwards the FA will be introducing a ‘retreat line’ rule to be introduced for mini soccer within the age groups of u7-u10. This rule entails that upon a goal kick, the opposition must back off to the half way line and then play if live when the ball is kicked. The intention of this rule is to ensure that the first pass from the goalkeeper is ‘deliberate’ to one of his players in the defensive half, thus encouraging a style of play in which play is progressively built from the back.
DEVELOPING
RISK
TAKERS
by Lee Clough
There was a situation recently in an under 7′s game in which the goalkeeper rolls the ball out to a player and the player immediately plays it back to him. This situation repeats itself several times throughout the game, regardless of whether the player is under pressure or not. Now, if we’re hoping to produce players who can progress play from the back, how do we deal with that?
From a purist point of view, do we give these 7 year olds complete freedom of their decisions? The player has decided he wants to repeatedly play back from the goalkeeper and is within every right to do so, however is that in keeping with the FA’s progressive philosophy? Or do we find ourselves going to the image of Mike Bassett England manager in which the team slowly lulls the crowd into a deep sleep with their ‘possession’ football? Do we condition the outfield players to only dribble?
The argument here possibly being that this condition would place great emphasis on the development of ball mastery, meaning players gradually become much more comfortable on the ball and in the long term have the ability to play comfortably with their head up and an increased awareness of what is around them. Then that surely restricts opportunities for decision making, as well as frustrating team-mates to a point in which they’re trying to dispossess the player themselves.
Do we try a bit of ‘guided discovery’, a phrase that seems to be the current buzzword on coaching courses lately yet seemingly misunderstood? Do we ask the youngster why he is choosing to pass to the goalkeeper repeatedly without looking to progress forward? It just so happens this coach did. The answer of which from the 7 year old was ‘it was the easiest option and less risky’.
Now, the immediate reaction could be that this sounds like something picked up from adult. coach or team-mate will consistently remind you of the need to ‘keep it simple’ but then that may not necessarily be the case. Some coaches will tell me that 7 year olds don’t know risk, yet this player clearly does. Even a child as young as 7 could develop an understanding of risk taking through watching Super Sunday, listening to Alan Hansen throw out his regular defensive calamity clichés on Match of the day or remember that morning when he was on the Xbox. Trying to dribble past Messi with Paul McShane may well result in Ronaldo winning the game in the last minute for Real Madrid. The boy may well have experienced the situation himself in the weeks prior, either way this young lad has obviously decided that having a team full of the opposition charging at him from outside his own area is a responsibility best left to somebody else.
The key element for me is the cost of the risk should it manifest. If I put my hand over a naked flame there is risk I will burn my hand, the cost being my ability to use that hand pain free in the immediate future. If a player tries to dribble out from the back, there is a risk he will lose it, but what is the cost? It could simply mean his team lose the ball, it could mean his team lose a goal. It could well mean his team lose the game as well as the unbeaten record they’ve held all season, a record they’ve been bragging to their school friends all week.The risk is always there, but should it manifest, what is important is to consider the cost of this risk to the child.You could encourage the player to open up and not to worry, but then opening up merely increases the likelihood of the risk occurring and being told ‘not to worry’ generally only serves to actually plant the idea of worry into the child.You could restrict the opponents into not being able to challenge but then at some point in the future that risk must return.
There seems to an influx of a new generation of positive thinking coaches who regularly watch their TED talks of Ken Robinson, preach about the need for creativity in young players and condemn anyone who they perceive as threatening to restrict creative development. However, the barriers to creativity aren’t always adult enforced.Kids understand risk, what we’ve got to concern ourselves with is, should that risk manifest, what that means to the individual.
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