Coaching positional sense
Coaching positional sense to your young soccer players is not easy and while some can be taught from an early age, others will take longer to develop the ability and awareness.
In my U9s team I have a very good central defender - he can head the ball and tackles well. He wants to be a central defender but can get carried away when he has the ball by charging up the pitch in search of glory!
There's nothing wrong with that. But sometimes he loses the ball and leaves his defensive position open. This has cost us goals before, especially late on in matches.
In one match this season we were winning 2-1 with five minutes to go. My defender decided to go on one of his runs but lost the ball. Suddenly it was 2-2 and the game was different.
Coach decision making
Don’t get me wrong, I like my players going on runs, it helps the player develop their skills. But he needs to think about when to run.
In this situation, coaches can do one of two things - shout at a player about his position during the match or talk to him about the situation and what the team needs him to do the most.
As a coach, I am not going to shout at my player during the game. I am going to try and coach him into making the right decision, so that he can work out when it's better to go forwards and when to pass or stay back.
He must also think about his timing - if we are winning 2-1 with a few minutes left, should he go on a run or give that responsibility to the midfield?
When I talked to my player, he happily listened and replied with his own logic. “If we are winning 2-1 and I run up the pitch and make it 3-1, is that not a better way to make sure we win the game?"
It is good, positive thinking. But we have spoken about how he needs to also think of safer ways in which he can help the team defend a lead for the last period of a game.
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