Technical - What to teach and why?

Coaches,

I want to pass along some of my thoughts as it relates to player development and specifically technical skill development.  Over the past 10+ years of coaching, I have spent the majority of my time with younger players, thus I have developed a strong interest and focus on player development.  My coaching philosophy is centered around this framework, and thus all of my training sessions are linked to what I try and develop and focus with my players and would be consistent if I were coaching recreation, challenge, or classic level players.  Therefore, I want to share a couple of thoughts that I use as I approach a season with a team.

Technical Skill Development....What do you teach and why?  I ask this as there really are a great deal of unique skill sets in which you could focus your players.
Are you a huge proponent of the Anson Dorrance UNC philosophy in which you focus on developing the 1v1 artist? Are you a coach that plays direct, with defenders and mids taking one huge kick to get the ball as far up the field as possible as fast as possible?  Are you a coach that focuses on possession between the thirds and laterally across the pitch?  Are you a coach that wants to penetrate into wide areas of the pitch and create chances on goal via crosses?

Depending on how you would answer the questions above leads me into identifying which technical skills are most critical to your player's and team's success.  For example, I focus on possession, speed of play, and putting players in situations in which they have to make soccer decisions.  I teach my defenders to play out of the back and link up with my midfielders, essentially playing their way out of trouble.

Player scenario - my right back has the ball at his feet:

• If the player has space in front of him, he must dribble for speed and penetrate into space
• Technique 1: Running with the ball
• If the player encounters a defender, he has 3 options available to him:
• 1-Take on the defender (technique - 1v1 to beat an opponent)
• 2-Pass to a team mate to keep possession (technique - passing technique/ short or long)
• 3-Turn and shield the ball and pass negative to keep possession
• techniques - turns and change of direction, Passing
• Assuming option 3 is selected, the player receiving the ball must have the technique to properly receive the ball
• Technique - receiving the ball, 1st touch control

Summary:  Dribbling, running with the ball, passing, receiving, 1v1, 1st touch, receiving the ball across the body, etc.

Bryan Farnsworth

Director