Giuliano Rusca, Inter Milan U11 coach

" 60% of what makes a soccer player is innate"

F.C Internazionale Milano, founded in 1908, is one of the three clubs which has dominated Italian soccer, along with Juventus and A.C. Milan. Before the 2005-06 season – when Inter was awarded the trophy because of disciplinary action against Juventus and Milan – the club had won the Italian league title 13 times and won the European Cup twice in the 1960s. Inter has invested heavily in developing its youth setup and is beginning to see the fruits of that investment. The U20 ‘Primavera’ side won the Italian Cup in March 2006, beating rivals Milan in the final, and in June 2006 the U15s won the national league title.

Giuseppe Baresi, head of the club’s youth set-up, says that Inter’s philosophy is “to develop the youngsters in the most complete way as soccer players in order to help them make it into the first team as young as possible. At the same, we want to help them to develop personally, to help build their character so that they can fit into society and into the world of work and to help them to be able to relate to other people in a world outside that of professional sport.”

Club line and competitive spirit
“There is a clear club line about how work should be conducted,” Baresi says. “For example, we like to play with a back four because that is how the first team plays. We like the first part of the training session to be individual technical work and the second part to be based on applied technique, which involves the beginnings of tactics. Then there is a physical element, especially with the older boys, which in today’s soccer is increasingly important.”

“It is important for even the youngest children to achieve something, whether it is learning how to juggle the ball a certain number of times, or beating a team-mate in a sprint, or beating the opponent in a practice game or a competitive match. But you need to arrive at this competitive spirit by degrees. If you push too hard too soon you will end up with a kid who wants to win so badly that he cheats, or spits at opponents or swears at the referee.”

Individual skills and specialization
“When there is too much emphasis on the result there is a risk that coaches will overlook the work needed to develop the players’ skills on an individual basis and focus entirely on coaching team units and the team as a whole. Coaches are professionals, they are paid according to results so this focus on results is understandable but you can lose out on the quality of the players. So we have to communicate to the coaches the importance of developing individual technique. I want to restore this kind of work, which would mean more work with the individual players and less with the whole team. I am convinced that if you have 11 high-quality players the team will win on its own, without needing to spend hours learning about pressing and team tactics.”

“You have to choose the right player to specialize in a particular role. Often you have players who can play in three or four different roles, who can perform all of them to a standard of six out of ten. I would prefer to develop a player who knows one role that he can perform to a level of eight out of ten. You can have 11 players who know how to do everything to a reasonable level but who will never play for the first team at Inter. But if I have one right back who can play to a high level, he might make it through.”

The right kind of coach“At Inter, we believe that coaching the U11s is as important as coaching the first team. We give the same importance to all levels. It depends, of course, on finding the right coach for each age group. It’s no good having an U11 coach who does his job with an eye on moving up to the U17s or U20s. He wouldn’t do the job properly. If you can get someone who is genuinely satisfied by working with the U11s, he will communicate the right ideas to the boys.”

Giuliano Rusca, coach of Inter’s U11s, is exactly the kind of coach that Baresi had in mind. Rusca has built a career on working with boys of 6-12 years, including a nine-year spell at AC Milan alongside Fabio Capello. Rusca has written several well-known books on developing this age group. Rusca plays down the significance of the coach, pointing out that in a professional club like Inter, the initial selection process goes a long way to determining the kind of results the youth teams achieve. “A coach can make a difference along the way but at least 60% of what makes a soccer player is innate. Soccer skills are not part of our genetic make-up but the propensity for a certain type of athletic activity is. When choosing boys to come into the U11s we look at two things: the kind of relationship the player has with the ball and the way he resolves match situations, with and without the ball. And we give precedence to players who can do things quickly.”

Training session
In the 2005-06 season, the Inter U11s category is made up of 60 boys aged between eight and 11, that is, boys born in 1997, 1996 and 1995. Each age group has its own team and plays in a separate league. The A team is coached by Rusca and Fabio Pesatori, the B team by Davide Aggio and the C team by Bruno Casiraghi and Gianni Vivabene. Manuel Amoroso is the goalkeeping coach for all groups. The children train three times a week for two hours. One of the sessions, on Wednesday, is voluntary but most boys attend.

At one training session in March 2006, the players were split into five groups of around 12 to 16 boys each. Each coach works with his own team during the season and Rusca rotates during the week to work with each group at least once. The other coaches work primarily on developing individual technique while Rusca works on match play, which covers everything from 11-asides down to 1v1 situations.

The A team (10-11 yrs):
small-sided matches
Rusca oversaw several small-sided games, which were either 4v4, with no keeper, or 5v5 with a keeper, on a pitch of 30m x 30m. Each player, in his own half, had an unlimited number of touches but in the opposing half had only two or three touches. “This way there is little time in the finishing phase and more time in the build-up phase,” Rusca explains. “There has to be a feeling of safety in the build-up but precision and speed in the finishing phase, both in the first touch to control the ball and in the shot on goal or cross.It’s about technique applied in a situation of limited time and space.”

Rusca stopped the games several times to talk to the players. “Today I was trying to communicate the importance of precision in all aspects of the play, from a good first touch to a safe and effective pass. When I stopped them it was usually for a technical error but also for their tactical choices, like the choice of pass. They were looking all the time to pass wide whereas I wanted them to try to pass through the middle, vertically. These are the kinds of aspects we are focusing on in this period, which is part of a program for the season. Earlier in the season we did a lot of work on possession of the ball and then work in the final third where the players can take greater risks by dribbling. In this way, you gradually transmit the concept to them that they have to build the play in a certain way until the final third and once in the final third they have to conclude the action in a certain way.”

The A team:
3v2 with overlap
Pesatori prepared the A-team boys not involved in the smallsided game with a series of technical and tactical exercises. First, they spent 30 minutes juggling the ball with various parts of the body. Then they conducted a series of exercises in squares of four players based on passing, receiving and movement off the ball. “This group is involved in technical work but also work on the kind of passing and movement which is related to match situations,” Rusca explained.

The session ended with a tactical exercise based on using an overlapping wide player in a 3v2 attacking situation. Three forwards took on two defenders plus a keeper. The central forward, player A, played the ball to his teammate on the left, player B, and then moved wide left to overlap him. Player B attacked the goal, with player A wide to his left and player C wide to his right. The objective was for player B to go straight for goal and try to score and to use the wide players only if he needed to. The main focus of Pesatori’s attention was the movement of attackers A and C off the ball. He pointed out the wide players were tempted to come in centrally to help player B but that this only made the job of the defenders easier, as they had less space to cover. By staying wide, they split the two defenders and opened up space for B to shoot. As soon as one defender moved to close down the shot, he left space for one of the attackers.

The B team (9-10 yrs):
Ball skills, passing and movement
On a separate pitch, Aggio coaches a group of 16 boys in a variety of ball skills ranging from ball-juggling to crossing and shooting. In the first activity, a square is created with four poles with tape connecting the poles at a height of about 30cm (see Exercise 2). The boys first had to run through the square passing the ball under the tape, jumping over the tape, and carrying on out the other side, moving the ball along with a combination of touches with the inside of the foot and the outside of the foot. Then they had to run through while juggling the ball, jumping the tape and making sure that the ball didn’t hit the ground. They could juggle the ball using any part of the body. “That area is a minefield,” Aggio shouted, “don’t drop the ball.”

“The essence of these activities is improving the relationship a player has with the ball in all ways – running with the ball, juggling the ball, passing and shooting. The objectives are purely technical. This is part of a micro-cycle of 10 days work in which the coach has to cover all of the technical skills of football,” Rusca says.

The C team (8-9 yrs):
Running with the ball
In one half of a five-a-side pitch with a synthetic surface, eight boys practise ball skills while the other half of the group plays a match on an adjacent five-a-side pitch. Later, the two groups will swap over and the session will then end with a match involving all the boys.

In one of the technical activities, Vivabene created four adjacent squares with four plastic markers (see Exercise 3). Inside each square, there were two boys. First of all, the boys had to move around without touching the ball and avoiding contact with their team-mate. Then they had to dribble the ball around inside the square, always avoiding contact with the team-mate. On a cue from the coach, the players had to kill the ball, leaving it in the square, run to the next square in an anti-clockwise direction and start dribbling around the balls in that square.

On the next pitch, Casiraghi oversaw a match between the other players. He stressed the importance of not all congregating around the ball. “The intelligent player is the one who can find himself some space to do something important,” he told them. At one stage, he stopped the game as a player in an advanced position was calling for the ball from a defender. He asked the boy whether it was easy for the defender to reach him with the ball over that distance and what the forward could do to help. The boy realized that he needed to find some space towards the centre of the pitch to make the passing distance shorter for the defender.

Overview

Speed
One of the most noticeable aspects of the activities with all the groups is that the coaches demand that the exercises are carried out at high speed. The message is repeated time and again to the boys. “Speed is something which has to be developed because a skill is performed within a given space and time and the faster they are, the more effective they are in a match. If you have talented kids they will adapt to this. There is no evidence that if you first learn something at a low speed you can then gradually increase the speed and eventually perform the same skill at a high speed. It is more likely that if you learn skills at high speed you will be able to reproduce them at high speed. We have travelled a lot to big clubs around Europe, like Ajax and Manchester United, and this is now how everybody thinks in the important youth set-ups.”

Dialogue
With all the groups, even the youngest there is a continuous dialogue between coaches and children. The coaches frequently asked the players questions like: Why did you make that pass? Why did you pass in that moment? What were the alternatives? What do you think would have been the best choice?

“This dialogue is a choice we have made for this age group. We intervene to give directions on how they should play. It’s a way of making the boys take responsibility for the choices they are making. Ultimately, it’s the boys who have to play the match, not the coaches. We can’t play the game for them but we can make them think about what they are doing, so that they begin to ask themselves the same questions on the pitch. On the pitch they have to think and think quickly. The player has to be able to make an effective choice in very limited time if he wants to have a future in soccer.”

9- How to organize a session of teaching/practice?

The quality of conduct and orientation of the teaching/learning are closely linked to the quality of information to the teacher/coach is able to pass on the teaching of the game, well as the capacities we have to evoke in young players, the interest, the interest and passion for soccer.

The teacher / coach assume a determinant model of the level of competencies that a young player will achieve in the future.

So that we can confirm progress in the development of young players, are necessary that the teacher/coach to prepare careful and detailed the session of teaching/practice.

The session of teaching/training presupposes by the teacher/coach the realization of three major functions:


PLANNING

Through the elaboration of the planning, the teacher/coach must anticipating the amount of an activity that want to accomplish.

Becomes, imperative to prepare in advance the training session. avoiding improvisation and random, should register in a proper form, objectives, content and strategies to implement, following a line programmatic coherent according to the different stages of teaching soccer previously defined.

Before starting the session of teaching/practice, the teacher/coach must take into consideration, among others, a number of factors that will have a decisive influence on how it will progress:

Factors to consider when planning session of teaching practice

· Objectives
· Location
· Material
· Total number of players
· Division of the teaching session
· Contents/Exercises
· Strategic
· Duration
· Spaces to be used (distances)
· Goals to be used (sizes)
· Number of players to use in each exercise
· Breaks/Recovery

Definition of objectives - Are fundamental determine very clearly what is to be achieved in the training session, because, the objectives will constitute the fundamental reference of all the activity to develop.

For the process of teaching/learning can be effective, should striving for a maximum between 3,4 objectives for each training session and should be or even in accordance with the level of capacities of the players.

Dividing training session

A session of teaching should be divided into 4 parts:

1* - An educational game, to develop the capacity of coordination, looking for start the session in a joyful and motivating way.

2* - Teaching the fundamentals of the game, like the relationship of the player with the ball, the principles of the game …

3* - Mini soccer games in situations reduced of 2v2 to 7v7

4* - Return to calm, relaxation, stretching the muscles, conversation with the team about the training session, collection and storage the material. Selection of contents - There should be the concern of selecting the contents to be approached, carefully choosing the exercises, always having as reference the game so that they can effectively meet the objectives.

In the construction of the exercises are essential to define:

The Content – the exercises, Example: individual marking, individual nominal, open passing lines, dribble …

The Conditions of Realization - are the terms on which the exercise develops. Example: In the penalty area, in midfield, a space 20x10 meters, with goals of 5x2 meters, 2x2 + GK, …

Success Criteria - Refers to the type of response that be given by the player, so that they can succeed, Example: In marking, the defender must be placed between his direct opponent and the goal. on finishing, in 10 shots, see who can score at least 5 times, …

Variable Evolution – are how we can modify the same exercise, alternating slightly the behavior of players, in order to achieve the same objective but with a different degree of difficulty (upper or lower).

Some variables evolution that could be used in the construction of exercises

In the construction of the exercises take into account the following assumptions:

• Be careful in the choice of exercises, proposing situations from the simplest to the most complex (with an increasing level of difficulty).

The motivation is the foundation of learning (so they could evolution), the proposed exercises to be submitted must be in accordance with their level of capacity, cause demotivate in the players (not happens the learning), the same applies to the activities too easy, causing lack of commitment on the part of them (do not allow evolution), impossibility the players moving to higher levels (acquisition of knowledge).

• Working in blocks of subjects because are not possible to learn everything at once, is important to systematize the same subject of teaching during a certain period of time, to verify the acquisition of knowledge. We know that the replications have become indispensable in order to learn any ability or capacity and they immediately begin to lose if after the first experiment, there is not a repetition of the same.

• For a particular skill or capacity can be consolidated, are fundamental their repetition, not so in one, but over several sessions of teaching, distributed by blocks of matter and over a certain period of time. As an example, we could exercise clear-up/unchecked, consecutively, over several sessions of teaching and for a period of a one month.

• For the repetitions of a particular matter does not become discouraging for the players, are necessary that the teacher/coach makes use of progress variables of the exercises, so you can always keep the interest of players thus contributing to the players development.

Selection of strategies - For teaching to be more effective, are necessary to select in advance which will be the strategies to adopt, how we will organize the distribution of players on the field, to allow them to exercise a high number of replications of the situations proposed. By way of Example we can put the Player 2 by 2 and front to front, 2x2+GK, work by waves from groups of 2, groups of 4, by stations, work on circuits, …

I will suggest some simple ways to distribute the players (18 players) for the space soccer field, taking advantage of the existing markings in soccer field of 11 with the regulatory measures, so to allow a quickly change and without wasting time from one exercise (Exercise 1) to another (Exercise 2) with no changes in the composition of the groups and spaces to occupy.

Exercise 1 - The 18 players are grouped into 6 groups of 3, a space about 15x10 meters,
playing 2v1.

Exercise 2 - The 18 players are grouped into 3 groups of 6, a space about 30x10 meters, making a mini soccer game 3v3

Realization:
After the construction of the plan the session of teaching, followed by its practical application, constitutes the active part of the process of teaching/learning. Is an extremely important moment for the teacher/coach, which is the operation of all their ideas about teaching soccer; how it is able to organize and lead a session of teaching, depend greatly the results obtained by the players.

Presentation of Exercises - At the early ages, children are very active, having times of attention very short, reason why we should not ask for long periods of attention.

Thus, in communications with children as well as the presentation of the exercises the teacher/coach should use simple language, concise and appropriate to their capacities, should focus only on the information considered essential to its execution.

One aspect that contributes to greater effectiveness of teaching, are the way tasks are presented to the players. An apologist that whenever possible the verbal explanation must be involved in the demonstration of the exercise (even if it is necessary to repeat two or three times), before his execution by the players, so that when they pass their execution know perfectly what their tasks that have to perform.

Application of exercises - In the realization of exercises, the teacher/coach should be aware in order to respond to a set of problems that will be placed on teaching the game among which stand out:
1. Need to look to see. See to realize (understand the virtues and weaknesses of players).
2. Frequent contacts with the ball (improve the capacity of players).
3. Frequent exercises of situations of finalization (The way that players can succeed and achieve many goals).
4. Continuity of the game (the less time the ball goes out better)
5. Culture diversity of functions and roles (play in several positions)

In the realization of exercises the teacher/coach should:

• Being able to identify the causes who are in the origin of the mistakes of the players and know the necessary means to take to correct them.
• Knowing the level of capacities the players, so that can modify possibly during the exercise the dimensions of the spaces, the goals, the number of players or the rules to be adopted according to fulfill their evolution.
• Avoid to stay a long time during the execution in the same exercise (between 10 a 20 minutes), because exercises with a very long time, leads to a disinterest and demotivate from the players, with a consequent decrease in learning.

Communication with players - The existence of a positive climate in teaching session, through a pleasant environment, motivating where prevails a good relation between the teacher/coach and players will surely contribute to greater effectiveness of the teaching/learning.
The teacher/coach has a constant need to communicate with his players, either before, during or after the teaching session or competition, should use simple language, appropriate to the ages of the players, order to be a full understanding of all activities to be undertaken.
As well as knowing present their ideas are important for the teacher/coach know hear the ideas of the players, they feel much more motivated.

In competition with the players take into account the following assumptions:

• When want to communicate with overall players, is placed so that it can be seen by all, without letting any of them be put behind you (on the your back).

• The guideline of correction and/or strengthening given by the teacher/coach about the motor performance of the player - feedback pedagogical, is an element of great importance in learning of the players.

• Players for be able to make rapid progress, need to know immediately the result of any of your moves, in a way positive or negative, as feedback of their learning.

• To correct and/or strengthening of tasks to be performed by players, use predominantly feedback positive, in detriment of feedback negative, already known to strengthen verbal and/or a positive sign or a simple compliment, are fueled an enormous stimulus and a great progression of learning.

Contrast, the negative feedback are a stimulus inhibitor and discouraging for the activities of players, the teacher/coach should be tolerant and patient for the mistakes and learning of their students, avoiding being hostile and punitive, as well as ridicule or reprimand in a aggressively way. These must constantly encourage the students, avoiding the tendency to only encourage and support the more able, putting aside the less able.

Manage the teaching session - The effectiveness of teaching is very dependent on the way how the teacher/coach is able to organize and conduct a session of teaching and managing the space and time available in order to provide greater and better conditions for learning among practitioners.

Proper organization of the teaching, with a careful selection of contents in accordance with the level of players, with easy placement/removal of material, with a good distribution of players in the space game, with a good distribution of players in the space of play providing them with the major number of situations of learning situations, with the rapid transition from one to the other exercises, avoiding the existence of "death" times through a good time and
a motor commitment in a pleasant environment, are factors which contribute decisively to improving the effectiveness of teaching/learning.

Valuation - To have a control the whole process of teaching/learning, the teacher/coach should use the utilization of means to every moment to know the results and how it proceeded at its intervention and the level of knowledge acquired by the players.

The teacher / coach will then using during and after the session of teaching a set of means such as sheets of records, reports, analysis and reflections about the different elements that interfere with teaching/learning.

Control the activities of players - The teacher/coach should establish in the beginning of each season, a set of operating rules and standards of conduct that provide a climate of order/discipline, allowed learning.

To have a good control over the activities of the players, are necessary to have a good distribution of players in the space of game, provide them with dynamic tasks, appropriate to their level of ability and allow them to have very time of motor commitment (avoiding players to are long standing without performing any task).

Only through proper placement in space of play, the teacher/coach every moment can observe all the players during the realization of its activities. All of these aspects referred, help to reduce the creation of inappropriate behavior, to control the activities of players, and have a better efficiency on the process of teaching/learning.

Analysis of the develop results - The teacher/coach has a need to know the objectives of develop intended is, or not, to be achieved, for to make or not some adjustments, for that need to use the valuation of the whole process of teaching/learning at different times of the season:

• During the realization of the teaching session - Observation/correction, feedback, records
• After the realization of the teaching session - Analysis of the session and/or records
• At the beginning of each block of matter - Observation diagnoses
• After the end of a block of matter - specific records, analysis and reflection
• During the game - Observation/correction, feedback, observation forms, records
• At the end of the game - Report/analysis of the game
• At the end of the season - Global analysis and preparation of an form individual/Player
• At the end of the formative process – Compilation the entire route of the developing player

Controlling the activity of the teacher/coach - For the teacher/coach can evolution that are necessary throughout the various stages of the process of teaching (end of the training session, a final matter, the end of a game, end of season), reflecting and making a self-evaluation about the performance of his own activities with the players.

Being the quality of teaching depends largely on the quality of its information that the teacher/coach is able to convey to their players, and because are an human being, are natural the teacher/coach during the teaching process also commit their mistakes. However, the biggest mistake is to ignore the errors, because the best are those who make mistakes less often: The error should not be an enemy of the teacher/coach, but one element that will help to correct their own mistakes.

Improving the quality of intervention by the teacher/coach is an self-control of their activities, through adjustments to the procedures, the contents or the strategies to apply, so that you achieve the desired objectives in the process of teaching/learning.

The session of teaching/practice plays a key role in the evolution of the players and the team game, is necessary (every time more) to believe in what they teach and what they practice, not believing in a maximum instituted throughout the ages in Soccer "bad practice good game", since the "training are the food of the game", so, who teaching/practice good will surely learn and play better.

Good Luck and remenber
When it comes to preparing children and adolescents in the middle of soccer, the task of a coach is not restricted only to teach technical and tactical aspects. By working with human material in the middle stage of transformation, the coach must keep in mind, especially in times of recovery, which is dealing with children, who are not ready for any obstacles that will face.
And to take better advantage of this moment in the life of young people, the soccer coach should explore mainly the motor development of their pupils. Therefore, it is necessary to know the living conditions of each one, the difficulties and the facilities that each of these children and adolescents face.
One of the "arms" most important that a coach needs to have is patience. With clarity and simplicity, he should always remember that is the central role in the process of training of athletes. After all, it is rare outside the sport to identify a significant number of people who submit, voluntarily, the authority of another person.

For these reasons, another natural function assumed by an experienced children and adolescents is an example, a thoughtless act of a coach in the face of these children can disrupt, and much, the development of each one.

"In fact, they will remember what you did long after they forget what you said”, there are basically two approaches regarding the ability to influence people. The positive, which aims to strengthen desirable actions through motivation, and negative, which is to eliminate harmful behaviors through criticism and punishment.
A simple reward, like a handshake, given after a positive action is essential in the learning process. After all, children need to know that mistakes happen. More than that cannot be afraid to act. They need to be encouraged always.

8- Where to start to teach soccer?

One of the principle problems that the Teacher/Coach when begin the process of teaching/learning with a team of young players are "Where to Start to Teach?"

Before starting the process of teaching/learning the Teacher/Coach should consider what context which should be based on the teaching of soccer in the early years of training (develop).

The begin of playing and awakening the interest of taste for soccer are one of the main function that the Teacher/coach should have with the young players fundamentally between 6-9 years old, within the following framework:

- Should be no selection of players (tryouts)

- Should provide to all the same opportunities of training and playing games

- The soccer should be understood as a “Party”, where the greatest happiness of the children are to have the opportunity of all can play together (“The children want to come back”)

Under this presupposition, the teacher/coach should then to make a season planning, collecting the largest possible number of information about the group/team that will teaching/coaching, defining the objectives desired and follow the program that will serve as a guide and advise to teacher/coach throughout the long process of teaching/learning.

Planning a season of soccer are like to prepare a trip. Are advisable to have a map and a program to achieve the objectives, to not get lost and avoiding wasting time and energy.

The teacher/coach should then collect, among others, the following information for the preparation of their season

- Information for the club (history, philosophy, ambitions, …)

- Conditions of work ((places of practices, schedules, support material/human, …)

- General characteristics of the players (physiological, mental, tactical/technical, …)

- Individual characteristics of the young players (biographical information, place of residence, school schedules, “means of transport used for practices”, attendance, soccer evaluation, school performance/grades, …)

- Objectives of developing (emotional affective/social) and preparation (psycho-motor tactical-technical, …)

- Number and type of competitions to participate

- Annual program (steps of teaching soccer)

- Dominant exercises to using (situations of teaching / learning)Plan of unity's of teaching/learning (objectives, material, content, duration, number of sessions per week, …)

These and other information will be properly prepared, organized and worked, should be part of the Coach Files, which should become a working document prominently in constant consultation and that will allow you to have a control on a regular and systematic of all the process of teaching/learning.

For the development of young players are organized the coach should organize the training process systematically which will go to possible the young player the experiences of learning situations properly structured.

After being identified with every information regarding the season planning, the first source of information that the teacher / coach must take when the first time the young players come to the club must be conveyed through observation (Rating diagnoses).

The first session of teaching should be composed of a game or a set of small-side-games, is essential to let the young players play freely, observe them, understand their attitudes, their reactions, with no intervention by the teacher/coach.

The observation must be made from the first until the last minute of the session teaching and should be done not so on the playing time also at breaks (water time, the first minutes after practice end), observing their behavior in their relationship with teammates, with the club as well with the assistant of coach.

Through observation of the game are fundamental to understand at what stage of teaching soccer are that the players are, what level of play that players have and register the observations made so that, later, the teacher/coach can make their proposals to improve the lesser aspects detected in young players.

Some teachers/coach's when they start their functions in the teaching process with the young players that are in the early stages of learning the game, are sometimes too apprehensive by the difficulties expressed by these, the prevailing confusion and the poor level of play shown by the young players. Often, these situations are due to unrecognized from the part of teachers/coach's, the characteristics of the level of play in where are the young players in playing soccer .

Level of play of children who start in soccer

Are an Anarchic game characterized by the following behaviors:

- Players do not have full understanding of the structure of the game

- The ball are the main center of interest of the game (not score)

- Players less able, stuck waiting for the ball come to them

- They use only the oral language (speaking, scream "pass the ball" ...) to communicate with each other and ask for the ball

- Agglomeration around the ball (where is the ball is all).

- Succession of individual actions and explosives on the ball

- They mainly use the vision to relate to the ball (looking for the ground)

Teaching soccer are an attractive and motivating task, but requires at the same time, great perseverance and patience on the side of the teachers/coach 's as well as those involving the developing process of young players (Directors, Managers, Parent's, …).

Are necessary to understand that the learning outcomes must own a time of maturation and that if properly sediment will appear in medium/long term as a logical result of a properly structured formative process and that is the bottom the success of all teachers/coaches of young players …

The game that the player are able to do, we-identified the main problems and outline the factors of evolution to permit access to the “Game of Good Level"


The game plays a key role in teaching soccer. Thus, we must start from the game and, through their observation, located at what stage of learning the game are the players and identified major problems existing.

After we try in the teaching sessions (practices) solve the problems detected through the exercises: of appropriate resolution.

Finally back again to game, for we realize that the proposals already submitted by us were resolved in game situation.

I have to say that in the early stages of teaching soccer, the main concerns of the teacher/coach should focus mainly on capacity building coordination, fundamental aspects related with the ability to react, the balance, the lateralization, the orientation in space, the rhythm and the notion of time, associated with the development of the relationship of the player with the ball (1 * step in teaching soccer) and the development of technical skills, using the dominant leisure situations and small games of soccer in situations reduced.

Having the young player an optimum age in terms of motor learning, the sessions of teaching/learning should have a greater dominance on the coordination development of capacities.

Knowing we'd start our functions in the teaching of soccer with a group/team that is in 1* stage of teaching and learning the game - "The Relationship of the Player with the Ball", so we go to teach the contents of the next stage, when after the evaluation we verify that the players have properly sediment the learning for this 1* stage should follow the same philosophy in the nest stages, until reaching the final stage of the developing process.

The process of teaching/learning are a slow process, reason why we should not hurry to go the next stage without being properly consolidated knowledge of the previous step, avoiding burning stages, so that the end of the process of develop be in the presence of a player to be able to develop a game of quality.

Understanding that the technical skills should be improved from the moment that the game situations so require.

The importance of exercises the ability so has coherence when carried towards develop the capacities of play the players, because "we are teaching and the players are learning to can be players, players in the game".

What I currently still have observed, in the most of “clubs" are the organization of exercises of teaching the technical abilities, are done almost exclusively through forms analytically, stereotyped, with little relations with what is happening in the game, through situations very repetitive and for long periods of time, finishing the same by creating some demotivate and boredom in players, become so ineffective in terms of learning.

When the situations of teaching/practices are built without the presence of an adversary, they do not pose many problems to the player, since this mechanized their actions, therefore not obliged to think or make decisions (the teacher/coach decide how to do), when know that soccer are fundamentally a game of making decisions (the player).

In sessions of teaching/practice, we should allow more time to teaching the game than the actual teaching of technical skills in isolation form.

Competitions pose a series of problems for players, requiring in most cases they have to solve without the help of their teachers/coaches.

The sessions of teaching/practice should, then, constantly create problems to the players, so that they can solve themselves the same way as in competitions, should the teacher/coach intervene only in cases where their help is extremely necessary.

The game should be present at all sessions of teaching/learning because to be at the same time a great source of motivation and the best indicator of the evolution and limitations of the players.

When you start a process of teaching/learning in soccer, should reflect on the statements made by Johan Cruyff (1998):

“The technical-tactical level of professional players has declined in recent years.
It runs more; there is more physical strength, but much lower quality, which is very concern.
The problem is in the youth soccer and their coaches.
They want the young players imitate the professionals and they are completed wrong.
What young players should do are play.
Are act with freedom and joy and not prejudge them by the longing of win or the drama imposed by the coach, converting each game in a matter of life or death”.

7- What are the steps to take in teaching soccer?

If we pretender that the young players could in the future be successful in college, University or professional, are fundamental that their training begins at the base, because so with a good base you can reach the top.

From the moment them start practice soccer, until reaching a level high yield the young players should (or should be) go through a process of consistent develop there is a progression of learning that is distributed over different stages, with objectives, strategy and content, adequate to their different stages of development.

If we want to structure the soccer and to raise the quality level of our soccer players, we cannot continue to work at random assisting at the implementation of the same contents and the same methods of training whetherU8, U15, or pros, with the beginning of competitive games made right from the 8, 10 years of age, where the most important are win the championship.


In the process of forming a young player, "Winning are not the most important, are important to learn to play soccer, for later get the victory".


The soccer is a game that has a structure and a set of situations too complex for young players, in its early stages of learning the game. These are because, the player has to, at one time, relating with the ball and refer their situation in the field of play, the position of teammates and adversaries and the goalie.


Are fundamental create in soccer situations simple to meet the motivations of young players, providing them with simple shapes, upgraded its features and their level of development for facilitate better learning of soccer.

We can associate the teaching of soccer to a One process of CONSTRUCTION. So, as in the construction of a house we started the foundation, passing through floors, walls, roof …, in "Construction" of a soccer player, he will incorporate (phased) the different elements of the game. Ball, Goal, Opponent(s), Teammates and team, so that at the end of the process of develop have an effective and efficient abort of the game (formal).

Teaching Soccer should be processed by stages which set out objectives of increasing complexity:

6- What are the indicators of a talented young player?

In the detection of talents, are important to be aware a assumptions that indicating the talent of a soccer player.

Are:
• Technical abilities in speed

• Availability tactics (creativity)

• Efficiency organic and muscling: agility, speed, rapid reactions and stooping, quick changes of direction and path

• High moral value: self-control, courage, self-confidence, combativeness, character.

My experience in the world of soccer, told me that are around the 14 years old, we can determine with some assurance, the players endowed for soccer.

I remember the case of a young player with 12 years of age, was considered the best player of his team, delighting all who saw him play, his father being so delighted with the performance of your child, neither cared about the poor performance of the kid in school.

In the transition to the U14, there were the difficulties in establishing itself as players, and when they reached the U16 so was used sporadically in games.

Currently playing soccer in lower division, while his other teammates, not be evidenced in the U12, but now are soccer players on a high level and at present represent the National Team of Portugal.

The teachers/coaches should take into account in the analysis of the players, not only the good games played, but (very important) also the possibilities of evolution in the future, while soccer player.

There are players that stand out too early because it has a very early development biologic, but shortly afterward "stop", ending many times for being overtaken by other, which had a development biologic later.

The puberty jump-starts in terms of chronological age, around 10 and a half years old in girls and 12 years old in boys.

Are now possible through the X-ray of hand and wrist, determine the biological age of a child, and predict their stature in adulthood, with a margin of error very small (3 to 5 millimeters).

The process of developing a young player, are a long process, continuous and evolutionary, developed in stages (fig. 3), with different objectives and characteristics, according to their phases of development.

The stages of sports initiation (6-12 years), are the best step in terms of learning, and even considered "The Golden Age of Learning".

Are an age favorable to the learning of new situations and the acquisition of basic motor skills, that will later support to the acquisition of specific motor for soccer, should provide a multilateral development of children, through the diverse situations of learning, presented in a playful way and in accordance with the characteristics of children

Characteristics of children of 8-10 year

- Good capacities of learning.
- They have a taste for movement, for the game and the physical activities.
- Weak capacity of attention.
- Low possibility of integration and retention of contents, if they are not systematic.
- Good capacities of imagination.
- Imperative the thinking concrete and the egocentric thinking. - They like to be the center of attention.
- Physical constitution balanced and harmonious, there are few differences between boys and girls.
- Good predisposing to work very short and intense.
- Good predisposing to develop the flexibility and reaction speed.- Good predisposing for the development of coordination capabilities.

Characteristics of children of 10-12 years

- Good capacities of learning.
- They have a taste for movement, for the game and the physical activities.
- Weak capacity of attention, with predominance of visual memory.
- Low possibility of integration and retention of contents, if they are not systematic.
- Passage of concrete thinking to abstract thinking.
- Like to know, trying and understand new situations.
- They like the discipline and justice.
- Likes to follow the examples of their models, often imitating gestures of older players (idols).
- Beginning to have differences in growth, noting already some big differences between boys and girls.
- Increase of volume muscular.
- Development of major physiological functions, mainly to the level of the chest and cardiac cavities.
- Good predisposing to develop the flexibility and reaction speed and the resistance aerobics.- Good predisposing for the development of coordination capabilities.

At this age children have a great need for movement and are extremely active, with, however, a capacity for attention very small reason why the teacher/coach's, should give priority to action, in detriment of long periods of attention, with explanations too long (to avoid large lectures) of activities to develop.

The teachers/coach's, should be able to demonstrate the correct way of executing techniques, with short explanations and giving the children the time enough to learn (repetition), so that new knowledge can be properly seized.
The learning techniques should be presented in ways played, should, after a first phase of practice have a great concern in the correction of these, in order to avoid errors that later only with much difficulty could be corrected. In sessions of teaching, should be offered diversified learning situations, from the simplest to the most complex, where children succeed, and provided moments where there is a great freedom of action (games where not interfere the teacher/coach, so that players can develop their creativity.

The Teacher/coach should use short instructions, clear and simple, avoiding the use of abstract concepts, as the functions that a player should play, to play a specific position in the field.

Between the 6/7 and 10/11 years of age, the children generally have a constant body growth and balanced, the greatest differences are accentuated primarily from 12/13 years.

The motor capacities, independently of chronological age, not all have the same plasticity (Fig. 6). We know for example that the explosive strength and speed are less trainable than the aerobic resistance and strength power. In these ages, are predispositions for the development of the flexibility and of the reaction speed.

Coordination capabilities alike the equilibrium, the rhythm, the spatial orientation and motor control, present an optimum period in terms of motor learning.
Practical experiences show that children learn faster than teenagers and adults, simple motor processes that do not place particular demands conditional and not require long periods of training

5- What are the characteristics of children in the 8-12 years old?

Before starting their functions, the teacher/coach needs to know the young players who will work, from their habits through their motivations going through your body physiology and morphology.

Are essential to realize that the child, although immature, are a being with a personality that are necessary to respect, and meet all its social involvement, such as family, school and the residential area where usually lives.

In morphological terms, the child may be considered as a "Mosaic", which has more than 1,500 cartilage in period of growing, who will then turn in about 208 bones that we all have in adulthood, so there are some precautions to take in loads to give sessions on teaching/training.

We, however, need to understand that the characteristics that are described for a certain age, not always an absolute correspondence with reality. This is because there may be different forms of expression and involvement during childhood and also because not always the chronologically age ((the number of years and days of life after birth) corresponds to the biologically age (the maturity of the body, the hormonal system, the skeleton, determined by the degree of ossification of the bony structure) of the child.

The evolution of the child is processed in 2 processes:

1 - A process Quantitative: The Growth, due to division and cells multiplication of the individual.

2 - A process Quantitative: The Maturation, which are the successive development of the different functions of the organism (body).

The genetic development is not similar in all children. Not all reach the position of sitting at 6 months and begin to walk at 12 months, and those who do not cannot be considered a “problem”, but have their own pace of development.

The growth of the child were not processed in a uniform way, but by "jumps" (Fig. 1), being the first "peak" of growth occurs between birth and entry of younger children to school (to 6/7/8 years), and the second during puberty (12/13/14 years). In each of these "peaks" of growth, there is a height increase, followed by an increase in body weight.

Today it is known that there may be up to 3 years of age difference between chronological and biological age of a child.

In boys are reported differences up to 3 years between biology and chronological age which leads, rarely, situations that invite to reflection.

Two young players have the same chronological age (13 years) and compete in the same league. To registering, that the one of child measures 1.55m and weighs 47 kg, and the other child measures 1.90m and weighs 80 kg.

What implications have these facts?
Are the chronological age the factor more appropriate to group the children of the same age group?

The differences between chronological and biological ages of children, has been one of the most important causes of errors produced in the detection of talents.

In the selection of talent, there is still an obsession by some coaches, for players tall and strong, regardless its quality and its potential of evolution.

When it comes to watch a young player that stands out in comparison with others, often the first questions that arise are, if the players are high, if have a good athletic or are strong.

When it comes to a young player of low stature, but good in terms of technical, the conclusions take immediately are: "are a good player, but unfortunately are small”. As so often eliminated potential talent, because the low stature.

Observation and selection of young players, the key to take into account, are the talent and not their strength or their stature, if not, players like Maradona (1.66m, Romario (1.68m), Roberto Carlos (1.68) … never have been soccer players at high level.

Maradona – 1,66 cm - 1986 World Cup Champion
Romario – 1,68 cm - 1994 World Cup Champion
Roberto Carlos - 1,68 cm - 2002 World Cup Champion

4- What is the best method to adapt to teaching soccer?

In the process of teaching/learning soccer, should seek to implement effective teaching methods, or better those to acquire bigger and better sedimentation of learning.

The methods of teaching/learning soccer, has been implemented in accordance with the evolution that soccer has had over the years.

In the early days, learning soccer was made of a way not organized, in the streets, without the presence of any coach, through small games of 3v3, 4v4 … depending on the number of kids available, any kind of area, in spaces with reduced dimensions.

Learning was done, fundamentally, through small games or formal game (Global Method), by trying and errors, in which the player controlled their own learning, which led to the emergence of many players endowed with a great technical virtuosity.

In a second phase, soccer clubs started to become interested in the training (develop) of young players, an organized way, where the learning becomes provided in the soccer fields, with the presence of a coach and ruled by the method based on individual technique (analytical method).

Teaching the game, becomes directed fundamentally for the proper implementation of different technical skills, in a isolated form stereotyped and out the actual context of the game, where it was thought the improved performance Technical Individual require improvements function global of the team. This current technocratic led many coaches to adapt the idea that young players should not start playing soccer, until owns the correct domain of all the technical skills.

The method of teaching based on the technique that still reigns in soccer clubs. If we observe a training session today, it does not differ much from those that were about 20, 30 years ago, with a first part for the warm-up usually done without the ball, a second part intended, the practice of technique exercises, disinherited of the context of the game and a third party dedicated to formal play (the called scrimmage (game) 11v11 or 8v8...).

We face, often during the second part of the training sessions, dedicated to learning the technical skills that they are exercised in isolation from real game situations, making it difficult to maintain motivation and commitment of the players for very extended periods of time, since the situations proposed are infrequently stimulants, by not possess key aspects of the game, that are the opposition, the cooperation and finalization.

However, in most cases when reach the third part of the training session, the formal game (11v11 or 8v8...), and players can not apply the knowledge learned previously, because having exercised the technique in situations isolates and that not occur in the game.

In the framework of education and training, I found that when the technique is addressed through situations that occur outside the requests tactical it acquires small transfers to the game.

I believe that a soccer player assimilated the technique, when it fit to apply properly in games of spaces reduced with a high speed and under strong opposition from adversaries.

Are why I argue that the true dimension of the technique rests in the utility to serve the intelligence and capacity of tactical decision of the players and teams. Good performers are, first, an individual can choose the most appropriate techniques to meet the various configuration of the game, because that, teaching and training the soccer techniques, cannot be restricted to bio-mechanical aspects, that are, the gesture, but all the demands specialty of their intelligent adaptation to the situations of the game.

If we want to have in the future intelligent players, are fundamental provide them greater knowledge of the tactical game, because we know that it is important for their future evolution, so do not know how to perform a particular technique, but fundamentally know when, where and why do it. Then, on learning the game, teaching technique and tactics must be inseparable.

In most recent phase, some coaches start to realize that teaching the game directionally exclusively for the technical aspects, through situations strictly controlled and predictable, prevented that many young players ad "an understanding Global of the game in aspects most basic, as the position on the field, reading the game, capacity of anticipation, understanding with teammates defensively and attacking, or making correct decisions.

These assumptions led to implementation of a new method of teaching the game. Based on demand, primarily on conditioned games (soccer-games in which they put some constraints, aim of achieving certain objectives of the game - Systematic Method), with a view to develop intelligent players, able to respond adequately to different game situations.

There have 3 different forms to abort the teaching of soccer:

• Global method (Table 1)

• Analytical Method (Table 2)

• Systematic method (Table 3)

Table 1 - Characteristics and consequences of Global Method

Characteristics:
 Exclusive use of formal game (11x11 or 7x7)
 The team and the fundamental basis of learning
 Anarchic game, there are no changes to the progress
 The game are not decomposed or conditioned

Consequences:
 Individual-technical virtuosity in contrast to the anarchy tactics
 Various solutions motor's but uncoordinated
 Higher level of motivation and commitment of the players
 High-incidence of the mechanisms of perception and decision of the movements , which is already present unpredictable situations involving one analyze and making decisions and a different incidence in mechanism of execution

Table 2 - Characteristics and consequences of Analytical Method
Characteristics:
• Starts from the situations in analytical techniques for the formal game
• The game are decomposed into elements Technical hierarchical(1 * pass …)
• The sum of the individual performances are equal to the improving of the team

Consequences:
• Mechanization of the game actions
• Since the solutions imposed, having problems in understanding the game
• Obsession of the technique – long time training dedicated to teaching technique and little time devoted to teaching the game
• Low level of motivation, which leads to the young players often not interested in activities to develop
• Low incidence in the mechanisms of perception and decision, because are stable and predictable situations and high incidence of the delivery mechanisms of movement

Table 3 - Characteristics and consequences of Systematic Method
Characteristics:
• Breaks the game for particular situations
• The oppositions are the source of the whole process
• The game are decomposed in units functional of increasing complexity (1v1, 3v3, keep-away, Game of the 5 passes …)
• The principles of the game governing the learning (develop)

Consequences:
 Learning of the techniques appears in the function of tactics, oriented form
 Understanding the mechanisms and the principles of the game
 Intelligence tactics, creativity in the actions of the game
 More training time devoted to teaching the game that the techniques
 Good level of motivation and commitment to the tasks
 Greater incidence of the mechanisms of perception and the decision of the movement because appear present unpredictable situations involving analysis and decision-differentiated and an average incidence and sometimes large in the mechanisms of execution whenever there is a need for repetition of certain actions.

If we consider that during a game of soccer the loss of ball due in more than 50% of cases are because a wrong decision and not to a technical failure of execution by the players, these problems need to require from the coaches a better attention in future.
In soccer, the first problem facing the young player are tactical, this are, WHAT TO DO?

Only later, arise the problem HOW TO DO, i.e. the technique question, through the selection of the motor response most appropriate for solving.
Fig.1

Fig.1 – Phases of processing information in a complex tactical action.

PERCEPTION - INFORMATION CAPTURE
Realize - Understand

MENTAL SOLUTION - TREATMENT OF THE INFORMATION
Select - Decide

MOTOR SOLUTION - MOTOR REACTION
Respond - execute

It seems to be necessary to abandon the process of teaching/learning focused solely on individual technique, where it give too much time in learning the technique and little or nothing learning the game, fundamentally for two reasons:

1. The sum of all individual performances, not cause implicitly a refinement of the qualitative team.

2. The learning of technical gestures in an analytical form, not allowing its
effective implementation in the context of the Situation as the game.

Learning Soccer are Fundamentally Learning the Game.

I advocate the implementation of the Systemic method, because begun from the game in order to identify existing problems, passes to the Training for solving the problems identified and back again to the Game, towards to assess the problems identified were resolved (Fig. 2).

Fig.2 - Methodology and implementation in the systematic method

1* GAME:
a) Identification of
the problem
b) Discovery the solution

2* PRACTICE:
Solving the problem:
- Conditioned Game
- Work by sectors
- Individual work

3* GAME:
Consolidate the Appropriation
(worked in the Practices)

As an example, if in the course of a game we find that the player on our team has a tendency to clump around the ball, we know we have to solve the problem of agglomeration.

Went to the practice session and we will try to resolve the problem detected, through a game conditioning, impose the following rule: "During the game, no player from that team with the ball, could be a distance of less than 3 meters to the ball carrier, the one who does causes to his team the loss of the ball possession in favor of the opposing team".

After a few sessions, we return again to the games and assess the aspects worked in practice were learned, if not were, back to training to treat the same subject, if have been solved, back to training again, in order to solve other problems have emerged.

Some strategies to following in the teaching/learning of the game:

1. Learning should be phased and progressive: from the known to the unknown, from the easy to the difficult, from least to the most complex.
2. The need for phasing education inevitably leads to division of the game, however this division must always respect when is possible that what the game has of essential, Ie, the cooperation (teammates), the opposition (opponents) and stopping (Shooting).
3. It should be proposed to young players: Playful forms with simple rules, with fewer players, a smaller space, so allow continuity of the actions and greater possibilities for achievement.

The game should always be present at all phases of teaching soccer, because to be at the same time a motivating factor and the best indicator of the evolution of the players.