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...but I have a question...how do you develop "ball mastery" in your young kids? How does your academy go about it?
I think this is the area that the rest of the world is better at than America because the game is played spontaneously elsewhere but not here in USA. HOWEVER, over the past 6 weeks, I have put my daughter through a regimen that has her touching the ball 1500 times 3 to 4 times a week.
She is 13 and a good defender, but not very good with dribbling. She has never been coached by anyone that has focused on developing touch; everyone has always said, don't worry..."the game will teach her". I bought this line of thinking because no one ever taught me, I learned with juice box. Well...after 4 years of hearing that tripe...papa bear stepped in and started training her myself. (For those interested, I put the regimen below).
Suffice to say the improvement has been HUGE!! Before summer started, her best juggling record was 20, now it is 91. She played pickup the other day against a youth here from S. Florida who is trying out next week for Valencia youth team in Spain, while him bruck everybody on the field, he tried about 5 times to beat her and she only let him by once - he is 18 and much quicker than her. Big difference in her game but a long way to go.
For me, the bottom line is that I think Ball Mastery can be taught but I don't see anything from US soccer so far as a technical skills curriculum. Let me know if I am missing something...and thanks again.
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So what I did was put her on a schedule where she did some very simple ball work:
1. Side-to-side (100 standing, 100 fwd, 100 bkwd)
2. Toe taps (100 standing, 100 fwd, 100 bkwd) -
3. Dance step [hard to explain this one] (200),
4. Juggling (200)... 200 touches in total, not just in one stretch
5. Dribbling (200)...through cones with each foot (inside/outside)
6. Chest/Head/Foot control...I throw the ball to her chest or head, she controls it to have it bounce on the ground in front of her and hits it back to my hands with a) instep b) side of foot. Alternates feet with each throw.
7. Moves - she closes off with practicing 3 moves: 1) maradona 2) step overs & scissors and 3) cruyff. Sometimes we do others, like step one way, go the next etc. We also have been practicing heading, crossing, shooting as well, but not as much as I'd like. All in all, she ends up with getting 1500 touches minimum, 3 to 4 times a week and the effort is showing like its paying off in a very short period of time.
What I didn't mention is that each week, she has to show me a new creation of hers - it can be anything, a drill, a move, a pass, a shot...anything. We also play pickup together 2x a week in the off season where she plays with players ranging from 11 to 60. This will go away when her season starts, but three of the kids that play with us regularly are in the national training camp and one of them is trying out for TNT women, so it is not bad company.
I think this is the area that the rest of the world is better at than America because the game is played spontaneously elsewhere but not here in USA. HOWEVER, over the past 6 weeks, I have put my daughter through a regimen that has her touching the ball 1500 times 3 to 4 times a week.
She is 13 and a good defender, but not very good with dribbling. She has never been coached by anyone that has focused on developing touch; everyone has always said, don't worry..."the game will teach her". I bought this line of thinking because no one ever taught me, I learned with juice box. Well...after 4 years of hearing that tripe...papa bear stepped in and started training her myself. (For those interested, I put the regimen below).
Suffice to say the improvement has been HUGE!! Before summer started, her best juggling record was 20, now it is 91. She played pickup the other day against a youth here from S. Florida who is trying out next week for Valencia youth team in Spain, while him bruck everybody on the field, he tried about 5 times to beat her and she only let him by once - he is 18 and much quicker than her. Big difference in her game but a long way to go.
For me, the bottom line is that I think Ball Mastery can be taught but I don't see anything from US soccer so far as a technical skills curriculum. Let me know if I am missing something...and thanks again.
=======================================
So what I did was put her on a schedule where she did some very simple ball work:
1. Side-to-side (100 standing, 100 fwd, 100 bkwd)
2. Toe taps (100 standing, 100 fwd, 100 bkwd) -
3. Dance step [hard to explain this one] (200),
4. Juggling (200)... 200 touches in total, not just in one stretch
5. Dribbling (200)...through cones with each foot (inside/outside)
6. Chest/Head/Foot control...I throw the ball to her chest or head, she controls it to have it bounce on the ground in front of her and hits it back to my hands with a) instep b) side of foot. Alternates feet with each throw.
7. Moves - she closes off with practicing 3 moves: 1) maradona 2) step overs & scissors and 3) cruyff. Sometimes we do others, like step one way, go the next etc. We also have been practicing heading, crossing, shooting as well, but not as much as I'd like. All in all, she ends up with getting 1500 touches minimum, 3 to 4 times a week and the effort is showing like its paying off in a very short period of time.
What I didn't mention is that each week, she has to show me a new creation of hers - it can be anything, a drill, a move, a pass, a shot...anything. We also play pickup together 2x a week in the off season where she plays with players ranging from 11 to 60. This will go away when her season starts, but three of the kids that play with us regularly are in the national training camp and one of them is trying out for TNT women, so it is not bad company.
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