Create Your Own Space

by Inside Soccer

Without doubt getting the size and the “make up” of the playing area is a fundamental key to effective and fun football sessions. If the area is too large, the practice or game becomes a physical endurance test. If it is too small, it is equally demanding as players are working at a frantic pace to try to find both time and space. In both cases nobody really benefits or learns anything.
One of the major aims of a coach or teacher is to improve technique, and this essentially only happens when players work in small groups, have plenty of touches of the ball, and have the time and space in which to practice and experiment. Naturally the better a player becomes, the smaller the area needed.
Technique practice needs to be done at a slower pace than “match” speed, and invariably in more space. As players get technically more proficient, the challenge is to perform the skills in tighter spaces against more intense opposition. It is up to the coaches/teachers to provide drills and sessions which allow the players time and space in which to practice.
For those just starting in the game, the basic formula that many coaches work to is the grid area of 10 yards by 10 yards for a maximum of 4 players (one long pace being one yard)

26 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 6, 2013