One of the greatest things about this game is that it
requires the players to make decisions throughout the entire game. Other
sports (for example football or baseball) are choreographed to a large
extent by the coaches or the rules. Coaches send in the football plays,
dictating almost every step of the way. Baseball coaches send in pitching
and hitting signals, telling players whether to swing, bunt, etc. Sometimes
the rules or the plain nature of the game also limit decision making. In
baseball, for example, the situation dictates what base you throw to,
whether you run when the ball is hit, etc.
Soccer is a fast-moving game that requires hundreds or
thousands of decisions from the players during a single game. Should I
one-touch, two-touch, control? Should I dribble, pass right away, shoot?
Should I try to beat this player one-v-one, work a wall pass, put the ball
through, pass back? Should I run to that open space, move back to support,
or overlap? All of these alternatives and dozens more are almost always
available, and certainly present themselves in all sorts of groups during
the course of a game.
As players, you are called upon to make these decisions.
And whether you decide on a course of action, or make no decision, you are
in fact deciding. One of the hardest things to understand is that no
decision is really a decision. You are really, in effect, choosing not to
act–not to run, not to pass, not to shoot, etc. We want you to learn at
least two things: First, that you have to make these decisions–not us as
coaches, and certainly not your parents or other spectators; and Second,
when you make this many decisions, you are going to make some mistakes. In
fact, you’re going to make a lot of mistakes. Why? Because you are
learning. And learning, largely through trial and error, is a process where
many mistakes are made. Often, these mistakes are the best teachers–maybe
even better than coaches! Our job is, in part, to teach you not only skills,
but to recognize the available decisions, and provide you will tools and
perhaps even rules of thumb to help you make the best decision.
In soccer, there are generally no "wrong" decisions.
Usually there are simply decisions that are better and worse. Let’s look at
some examples: When a player elects to dribble into three opponents rather
than run a wall pass, it is usually a worse decision. However, if he
succeeds in breaking through the three, was it "wrong"? When a keeper stays
on the line, rather than attack an oncoming offensive player, he reduces his
chances to make the save. But if he makes the save, was he "wrong"? The
answer both times is no. But let’s think about why the decision was not the
best one–in each case the likelihood of success was reduced by the course
taken–that is, the odds were more against success. So, even though the
player succeeds that time, there is, perhaps, a "better" solution.
You will hear a lot this season about making good
decisions. You are at an age and playing ability now where we expect you to
be more comfortable with your skills, and, while we will continue technical
training, we will also hope to see better decision making.
Which brings us to parents: We know you mean well, but
you need to bite down harder on those lips and let your sons make their
decision, including their mistakes. These are not life-altering mistakes, so
it’s acceptable. If you see what you think is the same mistake being
repeated, talk to Michael or me, and we’ll work on it together or at a
practice. We like to believe we can approach this with longer-term goals in
mind. We know everyone wants more wins, and we’ll get there–together, with
players who make good decisions on the field.
