What it takes to be Successful Part 3

This is the third installment of the topic "what does it take to be a successful ODP player", I have already addressed four important technical qualities necessary for players to possess in order to be successful in this program they include (1) quality of the first touch, (2) the ability to strike a ball cleanly, (3) the ability to dribble to penetrate and to maintain possession, and (4) the ability to head the ball in attack and defense. The last technical area to be addressed will be:

(5) The ability to finish with their first touch—this may be the most difficult skill to master of all five of the technical qualities mentioned. I am not talking about composure on the ball, which also plays a big part of quality finishing; I am talking about the player's technical ability to strike on goal with their first touch. The player has to possess the ability to solve problems technically under intense pressure when receiving the ball close to their opponent's goal. There are many variables a player encounters in this situation, such as the position of the goalkeeper, the flight and pace of the pass they are about to receive, the position of defending players, etc., which forces the player to choose a technique to use to strike the ball at almost "warp speed". The biggest problem for young players is that many believe scoring goals is all about striking the ball with power. I am going to show my age here by quoting a line from the old FA Instructional films that were made after England won the World Cup in 1966, whenever a player missed a goal scoring opportunity by going for power instead of accuracy, the announcer would say "he went for power when clinical accuracy would have done him better". Landon Donovan is by far the best pure clinical finisher I have ever had the pleasure to work with at any playing level. When you watch him closely, his decision making as to what surface to strike the ball with, what pace to put on his finishing attempt and the placement of his this attempt are exceptional. Maybe this is why he holds the records for scoring goals with the US Men's National Teams at both the youth and senior levels. Another interesting fact is that something like 70% of all goals scored are scored from the player's first touch—more reason for the player to become comfortable with dealing with goal scoring opportunities with their first touch.

What It Takes: Anson Dorrance

University of North Carolina Head Choach, Anson Dorrance has a message for youth players wanting to play at the highest level. This can be found on his DVD: Individual Soccer Skills with Anson Dorrance

What it takes to be Successful Part 2

Continuing with last week's blog topic of, "What it take to be a Successful US Youth Soccer ODP player", we have already mentioned two important technical qualities the player should possess. They were (1) quality of the first touch and (2) the ability to strike a ball cleanly. The next two technical areas to be addressed are:

(3) The ability to dribble to penetrate and to maintain possession---the player should be comfortable dribbling with all four surfaces of the foot, the sole, inside of the foot, instep, and the outside of the foot. The player has to be comfortable in their ability to move at speed with the ball and to avoid challenges from opponents while still maintaining control/possession of the ball. Players at this level have some tactical understanding of when to hold the ball up/shield and wait for supporting players to combine with. They also have some tactical understanding of when to take a player(s) on in an attempt to beat the opposition. A player can understand tactically when and where during a match to execute this skill, but without the technical abilities of knowing how to make these tactical decisions actually work creates many frustrating moments on the soccer field for the player. As the competitive level of matches increases for players, they need to understand that turnovers because of a poor or a needless dribbling run puts their team at a defensive disadvantage from which many goals are scored.

(4) The ability to head the ball in attack and defense---Can the player effectively clear an incoming high ball with their head when defending, can the player effectively pass and shoot with their head when on attack. There are many things that can go wrong to affect the quality of a good header (1) mistimed jump, (2) poor assessment of the flight of the incoming ball, (3) closing of the eyes, and (4) mistimed thrusting of the head towards the ball. All of these situations will affect how the player strikes the ball with their head and how successful the header will become. Heading is a skill that often receives less than its normal share of appropriate training time during practice sessions. But think about the number of goals that are scored off of restart situations from headers or the number of assists that come from passes from headers, especially from flick headers. By possessing the skill to handle any type of heading situation while playing on both sides of the ball (attack or defense) allows players to increase their chances of moving up the elite player development ladder.

Next week I will finish up with the technical abilities necessary to be a successful US Youth Soccer ODP player before moving on to the tactical qualities needed by players to be successful in the US Youth Soccer Olympic Development Program.