Training

News  ·  Parents
Parents: How Does A Good Training Session Look Like?

I’ll speak openly and transparently about this topic. One of Rush Soccer’s core values is Empathy. 

When it comes to soccer, it should take little effort to empathize with a parent. We know you love your kids, and we know your involvement is driven by it, by the desire of ensuring your child’s sporting experience is as good as it can be. Now, and I mean this with all due respect, that doesn’t necessarily mean you know how a good learning environment looks like. 

There’s nothing wrong with that. Again, a bit of empathy suffices. Maybe you are a lawyer, or an electrician, or a real estate agent, and maybe you didn’t even play soccer growing up. In fact, sometimes the parents that did grow up playing soccer are the ones with the most misunderstandings about how a good learning environment looks like and what they should be looking for when assessing a training session. “I didn’t know that to be a good horseman you needed to be a horse first” replied the legendary Italian coach Arrigo Sacchi when a journalist inquired if his far from remarkable playing career could be an obstacle for his coaching one. It is very different to be a coach than to be a player. Very, very different, and the fact that we work with children adds another hundred layers of complexity. 

Please don’t think this post is geared towards a reflection on parents’ sideline behavior. Far from it, what we actually want is to protect you because there are times in which business eats it all and the drive to make money intoxicates the honor in the duty.

Let’s start with a little experiment: If you had to pick one of the two following passing sessions for your child to be a part of, which one would you choose? 

Disclaimer: This is our opinion based on our developmental philosophies and beliefs and by no means we intend to disrespect any colleagues with a different approach. Moreover, we are not implying that any of the activities presented are wrong or mistaken as these are presented without an encompassing context. 

Option 1:

Option 2:

I would go with the second one, hands down, and I’ll explain why in a minute. 

Did you pick the first one? Don’t feel bad about it, so do a lot of people. You know why? Because it looks pretty and organized. So controlled. So clean. There’s success. And in the second one (if we actually applied it in a real session) there would be so many mistakes, it would look so chaotic. There would be a lot of failures, and it would look so basic. Hardly any cone, any equipment, nothing. But you should remember that soccer is naturally a pretty chaotic sport, especially at these early stages, and that the sport is pretty basic (two teams, two goals, one ball, delimited space, period).

How does the game look when you see it during the weekends? Like what we see on TV or a bit more like this?

So now let’s rethink the session that we would pick by asking ourselves which one seems to replicate the game best.

That’s where the key is. In the first session, there’s ‘technical work’, and there’s nothing wrong about it (it can be useful if well applied within a specific need), but it can also be irrelevant if there’s no transference to skill. 

Let me explain that further. 

‘Skill’ means that a technique can be applied effectively within a game situation. Then, purely using common sense, wouldn’t it be impossible to learn to apply a technique within a game situation if the session itself doesn’t present the game situation?  

The second session, in that sense, is pretty realistic. The only thing that altered the game was to remove the goals. Why? So the players focus on passing instead of shooting, but the rest is there: Teammates, opponents, space, ball. 

So here you have a couple good tips as far as what to look for on a training session:

  • Enjoyment: The most basic and important aspect, when observing a session for children, is to think: Is it FUN? Is this enjoyable? Please remember that playing is the work of children (Jean Piaget, Maria Montessori).
  • Realistic: Does it look like the game of soccer you observe on the weekend?
  • Safety: Is my child comfortable and feeling safe in the environment to explore the game? This goes beyond the session itself.
  • Is it dynamic? Are the players constantly playing or is it slow, interrupted, and full of wait periods?
  • Are they making decisions? Independently of that decision being right or wrong.

If these are there, you’re off a good start.

Here you have some red flags (don’t take them as black and white rules please, of course):

  • An excessive number of cones.
  • An excessive number of teams in different colors.
  • Excessive lines that lead to long waiting periods.
  • No smiles.

October 18, 2023

Players
The Wall – Training To Be The Best

This article was written by Chris Rue, Futsal Manager

Training to become the best at anything can be lonely.   The amount of time required to hone your game can seem extraordinary.  So many developing players simply do not understand this.  Securing a training partner can be a difficult task and too many parents try to hire personal training coaches to fill this void. This inevitably leads to the trainer taking a lot of the touches during a session.  The solution to this problem is for a player to find a wall. 

Years ago, as a U15 player, being cut from an ODP trial sparked something in me. There was crying and a feeling of failure.  My world was crushed.  Vowing not to let that occur again, I started a quest to become the best player that I could.  The next tryout would be another 8 months away and I planned to be ready for it.  This is when I was introduced to wall training.

 

A wall is the best training partner an aspiring soccer player can have.  There are so many skills that can be developed using a wall.  Ball striking and first touch are vital to play at the highest levels.  The ability to accurately strike the ball with different techniques is a skill that can be perfected.  Using all parts of the body to control the rebounding ball can be as well.  The wall simply plays the ball back at the rate the ball is hit at it.  This constant repetition forces a massive number of touches in a short amount of time.  The wall always shows up for training and will always be consistent.

Players who use the wall as a training partner will see their game grow tremendously.  Just you and the wall.  A partner can also be added and a competition called wall ball can be played.  Rules can be adjusted according to the skill level of the players.  Three touch, three bounce; two touch, two bounce; two touch, one bounce gives players a chance to increase the difficulty level of the game.  Different sized balls can be used with the smallest ball offering the greatest challenges.  Working through the ball sizes until a tennis ball can be used will produce a magical first touch. 

After 8 months of wall training added to my regular routine, I was ready for the next tryout.  Not only did I make the ODP State team for FL, I was invited to the regional camp and then the Olympic Festival for a shot at the national pool.  I attribute this success to the time spent with the wall.  To this day, based off of my own experiences, I encourage all players to use a wall in their training regimen.  It can be a soccer player’s best friend. 

August 17, 2023

Futsal
Game Decisions Making

This article was written by Chris Rue, Futsal Manager

I am constantly bombarded with parent and player questions about attaining goals of “making it” in soccer.  Whether the goal is Professionalism, College, or making the All-Star team, decision-making more often than not hamstrings most players.  Players can spend countless hours honing their touch, becoming a physical specimen, and developing ball-striking techniques, but how do we create better decision makers? 

In order to make better decision makers, we need to place players in environments at an early age where they are constantly asked to solve problems.  This does not occur with private training or repetitive pattern drills that are far too common in youth soccer.  Most coaches that I speak with all agree that players need to play the game more often.  Unfortunately, they lack the conviction to practice what they preach mainly due to parental influence.  Parents enjoy the compartmentalized training that we see a lot of.  Kids working unopposed with a ball performing certain tasks is easy for them to understand.  A small sided game or a possession session looks like chaos to them. 

The 4v4 game forces all players to be involved and will guarantee plenty of repetition and decision making. Defensively players will no be able to “hide”, it will alow a team to press immediately and allow the players to understand the basi defensive principles and will repeatedly allow teams to deal with frustration.

What may look like chaos is actually what players need massive doses of while their brains are developing.  This is the type of equation that the player can wrap their head around.  Before long, the visual cues repeat, and the player begins to anticipate the next action.  For instance, those of us who have been involved either watching or playing the game at a high level, know the cues to recycle around the back.  We see the right fullback with the ball.  The player pulls the ball back to play a deeper right center back.  Almost immediately, the left fullback anticipates the ball being recycled and creates space to receive the ball, before it is played to the left center back.  These small instances occur all the time in the game and force players to make decisions based on the information that they are acknowledging.  The quicker they can see the cues, the faster they can respond.

An easy way to give more time in this environment is to set up small sided, 4v4 games as players arrive.  I like to have the fields set up a half hour before practice.  As players arrive, we simply start dividing the players into teams.  Starting with 1v1 until we reach 4v4 on a field.  When that field is set, we start with the next, 1v1 to 4v4.  In my experience, this ticks two boxes.  Firstly, we get the players to train making decisions.  Secondly, and almost more importantly, we see players arriving half hour earlier to training and running from the car to the field with excitement to play.  We typically allow these small sided games to continue for 20-30 minutes.  In our club, where we train 4 times a week, a player can get up to 160 hours in this stimulating, decision making environment which will pay dividends in the future.  

“There are so many players in soccer with great talent, but their actual understanding of the game is poor, and that’s the difference between good and great. It’s getting the decision right, which changes it all”

October 20, 2022

Futsal
Futsal – Daisy Cutter

This article was written by Chris Rue, Futsal Manager

Almost a forgotten technique in youth soccer is the instep driven pass, or daisy cutter.  I am not talking about the inside of foot but the instep.  As a youth player, I had the great experience of training at Ajax, where the instructors were adamant about teaching this technique.  We would spend the first 20 minutes of each session standing 20 yards from a partner and smacking the ball back and forth.  We had two touches, the first was to control the pass and the second was to play the pass.  During the first few sessions, the ball would miss the intended target or the first touch was poor, but as we spent more time working on the technique, the passing and receiving became second nature. 

For years, I have held the belief that young players develop best by introducing different playing surfaces and using different balls.  Learning to adapt to these changes opens a player’s mind, which is still the most important part of a player’s development.  Recently, I read an article about Walker Zimmerman and how his youth coach introduced a futsal ball for building out of the back sessions.  The coach felt that this ball would prohibit the tendency to simply clear the ball out of danger and force the players to pass the ball out of pressure.  A futsal ball has less bounce than a regular ball so it stays on the surface more, promoting passing without having to introduce limitations.  Based on Zimmerman’s rise to become USMNT starting CB, I would say the coach was on to something.

Passing drills can improve the team’s communication skills, attentiveness, first touch, and even their connection on and off the field. Being able to pass the ball accurately and precisely can affect the team’s performance and quality during practice and games.

Watching the Premiere League games this weekend, I saw countless instep driven passes, De Bruyne is a master of the technique.  As developing players progress through the youth levels and venture into college or professional, the passing alleys become very narrow.  Weak passes rarely find their intended target.  Learning to hit the daisy cutter in a game opens more passing options and increases speed of play tremendously.

Over the past few years, I have introduced futsal balls in our activation passing pattern drills in U12-U14 ages, especially the up-back-through where the initial entry pass is critical.  The futsal ball is fantastic for this.  It allows the player to perfect the technique with minimal chasing of errant touches.  After 10 minutes or so, we introduce the soccer ball and continue for another 5-10 minutes.  In the following drill, you can see the instep driven technique used for the longer penetrating pass.

Finding solutions by using different training methods is our job as coaches.  Accomplishing this without players realizing it is what makes coaches special.  

Watch the pros do it!

August 30, 2022

Coaching
Professional practices at Altitude Rush. An interview with Tato Noriega

This article was written by Santiago Figueyra, Rush Soccer Development Content & Marketing Manager.

José Antonio Noriega was born 29 December 1969. He is a Mexican former professional footballer who played 14 years for various clubs in the “Primera División de México”. Noriega played with seven different clubs in Mexico, his most years coming with Monterrey. He also played for the Mexico national team in six occasions. His friends call him Tato.

In order to get his professional coaching license Tato took his practices at Altitude Rush in Port Saint Lucie under the mentoring of Rush’s Sporting Project Director, Pablo Toledo.

Tato is a top professional, humble, and has a wealth of knowledge. After completing the course, we sat down with Tato and chatted.

Santiago: “Tato, how would you describe the process of practices and mentorship in Altitude Rush?”

Tato: “It would say diverse. It was a great combination of in class learning, talks, debates and on field activities. It was really insightful to watch how coaches from different group age applied Altitude Rush methodology. You would see how different methods, approaches, styles or ways of teaching core values, would result in a positive implementation of the methodology.”

S: “What comments, ideas or thoughts do you have of Rush Soccer as a sports project?”

T: “I believe it’s a solid project. Its philosophy is very well written and described in their manuals. I was surprised when I saw that what was written in paper, actually took place on the training field. For example, before practice they would show us three of four fundamental concepts that couldn’t be left out. These concepts where shared with players who had to comply, so when practice started, regardless of the exercise, these concepts were a key part of it, and were nonnegotiable. If you can apply on the field what you’ve taught on the classroom, that leads to a strong players development”

S: “Taking into account what you’ve learnt through Escuela Menotti, what are your thoughts or ideas from an educational perspective?”

T:”What clearly stood out after this practice is the enormous responsibility that we as coaches have when training young people. We have to follow their development very carefully, because of all the positive and negative influence we have on them. You can either confuse players and make them loose their love for the game, of you can help them reach their highest potential. And it doesn’t matter whether they end up playing in a professional level or not. We are part of a development of a person in a crucial time of their life. This is why I find that concepts such as enjoyment and fun, combined with clear training concepts, are essential for a child’s game evolution. These key ideas are continuously explained and applied in Escuela Menotti”

S:-“What is your general opinion about Altitude Rush?”-

T: -“Honestly, I was surprised about how well organized it is. It functions in a clear and honest way. It’s simple, yet has a defined structure. It pretty much resembles to a professional club. I really like the way it reflects its core values. I also agree with the game philosophy and model. Honestly…it makes me really understand the way American soccer is developing. I see a bright future for the game development in America. And the best of all, is how Rush helps young players build their soccer path”-

S: -“What advice would you give to Altitude Rush?”-

T: -“My advice would be to focus on the human being. Focus firstly on the human aspect, and then on the players one. My experience shows me that institutions must focus on the human side of it. On the child’s welfare. Because a really tiny number of players make to the first team. So it’s key for us all, to develop better humans. Soccer training should be a way of developing better persons. Things such as team work, respect of others, respect for rivals, team mates…Those sort of things makes us all better…makes the world better. Soccer should be a vehicle for that mean.

S: -“Could you give us a piece of advice for young soccer players?

T: -“Don’t lose sight, that soccer is a game and that you have to have fun. But also, keep in mind that you are competing. So if you can compete and train understanding the importance, but keeping in mind that it’s a fun game, your victories will be very enjoyable, and defeats won’t be so terrible”-

S: -“Thanks for your time Tato”-

Tato: -“My pleasure to be able to help. Keep up the good work”

August 18, 2022

Futsal
Futsal – Developing Players or…choreographies?

This article was written by Chris Rue, Futsal Manager

Every July, I get a chance to see the new up and coming players in Orlando in a futsal event.  This year, it was the 2013/2014 age group.  This age group provides a snap shot of different club’s development philosophies.  There are always a few teams who have players who seem to be dancing with the ball; pull backs, stepovers, and what I call tells.  Signs that a prescribed set of movements with the ball is about to occur.  Now, to the amateur eye, these moves look the part.  Parents “ooh” and “aah” at the moves from the player but what is not seen is that these choreographed movements do not translate to the older ages.  Sure, they can fool a U8 and U9 player, but a U13 defender gobbles them up leading to transition moments, leaving the player doing the moves questioning why they didn’t work.   Interestingly, most of the clubs highlighting players with these moves do not have older teams in the competition. 

The organizer of the event, who has a son beginning in the game, came to me to ask what I thought.  My response was that I have never seen a cone, flag, or any other field marking make a tackle.  The improvisation of the dribble is all predicated on what the defenders are doing at that moment.  Maybe a first time pass was the solution to eliminate more defenders.  Maybe a subtle drop of the shoulder and reception on the far foot was the answer.  This was demonstrated by CR7 on ESPN’s Sport Science program a few years ago.  The producers of the show installed a video camera on CR7 to simulate what exactly he was looking at while dribbling.  Now, most young players see Ronaldo as a scoring machine, getting into the correct place to finish chances created.  However, when he was just starting with Manchester United, dribbling was his forte.  So much so, that he used to draw ire from fans.  What the video showed was revealing.  His eyes were on the DEFENDER.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=967&v=4achmhzLNoY&feature=youtu.be

At Rush Soccer Development, we have a measurement that rates clubs in the number of hours spent each week playing in opposed environments.  This is a critical measurement that gives insight to player development.  Our sessions should be geared more toward enhancing the brain by competing against opponents.  I try to implement 3 phases in my trainings. 

  • Phase 1: A short duration, no pressure so the players can understand the concept.

  • Phase 2: a short duration, indirect pressure.  Having the players perform the task with players who are also in the same space performing the exact same task.

  • Phase 3: long duration, direct pressure.  Perform the task while opponents are trying to stop it.  

These sessions create environments where imagination and improvisation thrive through trial and error leading to truly talented players.

July 25, 2022

News  ·  Physical
Adjusting Overloads To The Individual Within A Team Context

Can we tailor training to the individual within a team setting? Fernando Signorini gives us the answer. Let’s take a look.

The principle of individuality is one of the most fundamental training principles, no matter which the specific training discipline is. Cool, let’s check the science.

Principle of individuality: It is one of the most important but most difficult principles to apply, especially in team sports. It is well known that there are numerous factors that affect individual response to the same training load (García and Cols., 1996b): heredity, maturation, nutrition, rest and sleep, fitness level, motivation, environment, health and gender. To these individual factors it was necessary to add the different energy and technical-tactical requirements of each specific position in soccer. According to Ozolin (1983), the principle of individualization requires that the objectives and the physical exercises, their form, their intensity, duration and character, the methods of performance and many other aspects of the preparation that the athlete must carry out, must be selected in correspondence with the sex and age of the practitioners, the level of their functional possibilities, in the sports preparation and their state of health, taking into account their peculiarities of character, psychic qualities, etc. – ‘EFD Deportes’.

Ok, great, we know that now. Billy and Johnny can be different in five million ways and training should be mindful and planned around this. That makes sense.

Now comes reality and we are one coach with 20 players at times, so it’s hard to adjust training to Johnny’s and Billy’s ‘individuality’? So we always end up with four sets of six-eight reps of whatever we are trying to train and sorry ‘principle of individuality’ but that’s life (in this post, we’ll skip the discussion about how irrelevant the 4×8 of pure physical activities can be).

The problem about the four sets of eight reps is not only that you didn’t care much about Johnny’s and Billy’s individual needs but also that it might be inefficient in terms of training loads.

Let’s start from a basic concept: General Adaptation Syndrome. You need to create an overload for the body to overcompensate and increase the baseline level of a certain valence. Now, the overload can’t be ‘as big as possible’, that like going to the gym after six years of sedentarism and trying to lift 200 pounds in chest press. You’ll get injured and take a month to step back on the gym, if you even manage to lift it once.

The same happens in football training, so here’s a real life example to understand overloads: In my U17 Boys team, Marco spent the summer doing Triathlon training, and Martin on the opposite, did very little because he had a slight fracture in a lumbar vertebra, so if I do a 4×8 with 2′ rest at 3/4 speed in 40 yards with 1:3 work rest ratio, Marco is hardly sweating and there’s not enough of a physical incentive to at least sustain the current baseline (principle of reversibility, this is another important one), and Martin might be borderline to getting injured (the overload is too big for him right now).

That’s the problem, so what do we do about it? Check below.

During the webinar hosted by our Sporting Director, Pablo Toledo, Fernando Signorini -former conditioning coach of Diego Maradona & Lionel Messi, among others- gave us a brief, but most valuable Masterclass on this. Watch below with English subtitles!

PT – Undoubtedly we tailor training based on our game model and the overall education of the player that we are pursuing, but how could we adjust training to develop a specific physical valence?

FS – We frequently talk about the fundamental valences, which are strength and speed, but I think speed and strength endurance are much more important. Why? Because if I have Usain Bolt, who is the fastest man in the world, but after four sprints he gets tired, it doesn’t work for me. I prefer someone who can do 30. And the same thing happens with strength. Soccer is 90 minutes long and the emotional system will always be involved. For me, the most important valences are worked through sensations and not time. Because it is also the best and the only way to train individually within the team setting. For example, in a drill with or without the ball, I say ‘let’s do five seconds of maximum intensity with the ball’. In five seconds they have to develop maximum speed imagining the situations of the match. And the five seconds that follow, walking or doing something different. And they have to constantly vary, for example throwing a long ball, and then they slow down. So, I am increasing the number of repetitions, and perhaps a player, when he reaches the threshold of fatigue, the organism sends a message. ‘Today, this is your limit’ – it says, but yours, not someone else’s! Then one player leaves and the others continue, and so on until the last one is done. Why? Because that allows the player to connect intimately with his possibilities today, which may not be the same tomorrow. That is why individuality must be respected.

PT – And where would you place it in the training session? I tried at the beginning once but then they were exhausted for the technical-tactical part.

FS – That comes with experience. You also have to see what the coach does. It’s always best to send fresh players to the coach. Begin leveling with simpler workouts, which have to do with the game, and when the first week has passed, that is the one with the greatest risks of injury, start with more aggressive exercises, but always keeping in mind that the main thing is to practice the coach’s idea. If the coach ran a really demanding session, we have to balance that. The only thing I would suggest is that 48 hours before the game, the efforts have to be minimal, because there is very little to win in comparison to what can be lost.

September 28, 2021

News
NEW: Releasing The Season Planner At The Rush Coaching Manual!

Yes coach, we have some great news for you. As of today, all Rush coaches have received a free user to the Rush Coaching Manual (you should have received your credentials on your inbox), and all accounts have been upgraded to Premium.

What this means is that as of now you are not only able to access all of our Rush sessions and activities but you can also:

  • Use the Folders feature to share sessions, activities, and documents among your staff or colleagues at the club.
  • Access TCM’s Premium Content, in which you can find masterclasses and sessions from Rene Mulensteen, David Moyes, Aitor Karanka, and many others.
  • Download every session in pdf format if desired.
  • And most importantly use our Season Planner feature that allows you to get an automatic, fully Rush customized season plan for each of your teams, adapting these to your specific age group, training and match days. Once created from your computer, these can easily be accessed through your Coaching Manual mobile app.

Moreover, as a Director of Coaching or Technical Director, you can assign all of your coaches to their teams and create their season plans, so your coaches are simply in charge of downloading the app and following the season plan you have assigned to them for the period you consider optimal.

Please note that the Season Planner is currently organized as:

  • U6-U13 Competitive.
  • U6-U13+ Recreational.

This means that all age groups are covered for your recreational branch but be mindful that U14+ age groups of your competitive branch are not. These age groups will be completed by the end of 2021.

This Webinar guides all coaches and club directors on how to use all of these incredible features (use your login credentials to watch it).

If you have any questions you can contact Sporting Project Director, Pablo Toledo, at [email protected], to help you set up your club director account or assist you with any other questions.

Coach Rush Sessions and Rush Season Plans, the Rush Way.

“These are not just season plans. These are the product of years of work, in which we carefully planned every session and activity to fit the big picture and be a reflection of our club, our philosophies, style of play, and lead to the development of the future Rush player”.

Pablo Toledo, Rush Soccer’s Sporting Project Director.

If you would prefer a ‘written’ version, you can always download pdf versions of these curriculums HERE.

Alongside the also downloadable Player & Coach Handbooks, these guides provide all of the tools for your coaches to execute an entire season in full alignment with the Rush Way.

Great news and a lot more coming up in 2021, coach! These are only some of the exclusive benefits of being part of Rush Soccer.

July 14, 2021

Rush Way
Maximizing Opposed Playing Time: Rush Canada’s and Miami Rush’s Futsal Programs

As explained in The Heart of The Rush, one of the two pillars of our Player Development Approach is to maximize weekly playing time in direct confrontation. In this article, we present an alternative that two Rush clubs use for that purpose: FUTSAL.

Quoting the section What We Believe In from The Heart Of The Rush.

“Stating that the game is the teacher is more than a philosophical idea. Our 70 Games Rule is the overarching expression of it. At the youth stages, we want our teams to play 70 11v11 scrimmages a year. Some will be formal and some others as part of a training session, just like some will last longer than others, but they will present the stage for learning to take place. At the grassroots level, the 70 Games Rule is expressed through the constant encouragement and club initiatives to increase the overall weekly playing time of the participant. That doesn’t mean increasing the number of training sessions (team or individual), it means providing opportunities for the players to play more time in direct confrontation“.

The Heart Of The Rush.

This month we are not debating or presenting on our player development approach. This is not a theory based campaign, but a pragmatic one. We want our players to play more time in direct confrontation than they do in any other club. This article is not about why?, it’s about how?

For many of our clubs, the answer (at least partially), relies in FUTSAL.

You will notice in the two cases presented below that training is divided into three categories: Formal, Alternative Formal, and Informal. This is what the categories represent:

  1. Formal: Regular training and competition (includes High School)
  2. Alternative Formal: Futsal or similar, there’s still coaching involved.
  3. Informal: Spontaneous, pick up, no coaching involved.

RUSH CANADA

Working alongside Rush Canada’s Technical Director Slobodan Pavlovic, we collected information regarding the club’s Futsal program for U10 and under, and U11 and older. At Rush Canada, Futsal is not only impactful in player development, it is also a revenue stream. Check below.

Brief description of the program: Futsal at Rush Canada is mandatory and included in the annual registration package. U10 and under play one hour a week (minimum) and U11 and older two hours a week.

Disclaimer: This varies considerably depending on the time of the year, as they use Futsal increasingly during the off season periods with additional camps, tournaments, etc.

Futsal costs the player $450 (for U10 & Under) and $700 (U11 & over) a year.

From a soccer standpoint and the main reason why we evaluate the case, the Futsal program contributes with a minimum of 20% extra playing time in direct confrontation, or the equivalent of 0.81 hours weekly (average) at U10 and under, and 1.77 hours at U11 and older.

As it says on the (*) above, we are aware that the impact of Futsal in the overall confronted playing hours measured as a percentage might be overestimated as we have no data for informal play, which we believe to be pretty marginal (unfortunately). However, the impact is still significant and that doesn’t affect the hourly contribution seen in absolute terms.

Why Futsal in Slobodan’s words:

  1. More contact with the ball: In a recent study it was observed that during the game, Futsal players were in contact with the ball 210% more than playing traditional US indoor arena soccer. There are about 10 times more contacts with the ball and 10 times more confrontations and transitions in Futsal than in 9v9 or 11v11 soccer, so we think that’s obviously very impactful in skill development.
  2. Improves Ball control – with limited space, boundary restrictions, constant opponent pressure and game pace, high level of technical skills are required.
  3. Pace & Transitions: With no walls to help them out, players must move of the ball and support each other just like in the outdoor soccer but with much higher pace and more transitions. This develops tactical awareness and facilitates right decisions in different phases of the game – attack, defense and positive and negative transitions that is easily transferred to the outdoor game

If you would like to learn more about Rush Canada’s Futsal program, please contact Slobodan Pavlovic at [email protected]

MIAMI RUSH KENDALL

Another club that uses Futsal as part of their regular programming is Miami Rush. We spoke to Renatto Soriano, Miami Rush’s Technical Director, to understand their program further:

Brief Description Of The Program: At Miami Rush, Futsal is used for U12 and under. One day a week for one hour, and for an average total of 60 sessions a year and seven games, so the total impact is estimated in 67 hours of futsal a year per player.

The program affects about 25% of the U12 and under membership (30 out of the 120 players). It is not mandatory, and external players can participate as well.

From an operational standpoint, the program requires four fields (three outdoors and one indoors are used) and there are three coaches running the program.

From a financial perspective, the program costs the player about $20 per hour / session.

From a soccer standpoint, Futsal contributes with a 33% of extra confronted playing time a week, even though we know this percentage is overestimated as we don’t currently have additional data for informal play. However, the impact is still significant and can be seen in absolute terms, as a 1.29 average hours added per week.

Why Futsal in Renatto’s words:

‘Most of South Americans like me grew up playing like this. We believe in its impact in player development. They learn a lot of things through Futsal, like staying on their feet when marking or using the sole of the cleat. They also learn things like playing/restarting play quickly through the game. Coaching for us needs to be brief, we want a lot of freedom.

If you’d like to learn more about Miami Rush’s Futsal program, contact Renatto at [email protected].

April 20, 2021

Coaching
What We Learned About Designing Player Centered Sessions

After a month of much discussion and analysis on how to design Player Centered Sessions, we found several valuable concepts that can be incorporated to the way we design sessions.

In simple words, if we want to discuss designing player centered sessions, we need to start by answering two questions: What’s a player centered approach? And why is it important?

What’s A Player Centered Approach?

In words of Juan Gonzalez Mendia, Director of Sudamerica Coaching (watch the full webinar here):

A player centered approach is about putting the participant at the center of the learning process. It’s about the decision making. Most of the environments in sports in the last 20 years have been related to education, and in the last 50 or 60 years (if not more) education has been related to somebody on a step, literally, telling the participants what they need to learn. If they were lucky, they would also hear ‘why’ they need to learn it. A participant centered approach is the opposite. This is a real story that serves as an example. I started teaching at a school years ago, in 2008, and the classroom had a step, so in my first week I turned that step into a stage. I moved my desk to the back of the room, and we turned the step into a stage in which the student would perform, express himself/herself, or present”.

As you can infer from this passage, in a participant centered approach the role of the teacher (coach) relates more to facilitating than it does to instructing.

Why Is It Important?

A Player Centered Approach is vital for us in it’s alignment with our core belief that the game is the teacher (or the best learning environment), and therefore the coach works as a facilitator. Quoting The Heart Of The Rush:

At Rush Soccer, we believe that the game is the teacher. It is in the complexity of the game where skills and creativity arise and develop, not in isolated, mechanized situations. These last can introduce a concept or a technique but can never be the core or the proposed channel for learning. It is in the game that the player discovers solutions and creativity arises, and it is the role of the coach to facilitate that environment and guide, when needed, through that discovery. It’s participant centered, not coach centered.

Building off of that base, the question that arises is how the Rush Way materializes this player centered approach.

The answer relies in the application of The Rush Blue Thread, a set of eight connected principles pursued in every session to ensure a top player centered learning environment is facilitated. That’s what was discussed by a panel on March 11th, when Pablo Toledo, Rush Soccer’s Coach & Player Development Director, was joined by several Rush Technical Directors including President Tim Schulz, Coach Education Consultant Megan McCormick, and Rush Canada’s Technical Director Slobodan Pavlovic, among others (Click HERE to Watch!).

“The question we were asking ourselves was: Knowing and respecting that every Rush club works on a different landscape and we are 100 clubs, how can we still be 1 and provide a similar player centered learning experience? That’s how and why we thought of these eight principles to design and execute training sessions that we call The Rush Blue Thread”, Pablo explained.

The Rush Blue Thread principles are:

“If we could get every Rush coach to do this, we would be miles ahead of any other club, maybe in the world”

Megan McCormick, Rush Soccer’s Coach Education Consultant.

OTHER LEASONS LEARNED ABOUT DESIGNING PLAYER CENTERED TRAINING SESSIONS:

1) Design Activities with Intentional Feedback: “It seems obvious that learning requires clear (and accurate) feedback. We knowing nod our heads when we hear that the more quickly the feedback is given after a decision, the more likely it will “stick”. Many coaches’ first instinct is to begin planning and considering coaching points and verbal information they will give during a session. However, the most consistent and immediate feedback in a training session comes directly from the activities (the game). Thoughtful session planning allows a coach to carefully tune the feedback loop for players, to ensure that the information is clear, accurate, and timely, even when the coach doesn’t verbally reinforce it”, Megan explained in her wonderful article ‘Key Considerations’ (Click HERE to read!).

2) When designing a session, ask yourself: Would I enjoy this? This might seem simple but it roots down to the core of learning. As Juan Gonzalez Mendia said in his last webinar: “For the longest time we thought that fun was important for learning, that if you enjoyed what you were doing you’d learn more and faster. We were suspicious about this, now science has proven it”. If you want to keep your players ‘engaged’ with the topic, observe if the session is enjoyable. Scott Mills spoke about this as well (Click HERE to Watch): “I think that the players respond to that and something they enjoyed it’s also teaching them. That’s the best part”, Scott stated. “We’ve all been kids and -I guess- we all love playing soccer, so imagine for a second that you will be part of the activity and self-reflect on how that session would be enjoyable”.

Russell Earnshaw linked many of these concepts as well in what he summarizes as seeing the session from children’s eyes. Rusty’s story about how he spent a day shadowing a child to understand their perception and feelings around the daily activities he participated in, to conclude that it was a really, really boring day added a bit of humor. “If we are really player centered, then why aren’t the children running lessons and sessions or at least being part of it?”, he wondered during his interview with Chris P. (Click HERE to Watch).

3) Ask players to provide their own objectives/goals for a game, or coach providing objectives: We took this one from Scott Mills, and I struggle to find an even more participant centered idea: “Each of our players have a pentavalent plan and define objectives for short, medium and long term for them. You (coaches) then help them, for example, if one player said ‘I really want to improve my speed and agility’, we will see the design of sessions that suits that goal. We also ask them to set an objective for the match, so we’ll ask them ‘how are you going to achieve that?'”.

4) Plan Your Response to Failure: It’s normal for players to struggle in training. In fact, we expect (and want) some failure to take place. Quoting Juan Mendia again: “If I watched a session and the players were always succeeding, I’d invite the coach to review that session, because something is not working”. The question that really matters is: What will my specific and purposeful response be when the player(s) makes this particular mistake?

5) External Focus of Attention: Megan highlighted this one (note how important we think it is that it is part of the Rush Blue Thread). This is about visual cues. It is our responsibility as coaches to make sure players have the tools to evaluate their own success or failure by observing the external outcome. Without thoughtful guidance, players might rely solely on the final score of the game to judge their performance. As coaches, we are constantly taking in so many visual cues and often leave them out of our verbal feedback. Taking the time to plan how you will help players watch for the things you see as a coach can pay tremendous dividends.

Please note that we are talking about literal things to observe, the focus is in what you can SEE. “Great pressure! Did you see how the attacker kept her head down and wasn’t able to look up?” That could be a great way to teach a young player about distances for the pressuring defender, or “she was able to pick her head up and survey the field which means you need to close more space”. These simple phrases will help the player self-evaluate her action every time she is required to provide pressure.

Using two simple questions before training can help make sure we are aligning a player’s external focus with our own: What actions/behaviors am I trying to teach? And, What specific things can a player SEE if they do this well? If they fail to do this well?

6) Building Mental Engagement & Planning The Conversation (Click HERE to read): Updated coaching education programs have introduced us to guided discovery and the use of questions to share our coaching points. However, the skill (or lack thereof) of crafting and asking questions can dramatically increase (or decrease) player engagement. If we are interested in putting the player at the center of the session, it’s time we all revisit the way we use questions. The goal is to have EVERY player in the session thinking deeply about EVERY question you ask as a coach. A loft goal to be sure but one well within our grasp with the right techniques.

Check the Chart below:

7) Random vs Block Training: We stated at the beginning of this post that a Player Centered Approach has it’s roots in decision making. Sean Connors, our Goalkeeping Global Director, presented as well about how this approach materializes within Goalkeeping specific training. That’s what the Random vs Block Training Webinar was about.

“Block Training is a traditional approach, it’s what you’ll see in most fields. A defined number of repetitions, repeating them over and over, so that the focus is on the execution”, Sean explained (Watch it HERE!). “Random, on the other hand, means different activities, don’t do the same thing twice, and the key is to read the situation, plan the situation and then do. Adding those two steps (reading & planning) is the main difference between Random and Block Training. Random not only focuses on technical execution”, he added.

Below, a brief and informative example of both types of GK training:

“So often we think about ourselves as Goalkeeper coaches training technique and execution, that tends to be the focus. But it doesn’t matter if you can catch a ball if you are not in the right place, if you haven’t made the right choice to catch the ball. That situation has got to become the focus”, Sean stated.

A lot to digest coach, we hope you enjoyed the learning this month. Stay tuned for April’s!

March 30, 2021

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Winter 2021/22

Week 12

Description
Lessons
Description
This drill is designed to help you improve your ball control. This is a great drill to help you develop the ball control that will enable you to cut and change direction quickly. Goal: When you reach the point of being able to do whatever you want with the ball; you will have more fun playing the game.
Lessons