In this blog, Roger Davies, The FA’s national development lead (Education), shares his approach to coaching 1v1 defending.
Picture it
It’s a cold, wet Monday night in February. The under 9’s (u9) have just arrived for training full of energy, excited, wanting to run around with their mates and play the game they love. I announce that we are going to focus on defending for the next ‘few’ weeks, starting with 1v1’s… Rewind. Let’s have another go. I announce that for the next ‘few’ weeks we are going to be playing loads of different games, to help everyone get better at making it difficult for the other team to score goals. Different words but similar outcomes if applied the right way.
Experiences
This short blog isn’t going to give you that ‘silver bullet’ that turns you into a master tactician at (1v1) defending. Nor am I suggesting one way is better than ‘t’other. These are just some thoughts that may help you consider how you design practice. It will also offer some insight into my personal experiences as a coach, coach developer and as a teacher.
If you want ‘defending 1v1’ ideas, practices etc, just Google it, I did before writing this. There’s loads of stuff out there, some fantastic ideas, practices, and shared experiences.
So, what should you do? Which should you pick? I have been asked this numerous times over the years and, I usually offer a question in response: ‘what are your players wants and needs?’
Formal Education
It’s February 1999, I am just about to conduct an ‘8v8 defending from the front’ assessment session with a mixed group of ‘players’ on my UEFA B license. The surface is a slightly frosted over sand-based AstroTurf. For those old enough to remember, yes, the surface that loved taking the skin off your knees and palms of your hands. I had the technical ‘1v1 defending key points’ on my scrap of paper, my session plan in hand and my ‘3’ interventions at the back of my mind. ‘We’ had a game, and the players could consider the game and what defending meant as individuals, units and as a team.
Flipping it on its Head: Thinking out of the box…
Relevance? I was coaching two teams that season - a premier league academy u9’s team and an u18’s school team. I often went with this 1v1 first approach in my coaching, however I decided to change my approach with both teams. For example, whilst training the u9’s (who at the time played 8v8 on match days) I replicated matchday situations as best as possible and asked them simple questions, from the pitch side, like – Where’s the space? Who’s going to help you? Who are you going to help (and why)? We also played handball, bench ball and ‘crab football’ to stimulate their perceiving skills, alert their mates and mirror realistic situations they found themselves in every match day.
I’m not proclaiming the above is the ‘silver bullet’, merely food for thought when you are next designing and planning your ‘defending’ training sessions.
What do you think of Roger’s ideas here? Have you got any questions for him? Are there any other things you do with your players to improve their 1v1 defending? Let us know below!