u10 PRINCIPLES

OF PLAY

The principles of play are fundamental strategies used by a team during the 4 moments of a game.

4 MOMENTS OF A GAME

There are 4 moments within a game of soccer. ATTACKING, DEFENDING, and TRANSITIONS - ATTACK to DEFEND & DEFEND to ATTACK. Within those moments, are principles needed to execute the moments effectively. While below isn’t an exhaustive list of all the principles within the game, the simple ones are listed below.

ATTACKING

Within the attacking principles, it’s important to encourage the players to be creative and brave on the ball. This will build confidence and empower them to try more things with a better chance of success!

  • You can say:

    ✅SPREAD OUT

    ✅MAKE SPACE

    ✅GET WIDE

    WIDTH, DEPTH & SPACE

    Width, depth, and space all create SPACE and TIME to get the ball forward and PENETRATE the opposition's defense.

    By using the space on the field and getting wide, the team in possession can unbalance and disorganize the defense to PENETRATE to goal

  • You can say:

    ✅HELP YOUR TEAMMATES

    ✅ASK FOR THE BALL

    ✅GET OPEN

    SUPPORT is teammates helping the player on the ball

    The attacking team needs WIDTH and SUPPORT in space to receive the pass and PENETRATE the defense.

    The players supporting need to have awareness and movement off the ball to find SPACE. TRIANGLE & DIAMOND shapes are great shapes to offer SUPPORT and options for a pass.

  • You can say:

    ✅GET FORWARD

    ✅BEAT THE DEFENDER

    ✅GO FOR GOAL!

    The attacking team should always be looking to move the ball forward, toward the opposition's goal. PENETRATION means getting the ball past a group (or line) of opposition players to go to goal.

    BREAKING LINES - a soccer term, meaning to get the ball through the opposition's defense toward the goal.

    Ways of penetration to break lines:

    ✅RUN - Making a forward run past the defender to be open to receive the ball in an advanced position

    ✅DRIBBLE - dribbling or running with the ball, past a defender

    ✅PASS - a penetrating pass through a line, or group of defenders

    Under pressure or with few options to go forward, a pass back or sideways can be used to unbalance and disorganize the defense with the view to eventually move the ball forward at the next opportunity, WIDTH and SUPPORT from teammates can help make this happen.

DEFENDING

Defending as a team requires a lot of communication, teamwork and working as a unit. A good team spirit can get everyone working for each other and helping win the ball back!

  • You can say:

    ✅TALK TO EACH OTHER

    ✅HELP YOUR TEAMMATE

    ✅WHERE SHOULD YOU BE?

    Communication, understanding your personal role, and the team’s role in working together are key to being organized when defending.

    To be COMPACT and move as a unit takes concentration, hard work and communication. For example, the defenders need to stay close to each other, the midfielders need to go from being wide and in space in transition, to getting back and being compact. Even the striker needs to defend off the ball.

  • You can say:

    ✅HUNT LIKE WOLVES

    ✅WORK LIKE BEES

    ✅BE A WALL

    Being compact is essentially creating a block of players to stop or make it difficult for the attacking team to get closer to the goal. It means getting players in between the ball and the goal, which means moving as a whole defensive unit. The idea is to gain a numerical advantage to try and force a poor touch, pass or tackle.

    Sometimes, if the opposition is counter-attacking, the defender closest must make a decision whether to delay the attacker by PRESSURE, forcing them wide/away from the goal, or slowing them down to wait for help from teammates to ORGANIZED and COMPACT or to engage in trying to tackle right away.

  • You can say:

    ✅HUNT IN PACKS

    ✅GET CLOSE

    ✅PRESS

    You can break all of defending down into PRESSURE COVER BALANCE (PCB). It essentially means that one player provides immediate pressure to the ball, another provides cover for the pressuring defender, and the balance is other defenders who are ensuring they are COMPACT and ORGANIZED, ready to get called to action.

    The concept of PRESSURE, COVER, BALANCE:

    ✅PRESSURE - The CLOSEST player to the ball gets up close to the opposition player on the ball to force the player to:

    Slow down/delay the attack and impede their immediate forward progress

    Force a poor touch or pass to try and turn the ball over or transition

    Engage in a tackle to transition

    There are some things for players to look for as to how much to press and when to engage in a tackle - a poor first touch, a wayward pass, or when the player with the ball has their back to goal.

    ✅COVER - The SECOND CLOSEST defender gives the pressure support in case of a transition or to cover the pressing player getting beat by a dribble or intercepting a pass. This means they are COMPACT to the pressure player.

    If the team can see an opportunity to have success and get the ball back near the opposition goal they can make the decision to potentially have 2 players pressuring or covering, adding more aggressive pressure to the ball.

    ✅BALANCE- are the supporting players in other areas that are waiting in case the press and cover get beat with a dribble or pass. Ball movement and then they can engage and become pressure or cover. Even if they are away from the ball they need to be relatively COMPACT and ORGANIZED and anticipate the next move by watching the player on the ball.

    I.e. is the player getting ready for a long pass towards the opposite side of the field where the player needs to get body positioned for a through ball or to engage the wide player?

TRANSITION

Transitions are when the ball turns over from attack to defense or defense to attack. In either instance, both teams need to have speed of thought and action to transition to take advantage of the moment.

  • Transitioning from width, support and penetration to organized, compact and pressure cover and balance as quickly and efficiently as possible to win the ball back.

  • Transitioning from compact and pressure cover and balance to width, support, and penetration as quickly and efficiently as possible to get forward to the goal

KEEP IT SIMPLE

Don’t feel overwhelmed by the information - the main focus for you and the children is to be confident and allow the children to have fun and develop through play.

At this age, the concepts of team play are starting to be touched on, and if you have a basic grasp of the fundamentals of the principles, a word here or there about ‘getting compact’ in defense and ‘spreading out’ when attacking is enough to plant the seed for the team. Use the ‘You can say’ terminology in each principle.

Also, the sessions and exercises have the principles in-built into them so as long as you focus on your fun, development, and positivity, the principles will come through in the play.

This information is here to add scaffolding to the great job you’re doing!