My game plan was being wrecked

by a 10-year-old tornado - with blonde pigtails.

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Winning the soccer game was not the most important result I wanted that day. And Courtney, having just scored her 3rd goal in the 1st half of the game, was not making it any easier for me, or the team.

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You may have seen this too.  On sunny Saturday mornings on youth soccer fields across the country - there is that one player who - once the soccer ball is at their feet - tries to outmaneuver all of the other players on the field to score a goal and get all the glory.

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Unfortunately, this is more the rule than the exception. And it would be fine if soccer were an individual sport - but it’s not. 

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As a former player - I know talented kids who develop this bad habit when they're young struggle with teamwork as they advance to more competitive levels.

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And as a coach - I know one of the most difficult skills to teach young soccer players is teamwork.  Courtney had talent, but she was not learning how to be a team player.

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I knew that I needed to make some changes.

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So, I developed a simple drill we used at practice - and sometimes during games when the score was getting a little lopsided.

 

The drill is simple but - the results are profound.

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I divided the girls into teams of 4 to 5 players each.  For this drill - called "All Touch" - if a team scored a goal before all of the other players on the same team touched the ball, the goal would be counted for the opposite team.

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This drill engaged all the players on the field.  It also created just the right amount of movement and passing to make scrimmages and practices fun while teaching valuable teamwork skills to the girls.

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And the girls learned sportsmanship too.  On Saturdays - when our team was ahead by two or more goals - I told the girls to play “All Touch” before they were allowed to try to score another goal. 

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The girls were learning to play soccer as a team.

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And as for Courtney...

 

... she made the all star team that year - because the All-Star coach was looking for team players - who could score.

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