Below you will find the pages from a playbook I made for my U13 boys. Before I begin, credit needs to be given to the following:
Integrity Soccer gave me the idea to do this from looking at their brilliant resources. They have quite a few things on their page. I wanted to do something more specific to my team. They cover a range of formations and positions. I took many ideas from them.
Coaching the 5-3-2 with a Sweeper is a book I've had in my arsenal for years. My playbook doesn't include a sweeper. Naturally one starts to occur, but it is something I have left out, and that is for two reasons; it's their first season of 11v11, and I think it might be too advanced for their understanding with everything else I am asking them to do. It's also a specialist position, and I'm still rotating them a bit. I choose three CBs, they position themselves as left, right, and centre, and as situations arise during the game, one of them will start to sweep.
Aldershot Town Youth Department as they have a vast and extensive curriculum. That's entirely their own intellectual property, just as this playbook is mine. I won't be sharing anything that is theirs. Essentially they want us to expose our kids to a whole range of formations. They have some ideas that must remain constant, such as short, fast, play, high pressure, counter-attack. Their belief is that throughout their careers, the players will work for many different coaches, who will utilise many different systems and strategies, so we best expose them at a young age to these different styles.
We started the season 4-2-3-1, which was a bit too ambitious for what we have. We began to make use of an extra body in defence, two banks of three in central areas, and two strikers providing width and depth, and better helping us shape our pressure system. We also have two flying wingers. Another reason for the formation change was that we have few proper defenders. Most players consider themselves more attacking, and are thus reluctant to go in defence. Now, occasionally in games, I'll use a midfielder that has holding qualities in the sweeper position, as it's not too dissimilar from a deep lying playmaker. The right and left wing backs can be easily convinced to take up more defensive responsibilities, simply by the way you frame their role. They are wingers, not defenders. Then you can tell them to defend as much as you want, and they'll do it, because they're a very good winger that will be helping out the defence. Defender often implies you're stuck in your own half.
The purpose of the playbook was to get the boys (and educate the parents, more on that later) to understand a new system, and one that is not common in English youth sides. It makes the most out of what we've got. We're a team just above bottom, shipping goals left, right, and centre. Results have definitely improved over the season. What's really annoying about the league we're in is that games are infrequent. These boys have a future in the game. We can't play sixteen games in nine months. Without a game each weekend, we can often forget what we were working on in the previous game as it was so long ago.
With such a playbook it gives a very clear idea, but not too in depth the players suffer from information overload, of what is expected as a team and as individuals. After being with the players for several months, we had a set of phrases that were understood and accepted, and thus the language of the text is appropriate to their intellectual level. The pictures of them and the colours of the club help to personalise it and make it more relatable to them. The pictures of top players help them to visualise the positions a bit better. The two together helps the players imagine themselves as top players.
This season I've had more or less twenty players in the squad. We started by taking eighteen to games. Too much rotation proved problematic. Now we take fifteen. That means less changing and also more fierce competition for places. Working by myself, I can't coach every single player. If the game is eighty minutes, that works out as between four and six minutes of attention each. We would do goal setting and targets, and the players would be encouraged to pick or to invent their own. With a playbook providing clear guidelines on how to play, it helps the players think in more relevant terms, and will know by which parameters they should evaluate their own performance. The playbook helps me get all this across, without having to give everyone plenty of attention, meaning they still get the information required, and will now be able to self-evaluate far more effectively.
The parent factor is a big one. A lot of dads will talk endless football to their kids. We can't stop them having conversations before the game, in the car, or back at home. What we can do is prime them so that those conversations will be more helpful and relevant. The dad may talk rubbish at the kid for an hour before the match, during breakfast and on the way there, but at least it's now in line with what I'm asking them to do. This is not applicable to all parents by any means, but plenty of dads fancy themselves as players. Some of them have justification to. They'll still want to be the big man in front of their child. They can admit that the coach may be knowledgeable or good. What they can't admit (and we all struggle with this) is that they are inferior. No kid should know more about their dad about football at the age of twelve or thirteen. By giving them this playbook, it gives them plenty to digest, and to help get the point across the the player. The parents will also be given some insight into what you're trying to do and why. People like a bit of information. They don't need to know everything, just enough to feel useful. And realistically, some of the boys may need a bit of extra help with trying to understand what is asked of them. With a knowledgeable and understanding parent, they can really help get that point across. Much like helping them with their homework.
On top of all this, people really appreciate it when you put in a bit of effort like this. When there's a loss or a mediocre training possession, or it's just one of them days, having done plenty of extra work off the field really helps to buy you some credibility as a coach and as a person. "Tonight's session wasn't great, but he's usually pretty good, and has done lots of extra stuff behind the scenes to really help the boys. You can tell he cares and that he knows what he's talking about." Absolutely do not do this just to buy credibility. Credibility is just a positive byproduct of doing your best job, and going above and beyond to help the team. That's your motivation; to improve the team. And your incentive? Not credibility. Your incentive is that you actually see it work and the team improves. That's better than any reward. If you disagree, you're perhaps not coaching for the right reasons.
This playbook was an immediate hit. I sent it out about two hours before training. In that time, parents are finishing work and kids are coming home from school. I was amazed that many of them had actually read it, some in the car on the way to training, and that one dad had even printed it off so the boy had his own copy at home. And that's my last point. Doing this won't make the players better if they don't have the motivation to become better. It's like a gym routine. You could have a personal trainer, the best equipment, and a great routine, but if you don't work hard, don't use correct technique, and don't diet right, it doesn't matter. Just because your coach has come up with the most amazing plan, that doesn't mean a thing, if you aren't willing to read it, understand it, and apply it to your game. My players had that motivation, and thus it was effective.
So buckle up and enjoy.
Liked it? Make your own using PowerPoint and Word.
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