Tika taka footy for kids

[Shrimp and two veg]

Hi, i run a team of eight-year olds in a 7-a-side league. After watching years of Spanish style football take over the world nationally and Barcelona at club level, i have decided i want to teach my kids this style. For the past 4 months we have worked on simple passing and control, our first season playing other clubs in exhibition football has passed and we now enter our league proper. I am aware of the style of "tika taka", to play a possession game and the movement of so many players is such that they are not given just one position.

We play 'keeper, sweeper and centre-back in front. The centre-back moves left and right while the sweeper tries not to get drawn out from the middle. Then we have 4 players in front of those, we label them midfielders/ attackers as they can move and swap around from midfield to striking positions as freely as the game allows. When we haven't got the ball then they drop back. They have carte blanche when we have possession and although we are not showing it in our games yet, the idea will be to keep the ball and not let the other team have it. The reason we have 4 roamers is so that they are never too far away from a simple pass. They have been told to look at holes in the opposition and move the ball through them.


Results in the few games we have played, tournys and friendlies, have differed. But i will not be swayed under pressure from not winning every game andi look to the long term, trying to create a team of "superkids". Last season they played a simple 2-2-2 system.


What i am interested in, is how would you teach kids of that age to play the Spanish way? What very good training modules would be good to learn? Last year they were taught to be competitive and they are a very tough team with a few big lads. But i can see the change in their touch and passing in just a few months. It's how i progress them as the new season starts now. Any help taken on board.


Sean (shrimp&2veg from yesteryears)

 

[Prodigal Son]

I've studied the mini-soccer scene, don't overcomplicate it, two-touch in training, short corners, block their corners.
too many coaches think they Arsene/Jose/etc. Let the kids play, it's a simple game.

Parents are results driven, that will play a factor.

I'm now onto 11 a side, alot try to play like Barcelona, who were years in the making. I also believe that defending/tackling are also a much needed skill, some view that as negative.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

I think one of the main things I would try and teach is how to receive a pass.

First you move into space
Then when someone passes to you, they need to figure out where they are going to go once they have the ball (ie pass left or pass back etc)
Then they need to reposition the body so they are ready to do that (eg instead of facing passer, turn 90 degrees)
Then they need to control the ball

It's a shame he's gone as Kane was very good at that and would have been a good player to watch to learn from.

Best way I'd have thought to practice that would be lots of little drills, 3 v 4s piggy in the middle type of things, trying to make it more exciting by making it a competition to see who can hold onto the ball for the longest.

 

[steveo]

I took charge of my sons team the first season that mini soccer was played.
Not wanting my boys to get hammered, we lined up in a 3-2-1 formation. As I’m sure you know at that age the kids tend to stand in their position. The manager of the other team didn’t want his team to get hammered so he lined up with the exact same formation.
Needless to say we fought out an extremely dull 0-0 draw.

As far as training goes we tried to make them think all the time. Two touch is great but add variations, e.g if you let the ball stop it’s a free kick to the other team.
When the two touch is working well, switch to one touch for 5 minutes. When you go back to two touch they are a lot more comfortable.

Few other things to try:
Every player has to touch the ball before they can score.
Only one nominated player can score so they have to try and get the ball to him.
Each man is matched with an opponent. IIf your man scores you have to run a lap of the pitch. If they are thinking properly, this puts one team a man up so hopefully they use that advantage to score again.

 

[united we stand]

Hi, i run a team of eight-year olds in a 7-a-side league. After watching years of Spanish style football take over the world nationally and Barcelona at club level, i have decided i want to teach my kids this style. For the past 4 months we have worked on simple passing and control, our first season playing other clubs in exhibition football has passed and we now enter our league proper. I am aware of the style of "tika taka", to play a possession game and the movement of so many players is such that they are not given just one position.

We play 'keeper, sweeper and centre-back in front. The centre-back moves left and right while the sweeper tries not to get drawn out from the middle. Then we have 4 players in front of those, we label them midfielders/ attackers as they can move and swap around from midfield to striking positions as freely as the game allows. When we haven't got the ball then they drop back. They have carte blanche when we have possession and although we are not showing it in our games yet, the idea will be to keep the ball and not let the other team have it. The reason we have 4 roamers is so that they are never too far away from a simple pass. They have been told to look at holes in the opposition and move the ball through them.


Results in the few games we have played, tournys and friendlies, have differed. But i will not be swayed under pressure from not winning every game andi look to the long term, trying to create a team of "superkids". Last season they played a simple 2-2-2 system.


What i am interested in, is how would you teach kids of that age to play the Spanish way? What very good training modules would be good to learn? Last year they were taught to be competitive and they are a very tough team with a few big lads. But i can see the change in their touch and passing in just a few months. It's how i progress them as the new season starts now. Any help taken on board.


Sean (shrimp&2veg from yesteryears)

I have managed a team from U8's to U13's. I agree with what you are trying to install , and this will be made easier(in theroy) by your age group now being non-competiitive by the league. HOWEVER the most important thing IMO is that you make it clear to the parents and kids,( especially the parents) what you are trying to acheive. Unfortuantely too many parents/grandparents are results driven. The first question most grandparents ask is 'did you win' not 'did you have fun' or 'did you have a good game' . With this pressure they will enjoy themselves less if they are not winning- and this gets far worse as they get older. Without pressure on them they enjoy themselves far more,learn more, try new things and become better players. You can be the best coach out there, but without the parents on board you will never acheive as much as maybe you could off

good luck for the future

 

[Berrichonne shrimper]

Best thing you can do is arrange a stay at a football camp where you the kids and parents are coached by pros,we did Bobby Charlton soccer school in manchester,great trip and all concerned ;learned a lot.

 

[MK Shrimper]

Hoof it upfield to the big lad up front. (C) Paul "Luggy Cluniemore I'm a Wee Birdie" Sturrock 1985.

 

[Shrimp and two veg]

Some interesting replies, thanks lads, i'll be implementing those in training i reckon. A couple of us know Tilly and with any luck he'll walk down the road to our training too, we live in hope having asked him ! United We Stand, i know where you're coming from regards parents being results driven, i can only hope they see the light and follow it. I want to say in a few years that i stuck to my guns and now look what we have produced, let's see. It is a technical way of bringing the kids through, even though it all looks so simple. But then football is simple, isn't it ?

 

[Mad Cyril]

I'm looking for somewhere that will teach my son long ball rubbish.

 

[Mad Cyril]

I'm looking for somewhere that will teach my son long ball rubbish.

I hate seeing kids in Barcelona shirts almost as much as I hate seeing kids and shaven headed fat blokes in West Ham shirts.

 

[Davros]

i think the main thing that everyone in football needs to do is enjoy themselves more, its a simple and effective theory, but you get more out of your players, win, lose or draw if people are actually enjoying what they do

 

[Smiffy]

Hi, i run a team of eight-year olds in a 7-a-side league. After watching years of Spanish style football take over the world nationally and Barcelona at club level, i have decided i want to teach my kids this style. For the past 4 months we have worked on simple passing and control, our first season playing other clubs in exhibition football has passed and we now enter our league proper. I am aware of the style of "tika taka", to play a possession game and the movement of so many players is such that they are not given just one position.

We play 'keeper, sweeper and centre-back in front. The centre-back moves left and right while the sweeper tries not to get drawn out from the middle. Then we have 4 players in front of those, we label them midfielders/ attackers as they can move and swap around from midfield to striking positions as freely as the game allows. When we haven't got the ball then they drop back. They have carte blanche when we have possession and although we are not showing it in our games yet, the idea will be to keep the ball and not let the other team have it. The reason we have 4 roamers is so that they are never too far away from a simple pass. They have been told to look at holes in the opposition and move the ball through them.


Results in the few games we have played, tournys and friendlies, have differed. But i will not be swayed under pressure from not winning every game andi look to the long term, trying to create a team of "superkids". Last season they played a simple 2-2-2 system.


What i am interested in, is how would you teach kids of that age to play the Spanish way? What very good training modules would be good to learn? Last year they were taught to be competitive and they are a very tough team with a few big lads. But i can see the change in their touch and passing in just a few months. It's how i progress them as the new season starts now. Any help taken on board.


Sean (shrimp&2veg from yesteryears)

Sean,

Out of interest what team are you coaching?

I only ask as I am the manager at Southend Manor U8 Lions.

We are very much in the same boat. Last season was all about teaching them the basics. But this season we are teaching them to improve on their first touch, find space, plenty of talking, get their heads up and pick a pass in between the defenders.

In training we always play 2 v 2 "two touch" games, in a very small square. Just to get them used to finding space, talking and having a killer first touch. We then progress this into a proper training game environment, usually 5 v 5 but again using the "two touch" rule. It is taking them a while to get used to it, but we are now starting to see the boys get the ball out of their feet, get their head up and send a killer pass between the back line for our wide men to run on to.

But at this age as I'm sure you know yourself, If you have a team of big, strong lads. Then that is a big advantage to have. But even with them, perhaps even more so, you need to get them up to speed with the pass and move theory. As they won't be able to bully their way through games for much longer. And will come up short when you get into the Junior leagues, where the boys are obviously much better technically.

Good luck with it all mate. And perhaps we may meet one day!

 

[sidekick_simon]

I am another Tika Taka fan and run a U10 team. Resultswise we struggle but techniquewise we are better than a lot of teams. Slowly I am starting to see progress and the players are thinking along the same lines.

Sean, I play a small sided game (no goals) where you only score a point if you :

- do a 1-2
- beat a player with skill
- 5 passes in a row as a team
- pass to a team mate on oppositions goal line. Reciever has to control ball by stopping it with foot on top.

You could vary the above. Im going to do it so u can only score with 1-2's as this is perfect for Tika Taka (Support Play).

Good luck.............oh and if you are on twitter follow @eyfutsal where I am going to run some Youth Futsal (Tika Taka foundations)

 

[Beefy]

We are very much in the same boat. Last season was all about teaching them the basics. But this season we are teaching them to improve on their first touch, find space, plenty of talking, get their heads up and pick a pass in between the defenders.

Have you considered occasionally not playing football for the odd session? From what I gather quite a few youth teams on the Continent play a fair bit of handball in training because it teaches the importance of finding space, picking a pass and breaking at speed.