Player Development

Your son's improvement as a soccer player, is the primary focus of the Knight's coaching staff. Here is what you should expect:

• Focus on technical skills - Focus on technical skills - The Knights coaching staff keeps the ball at the player's feet. Repetition and time on the ball is critical at this age - footskills, 1st touch, changes of direction, passing, 1v1 skills... At each practice we strive for each player to maximize touches on the ball. As a result, you won't see the Knights coaches burning practice after practice working on set plays, and other tactical concepts that are more appropriate for older age groups, after a solid technical foundation should have already been built.

• Playing multiple positions - While it is certainly tempting for youth coaches to keep players in their "best" position all the time, this behavior is detrimental to the child's development as a soccer player because it does not provide the player with the opportunity to solve soccer problems that are presented through exposure to other situations in different parts of the field. Without this foundation, players in their later years will have more difficulty adapting as the game becomes more fluid and positioning becomes more dynamic. You can expect your child to play multiple positions throughout the season so that they develop into a "soccer player" instead of a "forward", a "midfielder" or a "defender".

• Economical Practices - The Knights coaching staff develops economical practice plans, meaning training exercises incorporate skills from the technical, physical, tactical, and psychological aspects of the game. As a result, Knights practices are challenging learning experiences and are more fun because they incorporate a variety of skills.

• Attacking/Defending as a team - You'll notice that many travel teams at this age group play with 2 or 3 defenders back, packed into the defensive third, and completely uninvolved with the attack. While this defensive posture may prevent more goals in the short run, it reinforces poor habits by encouraging players not to run, not to move off the ball, and not to get forward to support the attack. These habits are difficult to break in the later years. The Knights are expected to attack and defend as a team - which means that we run relentlessly, our defenders and midfields support the attack, and our forwards track back to become the first line of defense.

• Possession game - The Knights are learning to play a high-possession, build-from-the-back style of soccer vs. route 1 kickball. This style of soccer puts a premium on footskills, passing, vision, and communication vs. sheer speed and athleticism. Why is this important? - Because we are striving to build a strong technical foundation for each child that will enable them to continue playing competitively in the future. As the team progresses to the U12 level and beyond, skill and creativity become increasingly important. By the time the boys start playing 11v11 soccer, they had better have a strong foundation in soccer skills, because at that level athleticism (while always encouraged) will no longer be enough to overcome the skill deficit.