A Solid Foundation is Key to Success in Sports

Parents will often approach me and ask what their son/daughter can do to get better at sports. Success in sports requires proficiency and eventually mastery of 3 main skills:

1.       Sport-Specific Technical Skills

2.       Athleticism

3.       Tactical Understanding/IQ

Of course, there are other elements at play, but the systematic development of these three skills will drive a player’s success in sports.

In this country, I don’t think we do a particularly great job developing any of these skills at our youth levels. I’m going to use soccer as an example because it’s the sport I’m most comfortable with, but the concepts apply to all team-sports.

If we want to develop mastery of these three skills, we must start by building a strong foundation.

For technical skills, this means starting with mastery on the ball. Young kids should spend the majority of practice with a ball on their foot. The more touches they get at an early age, the more comfortable they will get, the more confident they will become, and the more success they will have as they grow and develop higher-level skills.

For athletic skills, our focus should be on developing fundamental movement skills through play. With early specialization running rampant and physical education continuing to be cut from schools, this responsibility now falls on the sport-coach. Every practice, kids should be jumping, skipping, hoping, crawling, balancing, rolling, and developing the foundational skills they will need to have future sporting success.

Lastly, tactical skill development comes down to practice design. Drills should be designed in ways where kids develop foundational tactical skills while developing their fundamental technical skills. For example, simply having players dribble in space while playing red light/green light rather than dribbling through cones will teach players how to find open space, become aware of their surroundings, and react to a constantly changing environment, just like they will have to in the game.

If you are a parent who is coaching your child’s soccer team, and would like help designing impactful practices that will build a strong foundation for the players, email us and we’ll set up a time to chat.