The Soccer Helper - Small Sided Games

Small Sided Games

Small sided games are the back bone of developing fundamental concepts of the game
They are a must for the major part of your coaching sessions.  Sure you need to do some drills in isolation to ensure that players are technically able to play, but the vast majority of learning comes from small sided games. 

What is a Small Sided Game

Small sided games should be either 3v3 or 4v4 and the rules or conditions adapted to suit a particular theme that is being coached.  Sometimes you may have an odd number of players, so it may be necessary to make one player an all time attacker.   Ie One player is always on the team with the ball

Better for the players

Small sided games give the players the opportunity to explore and discover how to play soccer in a simple environment, whilst still needing to observe and react to the 3 main parts of soccer

1. When the have the ball (attacking).
2. When the opposition team has the ball (defending).
3. When the ball changes from one team to the other team (transition),

Small sided games will ensure that all players are involved and engaged in the game, and so will ensure better participation and learning for players

Better for the coach

Because of the simple nature of small sided games, the coach will find it far easier to analyze the game and players performance, making it an easier task to observe and make corrections where necessary.

The standard game

The format for the standard game will teach many aspects of the game.  When playing 4v4, players will quickly discover that a diamond shape works well, and that they need to work well as team, offering good supporting angles and distances when attacking and defending.

The basic rules are

• No goal keepers
• There are no thow ins, so when the ball goes out over the sideline, play is restarted with a kickn. The kick can not go directly into the goal, the player may also dribble the ball in.
  
• There are no corner kicks.  When the ball goes out over the end line, it is put back into play either by dribbling or kicking the ball back into the playing area.
• After a goal has been scored, it is put back into play by either dribbling or passing from the end line.
  
• Kick offs that begin each period of play are taken from the approximate center of the field.
  
• Players can score from anywhere on the field (unless you have modified the rules to emphasise a concept)
• All fouls are penalized with an indirect free kick. The opponent must be three yards away from the ball at the time of the kick.
  

What Can be taught using Small Sided Games

By simple adjustments of the rules or conditions, many different aspects of the game can be taught using Small Sided Games.
The following are examples of field settings that will encourage certain aspects of the game.  It is not hard to think of ways to modify the rules to encourage certain aspects of the game

• Make the game 2 or 3 touch to encourage good support from attackers, which forces the defenders to support effectively
• Make goals scored by dribbling the ball through a goal instead of passing the ball
• Make goals only be scored from headers to encourage lofed passes

Switching Play

Passing and receiving

Passing the ball forward