The question of aggressive play and teaching players about the subject is not as simple as one may think. As a coach with years of exposure to baby boomers, X generation and Y generation and who knows how many others, I found that aggressive play comes from a myriad or sources. Environment, number of siblings, single parent, ethnic background and much more may contribute to the aggressive nature of the player. The key word being "may".
I have never taught aggressive play but I have set training conditions that inserted aggressive play into the session. One of the games we play is called "War". OK don't start yelling at me yet. Use your own term.
Basically we play 6,7 or eight a side without rules. Players are encouraged to hold, grab and use their hands and body to disrupt the game. Anything goes that is not violent. The purpose is not to teach them to hold a player but how to handle a player that does. Because of the multitude of personalities of a team I do not think teaching a player to be aggressive or to push and hold is wise. Girls do not take well to aggressive play against their own team mates and unless you have them for several years and convince them that playing aggressively against a team mate will make their team mate better you are wasting your time.
Teaching them to play while getting held and getting pushed works much better.
Girls that learn to play with older brothers are generally more aggressive in their play and playing boys teams (an age group younger) exposes the girls to the aggressive style of the boys game. I would never make a habit of it but once a season is a good divergence from the normal training pattern.
Using your shoulder to push a player off the ball or to give yourself space is a good tactic. Maintaining the fine line of fair or foul is the difficult training issue. I like to train a player to be able to dribble in a maze while a team mate uses her shoulder to keep her from doing the task. Once this is established with some consistency and players are confident in holding a ball under pressure we can start to teach how to use a player that likes to hold and push against them. As in many self defense disciplines using the opponent's aggressive moves against them is most useful.
With a player playing with her back to the goal and with a defender holding and pushing from behind we ask the player on the ball to find ways to turn on that defender and to use the defenders aggressiveness to get them out of position so that the attacker can either make space for a shot of to lay the ball of into a space she created for a team mates shot. Back heel passes and third man runs off an overly aggressive defender can be very constructive.
The more confidence a player has the easier it is to play with aggression that is constructive. Learning when to tackle thru a ball and when to block tackle allows for a player to play aggressively but in control.
A difficult training issue occurs when players are being pressured by an aggressive opponent It is the ability of the player to assimilate the condition and adjust her play to the conditions at hand. Players need to understand the conditions the game in which they are playing is demanding of them and to adjust their play within the rules of the game and the administrator (referee) of the game accordingly.
Lastly, the age of the player must be taken into any training or methodology being conducted by the coach. Age appropriate training is a must when training to adapt aggressive play into the game as a constructive part of the game and not a destructive part.
The more confident a player becomes in their ability to control the situation they are in, the less physically aggressive play from that player will be noted. Diego Maradona was in my opinion one of the more aggressive players I have observed playing. Yet he was magic on the ball. His aggressive style was masked by his beauty with the ball. Very few people ever commented on his tackles to win a ball, or his use of his body (all parts) to create the space he needed to succeed.
