Allow me to digress. (I love to digress, as I have a short attention span.)

A few years ago I worked with a coach who was on staff with the local soccer league. I spent hours with him on the sequence of training. Step by step. Part of my suggestions was to play small-sided games. I suggested playing four-on-four. I did not give an age level, I just suggested staying there most of the time.

At the end of the season we met again to recap what had been done and what needed to be done. My friend found that the coaches who had been teaching players to play three-on-three could not get to games of four to a side. Or any other size per team. They were stuck with three-on-three. What a place to be stuck. Terrible.

Three-on-three is not a good game. It gives neither width nor length. Three equidistant players looking to do something constructive. A waste of time.

Where does that leave us?

Consider the beginning and the end. If you reject the three-player option, things begin to fall in place very nicely. Try this.

Begin with the youngest players, age five, playing four-on-four because three-on-three does not work. Now go to the twelve-year-olds. They should be playing eleven to a side. With a number five ball. Now what is to be done in between these two groups? If the five-year-olds play four to a side, and the twelve-year-olds play eleven to a side, then the rest is easy to fill in.

The team is the age of the players minus one! Simple.

What is so hard about that? It fits. I do not care about keepers. This is about field players. I rolled this by several coaches of professional teams. They were not crazy about it, but agreed that it would work, from top to bottom.

I am not that crazy about it myself, but for a rule of thumb, it works. That is the main point. It works. It is easy. Give it a try. Try small balls and begin without keepers to make it work. (Sound familiar?)

The process can be staggered for every other year. But also remember to give the teams a fixed formation. That is most important. With seven field players, use the three-two-two formation. That is, three defenders, two midfielders and two attackers. Keep the shape, as they say.

Now how about games during practice. That is a horse with a different tail.

I like four to a side. The major reason is that all the principle of attack and defense can be taught with this formation. Depth, width, and all the rest can be taught. Attacking players can be taught ball control and support. The defenders can be taught to mark and cover.

A final thought. Small games give players more touches of the ball for a given amount of time. It forces better ball skills, conditioning and basic teamwork. (Working together.) Play small games, but not too small.

Alan Maher
Sunshine Square