Awareness Training Sessions

By: Wayne Harrison

Provided by: Amplified Soccer

At these young ages, players must focus on many touches on the ball to get great at their technical ability, a great first touch brilliant dribbling and turning moves and passing technique.

When we begin to get them comfortable on the ball, we can then address what later become the most important aspect of the game to teach; soccer awareness training for the "thinking part" of the game.

Much of soccer awareness involves playing one touch to teach each player a one touch mentality. It is not to exclusively teach players to just play one touch.

The following describes what one touch teaches in the long term:

FOCUSING ON ONE TOUCH TRAINING TO DEVELOP THE MIND

So, what does one touch play help to teach?

Not just one touch; that is for sure.

For the individual receiving player it teaches:

1. Quicker Thinking: The game is getting much faster, so players need to think much more quickly to be able to cope with this increase in pace; which means they have less time to make decisions. So...1-touch creates "quicker thinking players."
2. Body and Foot Preparation: One touch means getting the body / feet into appropriate position to receive. So...1-touch develops body positional awareness (e.g. may need to let ball "run across the body" to "save" the touch).
3. Quicker Play: The game is getting faster, so players have less time on the ball so a natural progression to cope with this is to use fewer touches of it. This means using one touch more; and acting more quickly particularly in tight situations; hence observation BEFORE receiving the ball is a necessity. One touch play forces the player to do this if they want to be successful. This means "LOOKING BEFORE RECEIVING THE BALL, ASSESSING OPTIONS EARLY." It requires a look over the shoulder, to the sides and behind the player; BEFORE RECEIVING THE BALL.
4. Improved TECHNIQUE: One touch demands / promotes technical excellence when distributing passes (using 1-touch) received in the air (foot, thigh, chest, head) It also improves the first touch by lots of practice relying just on it. Improves and speeds up the SKILL Factor: This is "decision making" awareness "when and where" situational play. Skill is the end product of technique, the how, why, when and where of the technique.
5. Faster Ball Movement: The ball is moving faster too; as well as the players move faster which suggests quicker passing sequences. So, faster ball movement, faster running of the players; quicker closing down by opponent's means everything is quicker; so, thinking and decision making has to match this. Hence being very good and successful at one touch play is an essential part of a modern-day player's makeup.
6. Limited Space Possession and Tight Situational Play: One touch teaches players how to maintain possession in tight spaces or when closely marked:
7. Ball Mastery: One touch requires players to demonstrate ball mastery when receiving (cushion pass to teammate in close support vs. hard pass to teammate supporting at a distance) So...1-touch teaches players how to correctly "weight" their passes.
8. Fitness: More frequent and quicker movement off the ball means players have to work harder to support the player on the ball as they have little time with it and need instant help. If the ball is being passed consistently by one touch then the ball is traveling faster and more frequently so the players have to work just as quickly and frequently off the ball to cope with this and maintain possession of the ball; thus it improves specific football fitness.
9. Time Management: One touch play means thinking quickly identifying options early so this in many instances can give the player more time on the ball because they have already seen where the space is to play before they have received the ball. So, it creates Time on the ball to allow for more touches; if needed; by identifying options earlier.
10. Identification of Players and Space: It offers the means to a faster identification of players positions; both teammates and opponents. Offers the means to a faster identification of when and where to pass to feet or to space and where the space or player is to pass to.
11. On the Ground Patterns of Play: One touch encourages passing on the ground to maintain possession, so it is easier for the next player to control the ball.

For the Attacking Team:

1. Movements OFF the Ball: Training with one touch means the player receiving the ball has to move it on quickly therefore players have to move OFF the ball more quickly to help support the player receiving it. This is a VERY IMPORTANT aspect of one touch training as it involves all the other players off the ball and their positioning to help the player on the ball, preferably before they receive it so it can happen more quickly.
2. Style of Play: Encourages a fluid, attractive style of play and develops a good tempo / speed of play.
3. Combination Play: Encourages combination play (wall-passes, set-up passes, third man runs). There is no better play than a give and go one touch pass combination to beat defenders, so it is difficult to defend against, especially in and around the attacking third / penalty area when quick play is applied.
4. Aesthetic Effect: Is "pleasing to the eye" (Arsenal / Barcelona / Manchester United).
5. Counter Attacking Play: Useful when teaching the counter-attack as fewer touches means the ball travels' faster.
6. Ultimately: One touch play is designed to improve the player's first touch in the redirection of the ball, to help players identify their options before they receive the ball, and thus know which option next is best. This next option may not be a one touch pass in the actual game situation but may be a dribble with many touches, a turn, a run with the ball, a cross; a pass or a shot. By learning one touch passing, which to be successful needs the player to be able to identify options before receiving the ball; the players develop an awareness of many things including teammates positions, opponents' positions, where the space to play to is etc. One touch is challenging mentally, physically, technically and tactically.
7. Better players will thrive on "one touch sessions" and rise to the challenge of it.
8. Facts: Statistics show that 1 touch play is a significant factor in the build up to scoring goals, for example; goals scored by Manchester United from one touch build up play was almost 50% last season. So now without Ronaldo; who was a great dribbler; and so had lots of touches on the ball when creating and scoring goals, and was the heart of the team having much possession of the ball, you could theorize that this percentage should rise, perhaps significantly; with the current players making one touch play even more significant in their development of play and also in your training.
9. Scoring Goals: 70% of all goals are one touch finishes.
10. Defending Team Shape: It may be compromised because of the speed of play. Defenders can't slide, drop; press etc. in time to create defensive blocks. And this creates frustration because defenders always seem to be reacting to the ball's rapid movement often one step too late because of the speed of play. Thus, it offers less time for defenders to close you down. It moves players around (because it is physically demanding thus it creates gaps to play in / through).