You can’t backpass to goalies in youth soccer?
You can back pass but the goalie can’t pick up the ball after receiving a back pass at any level of soccer. That’s been the case since the 1990s.
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This was my oldest son. Not sure in youth soccer but I dont think so
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I just called one last week… since they are indirect like @DavetheWave said… they are actually super hard to score on. Especially at the youth level where there is not very structured organization.
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Huh, I never realized that. Younger daughter had never played soccer but her friends were playing so she tried out and won the starting JV goalie job her freshman year (until she got a whopper of a concussion, knee to the head diving for a ball). I thought I remembered her picking up backpasses fairly often (she’d have had no idea it was a problem). I might be misremembering but the officiating was pretty spotty so maybe not.
It used to be legal… the rule changed about 40 years ago, give or take.
The issue was defenses would use it like the UNC 4-corners back in the day to run games out.
- Step 1 - left back to goalie… goalie picks it up… bounces it a few times… rolls to right back
- Step 2- right back to goalie… goalie picks it up… bounces it a few times… rolls to left back
- Go to Step 1.
This was the last 5 - 10 minutes of every game for the leading team before the rule was changed.
Without the goalkeeper allowed to pick it up, defenses could pressure it… where when the goalkeeper can pick it up, you’re not allowed to touch the goalkeeper when he has the ball in his hands (similar to the QB in the NFL… those porcelain gods. LOL!)… speeds up the game a bit and makes the ends of games more competitive.
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Hey now!!! lol … the main reason our teams do well is we play against more chaotically coached teams.
Main reason I started coaching a sport I never played is it drove me crazy watching my kids play bumblebee soccer (everyone buzzing around the ball) with very little organization, and then watching the coach give corner kicks to the defense.
It’s just a fact… honestly most of the village teams have a play designed for it… where the youth teams do not. It comes down to how much they practice…
As for organization… it’s tough when 1/3 of your teams gets everything you are saying, 1/3 are athletic but can’t concentrate on our instructions and 1/3 would rather be reciting poetry rather than play soccer.
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Also depends on what area you are and at what age they start enforcing it.
Here in North Carolina - 6U can back pass, and some 7U/8U - depending on the league.
That’s where it ends.
Of course I’ve seen my share of back passes in 6U that end in own goals, so almost all coaches don’t do it at that age anyway.
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Or watching the airplane fly by or saying hi to grandpa in the middle of a game. Actually had a few kids at 5 and 6U go give hugs to families while play was going on and they were supposed to be on the field.
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The goalie picking up off a direct played back pass from his/her own player became illegal after the European Championship in 1992… 31 years… I was close at 40 years I guess…
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1992 was over 30 years ago? How is that possible
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A solid view of what Matt Damon looks nowadays… LOL!
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Dave, since you coach multiple youth sports, what is your opinion on what the focus should be at young ages? USA hockey has strongly de-emphasized games and teaching systems or strategy until about 10 years old. They want under 10 to be all about skill development, small area games, and having fun.
Basically trying to get kids to mimic futsal in a different game. There seems to be a significant online contingent that advocates a similar approach in other skilled sports like soccer, basketball, and lacrosse
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Good question…
Currently I am coaching 3 teams: 12U, 10U and 8U boys soccer. I will be coaching 10U basketball coming up as well.
I think it really depends on the league and team and expectations for each kid along with differing athletic ability, focus, desire, etc.
For fall Rec soccer, I get the kids for 2-3 hours a week (including games) for about 10 weeks. If we have a game then we only have one practice that week.
Before the 1st game we go 2x a week practices. So I have a very finite window for teaching and coaching.
Same timeframe for spring season.
I usually start the season with 5-7 basic skill development drills that can easily be replicated at home for those who want to do homework. And then I post videos of those drills in our team app and add to the library every 7-10 days or so in order for parents to know what I want them working on.
But most practices are 70% team concepts and drilling on what to do when, in what situations and then executing on those for stretches. Once games start - we actually spend very little time on individual skill work except passing and shooting within the confines of teamwork.
We do a lot of 5 on 5 and 3on 3 stuff to teach quick decisions and sharp execution. But we also do a lot of full formation stuff (at least 60% of time I have).
8U is 7 v 7, 10U is 9 v. 9 and 12U is 11 v. 11.
When i get kids for the first time (and I have 3 first timers on 8U, 4 first timers on 10U and 4 first timers on 12U), a lot of them have zero grasp of team concepts. So I have to make sure to work extra hard with them on that aspect and let them know how fast they improve individually is largely on them away from practice at home. And I’ve seen my share of kids who greatly improve just in a 10 week span and others who don’t. Some of it is genes, but a lot of it is time spent with a soccer ball weekly.
The ones I get to keep over the course of multiple seasons … I hope to instill joy in the game and a desire for them to take it up notches and gears each week we’re together.
Continued…
I’ve heard so many stories from parents that their kid stopped playing because coaches were too harsh at an early age or didn’t make it fun… which could be things like getting to only play fullback or goalkeeper etc.
The sheer look of joy on the face of my backup goalie last night when he scored as I had him at striker for 15 minutes… and the same look of joy when I put my 2nd best defender at striker for a bit and he scored … and it opened my eyes to the fact that he has some moves in tight spaces - so gives me options to play with lineups.
I also try to never yell at a kid for yelling sake … it needs to be instructional every time and if there needs to be correction try to do it on the sideline when they are out.
And I do a lot more instruction and coaching during practice than in the games. I wan t them to try to figure stuff out in games for the most part. Of course I’ll usually provide the scouting report before a game if I know the other team.
This approach seems to work well … we’ve probably had at least 20 kids over 5 years that started with us in Rec and have made club/travel teams now. Some still play both until they’re about 14, but I’ve lost/advanced my share of them off my teams to simply play travel ball.
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That’s a great question. From a rugby standpoint which share a similarity to soccer in that it’s typically not American’s first sport. For the last 10-15 years the focus for youth U12 and bellow has been like what you said, small sided games working on special awareness and creating decision making opportunities in a controlled game setting. That is coupled with the basic skill building. But the emphasis is absolutely games games games and encouraging them to explore.
Systems and specific skill development begin once they reach that U14ish level and above.
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Tell em to go play pickup. You learn everything playing pick up when you are young. Then do summer camps with no parents. Let HS or college coaches and players teach them
I will say as far as hockey goes I have no clue. Maybe a skating rink that does reverse skate every half hour…
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Wish they could … but so little opportunity to do that these days - unless it’s at recess at school… especially for kids under 9 or 10.
Maybe I could add a few play only practices where we divide em up and just let em play with no coaching.
Yea I just mean in general. When you coach a team thats different
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This reminded me of one of my favorite articles on coaching. My son had the old swim coach mentioned in the article. Kids revered him and wanted to impress him.
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