Vision for Winter

"In futsal, you see whether a player is really talented. You notice the small details in quality, class and tactical understanding.” - Xavi Hernandez, Barcelona legend

Our vision for winter is simple. Every player touches the ball as much as possible in practice. Our approach to this is small-sided games, 3v3 and 4v4, on a hard surface.

A hard surface forces the ball to move at a faster pace. This increases the players reaction time and thus ability on the ball. It doesn’t happen overnight and will take time, focus, and dedicated practice on the ball.

It won’t be easy at first. It will be harder. Small-sided games require the boys to keep the ball on the ground and link up with teammates to move past the defense. It requires a player to take on another player with speed and intention. And most importantly, it requires our players to have vision of the field and what’s going on at all times.

There's no lapse in concentration here. The ball and players move too quickly for there to be. The ball can switch areas of the field in a second and can switch back in another second. As a young player, we get enamored with where the ball is rather than where the space is on the field.

The way to correct this will be our biggest focus this winter: constant checks over the shoulder. Here’s a 30 second video of Xavi scanning the field. We’ll focus on this in the individual technical part of the session, in the group technical part of the session, and gameplay.

A blend of technical and tactical sessions, like we focused on in the Fall, will come back in the Spring.

When we go back to playing on grass, the ball will move slower. For our boys, the threshold of comfort will have expanded due to the pressure involved in 3v3 and 4v4 games on a hard surface. Their ability to play in tighter spaces increases, which is how Barcelona, Ajax, and Manchester City train.

The best teams train in small spaces. A player who finds comfort in these small, high intensity situations will find comfort in any situation on the field. This translates to off the field situations as well. That’s what sports can do, teach children how to become productive and extraordinary adults. It’s one of our biggest purposes at Fortress.

With a lighter training schedule for November, I expect players to train on their own at home more. Refer to the weekly skill videos I send out or the youtube channel here.

Skills Practice at Home - 15 minutes a day:

1. Wall Ball - 5 minutes

2. Pullback Turn - 5 minutes

3. Figure 8 Dribbling - 5 minutes

Michael Dardanes