Tiki Taka Soccer Possession Exercises: Hard Wiring the Brain to Keep the Ball in Small Spaces

Book Synopsis: When I speak about the soccer brain, I am talking about a player's ability to make intelligent, ultra-fast decisions, in real-time, during the actual game. However, making the right decision is only half the battle, the player must also possess the technical ability, to execute the proper technique at high speeds, based upon the decision. The million dollar question is, how do we as coaches, develop our players' soccer brains? I will skip the in-depth confusing scientific explanation, and stick to what I believe is the foundation of developing the soccer brain. First, train the players in small areas, forcing them to find fast solutions to keeping possession of the ball, in confined areas. Second, constantly change the small area training environments, forcing players to experience new situations in practice. Third, players must play the real game, it sounds simple, but there is no substitute for the real game. Fourth, ball mastery must be undertaken, how to do this can be the subject of much debate. I prefer not to take team training time to do this type of work, players can often work on these skills outside of training. However, some technical skills sets can be learned and improved during games, this is especially true with constraint-based training in ever-changing environments. Examples of constraint-based soccer training, that can lead to the development of unique technical & tactical skills sets, include beach soccer, futsal, cage soccer, and playing the game on different surfaces.