With Director Joe Smith
At SCA you will notice staff are really proactive around one of our guiding principles which is ‘staying on the ball.’
‘Staying on the ball’ shouldn’t be confused with not passing the ball or refusing to lend the ball. This can at times be some of the hardest messaging to hear as we operate within such a team orientated sport and industry.
This is where coaching craft and correct intervention is crucial from staff to either stand back and allow it to flourish as often players will figure it out or knowing when to support through various means.
Below I have shared three examples of different variations of staying on the ball and why we want it to be prevalent within our players.
If our players continue to hide the ball from opponents and develop their twists and turns as well as their evasion skills it sets them up for the ability to navigate through difficult problems that arise during play.
What I hope you can identify is staying on the ball looks different for different players per their characteristics. I have used these three examples I have seen this prevalent across the NWSL and The MLS this season also. What is crucial to recognize is these players wouldn’t have developed these abilities by kicking the ball away or being told to play off two touches always. Aesthetically these may look ‘prettier’ but at its core it can leave players with the inability to solve the problem that is being presented.
John Stones:
What you will see here from John Stones is he uses bigger chops and feints his touches are not as close to the body. You will notice when he wins the ball, he will offload often with around the corner front foot pass with his bodyweight going one way and the ball the other.
Sergio Busquets:
Busquets is characterized more by quick stop starts and combinations. He lures opponents into the duel by slowing down and using his sole to roll away from the pressure.
Jeremy Doku:
Doku is extremely evasive and able to gain huge amounts of acceleration over short spaces. He uses small touches typically within the inside of his big toe or points his toe down to skip and then changes speed dramatically. This is what I think many people consider a typical dribbler or someone staying on the ball.