To Dribble, or not to Dribble?

TO DRIBBLE, OR NOT TO DRIBBLE?

Football has its fashions. At the moment it seems that quick, short, passes, moving the opposition out of position, is the desired way for most teams to play. Due to this, we quite often hear players and parents telling players to 'pass the ball!'.

Now, we definitely want players to pass the ball at the right times, but it is incredibly important not to discourage the dribble. It is a part of the game that is very important and it will always have a place within football.

I like to have players dribbling with the ball as much as possible, giving them confidence and the practice of being under pressure, while in possession of the ball. Dribblers develop creativity, quick thinking under pressure, and great skill on the ball. Sometimes, though, this can come at a detriment to their awareness. We should improve this awareness through coaching, but not through discouraging the dribble.

There is a tendancy, at the moment, to look at dribbling as a skill that is negative. We can assume that dribbling stops others getting on the ball; and dilutes the teamwork side of the game while creating selfish and individual players. In some cases, this may be true. We might have players who want the glory, who love dribbling around five opponents and then scoring.

But, is that a bad thing?

In youth football, the priority should be to have the child/player develop as much as possible. The more touches we take on the ball, the better we will become. Therefore, encouraging dribbling actually adds to the player's skill set and provides an exciting dynamic to their game. Possession-based drills are great. We need players to realise how to play in a whole range of situations, but if we are continuously discouraging dribblers, telling them to pass, then are we all not developing players who play in a similar way?

Personally, I don't want every player to be like a midfielder. I love to see creators, dribblers, finishers, and also those midfielders who can control the game. Limiting players' touches on the ball, in training sessions and games, limits their learning and development and can make us all possessionbased. Dribbling is something so exciting, getting supporters on their feet, it will soon come back into footballing fashion, but, if we are coaching just passers, will we have the players of the right ability to dribble past their opponent?

Personally, I think we should let players dribble as much as they like, especially up until the age of 11, at which age we should be coaching more structured ideas and points. But, the more dribbling we allow, the better players we will develop.

By allowing players to dribble, we are giving players the freedom to express themselves. By doing this we are able to see different characteristics and traits in their game that we may not have seen before, especially if we just focused on a passing style.

Personally, I would much rather see young players figure out their own style of play, allowing us as coaches to get an idea of their strengths and what they enjoy. If we dictate a style of play, then we may be limiting their ability.

Can we let the children play, encouraging dribblers, creative players and exciting plays. Limiting touches can, in some cases - not all, but in some - cause players to miss out on their development.

Let them dribble as much as they can, applaud the risk taking in the final third of the pitch and encourage players to take on their opponent.

Dribbling, and keeping the ball away from an opponent, is a vital skill that can be quite frequently overlooked. There has been a shift from developing dribblers to developing passers. Let's not focus on one more than the other, but allow players to express themselves. If they want to dribble, we should let them do so.

Every player, in our opinion at OpportunityElite, should be able to dribble. You just never know when the defender will need to step out in to midfield, or when the central midfielder will need to drive forward. In the professional game these players will more than likely not do this, but there are occasions where they have to. Letting them dribble from a young age gives the player the confidence to dribble, if and when, they need to, creating a more balanced and technically skilled player.

The more that players dribble, the better they will become in their all round game.

We love the dribblers; let's continue to develop them!