A place for isolated technique training in soccer development?

As a soccer development academy, Queen City Mutiny always wants to provide its players with the best opportunities. Some of our players also pursue other activities off the pitch to further enhance their skills. One approach is isolated technique training. Not everyone agrees on whether this has benefit or not. Let’s look at the debate.

Football Coach Evolution’s Raymond Verheijen, a former Dutch Youth Academy player, wrote a blog entitled “isolated technique training slows down football development.” So, it’s obvious which side he’s on. 

His main argument is that soccer players need to be able to execute variable techniques in different situations, making the decision in the moment which technique to use. He suggests, “football technique is the execution of a decision that can only be trained in football situations in which players have to make a decision.”

Isolated training takes the individual player out of the decision-making setting. Further, his position is that this type of training “underloads most players.” Even if they are in a small group setting, it is not the same challenge as playing in 10 v 1 setting. 

So what does he want to see? Increasing the number of defenders, reducing the pitch size, or finding other ways to give the player less space and time to control and pass the ball. In his opinion, “isolated technique training is the perfect exception on the rule” only “for those players who struggle even in the most simplified football situations.”

Case for Technique Training in Soccer Development

Of course replacing team training with technique training isn’t the way to develop a well-rounded soccer player. Yet some do see the value of individualized skill training.

This approach to training provides time on the ball to develop individual technique that matches the person’s own body and ability to change in game situations. It’s about fostering individual skills.

Skills that are the best predictor of soccer success, according to a 2017 study into the sport science of soccer. The researchers found, “skill was the best predictor of success in soccer matches” and “was also the best predictor of an individual's contribution to the success of a team.”

The study noted that “the vast majority of science that occurs on soccer players focuses on how to improve speed, strength and fitness, and how to facilitate rapid recovery after matches or following injury.” Yet individual skill is the differentiator.

Around the world young players are developing their soccer skills in completely unstructured ways. In other countries you will see young players training in the streets, and on the weekends, before and after their team practice. Their efforts are a big change from rigid, formulaic team training.

Basically it’s what Bruce Lee pointed out as a fundamental flaw in traditional martial arts. Rigid form with repetition is limiting in open situations. The idea is that you can learn to effectively control your body in one action so that it is effective from anywhere and from any position of balance.

You might think of it as never fear the man who practices 1000 kicks one time, but fear the man who practices 1 kick 1000 times.

Writing in The Guardian, Jon Townsend, who trained in the U.S. and the Netherlands, talks about finding himself exposed when first invited to join a Dutch training session. While the players around him progressed smoothly through a 10,000-touch workout, Townsend had “never trained so rigorously and exclusively on fundamental movements.” 

At the top youth clubs in Europe often have a touch that “is second nature and pure” by the time they are 12. Watch some replays of the U12 MIC games. The European players never look down at their feet or the ball.  That it is the last thing on their minds. They know and have developed the touch that allows them to keep their eyes up and communicating and thinking and gives them that extra beat to make a better decision.

North American players will know what decisions to make when they have good coaches. But, without more touch training, they’re not going to be able to compete. He offered us some math to back it up: In a typical U.S. training session (90 minutes) an individual player will touch the ball 425 times. Meanwhile, a player on a PSV Eindhoven club team would have 2,100 touches on the ball.

That difference adds up. Assuming three training sessions per week and a nine month season, the PSV player would hit 226,800. The typical American player would reach only 45,900. In just five years, the PSV player or similarly coached players would touch the ball nearly 1 million more times than the American player.

We’re not going to be able to decide this “hot debate” in a single blog. The fact that the definition of terms is shaped by subjective opinion doesn’t help. 

Maybe it’s best to think of it this way: Technical work that is challenging and fun benefits player development. It might be unopposed. The opposition might be the garage door. The player may be taking on the entire squad on a small-sided pitch. The goal remains mastery of the ball. We can all agree on that.