SCDSL Fields.

[Eagle33]

If you had a choice, would you prefer to play on:
1. Grass so thick the ball won't roll
2. All dirt (like the Japan1 picture above).

For me - The dirt is better for teaching proper soccer. You can play possession and keep the ball on the ground. Falling on it will suck (so maybe kids even play a little less physical because they prefer to stay upright)

If you can teach to play possession on tall grass, imagine how good you will be on turf

 

[lafalafa]

If you can teach to play possession on tall grass, imagine how good you will be on turf

What's the difference in teaching possession in tall grass vs normal or turf? Is there a difference in style of play or what exactly are your referring to? Isn't adjusting to a surface just normal?

 

[timbuck]

I'm talking about tall grass that requires the ball to have a bit of lift on it or it only travels a few feet. Hard to connect passes when the ball doens't move. Hard to play possession (at the youth level) when the ball is always in the air.

 

[NorCalUSN]

Not all of the fields in Japan were as such just most of the locations where the clubs practiced and often played on weekends. My daughters never wore anything more than turf shoes, (visible in the pics,) no FG,SG or MG cleats for fiver years until arrival here. They definitely taught a lot of technical ball control to their youngers, our daughters were often at the practice field for 3-4 hours Saturday mornings just dribbling, juggling and possession. Coming back to the USA they were definitely playing-style culture-shocked but in a good way. They can dribble on their own for hours, not selfishly but competently. I think them playing on boys teams for their formative time with their coaches was beneficial as well.

 

[lafalafa]

Not all of the fields in Japan were as such just most of the locations where the clubs practiced and often played on weekends. My daughters never wore anything more than turf shoes, (visible in the pics,) no FG,SG or MG cleats for fiver years until arrival here. They definitely taught a lot of technical ball control to their youngers, our daughters were often at the practice field for 3-4 hours Saturday mornings just dribbling, juggling and possession. Coming back to the USA they were definitely playing-style culture-shocked but in a good way. They can dribble on their own for hours, not selfishly but competently. I think them playing on boys teams for their formative time with their coaches was beneficial as well.

Sounds like futsal but more dribbling. Our kids learned to play on hard surfaces and futsal before they ever played a game on grass than turf.

Futsal has a lot of passing and going, quick thinking, defending as a team, marking, non stop movement off and on the ball. Being two footed is another important fundamental.

To this day my youngest still uses some of the futsal fundamental he learned and has never really played anything but procession soccer. Keeps his body over the ball, non kicking foot alongside the ball, contact with the middle to top half while shooting. I tell him thats a futsal goal when I see them sometimes and he just laughes.

Sounds like we could learn a thing or two from the way japan trains youth. Having everyone will ball, passing, and dribbling skills at a higher level would be a nice.

 

[focomoso]

An irrelevant memory from the days when I used to mark fields myself -- on a properly-marked adult-sized field (meaning 18-yard penalty areas), what is the length of the straight line that connects the two ends of the penalty-kick "D" arc?

All that is needed to solve this problem is a knowledge of proper field dimensions and a little first-year geometry.

16 yards?

 

[espola]

16 yards?

Correct.