Striker Training-intro

The other day I was watching Robin Van Persie scoring goals and creating plays from all over on a 5-2 win over in form Tottenham Spurs team. I heard the announcer mention that he loved the way Van Persie sticks his leg in before the defender can get there first. It occurred to me that this is natural for many strikers and not for most players. Having been a Striker and a Defender I started to wonder what makes up a good striker. As a coach I found that I had never really asked myself this question. I had been more preoccupied with teaching the fundamentals of the game. Thus I wanted to create this series to explore what it means to "Make" a good striker.

First off if you have seen it yet I am working on a Rules for Success list. I have broken it down into a few key categories: Offense, Defense, Coach, and Player. These are merely from my humble experience so if they work for you great!

Introduction to being a Striker

Definitions and Fundamentals
If you are new to the sport of Soccer/Football then some of these terms need definitions. A Striker is the person who plays at the front of the formation when facing the opposition goal. That's pretty easy right so let get into more detail about the strikers role. Many people will tell you that they are born to be a striker. While I admit that some traits do help a person to become a good striker I a believe anyone with enough determination can be trained to be a striker. If you want to be a striker then be one. But you have to put the work in to give yourself the tools to show your talent.

Age, Size and Shape?
I'll be the first to tell you it doesn't matter. As a Youth Coach I don't like to put kids into one single position. There are too many drawbacks to this approach. They may fit better into a position but I believe you should never tell them that is where they have to be. When you get to the competitive ages U11 and up then they need to start making decisions about where they want to play on the pitch.
This holds true for a players size and shape too. Kids are still growing when we start coaching them. You can't tell as a coach how a player will develop 3 or even 1 year down the road. Shape and size only matter when they become a drawback to the players growth in soccer. When they get to U11 and up you may start guiding them to an area of the pitch that will work within your system. However I would avoid making to many judgements based on physical attributes until they are out of 5th grade or starting competitive soccer. 


Myths: 
Strikers are Type A's and Glory Hounds. It does help to lean towards a type A personality but the place where it gets out of whack is when they focus on themselves too much. That is easy to do because Strikers get a lot of press being the one that normally scores a goal. A true striker must always be looking for a way to get the ball in the goal. They need to be single minded but able to see when they can't move forward. When this happens the decision must be to get the ball in the best scoring position. You must think 2 passes ahead!

A Striker must run fast. I would say a striker must have fast feet but that doesn't always translate into speed down the pitch. The ability to hold up the ball with your back to goal is essential when playing a long ball style or even a possession style. Along those lines the ability to move the ball quickly in tight spaces is invaluable. Quickness training is a must.

Strikers only know how to smash it into the goal or They are not too bright. Many strikers have given this myth a boost. However to play good soccer you must be able to make good decisions very quickly. Following a playbook will only get you so far. What happens when the situation doesn't fit the playbook? You must be creative and have the ability to think quickly about the tactics in a given situation. 

That's it for this section. I have some more research to do on the next section so it may be a little while before I get back to it. That said, I will be finding specific drills and training and posting them here.

Cheers!
TL Owens "Coach T"