La Finca went from idea to execution in under 2 weeks. The urgency of this project was inspired by kids who were antsy to get outside, run and see friends during the first winter of the COVID 19 pandemic. As players and parents of players, we’d survived the Fall in large part by gathering with carefully selected small groups to play soccer. As winter came and COVID numbers started rising again we knew it wouldn’t be long before indoor soccer would be cancelled. And we were desperate. But there's more to La Finca than a quick fix, much more, and we want to take a moment to share the bigger picture with our community.
Is this a good training program, or just for fun?
What's called small-sided soccer training -- playing with fewer than the official 11 players-a-side -- has caught on all over the world in the last decade or so (and much longer in a few key places). But it's not new. Playing 3v3, 4v4, or 5v5 has been a part of informal soccer forever. It's not easy to get 22 players to a field all the time. What's changed is the realization that playing small games is also the best way to develop technique.
The idea is simple. The smaller the pitch and the fewer the players, the faster the game and the more touches each player gets. Players are faced with more challenges and made to make more decisions more quickly. By adding walls to the pitch so the play never pauses we could increase the demand for decision-making even further.
Therefore, the walled-in, small-sided pitch that La Finca is embodies an approach to training where technique reins supreme. It's important to understand that this is not all there is to soccer. Game understanding and tactics, for example, require playing on full size pitches. But we subscribe to the approach that it's best to start soccer training with an extended focus on skill development, and also that it’s possible to start this process much earlier than previously imagined. This is why we offer programs for kids as young as 2 and they focus entirely on skill development, i.e. not playing soccer.
Trainers vs Coaches
We also believe skilled players, even without formal coaching training, can be excellent youth trainers. Skill development is inspired by mimicry and it requires repetition. Try to teach a young player a "Maradona" by reading about it or having an expert explain it and watch their eyes roll back, but watch it up close and the same child will suddenly try it. Seeing is believing and most young kids think they can do anything.
Conventional soccer practices are best for working on tactics and other high-level abilities; you learn skills through trying them out in less pressured situations first and then increasingly pressured ones, which is not the same thing as competition. Watch our skilled trainers play with the kids and you should be able to see the potential of this approach right away.
Travel soccer
Again, skill training is not all there is to soccer development. Travel soccer teaches kids team play. It raises the players’ competitive spirits and allows them to experience the ups and downs of competition. This is not that. In small pickup games with whoever shows up that day competition is more against yourself, there's no team to identify with or to hide behind. We encourage any child that wants to play travel soccer to do that too...and there are great clubs in our area. But to be clear, it's not essential to play club soccer to become a competent, skilled player and it definitely will not happen there alone.
The Future
Our program in the winter of 2021 is a test pilot. We have commitments: to a highly technical style of play, to creative soccer, to competitive and non-competitive training activities, to playing against stronger and weaker opponents and to mixed age play. We also seek to expose kids to a variety of trainers because at the highest level soccer is a remarkably creative sport, a sport of self expression. A commitment to creativity means kids need exposure to many styles.
You'll see this season there are different trainers week-to-week, different combinations of trainers, and we'll also be visited by a few professional guest coaches -- marked as such in the schedule. If we're successful the program will draw in more and more skilled players, we'll build a local community of players from very young to old, all of whom love the game and enjoy playing together. This is when the magic starts. The talent basement rises across our community and the pool of highly capable players balloons.
As our community grows and when the time is right we will introduce targeted training opportunities. Some may focus on defending, shooting, trapping; some will target more junior-level players, others more advanced. As we get to know the youth players you may find us recommending particular sessions. Please take these as just that, recommendations, everyone is always free to choose their trainings.
Our belief is every child can become a highly competent player and that the pathways to get there are as different as they are. This doesn't mean every child will go pro, but it does mean they can get good enough to enjoy this beautiful game for a lifetime.