Thoughts on Men's Soccer at Williams
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| Peter Gordon '09 |
Technical and tactical training at Williams are an integral part
of practice. Small-sided games and a heavy emphasis on functional
training are employed to assist each player in fulfilling his
soccer potential. Most fitness training is done with the ball,
emphasizing endurance and speed.
Williams soccer features a quick, interpassing, attacking game.
The team uses constructive and creative play in the attacking half
of the field to generate goal-scoring opportunities. On defense
high and delayed pressure are employed.
The game of soccer has become firmly entrenched in this country,
and we at Williams are committed to furthering its growth by
playing beautiful, attacking soccer while maintaining the high
standards of spirit and integrity, which are intrinsic to the
game.
We have a varsity and a reserve team. Our reserve team is
predominantly comprised of First-Years with a few upperclassmen.
They play a strong schedule and practice as a group separate from
the varsity. I coordinate reserve team training sessions so that we
present a progressive curriculum to our players.
Soccer at all levels is best played on grass fields. Williams
College possesses one of the best soccer facilities in the country,
as the fields are impeccably manicured grass surfaces situated in a
beautiful locale surrounded by mountains.
The game field is 120 yards long by 80 yards wide and is used
exclusively for matches. Williams has three other regulation soccer
fields for practices and games. There are numerous spaces used for
grids, pendulum balls, and a kick board.
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| Coach Russo and the Eph bench |
The beauty of the game of soccer is that during a match it
cannot be coach-dominated like so many other sports. Because soccer
is a player's game, it is most important that players be thoroughly
prepared in training. The main goal of our coaching staff is to
provide training experiences that will enable a player to attain
his potential in every aspect of the game. We want our players to
have total mastery of the ball, vision of the entire field,
composure, and creativity in decision-making. To accomplish these
concepts, most of our technical and tactical training is done under
pressure of one or more defenders to enable a player to experience
the presence of an opponent even though the pressure might be
passive at first.
Since mental attitude is so important in soccer we spend time
improving a player's leadership ability as well as his ability to
relax and concentrate through visualization training.
Competitiveness is constantly developed through various
competitions. It is our belief that proper training will improve
each player's technical, tactical, fitness and psychological level
of performance and thus total team performance will be
enhanced.
We will vary our system of play depending on the strengths and
weaknesses of the opponent. We have played 4-3-3 with wingers, with
one winger and two strikers; we have used 4-4-2 and 3-4-3 systems
as well. We favor an attacking style of play with main emphasis on
keeping possession while going forward. In the attacking third we
take risks with much positional interchange and player movement.
Creativity is encouraged with the priority being to create
goal-scoring opportunities. On defense we play both high pressure
and delayed pressure depending on circumstances and use a zone
defense.
In the off-season players are involved in individual strength
programs and play four times a week.
Williams is a member of the New England Small College Athletic
Conference (NESCAC) along with Amherst, Bates, Bowdoin, Colby,
Connecticut College, Middlebury, Trinity, Tufts and Wesleyan. Along
with our Little Three games versus Amherst and Wesleyan we also
play perennial New England powers such as Babson, Keene State,
Western New England College and Springfield College.
