Our Four-Part Methodology
Our training methodology is the means by which our coaches teach your children and how they impart knowledge onto the players.
Under the guidance of our full-time Director of Methodology, Bradley Schluter (D1, University of Dayton Coach), FC Dayton uses the following 4-part methodology during our training sessions that is predicated on that used by FC Barcelona which originated from the great minds of world football such as Rinus Michels; Johan Cruyff; Paco Seirul.lo and Pep Guardiola:
· Rondo Activities.
· Technical Activities.
· Juego de Posición (Positional) Games.
· Training Game.
Rondos
Technical Activities
Positional Games
Training Games
WHY?
In order to be able to generate technically brilliant and tactically astute players, a certain kind of training methodology has to be adopted club-wide.
Going forwards, FC Dayton has decided to follow the example of some of the best clubs in world soccer and adopt the following Four-Part training methodology which is based on:
1) Technical Foundation and 1v1 Domination
2) Rondo and Conceptual Training
3) Positional Games & Conceptual Training
4) Training Games and Game-Like Scenarios
Rondos
Rondos are a key staple of teams like Barcelona, Manchester City and Bayern Munich to mention but a few of the strongest teams in the world.
They are essentially 'reduced-number' versions of the game in which the players learn to play one or two touch soccer, exceptionally fast decision making, passing and receiving correctly whilst under pressure and supporting off the ball movements.
It is interesting to note that by the time a player in Barcelona's youth Academy (La Masia) has reached 18 years of age he will have played approximately 2,000 hours of Rondo!
Technical Activities
In order to be able to carry out tactical instructions, a player must be able to handle the ball, technically, with ease in opposed scenarios with pressure from defenders.
Beating defenders 1v1 essential but players must be able to receive with purpose.
That is, receive the ball comfortably, no matter how it is played to them, and have the correct body orientation and first touch to facilitate their next soccer action.
FC Dayton's players will learn to be exceptional in 1v1, 2v1, 2v2 & 3v2 scenarios.
FC Dayton's technical ball mastery, place emphasis on our partnership with Golazo Futsal Academy.
Positional Games
Because FC Dayton's players are raised in a cognitive training environment which teaches them to think for themselves and recognize often occurring tactical problems and find commonly occurring solutions, their play will have sharp and rapid decision making and execution as its hallmark.
The majority of FC Dayton's training will be opposed and against live opposition to promote real-time decision making.
One 'signature' of FC Dayton's style is the ability to dominate the game 'positionally'.
That is, when we have the ball, to be able to always fill the right spaces at the right time, using the principles of width, depth and penetration.
Training Games
Training Games are those small-sided games that we use at the end of practice that can range from a coached 'free play' game to an End Zone game to promote penetrating runs and through balls or a 4-goal game to encourage switching of play.
These Training Games are realistic and related to the game of soccer itself.
They will 'look like' soccer but with some modifications and constraints added to elicit the tactical and technical behaviors that have been thematically worked upon during the session.
In the example, it looks like soccer but has restrictions in terms of boundaries, zones and is reduced in size to promote quick combinations and shooting opportunities.