It’s tough when you are in a match and when you get the ball you hesitate and take too long to make a decision before it ends up getting poked away from you.
Speed of play is the biggest difference between players in the Top Leagues like the Premier League and players in the Lower-level Leagues like the MLS in the United States.
How fast you make decisions in soccer could be the barrier that is holding you back from playing in higher levels of soccer like D1 College soccer or getting scouted for an MLS academy team.
Table of Contents
What is Speed Of Play?
Speed of play is how fast you can make decisions in soccer. It consists of 2 things:
- Tactical Ability
- Technical Ability
Your tactical ability allows you to know your options and what options are available and those that are not.
Your technical ability, on the other hand, allows you to put your tactical ability to use.
Think of it like this, it doesn’t matter if you can play the perfect weighted pass for your teammate to finish if you are not even aware that the option to do that is available in the first place. Just like it doesn’t matter if you can see your teammate about to make that run if you end up playing a poor pass that gets intercepted because your technical ability is not where you want it to be at.
But how am I supposed to improve it?
Well, we researched the question and found answers.
A really good way to improve your speed of play is to scan more. This allows you to make and change your decisions in soccer as you are more aware of your options (like passing to a nearby teammate) and whether they are still an option or not.
You could train your technical ability all you want and still not see noticeable improvements in your speed of play. The problem here is that in order to improve the speed of play, you actually have to be in situations where you are forced to play faster.
This could be playing against bigger and older players, for instance. Or you could go to ID camps, summer camps, etc. where you know you’ll encounter and play against better players. This is by far the best way to improve your speed of play.
Think of Rio Ferdinand, one of England’s most decorated defenders, and how he improved his speed of play. Each week he would go out to play with older men who had all of the characteristics aforementioned above. If he held onto the ball too much, he would get knocked down. This forced his mind and body to adapt to the stress being put on him, so in turn he got very good at making decisions fast. However, it was not at all easy for him to play with these people. He had to be patient, consistently going to the pitch and waiting to be noticed by these older men until he was finally able to play with them.
If you can do the things above, then great, you are on your way to becoming a better soccer player and improving your speed of play, but there is a catch. Finding players who are older, faster, stronger, and smarter and who are willing to play with you is very difficult as shown in Rio Ferdinand’s case, or may even be quite impossible. You also may not have the financial freedom to afford such exposures such as ID Camps and soccer camps, which can be in most cases unaffordable.
To make it clear, if you have the resources available to you, I urge you to use them, even if it means getting out of your comfort zone, as they will make not only your speed of play but your overall game skyrocket.
If you have no other option or you have some reason to not be able to do things like playing against better players, here are some alternative ways you can improve if you do not have access to the options mentioned above, or are looking for even more ways to get better at your speed of play.
- Analyze games, watch the pro’s training sessions, and closely observe what actions they take and decisions they make. Also, watch full matches, and if you can, high stakes games, for example, World Cup Finals where each player is pressured and forced to make the right decision or else they should make a mistake and cost their team the game, or much more. Record and watch your own matches, and see what you either could have done better or should have done. Learn from your mistakes and ensure that you are getting better each time you play.
- Scan More, check your shoulder more often, and do not just look at where the ball is. Work on being able to know where your teammates and opponents are at all times. This is going to help you know where the space is, where it is going to be, who is open, where you should be, how to close down an angle, and ultimately improve your decision-making and speed of play.
- Work on the technical aspect of the game, and do drills that force you to be precise in your actions. These drills can be done with minimal equipment, for example passing a ball against a wall or a rebounder. (If you are looking for the best rebounder that is both affordable and of excellent quality, and help you get to where you want to be, the Quickplay Tekkers Trainer is for you.)
- Make sure that when you do these drills you try to get everything right and make as few mistakes as possible. This does not mean that you should not be making any, because even the best players in the world make simple mistakes. If you are not making any at all you are either the best player in the world or you are not pushing yourself hard enough to actually make mistakes.
Action Plan To Improve Your Speed Of Play:
Conclusion:
In order to improve your speed of play and decision making in soccer, you have to play more games with older, more experienced, and better players than you. Sometimes for whatever reason this is just not an option, so you have to adapt and instead focus on developing your technical ability so that when you do finally get a chance to play with better players, you just have to focus on getting your mind used to how short of a time you have to make decisions because your technical ability is already good.
