Getting Back to Basics – Wait, That’s Boring…. Can’t We Also Have Some FUN?
Well wait, what’s significant about those rules we mentioned last month?
Here’s what street soccer rules create (that’s what we’re really playing here). But first, here is the subtle challenge: coaches don’t know many panna skills (moves to put the ball through an opponent’s legs), players don’t have any panna skills yet, so neither realizes the fun or the benefits below! At SISM, it’s all we do. And from our years of experience we know the benefits of street soccer rules, as opposed to soccer players just playing pick up games on the hard surfaces.
- Scoring goals is part of the game play, but now, your success no longer relies on how many goals your team did or did not score. It no longer feels like Joe missed his shot and you guys are still losing, again. Every player on the court has the opportunity to dominate a defender, anywhere on the court, at any time.
- Panna skills teach players how to manipulate defenders. They teach you why a defender will move the way they do, and you learn variations from each, giving you multiple options to attack with.
- When is the last time you panna’d two players back to back? Haha, it’s fun, and it’s fun because you’ve learned to dominate the defenders. You develop moves and variations for a wide range of situations, just like the wide range of scenarios you encounter on the soccer field.
- Peripheral vision: Because we use ground combos to keep the ball away from defenders, and to setup the release of the ball with a pass, panna, or shot, we develop a better sense of the position of players around us.
- Mixed ages and skill levels: The game allows for a variety of skill and age ranges because the biggest challenge is aiming to panna another player. Most adults don’t have these skills so there’s your challenge to begin with, can you panna someone? Younger players will start learning faster and when they panna the older players, it’s fun. And when a skilled player is playing, can they dominate and panna a player before they get to shoot?
Learning panna moves to manipulate defenders is fun, exciting, and gives one confidence because of the new arsenal of moves to attack with. Players can find a wide range of panna skills to learn online (see our channel of videos) or if you’re lucky enough to be in N California, they can get more detailed instruction from a professional street soccer program like Soccer in Slow Motion. And if you want more touches on the ball you can make use of street soccer arenas that are portable and provide a fun atmosphere to play in. Click here to see the fun with mixed ages and skill levels.
That’s it, Now Go & Have Some FUN!
