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Fragments Teach Creative Play in Soccer and Futsal

Research documents that players learn faster and better when the number or pieces of information in "working memory" is limited to no more than 4 chunks of information at the same time. Bibliography: Psychological Review, 1956, March: 72: 89-104

In soccer and futsal training, chunking isolates a single fragment (small piece) of the game and teaches "how you do it" and "when you use it in games" in a very simple, easy to learn and hard to forget way. When all players on a team learn the same "fragments" and share a common understanding of when to use them in games, highly creative play results.

Many fragments are designed to fool opponents, create space and entertain spectators. Some lead opponents to believe one thing is happening and like a good magicians trick create space and opportunities. Fragments are also fun because players have the opportunity to be creative and successful.

The advantages of teaching fragments of play are numerous:

• Game Understanding - Players taught the how and why of game fragments learn to read the game and to be creative as a team, under game pressure.
• Age Players Learn - Players can be taught the most simple fragments and to start to read the game at a very young age.   See Arc Fragment
• Faster Speed of Decisions - Players who learn to read the game faster play faster as individuals and as a team.
• Efficiency - When all players are taught the same how to and why of game fragments at the same time an entire team learns to play with a shared understanding of fragments and the game.

Learning to Use Fragments in Games

Players, like everyone, are most comfortable doing the things they have always done and need to learn to use fragments under game like pressure before they will become creative and use fragments in games.

A decade ago a 13 year old team learned to do cross-field (dribbling from one sideline to the other) takeovers (where a teammate runs towards and past their teammate with the ball and their teammate with the ball leaves the ball for them). They never did it in a game until they were told they tried cross-field takeovers in the second half of a game or their teammates on the bench would finish the game for them. See result below:

Cross-field takeover with two defenders
running into each other and falling down

This team became so confident doing takeovers they successfully did them from in front of their opponents goal to inside of their own Penalty Box in front of their own goal. In over 5 years of doing several hundred takeovers in soccer and futsal games they never once lost the ball to an opponent.

Learning Fragments

Fragments are 2, 3 and 4 player movements that players can creatively piece together in games based on the positions of their teammates, opponents and open spaces. Fragment training:

• Starts with simple chunks of play or fragments without opponents,
• Progresses to fragments with passive defenders,
• Leading to 4 v 4 games where players string together fragments to earn points for their 4 player team. Players score points in the practice game by sequencing fragments together while keeping possession of the ball. Players score 1 point for sequencing two fragments together and 1 bonus point for each additional fragment added to the sequence.
• Scoring is not cumulative. A teams longest sequence (best score) is their score.

Learning to Be Creative

Creative Play Fragments
   Overlapping Runs & Open Spaces
   Takeovers that Fool Opponents
   The Arc to Win Possession