Hi,

If you've been stood on a sideline, observed the level of defending that your child is doing, and thought: "how can they defend better than this?" you're probably not alone. I know I've had that thought more than once.

A quick tip you can try right now to get your child to appreciate the skill (and art) of defending more is to design and set up an environment where defending is as valuable and as hyped as attacking.

Normally defending doesn't get the creds it deserves; a great interception of the ball or a tackle that saves a certain goal gets a nod and perhaps a "good job".

If those actions are met with as much enthusiasm and appropriate feedback as the opposing attacking actions are, you are much more likely to see your child (and anyone else who they are playing with) appreciating defensive actions just as much as attacking ones.

So next time you help set up a backyard game, or help out in a team practice session, try emphasising (it might feel like overemphasising) the tackles, the blocks, the interceptions, the guiding of an attacker away from the most dangerous areas in a way that gets kids excited about it.

What you really want is for the environment to be the biggest teacher, while you just help design and nudge the development in a good direction.

It's a really simple thing, but that doesn't mean that it's going to be easy to do.

Best,

Hans Martin

P.S. I read all replies, so if you do have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask me by replying to this email!

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