TRIAD SOCCER Individual | Community | Style more than a game

OUR VISION

The idea for Triad Soccer was birthed out of a love for the game of soccer. We became lovers of the game of soccer by watching possession-based soccer. We also believe that the game of soccer provides unique opportunities for the development of the individual person and for building relationships within a community and between communities.

We have three core priorities: the Individual, the Community, and the Style.

FC has a phrase: mes que un club. We also want Triad Soccer to be more than a club, or organization, or company. We are committed to developing the individual (Integrity, Respect, Self-control, Commitment, and Humility). We are also dedicated to Triad Soccer being a way to bring together communities. Oak Park and Chicago have so much diversity that can enrich all of our lives. Triad Soccer believes that the most beautiful style of soccer is realized in the possession-based style. Triad Soccer is committed to developing a culture of possession-based soccer. We have been inspired by coaches (, , Johan Cruyff, Jurgen Klopp), clubs (FC Barcelona, Ajax, and FC Bayern Munich) and countries (Brazil, Spain, Germany, ) that all play with different expressions of possession-based soccer. Three words that describe the commitment to our style of soccer are the following: possession, pressure, and position.

OUR CURRICULUM We focus heavily on playing soccer with the mind. We believe that soccer is first played with the head and then the feet follow. We don't mean headers. We mean seeing the field and constantly thinking about the next play. The best teams in the world know the next play before it happens. Playing fast in soccer does not mean running faster. The ball is always faster than the person! We are working with the boys to understand and see the next play before they even receive the ball.

RONDO-BASED TRAININGS Rondo-based trainings focus on helping players create numerical superiority through patient and efficient ball movement. Rondos have specific boundaries based on the focus. The boundaries can be a circle, a square, or a rectangle. Rondos help players learn a very important idea about soccer—the ball is always faster than the person. Rondos help players develop the technical skill to receive and distribute the ball quick and develop the players tactical understanding of making decisions before receiving the ball.

In order to play this kind of possession-based style of soccer we prioritize 4 principles:

1. RECEIVE ACROSS THE BODY At Triad Soccer we heavily emphasize the crucial (but often not taught) technical skill of receiving the ball across their bodies. Receiving the ball across your body allows the shape of your body to always be open so that you can go any direction with the ball.

2. SPACING In order to keep the ball teams needs appropriate spacing on the field. The more spacing a team has between each player, the more time the individual player has to make decisions with the ball (and the more the pressing team has to run).

3. COMMUNICATION The best teams in the world are the best communicators. When the ball is passed the passer should always provide the teammate he passing to with information (location of defenders, good passing options, etc.)

4. AWARENESS What we mean by awareness is that a player knows what they are going to do with the ball before they receive the ball.

All the activities we select very specifically develop these principles. Also, this kind of development takes a lot of repetition. These are the kind of skills that need to become 2nd nature and can only happen with repetition. While we bring variety to certain parts of the training, we ensure that all activities are helping develop these core principles. We also think that certain activities should be done every single training to help work toward mastery.