The mistake many of us trainers make is that we stop asking questions or doing research once we receive the supposed answer to a question. Most of us take the easy way out, especially if it validates our preconceived notions. I’m here to tell you that there are hundreds, if not thousands, of very successful youth soccer teams all over the United States shooting and catching up to 6 years old. I personally coached a team from 6 to 8 years old and we shot and caught very well. Not as good as Ross LeGrande, Ross is from Ohio and his 7-8 year old team was the most attractive cheating team he had ever seen. His team was the master at executing the deflection and blocking the rear trap. In many of the games I watched of their championship teams, they ran just 3 plays, the takedown, the trap, and the fast break, and by golly, the cheat accounted for about 40% of their snaps.
A lot of the guys who email me tell me that Single Wing Offense’s Blocking Back trap, what we call the “31 Trap”, is one of the best, if not the best, football plays they run. Don S at Maryland averaged nearly 20 yards per carry last season for his 8-10 year olds. It’s one of my all-time favorite soccer plays, but a lot of people think you have to have a bunch of Einsteins on your youth soccer team to execute it. That is simply not true. I have watched videos of hundreds of youth teams shooting and catching, and have also personally coached 5 different youth soccer teams who had no problem doing it. Keep in mind that I am the offensive line coach and have never played offensive line at any level and we probably practice less than you do.
The trap is a great football play for a wide variety of reasons. In our offense, we like to double-team defensive tackles. We rarely have the size or athleticism on our offensive line to move someone one-on-one very well, so we like to use double-team blocks and wedge blocks. Once that defensive tackle starts moving back with double teams and wedge blocks, he starts coming very hard, very fast and very low, if he doesn’t we’re going to squash him all day. Once he starts coming in force we just let him go free and BAMMO gets hit by a guard who comes out of nowhere and usually means a big win for us.
SO WHAT DOES THE DEFENSIVE TACKLE DO NOW? Should I play slow and get pushed back by double teaming and wedge locks all day or should I charge real low and fast and get blindsided by a shooting guard with a head full of steam, hmmmm, dilemma. This has been a great tactic for us when we play a team that has a very dominant defensive tackle who is eating our lunch, we catch him a few times and man, oh man, slow down, brakes come on. Then when he slows down to “read” the play, our double teams and wedge blocks roll over him, what’s the poor kid to do? He ends up playing tentative and our problem is solved.
Think about it, last season, was there a team you faced that had a defensive lineman who dominated their team? Wouldn’t it have been nice to have a series of football plays that would have neutralized him? I get tired of youth soccer coaches saying ONE PLAYER beat them, good soccer coaches find ways to stop a player.
Pulling is very simple to teach and is covered with 3 simple training points starting on page 218 of the book. Dave Rimington, former Outland Trophy winner and College Football Hall of Famer, said we were teaching it right, he wouldn’t change a thing. Our cheat scheme is on page 167 of the book and can be run in almost every series of football games you make. Don’t exclude cheating from what you do at the youth level because you’ve never done it before or you haven’t taught children how to catch blocks in the past. The trap is easy to teach and is a very dangerous soccer play. The cheat works better the better the team you play with.
Unlike the reverse, the trap hits much faster and can work even against very fast teams. The backhand has little chance against very athletic teams that can reduce the plays. The trap hits quickly and gets the ball up the field much faster than any reverse play, it is a low risk, high reward play.
Of course, one of the caveats is not to needlessly waste soccer practice time on a bunch of mindless drills, cals, and conditioning. Teach kids how to play soccer well, how to block and shoot perfectly, not be champions of agility drills or pushups. The correct soccer practice methodology and priorities along with the correct soccer plays make facing teams that catch well a real nightmare to play.