Balancing of a team

On Sunday afternoon I had the great pleasure of being invited to my wife's soccer team practice. We all decided that we wanted play a game and a few people started to divide up the people into two teams. Once every one was placed on a team the positions were assigned. This became critical to the game dynamics. The obvious was to make sure we had enough coverage on defense as well as some players to go on the offensive. What was not so obvious was the placement of players so that their team mates are challenged. As an example we moved a defensive player that is fast and can finish into a forward position providing more opportunities for the other defensive players to play harder. This move of one player from defense to offense completely balanced the teams. Another example to try when your team is struggling is to avoid the tendency to place the really good fast players in the forward position. Try moving that lot into defensive rolls and putting the slower less agile players up front. This will provide better defensive coverage because the agile fast players will shut down moves on their goal. These players are also more likely to carry the ball farther up the pitch. This will also keep offensive players in position because the slower players are less likely to get stuck 1/2 a pitch out of position and miss a key play.