How do you tackle, what is a tackle and does anyone really know about tackling is?

These questions come to mind when looking at the broad landscape of elite youth soccer. We decided to ask Wisconsin men’s head coach Todd Yeagley what he thought. As a former defender at Indiana and with MLS club Columbus Crew, we thought he might have something to say about it.

We were right.

“When I see young kids tackle, often I see they are over-committing with their challenges. When we talk about tackling, the first thing is, we need to know when and where to tackle and to be patient. That has to be stressed with young kids on when to tackle. Too many of them are leaving their feet when they shouldn’t be. They are over-committing.

“On the technical side, I see kids who, when they look to tackle, they are not always looking to gain possession from it – and that’s a skill that needs to be taught. You want to gain possession, not just dispossess the attacker.

“If it’s a slide tackle, you need to know how to pop up with the ball. If you’re doing a simple block tackle, some people keep their weight too far back, and the ball flies into the air. If you keep your body weight and your shoulders and your momentum going forward, and you have the right technique with your feet, you can gain possession and go forward with the ball.

“I also see players using the wrong foot. When you poke tackle it’s most effective with the front foot in the defensive stance. By doing that you keep your weight in your back foot, so if you have to retreat you can change directions and take off. If you use the wrong foot you might lose your balance and make it harder to recover.

“Remember that once you commit to a slide tackle, you’re taken out of the equation for recovery. You need time to get back up and funnel in defensively, so you’d better be careful where you choose to do that. You could really leave team in a vulnerable state.

Yeagley concluded by discussing age appropriate instruction for defensive technique.

“Kids at 10 should start having it explained what a proper block tackle is and how to do it. When players are a few yards apart, you need to lock your ankle and keep your shoulders over the ball. You want to follow through and roll it over the attackers’ foot. That type of teaching should be done by 10 or 11. You don’t want kids going into tackles with their ankle not locked, where they’re just reaching in. That’s where injuries can happen.”