Scanning: the look before receiving

Last issue was about what the scoreboard leaves out. This one is about scanning, seen at the moment it is easiest to catch from the sideline: the second or two before the ball reaches your child.

What a scan is, and what it is for

Scanning is looking away from the ball for information the player can use: where teammates are going, where opponents are, where space is opening or closing, who needs picking up. It happens throughout the game, in and out of possession, at the moments that allow the player to look without losing the ball or the play. It is not a matter of turning the head as often as possible; the ball needs watching too.

This issue looks at one of those moments, the look before receiving. It is the one a parent can most easily see, and the one where what follows, the first touch, is visible straight after it.

Does the look help?

That depends on what the player saw, when they looked, and what changed before the ball arrived. Defenders move, so a picture taken early can be out of date; a look taken very late can leave no time to use it. A 2020 study of English Premier League players by Geir Jordet and colleagues found that how much players scan varies with the situation they are in, and that in the professionals studied, scanning more often was associated with a higher likelihood of completing the pass that followed. That does not show that extra scans caused the better passing, and it gives no target for children.

Watching for it from the sideline

If you want to watch for it, pick a few receptions rather than a whole half, and watch your child's head in the moment before the ball arrives. Sometimes you will see a clear look away from the ball. Sometimes the angle will hide it, and then you do not know, which is fine. What you can see is what comes next: which way the first touch went, how close the nearest opponent was, and what your child did with the ball after that. None of it tells you exactly what your child noticed. It does tell you what the moment looked like, which is more than the score does. No count is needed. Interest is enough.

One way to practise it

One ball, no extra equipment, three people: a passer, a receiver, and a third person who stands where the receiver cannot see them while facing the passer, behind one shoulder and a few steps away. Before or as the pass is played, the third person points to one side. The receiver turns to find the signal while there is still time, then takes the first touch in that direction. The look is away from the ball and the passer, and it has a use: the touch goes where the information said.

Two progressions, once the first version is comfortable. The third person changes position before each pass, so the receiver has to find them, and sometimes shows the signal early rather than as the ball travels, so the look is not always taken at the same moment. Later, instead of pointing, the third person walks toward the receiver from one side, slowly at first, and the first touch goes away from them; it becomes real pressure only when the receiver is handling the walk with ease. If a prompt is needed at the start, the passer says "look" as the ball leaves the foot; it is dropped when the receiver is looking without it, not on a schedule.

The exercise is intended to connect looking with the direction of the first touch. A pointed hand or a walking partner is simpler than a game, where the player reads opponents, space and teammates at once; that reading is built in games and small-sided play.

If you want more

The drill library at stunprex.com/training has receiving work with the look built in, filterable by age band and by the space you have.

Next issue: what a first touch makes possible.