Since there is no offside on a throw-in, a quick toss also offers a good chance to get behind the defense and make a run on goal. While teaching players to get the ball back into play quickly hardly seems like rocket science, simple things done correctly at the U-10 level and below are extremely effective. Marking off the ball is one of the weakest areas of youth soccer, and a quick-thinking player can take advantage of opponents not only during the run of play, but on restarts as well. Once every team member has perfected the throw-in, the player closest to the ball can heave it back into play before the defense has a chance to set up. Excessive delay, however, will allow the opponent to crowd numbers behind the ball and push the rate of failure back to around 70 percent.
Some coaches rely on one or two players to take all throw-ins.
We'll call them designated throwers. The designated thrower is the most exhausted player on the field. In addition to her normal running duties, the designated thrower is required to sprint up and down the sideline, or even across the field, to shag balls and toss them back into play. Most adults would soon collapse under such a pace, but it is routinely required of U-10s with much shorter legs and smaller lungs. All too often, when a ball is knocked out of bounds upfield, a quick-thinking forward prepares to toss it back in play, only to be halted by her coach.