Training - Thursday, April 19

In prep for our first State Cup game on April 30th, I wanted out next 3 sessions to be fairly intensive.  We'd then taper down next week a bit heading into the game the following Monday.

We had the field tonight from 8:00PM - 9:00PM.  I had the girls arrive at 7:30PM to tally up their Individual Player Goals from last weekend, as well as do some fun technical warm-ups prior to a good, hard workout.

As I called each girl over to talk about their past weekend's goals, I had the girls work on their individual juggling.  About halfway through the player meetings I called out for the girls to switch to feet juggling only.  I heard a voice pipe up from the pack "Do we have to switch to feet only if we're on a record?!?!"  It was Lily who asked the questions, and I shouted back that if people were on records that they could continue to use any part of their body to juggle, and then didn't think more of it as I continued on with the player meetings. 

A few minutes later, I looked down and my list and saw that I was missing info from three girls.  Bidi was sick and Jilly got home too late from a track meet to attend, that left Lily.  I scanned the group of girls and saw her off at one end juggling.  She looked pretty intense, so I walked over to her and asked her about her Individual Player Goals.  She said she got all three in the first game (good for her!) and that she was still on a juggling record.  I let her continue and asked the other girls to give her space as to not interfere with her progress. 

With no more meetings to do, I began our 3-Man Juggling Challenges.

I. 3-Man Juggling Challenges

Set Up

• Players work in groups of three with one ball, lined up as shown below

Procedure

• Coach calls out a specific Juggling Challenge for the groups to work on
• Groups practice the challenge for a few minutes, then have a race to see which team can get to 10 successful attempts first
• Teams count out loud to 10 as they go so that other groups know where they are at
• First team to 10 yells out "Whoo hoo!" and sits down
• Other teams take 10 minus their score (times 2 if you want) and do that many fun/fitness punishments (Flying Austrians, Donkey Kicks, Push Ups, Sit Ups, etc)
• Coach give the groups a new challenge to work on and then race, with the team that won the previous race to 10 having to wait until they hear another group get to 1 (or 2) before starting

Make It Competitive

• It is

Coaching Points

• Technical coaching

Challenge #1

• A tosses the ball to B
• B heads to A
• A heads over B to C
• Rotation: A to B, B to C, C to A

Challenge #2

• A volleys to B
• B heads back to A
• A heads over B to C
• Rotation: A to B, B to C, C to A

Challenge #3

• A volleys to B
• B skip heads it backwards to C
• C heads over B to A
• Rotation: A to B, B to C, C to A (note ball must be passed from A to C during this switch)

Challenge #4

• A volleys to C
• C heads to B
• B skip heads it backwards to A
• Rotation: A to B, B to C, C to A (note ball must be passed from A to C during this switch)

With two girls missing, we had perfect numbers for this exercise... except for the fact that Lily was still juggling.  The other girls got going on this exercise with the leftover group of two (that Lily would eventually join) practicing what they could. 

Lily finally came over, out of breath but with a HUGE smile on her face.  1,154!  Wow.

II. 3-Team Challenge

Set Up

• 3 teams of 5, each team in different color vests
• One 50x40 grid with two goals on the endlines and two Pugg goals on each sideline (as shown below)
• Another area set up with a goal for shooting
• Two teams (blue and gold) start in the 50x40 grid, the third team (green) starts in the shooting area

Procedure

• There are three stages to this activity, and each stage consists of 3 x 4 minute rounds - round #1 blue v gold in the 50x40 area with green in the shooting area, round #2 green v gold in the 50x40 area with blue in the shooting area, round #3 green v blue in the 50x40 area with gold in the shooting area

Stage 1

50x40 grid - 5v5 Possession

Set Up

• Grid is already be set up
• One ball in the middle to start play with, with an extra soccer ball on each touchline to use in the event the ball in play gets kicked far off

Procedure

• Teams play possession soccer, trying to keep the ball away from their opponents
• If the ball goes out of play, play kick ins (passes in to teammates) or dribble ins

Make It Competitive

• +5 points for a team if they complete 5 consecutive passes without the defending team touching the ball

Shooting area - Summersault Volleys

Set Up

• Players line up 25 yards from goal with all the soccer balls
• Disk line 15 yards from goal

Procedure

• First player in line does a summersault, second player in line serves a ball underhand in front of the summersaulter
• summersaulter has to get to the ball before the third bounce and shoot on goal
• Ball cannot cross the 15 yard line marked with disks, so serves must be good (not too far forward)
• summersaulter retrieves their soccer ball after the shot, server becomes the next summersaulter

Make It Competitive

• +1 point for all goals
• +3 points if the ball hits the back of the net in the air

Coaching Points

• Toe pointed down, ankle tight and locked through impact
• Wait for the ball to drop low, contact should be made below knee height
• Upper body over the ball
• Looking for top spin on all shots

Comments

• The point of the summersault is not only to make it fun and physically demanding, but also to disorient the players and force them to find the bouncing ball quickly (remember, only 2 bounces allowed), then compose themselves for a finish

Stage 2

50x40 grid - Two Goal Game

Set Up

• Grid is already set up
• One ball in the middle to start play with, with an extra soccer ball on each touchline to use in the event the ball in play gets kicked far off

Procedure

• Teams try to score goals in either of two Pugg goals

Make It Competitive

• +5 points for each goal

Coaching Points

• Don't force the attack on one goal
• Look to draw defenders in to one side of the field with short possession passes, then change the point of the attack and look to go to the other goal

Shooting area - Lay Backs

Set Up

• 2 players line up 25 yards from goal in the shooting line
• 3 players are about 10 yards closer to the goal off to the side in the passing line with all the soccer balls

Procedure

• First player in the passing line plays a back pass to the first player in the shooting line and then follows their pass to wait their turn in the shooting line
• Shooter must shoot first time
• Shooter then retrieves their soccer ball and gets in the passing line

Make It Competitive

• +1 point for all goals
• +3 points for all goals below the midpoint of the goal (encouraging low strikes on goal)

Coaching Points

• Toe pointed down, ankle tight and locked through impact
• Upper body over the ball
• Think about striking the top half of the ball

Stage 3

50x40 grid - 5v5 to Goal

Set Up

• Grid is already set up
• 1 GK, 4 field players
• One ball in the middle to start play with, with extra soccer balls in each goal

 

Procedure

• Teams try to score goals

Make It Competitive

• +5 points for each goal

Coaching Points

• Not many, let them play

Shooting area - Near Post Finishing

Set Up

• 2 players line up at the top of the 18 yard box in the shooting line
• 3 players are on the end line about 15 yards from the goal post in the passing line with all the soccer balls

Procedure

• Shooter starts a run towards the far post, then sprints to the near post area
• Passer drives a low, hard ball in for the shooter to try and finish first time
• Passer then moves to the shooting line
• Shooter then retrieves their soccer ball and gets in the passing line

Make It Competitive

• +3 point for all goals

Coaching Points

• No big, long leg swings here as the ball is coming in fast
• Looking for simply redirects while running at speed

III. 5v5 Winner Stays

Set Up

• 3 teams of 5
• 50x40 yard field

Procedure

• Blue vs green with orange sitting out
• First team to score stays on the field, losing team exists and the team waiting jumps in
• The team that scores can immediately grab the ball and attack the opposite goal
• Waiting team must enter and organize quickly

Make It Competitive

• It is

Coaching Points

• Not many, let them play

This was a tough session for the girls.  I had to shorten the last stage to 3 minute games as the girls were tiring.  It was a very competitive and lively session though and the girls loved it!