Training - Friday, April 27

6:45PM - 8:15PM Field Training

I. Warm Up - Individual Defending Delay/Jockeying

Set Up

• Players work in pairs with one ball
• Pairs line up at the midfield line, the attacker has the ball and the defender get ready to defend
• Number the pairs off based on their starting location into #1's and #2's

Procedure

• Group #1 goes first with the attacker dribbling towards the endline and the defender jockeying (no tackling)
• As soon as Group #1 players near the midpoint of the half, Group #2 starts their work
• Dribblers should not dribble straight ahead at full speed.  Rather, I'm looking for cuts and long diagonal runs in order to have the defending players work on their defensive posture, buffer distance between themselves at the dribblers, footwork, feinting, etc.
• At the endline, the girls switch positions and the girls who were just dribbling now defend back to midfield

Make It Competitive

• Which defender does it the best?  Who does the best feints?  Which dribbler is the most creative?

Coaching Points

• Defenders should be down low - "grab the grass"
• Side on offset stance to channel the dribbler in one direction
• Turn and sprint to recover goal side if the dribbler takes off on a long diagonal run
• Keep your distance from the dribbler - to close and you'll get beat
• Feint in as if to tackle for the ball, then spring back immediately to prevent the dribbler from getting past you

II. 5v5 Ball Behind the Defense

III. 7v8 to Goal with Counters

IV. Individual Work Time