Training - Monday, May 14

Tonight was going to be our first training session on the turf at Holy Angels.  We were scheduled on it last week, but due to a field conflict we were forced to use the grass outfield area on the adjacent baseball field.  Not ideal when I came with a session planned for the ½ field we were scheduled to use on the turf field, but not a huge inconvenience.

The idea for this week was to work on ways to break down teams who may decide to pack it in on us and look to defend in numbers from the opening kick off.  Though I’m not sure that any U13 team will try to employ this tactic against us, it never hurts to be prepared.

If teams look to do this against us in the semifinal game or (hopefully) in the final game this weekend, we will likely face something like a 4-5-1 formation; lots of numbers behind the ball with a lone forward up top to spearhead a counterattack.

How would we look to break this down? We have a number of options and ideas.

First, we’d likely switch to a 3-5-2 formation. This formation would

• give us enough numbers in back to defend against any counterattack
• give us width in the attack with two very wide mids who would look to either 1) serve in early crosses from 25 – 35 yards away from the endline, or 2) find 1v1 situations and attack the endlines
• The idea about the early crosses is that wide players will usually have more time and space the further away they are from the goal and the packed in defense
• The idea behind attacking the endline is to either get off crosses or to win corner kicks

Second, realizing that there would be little opportunity to play over the top if a defense looked to pack it in in the back, we would need to shift our attacking thoughts to finding forwards feet in dangerous areas for them to 1) play the way they were facing to set up supporting midfielders shots from distance, or 2) look to roll marking defenders and go to goal themselves.

The girls would also need to realize that if we can’t stretch a team in one direction (lengthwise up and down the field) if they are already packed into one area, then we need to look to stretch our opponents out widthwise. Why stretch out our opponents widthwise? Because this will lead to gaps in the middle (in the danger area) for us to look to attack.

The overall objective is still the same - get the ball into the opposing team's danger area in front of goal. 

In the end, it’s really more important that my girls begin to understand the ideas here. Why we would look to make tactical changes and how these changes would affect the game.

In truth, I’m not really worried about playing a team that packs it in. I understand the thought on their end, but I just don’t believe there is a team out there that can contend with our aerial strength off crosses and corner kicks, two attacks that we would likely get a lot of against a packed in team.

So for tonight, I wanted to do some work on early crosses and playing the ball around the back/midfield looking to unbalance the opposition and set up wide players for early crosses and/or 1v1 situations.

Like with all good plans there are always something that comes up that you don't expect.  When I got to the field tonight I saw that there were adult league games being played.  I saw our U17G Blue team, the team that was supposed to be on the turf field before us at 5:30PM, training in the grass outfield area.  At that very same instant, my earpiece starting vibrating and I looked down at my caller ID and it read "Mark Cook".  I didn't need to pick up to know what he was calling about... field conflict.

OK, time to scramble again and come up with a different plan now that we were going to share the outfield area with the U15s.  Moreover, we were on the way out outfield as there was a baseball game going on.  I would not have the space I would need to run the session I had planned on, so I had to come up with something else.

When all else fails and you only have a little bit of space, it never hurts to go back to some technical work.  So, my new training session was to focus on some technical aspects, get the girls moving in some fun 5v2 possession activities, then (after the baseball game was hopefully done towards the end of our practice) look to play for 45 minutes against the U15 team. 

Our U15s, if they can get past the semifinal game against St Croix, will likely face my old Woodbury Inferno team.  I guess I don't really have the right to call them "my team", but regardless of the personnel changes in the last two years, there are still many of the core group I started with some years back.  The Inferno are the clear favorites to take this event, and our coaches know it.  If our U15s meet them in the final, we will likely have to defend in numbers.  Thus, it worked out well to have the U15s work on this while we worked on finding ways to break the defending team down.

7:00PM - 8:30PM Field Training

I. Ball Masters Program - Dribbling Turns

Shield Turn, StepOver Turn, Slap Cut, Outside Cut

Set Up

• Players work in pairs with one soccer ball in a 10 - 12 yard long area

Procedure

• A and B start together at the starting line
• (1) A dribbles out across the opposite endline and executes a specific dribbling turn
• (2) A passes to B and keeps their distance
• (3) B controls and passes back to A
• (4) A plays a 1-touch pass back to B who attacks the ball and dribbles to the endline to repeat the sequence
• A takes B's place on the starting line to await a pass from B

Make It Competitive

• Which group is the sharpest?

Coaching Points

• Everything should be done at speed
• Quick set up touches out to the turning line
• Quick turn, getting the ball away from under your body so that you can play quickly
• Head up to find the target before you pass
• Crisp passes back and forth
• Player who is waiting at the starting line should attack the ball at speed when laid back from the dribbler in step (4) above - I'm looking to get the girls used to accelerating towards the ball and carrying the ball forward with a softer, relaxes, and controlled touch

II. 5v2

Set Up

• Two 20x15 yard grids separated by a 5-yard gap
• Two scrimmage vests in each grid that the defending players in the middle will hold, not wear, to indicate that they are the ones trying to win the ball

Procedure

• 5 attacking players in each grid, 2 defending players
• I had 17 at training, so 3 players were waiting in the middle channel (the 5-yard gap)
• Players play 5v2 possession (keep away)
• If you make a mistake, you are out and go wait your turn in the middle channel
• The defender who has been in the middle the longest drops their scrimmage vest and takes the place of the exiting player on the possession team
• One of the players waiting in the middle channel comes into the grid, picks up the vest, and becomes a defender

Note: This was just a way to try and find a rotation for the numbers we had at training.  I could have played 6v2 and had only one player sitting, but I told the girls I wanted them to work hard in the middle as defenders, as well as be sharp and active on the outside.  The ability to have 3 players inactive and resting, catching their breath, worked well.

Make It Competitive

• Count your passes.  Which pair of defenders allowed the highest number of completed passes?  Believe me, posing this question is a sure way to step up the intensity of the middle players!

Coaching Points

• Constantly move and adjust to provide teammate with options though good support angles and distance
• Look to change the rhythm of play when needed - hold the ball to slow the game down when you have time, play quick 1-touch passes to break pressure

III. 5v2 Mandatory 2-Touch

Same as above, but all attacking players must take two and only 2 touches

IV. 5v2 Two to One

Same as above, but players have 2 touches until someone takes 1 touch.  From that point on, attackers play 1-touch until they make a mistake.  The game is reset to 2 touches each time the defenders switch.

V. 5v2 Pass and Sprint

Same as above with unlimited touches for all players, but every time an attacker passes the ball they must sprint to another area of the grid.  Now, all players must see the ball, see their teammates, see who is running where, and move to fill needed spaces and adjust to number in one area.

VI. 11v11 With U15s

VII. Penalty Kicks

Just in case :)