Training - Wednesday, May 30

With storm clouds gathering, we took the field at Mac for our sole training session this week.  We've had a lot of soccer in the last month and the next two weeks things die down a bit game-wise.  We meet Wayzata again tomorrow in league play, then get in 5 training sessions before meeting up with the Woodbury team on June 12.  After that we have another 3 or 4 sessions, a rematch against Coon Rapids, a game against our White team, then off to Des Moines for Regionals.

My idea tonight was to get in a lot of technical finishing.  We have two regulation-sized goals at Mac that are relatively easy to move around the field.  This allowed me to set up a series of repetitive shooting exercises then change the field around to finish with some fun, competitive games to two goals.

I started with some ball striking work, building on our inside of the foot bending balls from last session while also introducing the outside of the foot bending ball. 

Before sending the girls off to work, I sat them all down behind me and proceeded to strike four different balls at the same target.  I first hit a high lofted ball, then a low driven ball, then an inside of the foot bending ball, and finally an outside of the foot bending ball.  All four soccer balls started in the same spot, and I began my approach to each ball from the same spot.  The key here is for the players to be able to hit all four types of passes coming from one starting position, changing the flight of the ball by foot placement/alignment, where they make contact with the ball, and how their leg swings at the ball.

Using these ideas, I could hit about a half a dozen different passes - low/high inside bender, low/high outside bender, low driven, and high lofted.

I. Ball Masters Program - Individual Skills Development

Ball Striking Technique

• High Lofted Pass
• Instep Drive
• Inside of the Foot Bender
• Outside of the Foot Bender

The girls worked in pairs trying to strike passes that their teammate called for.  For example, if Getch and Becs were working together and Getch had the ball, Becs would yell out "High lofted pass!" and Getch would try to hit that type of pass to Becs.

* * * * *

The coaching point I really wanted to try and hammer into the girls today was how to finish low crosses played across the box when the attacker is in the middle of the goal or at the far post.  Most girls think that to score a goal, you have to swing your leg straight up the field at the goal.  This thought makes finishing crosses difficult as, especially when the ball is played across at pace, the timing of the leg swing has to be perfect in order to impart any type of power into the ball.  Instead, I want the girls to turn their hips to face the ball more, allowing the inside of the foot to also be turned more towards the ball.  This "new" foot angle allows an increased chance of better contact on the ball while also putting the ball "back where it came from" - back toward the post that the cross was coming from.  Not only will this though increase the girls chances of making good contact with the ball, but moreover the opposing GKs who are playing say a cross from their left will be moving to their right across the goal as the ball is played across.  Their momentum will help them get to any shots played to their right side while making it nearly impossible to stop even a weak shot hit back where it came from to the GKs left.

I thought long and hard about how to try and get this point across to the girls.  Eventually, I settled on using a prop.  I had Maddie bring a tennis racket and some tennis balls to training.  I got the girls together then asked for a volunteer who thought they had mad tennis skills to step up.  Hannah gladly took up the challenge.  I stood Hannah at the far post about 6 yards away from goal while I stood at the near post.  I asked Hannah to make sure her hips and the tennis racket head were both facing straight ahead of her towards the far post area of the goal, then asked her to try and hit the tennis balls I was going to throw in front of her into the far post area of the goal.

Now I'm no Johan Santana, but I proceeded to blow three tennis balls in a row past Hannah's face while she flailed hopelessly trying to make contact.  I then did the same thing to Bidi who had been heckling Hannah for her apparent tennis ineptitude. 

I then asked Bidi to turn her hips slightly, turn the racket head towards me roughly 45 degrees, and now try to hit the same type of thrown tennis ball into the near post area of the goal.  What do you think she did on the first pitch?  You guessed it... near post side netting with an attitude!  I asked the girls what did this all mean and how did this relate to our team and the soccer field.  It wasn't hard for all of them to see what I was getting at and they were all excited to put the new found knowledge to work.

* * * * *

Shooting is all about repetition, repetition of correct technique. 

My idea today was to split the group of 18 girls (I had the U14 Blue team's GK with us as well) into two teams of 8.  I set up two shooting fields side by side, and the 2 GKs took turns alternating in the net on field #2.  Half the group would work on a specific type of finishing skill on one field while the other half of the group would work on something else on the other field.  After 5 minutes the teams would switch fields.  After another 5 minutes, that particular "round" was complete and we'd move to round #2 with different finishing scenarios. 

II. Repetition Shooting Round #1

Field 1 - Back Where It Came From

Field 2 - Give and Goes

III. Repetition Shooting Round #2

Field 1 - Back Where It Came From - Bounding Balls

Field 2 - Far Post Benders and Near Post Driven Shots

Lightning in the skies at around 6:45PM.  We called practice and huddled in our cars for 15 - 20 minutes, then took the field again.  A few minutes later, more lighting and training was called.  We didn't get to the last two activities.

IV. Repetition Shooting Round #3

Field 1 - First Time Lay Backs

Field 2 - Heading

V. 4v4 Lots O' Shots