Training - Monday, June 18

Holy Angles, 16 players.

The plan for today was to warm-up with some technical work keying on movement of our outside defenders.  It would also involve work for our target forwards and mids.  I then planned to move to the 3v2 Continuous activity that we ran through last week, focusing more on the spacing and shape of the three attackers.  I was then going to finish with more set piece work in prep for the weekend.

The girls still tend to crowd around the ball at times, not fully comprehending yet that their teammates are usually good enough to pass the ball to them over distance now.  As our players get drawn close to their teammate in possession of the ball in games, though the number of options may increase, we are still not very effective as a pass to a close teammate does not break pressure (get us out of pressure) a lot of the time.  The idea of focusing a bit on spacing and shape when attacking would be helpful to them as in game situations there can sometimes be a world of difference between a 5 yard pass and a 10 yard one.

Spacing and team shape require that the girls possess some very important skills.  First, they need to have the awareness in their surroundings (where opposing players are as well as the location of their own teammates).  Second, they need to possess an understanding of the individual benefits of receiving a ball in space versus receiving a ball in pressure as well as the benefits of attacking up the field on opposing teams in less densely populated areas.  All this can’t be addressed in a single session and takes time to build the skills in the young players.  I planned on addressing some of these issues tonight.

As with all good plans, unforeseen circumstances arise and plans need to be changed.  The field was double booked beginning at 8PM as our U16 and U17 Blue teams had planned on scrimmaging in prep for Regionals this weekend.  With some accommodation, they agreed to begin at 8:15PM to give us 75 minutes on the field.  To throw another wrench into the mix, the U15s (training from 6:30PM – 8:00PM), having not played a game since State Cup, were interested in a full field scrimmage with us from 7:30PM – 8:00PM.  I decided it would be good for the girls to get a competitive run in for a bit, so I adjusted our training plan accordingly.

I. Technical Functional Training – Wide Backs

Set Up

• 4 groups of 3, formed around 1 wide back per group
• Two groups worked up the right side of the field, two up the left – the right side groups had our two wide right backs, the left side groups had our two lefties
• Midfield start disk, wide back start disks, and target start disks arranged as shown below
• All the soccer balls with the midfield players

Note this activity involves 12 players. The other four players (our central backs) were off on another part of the field working on long distance ball striking and clearances. Players were rotated in and out between the activities.

Procedure

• Green group starts with the ball at the green mids feet, working up the right side of the field
• Gold players play low pressure, dummy defense against the green team
• Green mid begins the sequence by dribbling forward with the gold mid applying pressure on one side or the other

• Green mid turns away from pressure and looks for support

• Green wide defender recognizes the need to maintain possession and moves back quickly, away from the gold defender to provide support
• Green mid plays to green wide back

• Green wide back receives the ball across their body with the inside of their right foot, playing the ball out wide to their right (clear your feet!) in order to set up a pass up field on their second touch
• Green wide back plays a driven ball to their target player who, with one or two touches, plays back to the green mid who has moved up for support, completing the sequence

• Orange then begins the same sequence up the left side of the field while green and gold switch roles so gold can attack while green defends
• Midfield defenders should apply contact pressure though not trying to win the ball
• Wide back defenders do not move
• Target player defenders apply contact pressure to the back of the target player and make then work to get good touches and pass backs to the supporting midfield player

Make It Competitive

• White group can execute the sequence the sharpest/quickest/with the most technique?

Coaching Points

• Midfields need to clear their feet with their turn so that they can play a pass quickly to the supporting wide defender
• Wide defenders must back away from their marking defenders quickly once they recognize that their midfielder is looking to play backwards
• Wide defenders need to recognize where the open space is (out wide) and touch the ball in that direction – this also helps create a passing channel wide of the marking defender in order for the wide back to play forward
• Target players make their body big, shielding off the marking defender
• Balls played into the targets should be low and driven over the distance
• Balls played back from the targets to the mids should be on the ground

Release Variation

Same set up and concept with the following modifications:

Procedure

• This time the midfielder dribbles up field, turns back to maintain possession from the marking defender, then turns back up field again when the marking defender over plays the back pass
• The wide back backs up to offer the same support, but once the mid turns back up field, the wide back releases out wide at a sprint to received a pass in space from the central mid

• Wide back still plays forward to their target and the target still tries to find the supporting mid

Coaching Points

• Recognition by the wide back after backing up to provide support that the mid can play forward, and a sprint out wide (into open space) and forward to receive a pass in that space
• Arm extended out in front of the wide back indicating that they want the ball played out in front of them
• “Release!” call from the wide back to provide verbal communication

II. 30 minute Scrimmage vs U15 Blue Team

We defended most of the time as the U15s were able to out play us in the midfield and thus keep good possession of the ball.  We didn’t really allow any solid chances at goal but did concede two or three corners.  We didn't threaten the U15 goal more than 2 or 3 times, and did have a couple corner kicks.  We did manage to score a great goal though.

Jilly (LM), from midway in our own defending half, played a 30 yard long ball over the top that Ripper (RF) raced onto up the right center part of the field.  Millie (LF) sprinted up the field in support of the attack with a loud “Early! Early!” call, wanting the ball played to her quickly.  With the ball still bouncing, Ripper played a fantastic first time, blind pass into the space behind the recovering defenders.  The U15’s GK came out to the top of the box to make a play on the ball, but was thrown off a bit by Millie barreling down at her.  The high lobbed pass bounced high on the turf and over the outstretched hands of the GK.  Millie changed direction and hit a left foot volley into the top right corner of the open goal as the GK tried to chase her down.

What we did learn from the U15s (who incidentally have gotten MUCH better since we saw them in January) was how their center back (in a 4-man defensive scheme) was able to get up into midfield when they had possession.  This girl was usually free and clear of defending players as our forwards were too high and our mids too far in retreat.  She got the ball often and the added numbers in midfield killed us.  It was great for the girls to see and I kept rotating out our central backs so that they could watch and try to pick up on it.

III. Corner Kick Attack/Defense

Set Up

• 6 defending players defending an open goal
• 2 girls striking corners on each side of the field (4 total)
• 6 girls attacking the corner kicks trying to score

IV. Game Observation

For the last 15 minutes of training, we sat in the stands to watch the U16s and U17s play.