Training - Monday, June 4

Holy Angels, 14 players.

My plan for the day was a technical session, attempting to address a few areas in which we need some serious improvement prior to Regionals; clearances from the back and judging air balls.  I also wanted to continue to work on our ball striking technique. 

From what I've experienced (and read), young girls develop the skill of tracking an object in a 3D environment slower than boys do.  I assume this is related somewhat to depth perception, but I haven't done extensive research to find out exactly what all the exact cause of this is.  All I know is that many girls on this team jump to head a ball that is 10 feet above their heads, or take an approach path to an air ball that sometimes leaves them and the ball in separate zip codes once the ball is once again Earth-bound. 

This ability to pick up on and judge a trajectory of the ball flight is a key component in the game.  With all the work we've done with heading the past few years, it doesn't do any good if the girl due to poor visual coordination can't get on the end of a cross, a goal kick, a punt, etc.  It's about moving the body into the correct line of flight  and getting the body into an area that the ball will land. 

So, on my way over to Holy Angels I stopped by Toys R Us to pick up an Air Hogs Stomp Rocket set. 

I had seen these things in action in my neighborhood and it looked like a very enjoyable way for the girls to work on this visual skill.  I didn't really know how it was going to work out with this age group, thinking that the Stomp Rocket toy would be better for younger players.  I was amazed at the results by the end of training.

I set up 3 stations and divided the group into 2 groups of 5 and one group of 4.  The groups would work at each station for 8 to 10 minutes or so, then rotate through the other ones.  Each station had points associated with it and each group would tally their points to keep things competitive. 

Station #1 - Stomp Rocket

The girls took turns jumping on the air pad to launch the foam-tipped rockets into sky-high parabolas for their partners to try to get their body in position (by judging the trajectory of the air rocket) to catch the falling projectile.

Station #2 - Aerial Ball Control/Dead Ball Service

Set Up

• 1 8v8 goal with a 6x12 yard box marked with disks in front of it
• A clearing line marked with disks 12 yards from goal
• 1 ball striking disk 30 yards from goal

Procedure

• One partner in goal, one partner up at the ball striking disk
• Girls took turns striking a dead (not moving) ball at goal from 30 yards
• The player in the goal tries to either 1) control the air ball within the controlling box, or 2) clear high balls with their head past the clearing line 12 yards away and to the outside of the field

Make It Competitive

• + 5 points for the ball striker if they can score a goal past their teammate
• + 1 point for the player in goal if they are able to control the flighted ball within the controlling box
• +1 point for the player in goal if she is able to clear a high ball with her head past the clearing line

Coaching Points

• Player in goal must move her body to get in the line of flight rather than stretch and reach (off balance) for a ball wide of them
• Concentrate on the clearing headers, looking to put the ball high and wide up field

Station #3 - Aerial Ball Contact/Moving Ball Service

Same as above, this time the ball striker pushes the ball forward with one touch and strikes a moving ball at goal.  Ball must be hit from outside the 25 yard mark.

I had the girls go through the entire circuit (each station) once, then brought them together to talk about the tracking/trajectory piece.

I then had the groups go through the 3 stations again, varying Stations #2 and #3 to work on clearances.

Station #2b - First Time Clearances/Dead Ball Weak Foot Low Service

Station #3b - First Time Clearances/Moving Ball Low Service

This time the girls would accumulate points by clearing the ball up field.  Points were determined by accuracy and distance as shown by the numbers in red in the above illustration.

7v7 2 Goal, 1 Goal

We finished with a 7v7 half field game with one team going to a regulation sized goal and the other attacking the two 8v8 goals we used during the station work.  The GK of the team defending the two 8v8 goals had to defend both goals.

If readers remember, last Wednesday the skies opened up on us at Macalester College.  I failed to wash the scrimmage vests since then.  Suffice it to say that the odor emanating from the vests was less than pleasant.  Neither team wanted to wear them so I was forced to do trivia to determine a losing team that would wear the rotten-egg-smelling Nike vests. 

This whole situation garnered a bunch of smiles and laughs which I love to see.  It also helped to have an affect on the ensuing scrimmage as I told the girls in the orange vests that if they scored, the smelly apparel could be shed and had to be worn by the other team until that team scored.  It was a VERY competitive finish to training :)