Training - Finally!

OMG!  A training session!  Our first in nearly 3 weeks.  Finally.

Out at McMurray in St Paul, we were on the practice field there.  We've (the coaches) have watched the girls play so many games as of late that is was good to finally get the girls in for some training work on an aspect of our game that needed focus - our central mids. 

Now don't get me wrong, we are far from perfect in any aspect of our play.  However, we have been fairly creative in the attack and have been scoring goals, and we're fairly solid in the back, even defending with 3 in our effective 3-5-2. 

We've settled into the 3-5-2 as our preferred formation.  In Arizona in January, we came into the tournament with the 4-3-3 (or more specifically the 4-2-1-3) formation as our bread and butter system of play.  This was based primarily on the success we had with that formation through regionals last summer.  Not having played together at all through the fall, save for a few friendlies, Arizona was our first shot at real competition for the 0708 season. 

In Arizona, we were forced to shift to a 4-1-4-1 (modified 4-5-1) which the girls, for a time, really seemed to be able to work well in.   

We took that formation into Vegas in March, then, based on performance there, shifted to a 4-4-2 Diamond formation that once again proved an evolution into a better system of play for the players we had and for how they were all developing.

Then MRL play began and we found ourselves using the 4-5-1 again, looking for more width in the attack as well as for more control of the central midfield.  

Our State Cup began in May, and we came into it comfortable that our 4-5-1 formation would be the way to go.  Though it seems like a more defensive formation, our wide mids had been able to get into the attack well, so many times we looked as if we were playing a 4-3-3. 

However, in our first State Cup game against EP, we finally stumbled into the right fit.  We began the game in a 4-5-1, but were counter-attacked early on as the EP forwards received a number of passes in the huge gap between our two central backs and our 3 central mids.  In order to fill that gap, we pushed one of the central defenders into a more holding mid role, asking our wide backs to tuck in a bit to help the now lone central defender.  Now, in a weird 3-6-1, we pushed a central mid up into the attack, and sorted out the midfield triangle with two holding mids and an attacking mid.  Things started to click, though we were worried about the 3-5-2 against regional level teams.  Comfortable in defending with 3 here in MN at our age group, unsure about the future.  

We went back to the 4-4-2 in Madison for our last travel MRL weekend, struggled with it the first half against a decent New United (WI) team, shifted to a 3-5-2 for the second half, completely dominated play with a terrific performance, and that was that.  It's the formation we play our best soccer in.  Now we needed to address our central midfield play to make use of the width the 3-5-2 give us.  We needed to train.  

* * * * *

Functional Training for Central Players - Receiving to Swing It

The idea coming into this training session was to work with our central players on proper receiving technique in order to change the point of attack from one side of the field to the other.  I tell the girls that playing across the field is just as important as playing up the field, sometimes more important.  This is a needed concept for the girls to grasp as their usual first thought when getting possession of the ball is to look straight up the field for options.  Playing across the field forces the opposing team to shift across the field to defend.  Since the 10 opposing girls don't share a single brain, it is difficult to coordinate their movements with each other, thus gaps tend to appear in danger areas.  We are looking to exploit this uncoordinated movement and attack the gaps.  It's really pretty simple.

Phase 1

Set Up

• 4 players per group, 2 soccer balls
• 4 disks per group, set up in a diamond as illustrated below
• Soccer balls with the two "wide" players

Procedure

• Central players simultaneously trigger the sequence by quickly backing up (1), away from their starting cone (defender), creating space for themselves below (behind and in support of) the ball

• Wide players pass to their specified central players (2)
  
• Central players receive the ball across their body and pass (3) to the opposite side wide player

• Central players then reset to their start cones and then trigger the sequence again by quickly backing up to create space
• Wide players play to the opposite central player so the central players work on receiving and playing with both feet (in both directions)

 

Coaching Points

• Central players drop quickly
• Take peeks over your shoulder to the opposite side of the field as you drop and as the initial pass is traveling to you
  
• Receive the ball across your body in order to see the field better and make playing in the opposite direction easier
• First touch in the direction you want to play
  
• Passes should be crisp and firm throughout the exercise

Comments

Pretty straightforward warm-up type exercise.  Corrected repetition is key.  I put the girls who usually find themselves in the center of the field in the 6 central roles in the 3 different groups.  I did, however, switch the 2 central players with the 2 wide players within each group after a time to give everyone the  experience. 

 

Phase 2

Same as Phase 1, this time with the wide players an additional 5 yards wider.

 

 

Winged Addition #1 (unplanned addition)

The girls were finding it difficult to remember to take the peeks over their shoulders.  This awareness is essential for the central players who want to play at the highest levels of the game, and I needed to find a way to encourage it here in training.

 

So I added a simple rule.  The second a wide player passed the ball to their specified central players, the wide player would either raise one or both hands high into the air.  The central players were asked to identify and call out "One!" or "Two!" depending on how many arms were raised of their intended wide target.  The kicker here was that the peek and call must come after the initial pass was made to them and before their first touch on the ball.  This would ensure that the identification and awareness came as the ball was traveling to them. 

 

Not a fancy addition, but worked like a charm.   

 

Winged Addition #2

Repetition, though critical, is never really fun.  How do I spice things up to allow the girls to continue to drill through the exercise without them really knowing they are still drilling on the same boring stuff?  Make things competitive.

 

Simple races between the 3 groups of 4.  All the groups would start at the same time on my "Go!" signal.  First team to go through the sequence and have both soccer balls controlled by the opposite side wide players (foot on the ball) would get three points, second group done got awarded 2 points, last group would get 1 point.  Note that EVERY group gets points, rather than awarding 2, 1, and none. 

 

Again, worked like a charm, with the girls re-focused, crisper passes, quicker movements. 

Communication - Getting on the Same Page

Just so we were all on the same page,  I had the wide players begin to yell "Swing it!" as they made their initial pass, verbally encouraging the central players to look to continue the movement across the field, helping to trigger the change of field thought.

Phase 3

Same as Phase 2, but now I asked the central players to take 3 touches.  The first touch, still with their body open and facing up the field when they received the ball, was to be a tight one under their body.  Their second touch, with the outside of the same foot they used to control the initial pass (the foot furthest from the passer) would push the ball away in the opposite direction from the initial pass, their third touch would be the pass to the opposite side wide player.

 

Same races after each group practices the sequence on their own.

 

Phase 4

The idea here is to now work on some pattern play, using two staggered central players to swing it. 

 

Set Up

• 4 players per group, 1 soccer ball
• 4 disks per group, set up in a diamond as illustrated below
• Soccer balls with one of the "wide" players

Building off the set up of the Phases above, all I needed to do was to move the 2 central disks for each group another 5 yards out.  This put the disks right on top of the central disks for their neighboring groups (as the initial gap between the groups was 10 yards), but that was OK as the players would be now working inside of their disks. 

 

Procedure

• The wide player with the ball begins the sequence by passing to a specified central player (1)
  
• The receiving central player must take 2 touches (2), then plays a pass to the other central player (3)
  
• The second central player can play 1 or 2 touch, completing the swing movement (4) to the opposite side wide player

• Begin the next sequence with the player now in possession of the ball, in the opposite direction

 

 Coaching Points

• Crisp passing
• 1st central player must still look for the swing option, even if then playing up the field to the other central player
• The pass between the central players (3) should be directed in the swing direction and paced well in order to help ensure quicker, 1-touch play from the second central player
  
• "Swing it!" talk for every player by every player

Comments

Good exercise for the girls.  Lots of little technical items that need to be done correctly in order for the girls to execute the movement quickly.  I also added the race competition among the 3 groups to add some pressure to the technical work.

 

Phase 5

Finally, we ran through the Phase 4 competitive race sequence with a simple variation.  The players starting with the ball now had to face away from their group and, at the "Go!" signal, dribble the ball across the touch line, turn, then execute the first pass. 

 

 Thanks to the variation and competitiveness, we were able to spend nearly 60 minutes on these exercises.  That meant a TON of repetition for all the players in a very fun and lively atmosphere.

 

Swinging It Around the Back

I then took our 6 or 7 defensive players to do some shadow play, working on group movement and passing combination ideas with our 3 backs and 2 central mids as we swung the ball around the back.

 

Set Up

• 60x40 yard area around midfield
• 3 defenders
• 2 holding mids
• Coach with 3 soccer balls
  

Procedure

• Coach begins the exercise by playing a ball out to either one of the wide backs
• Players work on movement to support the ball and different pattern combinations to "play in" the opposite side defender into the space on the opposite side of the field
  

Defender to Defender

 

 

Through a Holding Mid

 

 

Mid to Mid

 

We then finished up the session playing 7v6 to Goal with Counter Targets, working on changing the point of attack.  I introduced the idea of recognizing numbers up situations and the need to move the ball quickly across the field to exploit these situations, but this is a whole other set of training sessions in and of itself.
 
All in all, a VERY good session for the girls.  We'll look to build on this tomorrow against EP in our first league game, a league that Cook and I are looking at as additional training opportunities for the girls in this hectic time of league, State Cup, and MRL.  We'll then look to another training session on Saturday, with an MRL make-up game vs Wayzata U14P on Sunday, our second league game vs Wayzata U15-2 on Monday, and an MRL game vs EP U14P the following Wednesday.