Training - Saturday, April 28

Well, our last session before State Cup begins.  The girls are excited and have been playing some of the best soccer I've ever seen them play. 

We've focused on individual and team defending the last two sessions.  Why?  Because defense wins championships.  If we don't allow goals, we are in every game.  That goes for this event, this summer in the Premier league, and hopefully in June at Regionals.  I believe that the only ways we will give up goals in this particular event to other teams at our age groups is 1) on quick counter attacks/breakaways, or 2) on set pieces.  I could be wrong, and I would truly be pleasantly surprised if a team scored on us by outplaying us through build up.  Too cocky?  I don't think so.  I just don't see it happening.

Who knows which way the ball will bounce for us in this event, but regardless of the outcome, I am very proud of where this group is at right now.  Would I be disappointed if we failed to advance out of this event to Regionals?  Extremely.  Do I know that it is a possibility?  Most definitely.  Though there would likely be many more life lessons for all of us if we end up getting beat here in MN, I would much prefer that we don't have to deal with those issues at this particular point :)

4:00PM - 5:30PM Field Training

I. 8v8 Walking Soccer

II. 4v4 Linked Soccer

III. Individual Functional Training

Forwards - Breakaways

Defenders - Clearances in the Box

Wide Players - Services into the Box

IV. 8v9 to Goal with Counters - Defending Set Pieces

Training - Friday, April 27

6:45PM - 8:15PM Field Training

I. Warm Up - Individual Defending Delay/Jockeying

Set Up

• Players work in pairs with one ball
• Pairs line up at the midfield line, the attacker has the ball and the defender get ready to defend
• Number the pairs off based on their starting location into #1's and #2's

Procedure

• Group #1 goes first with the attacker dribbling towards the endline and the defender jockeying (no tackling)
• As soon as Group #1 players near the midpoint of the half, Group #2 starts their work
• Dribblers should not dribble straight ahead at full speed.  Rather, I'm looking for cuts and long diagonal runs in order to have the defending players work on their defensive posture, buffer distance between themselves at the dribblers, footwork, feinting, etc.
• At the endline, the girls switch positions and the girls who were just dribbling now defend back to midfield

Make It Competitive

• Which defender does it the best?  Who does the best feints?  Which dribbler is the most creative?

Coaching Points

• Defenders should be down low - "grab the grass"
• Side on offset stance to channel the dribbler in one direction
• Turn and sprint to recover goal side if the dribbler takes off on a long diagonal run
• Keep your distance from the dribbler - to close and you'll get beat
• Feint in as if to tackle for the ball, then spring back immediately to prevent the dribbler from getting past you

II. 5v5 Ball Behind the Defense

III. 7v8 to Goal with Counters

IV. Individual Work Time

Training - Tuesday, April 24

6:00PM - 6:45PM Game Observation

I was in a bit of a dilemma regarding training tonight.  I had scheduled Tues, Thurs, Sat training this week in prep for our first State Cup game next Monday, but I also wanted to head down to Cottage Grove to catch some of the U14 Midwest Regional League game between our top U14 team and Eden Prairie.  After some consideration, I decided to try and book a field at the same site in Cottage Grove for training, and was able to do that with the help of Jonathan Schaefer (Bangu U14 Age Group Coordinator and Cottage Grove soccer's coaching director). 

I set training from 6PM - 8PM, having the girls watch the first half of the MWRL game then jump on the adjoining field at the complex to train.  The game started late as there was an issue with a missing ref but I was able to have the girls sit on the parent sideline (as not to distract the teams) to watch the first 30 minutes or so of the game.

Both our U14 Blue team and the EP team are solid teams.  We will face EP twice this summer in league play, and watching them today I think it will be very difficult to stop their big, strong, athletic forwards from scoring.  We'll have our hands full, that's for sure.

6:45PM - 8:00PM Field Training

I. Bombers (one of my favorite possession games)

Set Up

• 2 teams of 9 players (we had a guest player training with us today to give us 18 total in training)
• 50x70 playing area
• One team is designated as the attacking team and has a soccer ball
• The other team is designated as the defending team and has three soccer balls, preferably brightly colored ones but for sure different from the attacking team's soccer ball

Procedure

• Attacking team plays possession soccer and tries to complete consecutive passes within the playing area with their one soccer ball
• Defending team (with three soccer balls) plays handball and tries to hit or "bomb" the attacking team's soccer ball for points
• Defenders may not interfere with the attacking play in any other manner (ie, block or intercept the attackers' passes) aside from throwing bombs as the attacker's soccer ball
• Teams switch roles after 5 minutes

Make It Competitive

• +1 point for the attacking team for every 5 consecutive passes without their ball being bombed or going out of bounds
• +1 point for the defending team for every successful bomb attempt (if a bomb hits the attackers' ball)

Coaching Points

• Attacking players must be aware of their ball AND the three bomb balls at all times
• Attackers should draw the defenders (and their bombs) in with short, quick passes, then look to break pressure with longer passes or quick changes of field (by passing or by dribbling)
• Attacking players without the ball should support their teammate in possession of the ball in areas and at angles that keep them clear of defenders with bombs
• Defenders need to communicate well and move into dangerous positions in which to have a bomb passed (thrown) to them so that they can try and more easily hit the attackers' ball

Progression #1

• Same as above, but the attacking team players are limited to 3 touches or less

Progression #2

• Same as about, but the attacking team players are limited to 2 touches or less

Comments

I love this game, so do the girls!  Lots of good soccer, lots of hilarious moments.

II. 4v4 Tournament

Set Up

• 4 teams of 4 players, each team in a different color vest (with 18 players we had 2 teams of 5)
• Two 35x40 yard fields with 2-yard flag goals on the endlines
• Spare soccer balls behind each goal

Procedure

• Teams play 4v4 to goal, goals must be scored below the top height of the flags
• Teams rotate fields every 5 minutes with every team playing every other team

Make It Competitive

• +3 points for a win, +2 points for a tie, +1 point for a loss
• +1 point for each goal that a team scores
• Whichever team has the most points at the end of the round robin event wins

Coaching Points

• General team shape
• Visual and verbal communication
• Creativity

III.  6v6 Wide Channels

Set Up

• 3 teams of 6 players, each team in a different color scrimmage vest
• 50x70 yard playing area with two goals on the endlines
• Extend the penalty box lines up to midfield, forming a 44x50 yard central area flanked by two 10 - 13 yard channels which are split with a midline forming 4 crossing boxes
• Determine which two teams play first and have these two teams take up sides in the central area
• The third team provides 4 crossing players, one in each crossing box, and two endline bumpers
• Spare soccer balls in each goal

Procedure

• Teams play 6v6 to goal with 5 field players and 1 GK on each team
• Blue can use crossers #1 and #2 as neutral players, along with the bumper behind the goal they are attacking (bumpers can run along the entire endline
• Gold can use crossers #3 and #4, along with the bumper behind the goal they are attacking
• The only restriction on green is that the ball cannot die (come to a stop) in their crossing box
• Play for 5 minutes then rotate team positions (blue goes to cross/be bumpers, gold changes sides to attack the flag goal, green takes up the side gold was just on)

Make It Competitive

• +2 points for each goal
• +4 points for the attacking team if a goal is scored using the wide players or the bumper
• +2 points (half the points) for the crossing/bumpers team for assists on 4 point goals

Coaching Points

• Goal to goal if you can, but if in trouble or if the opportunity presents itself, use the neutral players in the crossing channels
• Once the ball is out wide, get numbers in the box
• Get the defenders ball watching with penetrating passes into the bumper's feet, then make runs to find space to finish
• Wide players should stay behind the ball and wide in order to help ensure that they attack passes played out wide to them and face goal - if a wide player is too narrow, a ball played out wider than that player forces the wide player to run away from goal, if a wide player plays too far forward, a poor pass behind them forces them to run backwards away from goal

* * * * *

If you couldn't tell, I wanted the girls to play a lot today.  We had a very productive and focused session last Saturday and a tough fitness session on Sunday.  My goal is to focus on more tactical play again on Friday, and finish out the week of training on Saturday with another fun, lively session in order to minimize any stress and pressure on the girls prior to Monday's match up.

FIT Training - Sunday, April 22

11:00AM - 12:30PM @ FIT Studios (Minneapolis)

From Danielle,

Today’s session was broken up into three stations. Adam was responsible for strength and balance, Mark did skill training on the turf, and I focused primarily on speed and agility.

To up the endurance level for the team I had them do interval training on the bike rather then the treadmill. This requires a completely different group of muscles. While on the bike the girls did one minute sprints on the bike while limiting their recovery time as they went along. This workout took roughly 19 minutes. They each did it twice. Upon completion they went right into what I consider to be game fitness agility workouts (jump rope, gates training, squat thrusts, core work). These exercises were designed to test an athlete’s ability to perform in a fatigued state. The girls showed drastic improvement this week in that respect. Their energy level was high as well as their determination.

Adam contributed to the workout by having the girls perform various strength activities which required a high level of concentration and balance. This is done by having the girls use weights in addition to physio and bosu balls. By having them perform these activities in an unbalanced environment will only further strengthen them as soccer players because it hones in on sport specific muscle groups.

We concluded our session as a team doing additional core work and reactionary drills. Although the girls were extremely tired their focus was great and I had a wonderful time training them. I look forward to this week’s session.

Please check out our website at www.fittc.com if you are interested in any of our elite performance camps that will be starting up in June.

See you soon!

-Danielle

Training - Saturday, April 21

I had a great session planned for today dealing with looking to use width to attack from the back and through midfield.  However, I forgot that Lily and Maddog were guest playing with a TC Fire team in the Midwest Challenge event up in Blaine so it skewed my numbers.  Also, Scratch and Bidi were both recovering from illness, so were at training but didn't participate much.  I had to wing it a bit, but was still able to do a lot of what I had planned.

I. Juggling Warm Up

• Individual Juggling
• Individual Juggling - Feet Only
• Partner Juggling (keeping the ball up between two players)
• Partner Juggling - No Heading

Though i arrived about 45 minutes early to set up the field for training, there was a men's game going on and I had to wait until just before 11AM to set up.  I had the girls go through this warm up as I set up all the disks and flags for the different exercises we were going to go through today.

With 14 girls active (Bidi would start training but then drop out to watch halfway through), I set up two different working areas.  8 girls would play the 4v4 Get It Wide game while the other 6 would work in the Receiving Across Your Body drill.

II. Receiving Across Your Body

Set Up

• 3 players to a grid, one ball for the group
• 10x24 yard grid set up as shown below, with a worker (B) in the middle and two wide players (A and C) on the sides
• Ball starts with one of the wide players

Procedure

• Wide players A and C start directly across from each other, B starts at the middle disk on the opposite side of the grid
• A dribbles to the opposite short side disk, B runs the opposite direction and adjusts their body for a support pass
• A turns back, plays a ball to B, who then passes to C - that completes the first sequence
• Now C dribbles toward the disk they started from, B makes a similar run to offer angled support, receives a pass from C and plays the ball to A - that completes sequence #2
• Repeat

Make It Competitive

• Challenge the players to do everything at pace and with quality
• Which group can do it better?

Coaching Points

• A and C need to grasp the direction that they are attacking each sequence and play the ball to B's lead foot (in front of B in the direction that B wants to go, rather than behind B)
• B should play two touch for speed, receive the ball across their body with the inside of their far foot (relative to the passer) and play with their other foot
• A and C should be creative with their turns
• Crisp passes on the ground
• Verbal communication - "Support!" call from B, "Swing It!" call from far side wide player
• Visual communication from B, hand out pointing to where they want the ball played

III. 4v4 Get It Wide

Set Up

• 2 teams of 4 (blue and gold)
• 40x35 yard grid with two 4-yard goals
• A 5-yard wide channel down each touchline

Procedure

• Teams play 4v4 (3+GK) to goal
• The only restriction is that the ball must enter one of the wide channels prior to the team in possession being able to score a goal

Make It Competitive

• +1 point for each goal

Coaching Points

• In general, there is more open space on the flanks
• Players can get the ball in the channel in one of three ways - 1) dribble, 2) pass to a teammate waiting in a channel, or 3) pass to space in a channel for a teammate to run onto
• Don't force the play to one channel, if things are crowded, switch fields (change the point of attack) and look to get wide in the opposite channel

Variations

1. Players may only get the ball into a channel by passing
2. Players may only get the ball into a channel by dribbling
3. 3-touch or less

IV. Cross Field Link Races

Set Up

• 3 teams of 4
• Field set up as shown below, with 2 starting gates, a turning line, 3 starting disks, and a finishing gate

Procedure

• Two teams take the field as shown below, with one player with a ball at a starting gate and the other three players at the starting disks
• At the go signal, both players with soccer balls dribble across the turning line, turn, and make a pass to their next teammate down the line
• That teammate receives the pass and passes to the third player
• The third player receives the pass and plays to the fourth player
• The fourth player dribbles through the finishing gate
• Team that sitting judges what is happening on the field
• After the sequence is over, gold takes up green's positions, green takes blue's, and blue sits out and judges (so teams get to work from the right to the left, then from the left to the right, then sit and watch one)

Here's what the movement looked like at the start:

Make It Competitive

• +1 point for each team that successfully makes it through the entire sequence correctly and gets their fourth player through the finishing gate
• +2 points for the first team (racing the other team) that successfully makes it through the entire sequence correctly and gets their fourth player through the finishing gate

I like to send the girls out to try stuff and figure things out on their own prior to doing a lot of coaching and instructing.  Initially in this drill, the girls all just stood in their places and tried to pass the ball from one to another down the line.  Typical girls soccer.  Do exactly what the coach asks and play the ball down the line in sequence and have the final girls run through the finishing gate. 

I let them go a while, then stopped to ask them to figure out why we were doing this drill.  To change the point of attack and to switch fields and play our wide backs in were the answers, after some prompting.  Good.  Next question from me was do you know which direction you are simulating going in when you take up your starting positions.  A couple light bulbs went on as girls began to grasp the concept here. 

Note the location I set up this drill on the field of play.  For the green team in the illustration, they are simulating a right defender dribbling forward, getting into trouble, turning back and looking for support, finding that support with a central defender, then swinging the ball around the ball to play in our left defender.

For the blue team, they are simulating a left midfielder dribbling forward, getting into trouble, turning back and looking for support, finding that support with a central midfielder, then swinging the ball through midfield to play in our wide right midfielder/defender.

Armed with this knowledge, the next question was how are players 2 - 4 going to offer support to each other while also looking to get to the other side of the field?  By dropping back and away from each other.  Good.  Here is what the movement should look like.

I also added a GK player behind the team that was simulating swinging the ball around the back in order to help Mudd work on her communication and direction. 

I then added the following restrictions:

Two touch by the middle two players (players 2 and 3).
Why?  To help encourage quick play.

Players 2 - 4 must receive the ball across their body facing forward using the inside of the foot furthest from the passer (if a player is receiving a ball from their left side facing forward, the receiving player should use this inside of their right foot to control the ball.
Why?  So that they see more of the field of play in front of them when receiving the ball as well as are able to position their body to not only play more quickly, but also easily peek over their shoulder to see where they are going to pass next.

All passes must be made backwards except for the final pass.
Why?  So that supporting players drop back to offer support that will likely be further away from opponents.

Player 4 must at least be even with player 3 when player 3 passes to them.
Why?  So that player 4 is in a better position to cover in the event three is in trouble, as well as increase their chances that they (3) will be able to receive the ball away from pressure and facing up field.

V. Cross Field Link Races With Pressure

Set Up

• Same as above, except that instead of having the third team sitting out, that team now provides two defenders for each active team as shown below

Procedure

• Same as above with the addition of two pressuring defenders for each active team
• D1 and D2 defend against the green team, D3 and D4 defend against the blue team
• D1 and D3 cannot leave their starting disk until the initial dribbler passes to player 2
• D2 and D4 cannot leave their starting disks until player 2 touches the ball
• All defenders can only defend against the attacker they are initially matched up against (D1 and D3 can only defend against player 2, D2 and D4 can only defender against player 3)

Make It Competitive

• Same as above with the defenders trying to disrupt the opposing team to stop them from scoring points

Coaching Points

• Drop back early and adjust your body position
• Play to your teammate's lead foot so that they can play quickly before the defender is on them
• Passes must be crisp and sharp, too slow and the defenders are able to get involved, too fast/hard and your teammate will not be able to control it

Comments

The addition of the defenders was a made up on the spot progression that worked well.  The girls were rejuvenated with the added challenge of defending players and this allowed me to continue drilling the players in this worthwhile activity.  The defenders were too quick to pounce on the attackers in the beginning, so I had all the defenders start sitting on their butts to slow them down a bit.

VI.  6v6 Free Play