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

Training - Wednesday, May 23

Back at Mac for our second session at the cool new facility. I had 15 girls at tonight's practice.

I. Ball Masters Program – Individual Technical Development

Ball per player in a general area working on individual dribbling moves.

I gave the girls a series of difficult dribbling combinations to work on. These weren’t the garden variety single moves (ie, Scissors, Step Over) but rather some creative not-too-useful-in-games moves designed to spark interest in and challenge the girls.

With 15 girls at training, I divided the team into 3 groups of 5. Two groups would play in the 4v4 and 4v3+1 games while the third group would work on bending balls down the line in another part of the field. I rotated the teams every 4 minutes.

II. 4v4 to Targets

Set Up

• 40x30 yard area
• One Target player (who is neutral) on each endline, 4v4 in the grid
• Extra soccer balls behind each of the Targets

Procedure

• Blue and green play 4v4 in the playing area
• The object is to receive the ball from one Target and get it to the other Target
• Targets play 3-touch or less (ball can't die!) and pass back to the team who plays into them
• Teams can use Targets for support
• If the defending team wins the ball, they may play to either Target to begin their attack

Make It Competitive

• +1 point for a team if they can play the ball from one Target to the other

Coaching Points

• Team shape when the ball gets to a Target - two players back and wide one player offering a close option, the forth player deep and dangerous
• Move to 1) get open, 2) create space for yourself, 3) create space for a teammate
• Make the field big (spread out) in the attack, compact on defense

III. 4v3+1 to Goal

Set Up

• 40x30 yard field with a 3-yard goal on each endline
• 4 players from each team on the field, 1 player behind the team's goal running the endline as a support player

Procedure

• Attacking team (blue) has four players on the field and one support player
• Defending team (green) has 3 defenders on the field and two support players (one on each side of the goal)
• Attacking team goes to goal and can use their support player
• If green wins possession of the ball, they must play back to one of their support players
• This support player is then "live" and joins the 3 green defenders to make 4 attacking players
• One of the 4 blue attackers drops back to make 2 supporting players, leaving 3 blue players to defend

Make It Compeititve

• +1 point for each goal

Coaching Points

IV. Bending Balls

Set Up

• 44x15 yard channel set up with two goals and two start disks at each end (see below)
• 2 players at one end, three players at the other (since I had groups of 5)
• 3 to 4 soccer balls at each end

Procedure

• A passes to B who takes a prep touch and tries to bend the ball down the sideline (gold line) into the goal near the other group of players
• A and B switch positions as C and D take their turn, with D trying to bend the ball down their sideline (purple line)

Make It Competitive

• +1 point for each goal, which group can score more?

Coaching Points

• Head up after the prep touch as you are running to the ball to find your target
• Inside of the foot bending balls - toe of the kicking foot pointed up, player should look to "clip" the right side of the ball to impart right to left spin
• Look to make contact with the middle part of the ball to keep the pass low

Progression - High Bending Balls

Same set up and procedure, this time the players look to contact the bottom right part of the ball to lift the bent ball over a bench or other obstacle placed midway in the channel

V. 5v5 Winner Stays

Set Up

• 3 teams of 5
• 40x44 yard playing area with two regulation goals set up on the endlines

Procedure

• Blue plays green 5v5 to goal (4 field players + 1 GK)
• Gold waits on the sidelines
• First one to score stays on the field
• The team that was scored on leaves and the waiting team takes their place

Make It Competitive

• It is

Coaching Points

• Let them play

Training - Monday, May 14

Tonight was going to be our first training session on the turf at Holy Angels.  We were scheduled on it last week, but due to a field conflict we were forced to use the grass outfield area on the adjacent baseball field.  Not ideal when I came with a session planned for the ½ field we were scheduled to use on the turf field, but not a huge inconvenience.

The idea for this week was to work on ways to break down teams who may decide to pack it in on us and look to defend in numbers from the opening kick off.  Though I’m not sure that any U13 team will try to employ this tactic against us, it never hurts to be prepared.

If teams look to do this against us in the semifinal game or (hopefully) in the final game this weekend, we will likely face something like a 4-5-1 formation; lots of numbers behind the ball with a lone forward up top to spearhead a counterattack.

How would we look to break this down? We have a number of options and ideas.

First, we’d likely switch to a 3-5-2 formation. This formation would

• give us enough numbers in back to defend against any counterattack
• give us width in the attack with two very wide mids who would look to either 1) serve in early crosses from 25 – 35 yards away from the endline, or 2) find 1v1 situations and attack the endlines
• The idea about the early crosses is that wide players will usually have more time and space the further away they are from the goal and the packed in defense
• The idea behind attacking the endline is to either get off crosses or to win corner kicks

Second, realizing that there would be little opportunity to play over the top if a defense looked to pack it in in the back, we would need to shift our attacking thoughts to finding forwards feet in dangerous areas for them to 1) play the way they were facing to set up supporting midfielders shots from distance, or 2) look to roll marking defenders and go to goal themselves.

The girls would also need to realize that if we can’t stretch a team in one direction (lengthwise up and down the field) if they are already packed into one area, then we need to look to stretch our opponents out widthwise. Why stretch out our opponents widthwise? Because this will lead to gaps in the middle (in the danger area) for us to look to attack.

The overall objective is still the same - get the ball into the opposing team's danger area in front of goal. 

In the end, it’s really more important that my girls begin to understand the ideas here. Why we would look to make tactical changes and how these changes would affect the game.

In truth, I’m not really worried about playing a team that packs it in. I understand the thought on their end, but I just don’t believe there is a team out there that can contend with our aerial strength off crosses and corner kicks, two attacks that we would likely get a lot of against a packed in team.

So for tonight, I wanted to do some work on early crosses and playing the ball around the back/midfield looking to unbalance the opposition and set up wide players for early crosses and/or 1v1 situations.

Like with all good plans there are always something that comes up that you don't expect.  When I got to the field tonight I saw that there were adult league games being played.  I saw our U17G Blue team, the team that was supposed to be on the turf field before us at 5:30PM, training in the grass outfield area.  At that very same instant, my earpiece starting vibrating and I looked down at my caller ID and it read "Mark Cook".  I didn't need to pick up to know what he was calling about... field conflict.

OK, time to scramble again and come up with a different plan now that we were going to share the outfield area with the U15s.  Moreover, we were on the way out outfield as there was a baseball game going on.  I would not have the space I would need to run the session I had planned on, so I had to come up with something else.

When all else fails and you only have a little bit of space, it never hurts to go back to some technical work.  So, my new training session was to focus on some technical aspects, get the girls moving in some fun 5v2 possession activities, then (after the baseball game was hopefully done towards the end of our practice) look to play for 45 minutes against the U15 team. 

Our U15s, if they can get past the semifinal game against St Croix, will likely face my old Woodbury Inferno team.  I guess I don't really have the right to call them "my team", but regardless of the personnel changes in the last two years, there are still many of the core group I started with some years back.  The Inferno are the clear favorites to take this event, and our coaches know it.  If our U15s meet them in the final, we will likely have to defend in numbers.  Thus, it worked out well to have the U15s work on this while we worked on finding ways to break the defending team down.

7:00PM - 8:30PM Field Training

I. Ball Masters Program - Dribbling Turns

Shield Turn, StepOver Turn, Slap Cut, Outside Cut

Set Up

• Players work in pairs with one soccer ball in a 10 - 12 yard long area

Procedure

• A and B start together at the starting line
• (1) A dribbles out across the opposite endline and executes a specific dribbling turn
• (2) A passes to B and keeps their distance
• (3) B controls and passes back to A
• (4) A plays a 1-touch pass back to B who attacks the ball and dribbles to the endline to repeat the sequence
• A takes B's place on the starting line to await a pass from B

Make It Competitive

• Which group is the sharpest?

Coaching Points

• Everything should be done at speed
• Quick set up touches out to the turning line
• Quick turn, getting the ball away from under your body so that you can play quickly
• Head up to find the target before you pass
• Crisp passes back and forth
• Player who is waiting at the starting line should attack the ball at speed when laid back from the dribbler in step (4) above - I'm looking to get the girls used to accelerating towards the ball and carrying the ball forward with a softer, relaxes, and controlled touch

II. 5v2

Set Up

• Two 20x15 yard grids separated by a 5-yard gap
• Two scrimmage vests in each grid that the defending players in the middle will hold, not wear, to indicate that they are the ones trying to win the ball

Procedure

• 5 attacking players in each grid, 2 defending players
• I had 17 at training, so 3 players were waiting in the middle channel (the 5-yard gap)
• Players play 5v2 possession (keep away)
• If you make a mistake, you are out and go wait your turn in the middle channel
• The defender who has been in the middle the longest drops their scrimmage vest and takes the place of the exiting player on the possession team
• One of the players waiting in the middle channel comes into the grid, picks up the vest, and becomes a defender

Note: This was just a way to try and find a rotation for the numbers we had at training.  I could have played 6v2 and had only one player sitting, but I told the girls I wanted them to work hard in the middle as defenders, as well as be sharp and active on the outside.  The ability to have 3 players inactive and resting, catching their breath, worked well.

Make It Competitive

• Count your passes.  Which pair of defenders allowed the highest number of completed passes?  Believe me, posing this question is a sure way to step up the intensity of the middle players!

Coaching Points

• Constantly move and adjust to provide teammate with options though good support angles and distance
• Look to change the rhythm of play when needed - hold the ball to slow the game down when you have time, play quick 1-touch passes to break pressure

III. 5v2 Mandatory 2-Touch

Same as above, but all attacking players must take two and only 2 touches

IV. 5v2 Two to One

Same as above, but players have 2 touches until someone takes 1 touch.  From that point on, attackers play 1-touch until they make a mistake.  The game is reset to 2 touches each time the defenders switch.

V. 5v2 Pass and Sprint

Same as above with unlimited touches for all players, but every time an attacker passes the ball they must sprint to another area of the grid.  Now, all players must see the ball, see their teammates, see who is running where, and move to fill needed spaces and adjust to number in one area.

VI. 11v11 With U15s

VII. Penalty Kicks

Just in case :)

Training - Monday, May 7

7:00PM - 8:30PM Field Training

With the focus primarily on defending ideas the last few weeks, I wanted to look at more attacking concepts today.  We found success against Wayzata often by changing the point of attack, by switching fields through the center of our midfield, but I know we could have done it more often and sharper/quicker.  The idea for today was to give the girls lots of repetition on receiving the ball across their body, allowing for quicker side to side play across the field as well as increased vision of the entire field in front of them.  Then, cover the concept of short passing to draw in opposing defenders and then look to change fields through crisp and accurate distance passing.  Finally, look to put all this to use in small sided competitive games.

I had 16 girls at training.

I. Ball Masters Program - Receiving Across Your Body

Set Up

• 2 groups of 8 players in different color scrimmage vests
• Each group further subdivided into 2 teams of 4 with 2 soccer balls per team
• 2 "passers" with soccer balls 30 yards apart, 2 "workers" in the middle (15 yards away from each passer) facing each other about 10 yards apart

 

Procedure

• At the same time, P1 passes to W1, P2 to W2
• W1 receives the ball across their body and passes to P2, W2 does the same and plays to P1
• W1 then gets a pass from P2, W2 from P1, and repeats the procedure
• Work for a few minutes then switch positions

Make It Competitive

• Which group is the sharpest?
• Which girl can release the ball the quickest?

Coaching Points

• Move to the ball, don't wait for it
• Always keep your hips facing the other worker (visualize facing up the field)
• First touch on the ball should be with the inside of the far foot (on the far side of your body relative to the passer), in the direction that you want to go
• Control with one touch, pass with the next
• After the pass from the worker, workers should look to move (check) away from the passer to create space in which to check back and receive the ball
• Peek over your shoulder just as the pass leaves the passer's foot or as the ball is traveling to you for awareness
• Move your feet to adjust your body to best receive the ball facing up the field, even on poor passes from the passers

II. Short to Long

Set Up

• Groups of 4 with one soccer ball
• 4 starting disks in a line, 10 yards apart from one another

Procedure

• A starts with the ball
• A passes to B who lays a ball back to A
• A plays 1-touch to D and then A and B swap starting positions
• D controls the ball and passes to C
• C lays the ball back to D and takes up D's starting positions
• D passes first time to B and the sequence is repeated

Make It Competitive

• Which group is the sharpest?

Coaching Points

• Crisp short interplay between A and B and between C and D, followed by crisp side of the foot passes over distance
• We want to keep the ball on the ground, so concentrate on passing technique and strike the middle of the ball (toe up, ankle locked, knee bent)
• The player receiving the ball over distance should move to show for the passer, not stand and be blocked by the other player near them

Progression - Same set up, but now the receiving player can move to the opposite side of the passer, forcing the passer to hit a weighted lofted ball over a "defender" to their teammate

III. 3v1 Change Fields

Set Up

• 2 teams of 8 players in different color scrimmage vests
• Two field set ups side by side (5 yard space in between the fields) - each area has two 12x15 yard grids separated by a 10 yard gap
• Players distributed as shown below

Procedure

• On field #1, blue plays 3v1 against green
• As soon as blue completes 5 consecutive passes, blue tries to find one of their teammates in the 2v1 grid
• If a successful pass is made to the 2v1 grid, one of the two players who did not pass the ball from the 3v1 grid sprints to make it 3v1 in the 2v1 grid
• Continue on as before
• If a ball goes out, the resting player out of the grid plays a ball back into the 3v1 grid
• If defenders win the ball, they simply pass back to the attacking players and the attacking players start their count over
• Play for 90 seconds, then rotate positions

Make It Competitive

• +1 point for 5 consecutive passes
• +3 points for a completed pass from the 3v1 grid to the 2v1 grid

Coaching Points

• Composure in the 3v1 setting
• Anticipation and movement to get open by the attacking players in the 2v1 grid when applicable
• Crisp passing over distance to the 2v1 grid and quick support by an non-passing player

IV. 4v4 to Endlines

Set Up

• 4 teams of 4 in different color scrimmage vests
• 2 40x30 yard fields

Procedure

• Teams play 4v4, scoring goals by dribbling the ball under control over the 40-yard endline
• Make it take it, so if a team scores over an endline, they immediately turn around and attack the other endline

Make It Competitive

• +1 point for each goal

Coaching Points

• Look to play across the field to shift and unbalance the defending team, creating better opportunities to play forward
• Sometimes to get open and link across the field, players need to move backwards (away from the endline they are attacking) out of trouble (out of the area covered by the defending team)
• Draw defenders in with quick, short passing, then look to change the point of attack and move forward up the field in areas less crowded by defending players

V. 4v4 Tournament

Set Up

• 4 teams of 4 in different color scrimmage vests
• 2 40x30 yard fields with 6' Pugg goals as shown below
• Extra soccer balls in or near each goal

Procedure

• Teams play 4v4 to goal

Make It Competitive

• +1 point for all goals

Coaching Points

• Let them play

Training - Thursday, April 12

I was not happy with our final session prior to taking the trip out to Virginia a few weeks ago.  I think I tried to pack too much information into a too short an amount of time, and I think the girls left that session a little bamboozled.  I have to continually remind myself to minimize the pressure and stress on the girls leading up to events like this if I can, for I know they perform better when relaxed and confident.  So, I came into last night's session wanting it to be active and competitive for the girls.  They know that we focus on finishing at Bielenberg on Thursdays, so I didn't change that (when I usually would have been going over our attacking and defending set pieces). 

I. Synchronized Ball Dancing

Set Up

• Ball per player, each player working with a partner

Procedure

• Partners go off on their own for 8 to 10 minutes and work on developing a synchronized ball dancing sequence that then will then perform in front of the rest of the team

Comments

Same as last week, but instead of giving the pairs assigned sequences, I let the pairs come up with their own routine to do in front of the group. 

The idea was to have the girls work on their ball familiarity in a fun and competitive setting by trying to have them work with their partner to master the sequence, then challenge the pair to execute the moves as a unit at speed. 

II. Ball Masters - Individual Skills Development

Fast Feet

• Taps
• Zig Zag Zaps
• Stop Taps
• Step On Taps
• Triangle Taps
• "U" Taps
• Cut Behind Taps

III. Double 1-2s

Set Up

• Players work in pairs
• 50x35 yard field with goals and GKs at each end
• Passing and Target disks on each side of the field (see below)

I had 16 girls at training.  With the two GKs, that left 7 groups of 2.  3 groups started at one end and 4 groups at the other as in the diagram below.

Procedure

• When it is a pair's turn, one girl jogs out to the Target disk, the other girl has the ball at the Passing disk
• (1) Blue 1 passes to blue 2 and holds their run (at the same time, green starts their sequence up the other side of the field)
• (2) Blue 2 lays a ball off to blue 1 then spins away
• (3) Blue 1 gets to the ball and (4) passes a through ball to blue 2 for blue 2 to go to goal
• Blue 1 chases as a defender
• After blue is done with their sequence, they retrieve their ball and wait at the other end to come up the other side of the field

Make It Competitive

• +1 point for each goal
• +3 points for goals scored on the ground

Coaching Points

• Talk about speed of play.  It's quicker if the passer plays a laid back pass first time through to a forward, so the forward needs to lay back a pass that will allow the passes to play first time - this means a softer lay back pass to the space in front of the passer, not a firm pass back to the passer's feet that may force a control touch prior to the pass
• Target spins AWAY from the lay back pass to force a marking defender to choose to see the ball or the target
• Target also spins away laterally, not forward, in order to not risk running into an offsides position
• As target spins, find the ball quickly and be ready to run forward onto a ball
• Communicate verbally ("Through!") and visually (hand out extended in the direction where you want the pass)

Comments

My college coach, John Leaney, used to tell the men's team that one of the downfalls of coaching women was that female players usually did what the coach told them to a fault.  Stereotypical?  Maybe.  But I see the same thing at the younger female ages.

I demonstrated the Target peel away move for the girls using the words "spin away".  Most girls processed the spin part of it, and for the first few minutes I watched in amusement as the Target would most definitely spin; sometimes to the inside, sometimes while running forward, sometimes twice.  It was a funny few minutes but I like to have the girls fight through things prior to coaching right away.  There were a lot of other teams in the dome and we were looking a bit silly, so I stopped it earlier than I would have though.

I brought them in to break this movement down and explain why I was asking the girls to spin away from the laid back pass (see coaching points).  It got better fast.  I then let them work a bit more then brought them in again to talk about a lateral run after the lay back to stay onsides, as well as about the Target's body position and communication. 

IV. Reverse Passes

Set Up

• Same as above

Procedure

• (1) Blue 1 passes to blue 2 and makes a run forward down the line
• (2) Blue 2 touches the ball inside the field (away from the runner), then (3) plays a reverse pass to the space in front of blue 1
• Blue 1 goes to goal and blue 2 trails the play to be a passing option for their teammate

Make It Competitive

• +1 point for each goal
• +3 points for a goal scored on the ground

Coaching Points

• In this setup, Target should touch the ball inside the field (towards the middle of the field away from the runner) with the outside of their right foot if possible
• Pass should be made with the left foot or outside of the right foot
• Runner continues their run forward even when their teammate goes in another direction, trusting that their teammate saw the run made and may still opt to play the runner into goal

V. Reaction to Runners

Set Up

• Same as above

Procedure

• Blue 1 passes to blue 2 and does 1 of 3 things
• (1) Blue 1 holds their run which then triggers a lay back pass and double 1-2 (see above)
• (2) Blue 1 makes a run down the line which triggers a touch by the Target inside the field for a reverse pass (see above)
• (3) Blue 1 makes a run inside the field which triggers a touch by the Target to the outside (away from the runner) and then a reverse pass up the middle of the field (see below)
• Whichever partner does not go to goal trails the play to offer a passing option to their teammate

Make It Competitive

• +1 point for each goal
• +3 points for a goal scored on the ground

Coaching Points

• As the ball is being played to the Target, the Target must realize what the passer is doing and react to it
• Looking for sharp, crisp passes and good pace throughout the sequence

Though some coaches may see all this as providing too much structure for the girls in an unstructured game, I see this as giving the girls ideas of what can be done with two-player combinations.  There are a ton of individual technical coaching opportunities in exercises like this, as well as a lot of activity and shooting.  The girls also see some marked improvement in a short time which helps increase their willingness to put the work in.  It was a very good session for them.

VI. 5v5 Winner Stays

Set Up

• 3 teams of 5
• 50x40 yard field

Procedure

• Blue vs green with orange sitting out
• First team to score stays on the field, losing team exists and the team waiting jumps in
• The team that scores can immediately grab the ball and attack the opposite goal
• Waiting team must enter and organize quickly

Make It Competitive

• It is

Coaching Points

• Not many, let them play

Overall I was MUCH happier with this final session in prep for the upcoming tournament weekend.  The girls look sharp and are excited to perform better than a few weeks ago.

I also handed out Individual Player Goals for the weekend.  I will be tracking who reaches their goals during this event and who does not.