Training - Wednesday, May 2

6:45PM - 8:00PM Field Training

With two additional training sessions now possible (thanks to poor weather and a postponed game last Saturday) prior to our first State Cup game this coming Saturday, I once again wanted to focus a bit on defending.  There is no question in my mind that we will score goals during this event.  If we can deny goals scored on us, we will be in good shape.

I came up with a masterpiece training session for tonight that would have surly seen us through to Regionals.  But then, much to my dismay, I got a mid-afternoon phone call that one girl would be missing training for a school event.  OK, I'm adaptive, I can adjust.  So I made few minor changes to the session prior to jumping in the car to head to training and I was off, still confident that it would be a great session. 

Training tonight was going to on an 8v8 field which was perfect for what I wanted to accomplish.  When I got to the field to begin setting up, I noticed a number of men warming up on the side of the field.  Uh oh... field conflict?  Beer bellies, rec specs, and most with Mexican league replica jerseys, there was obviously going to be a pick up game that would surely have its share of SportsCenter moments... or America's Funniest Home Videos moments.  The guys were off on the side as one of the field as another one of our Academy teams was training at 5:30PM. 

As I unloaded my car, frantically searching for the field permit I knew I didn't print out, I saw the group of men visibly deflate.  One of the guys shuffled over to me and, in broken English, asked me if I was training on the field and at what time.  I told him that we had the field from 6:45PM - 8:15PM and he then asked if we were using the whole field.  I nodded and he sulked back to his group to break the bad news.

I didn't want to send them packing but I knew that I needed the space.  Crap.  I walked over to the group and told them that I could use half the field until around 7:30PM but would then need the full field.  They were obviously psyched about the news and started smiling and giggling like little girls.  I love this sport!  It's great to see 40+ year old adults still able to find pure enjoyment in playing it. 

So as the girls began arriving, I once again had to make adjustments to the training plan.  Not ideal, but not the end of the world.  At about 6:43PM I took a count of the girls and noticed we had only 15 there.  We were still missing someone.  When I asked the girls about it, I discovered that I forgot that another girl was missing tonight due to a final confirmation class.  Crap.  Now my numbers were once again messed up and I need to make different adjustments to the training plan.  I sent the girls off on their own to warm up and stretch, and at 6:47PM finally had my 6:45PM session planned.  Keeps me on my toes I guess!

I. Ball Masters Program - Heading Technique

Nothing fancy here.  Just two girls to a ball, one serving and the other heading back to her partner's hands.  As the girls got more comfortable with the heading, I asked the servers to back up a few yards at a time, until eventually the girls were heading balls served from about 15 yards away.

II. 4v4 Swoosh Defending - Open Goal

Set Up

• 3 teams of 5 in different color vests
• 50x40 yard field with a regulation goal at one end and 2 x 4-yard counter goals at the midfield line
• All the soccer balls with the coach just outside the area furthest from the regulation-sized goal

Procedure

• 4 green players take up defensive positions on the field, defending the big goal
• 4 blue players take up attacking positions, the gold team is waiting on deck
• Coach plays a ball into the attacking team (blue) and blue tries to score in the empty net
• If green wins the ball, green can look to score in either of the two counter goals
• Once the ball is dead (out of bounds or in a goal), green clears the field and waits on deck, blue becomes the defending team and organizes quickly, and gold sends four players onto the field to attack next

Make It Competitive

• +1 point for all goals scored

Coaching Points

• Even though we are working on a flat back four defending idea, the back four are rarely ever flat
• Immediate pressure on the ball to deny shots on goal (long balls into a danger area)
• Cover and shape by the other three defenders - Nike Swoosh when the ball is in the center of the park, upside down Swoosh when the ball is wide

• Just like in our 2v2 cover work, in most cases, the pressuring defender will retreat backwards quickly once the ball is played forward or sideways by the attacker under pressure - the exceptions to this happen when a ball is played straight back, or when a fellow defending teammate directs you to continue to pressure (follow the pass)
• Tough man to man defense in a zonal concept

Comments
The "Swoosh" idea is easy for the girls to understand, and I like introducing it in this context rather than by simple pressure, cover, balance verbiage.  We will look to build on this down the road by addressing how to contain diagonal runs, what happens with dribblers carry the ball across the field, etc. 

III. 4v4 Swoosh Defending

Same as above with the addition of a GK in the big goal.

IV.  Ball to Goalkeeper Game

Buzz used to run this drill a lot with the Thunder, and we would always laugh at the name.  Funny that I still use the name today.

Set Up

• 2 teams of 7 players, blue and gold
• 50x65 yard gird with two 6x20 yard keeper areas at each end
• All a team's soccer balls just behind the keeper area

Procedure

• Teams try and play the ball to their GK standing in the far keeper area
• Make it, take it - if blue successfully completes a pass to their GK, blue gets to attack again by having gold's GK throw out another ball to blue

Make It Competitive

• +1 point for a successful pass to your GK
• +3 points for a successful pass in the air to your GK

Coaching Points

• Immediate pressure on the ball by the defending team
• Defenders who are not pressuring should look to provide cover for the pressuring defender while also looking to cut off dangerous passes to their opponents GK
• Focus on good verbal and visual communication