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