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 - Tuesday, March 20

7:15PM - 9:00PM Field Training

Our final training session prior to heading to Virginia this weekend.  Like usual, I tried to pack WAY too much stuff into a final session before heading out of town.  It didn't help that I had not read the master dome schedule correctly, so instead of having 1/2 the dome to ourselves we had to split the time with our U13 Green team.  It also didn't help that I didn't find this out until just a few minutes before we took the field.  My fault.  Umut (the Green team coach) was gracious enough to be accommodating, knowing that we had the tournament this weekend.  So we ended up with about 35 yards at one end of the dome. 

I got to the dome around 6:30PM to do some work with Blondie.  I make myself available to do work with interested girls one on one prior to any of our training sessions, and a number of girls have taken advantage of this opportunity.  The girls starting arriving around 7PM for the 7:15PM session.  We usually do some individual skills work for the first half hour, but today I wanted to sit and talk with the girls about the coming weekend. 

I passed out a handout about our attacking free kicks and we discussed it as a group.  I then talked to the girls about their Individual Goals for the weekend.  I came up with three or four goals for each player that I wanted them to try and reach this weekend.  Most goals had to do with technical or tactical challenges, some dealt with team bonding issues.  For example, I wanted Macky to try and get a header on goal from a set piece, Soph to not get beat on a fast break 1v1, Millie to play a double give and go with a teammate, etc.  As for the team bonding issues, I wanted Grace to not sit by Brownie (her best friend) at our Saturday team meal, Ripper to invite a new girl to hang out at the hotel, etc.  This is the first time that I'm trying these Individual Goals, but I think that it could be a good idea. 

When we took the field I spent the first 20 minutes on some functional positional training.  The forwards and mids worked on attackers rolling defenders in the box, and the defenders worked together on jockeying and delaying attackers on fast break 1v1s. 

For the remainder of training, we worked on defending corner kicks and setting up defensive walls around our box. 

The girls worked hard during the session, but I think I gave them too much info in too little of a time.  At least the core group of the girls who have been with me for a while have a decent idea about what is going on, but some of the new girls to the team I'm sure felt a little swamped with all the info. 

At the end of practice, I noticed Scratch was bummed out.  I asked her what was wrong as we were leaving and she said she was fine.  I got caught talking to someone for a few minutes at the dome exit, and as I was getting ready to go, I overheard Scratch telling Macky that they should both come and talk to me.  I encouraged them to tell me what was on their minds and all three of us walked a little bit apart from the others. 

Both girls felt that I was getting on them too much about not paying attention in training when I seemed to let other girls get away without reprimand for similar misbehavior.  They both said other girls on the team felt the same way (that I got on Macky and Scratch more than others).  Both girls were pretty upset, though I do feel the two of them deserve it when I do get on them for distracting behavior during training.  I talked to them about what I was seeing from them at training and listened to their issues.  They agreed to try and be more considerate when I was leading training and I told them that I would try to be more aware of "picking" on them only. 

Training - Saturday, Mar 17

8:15AM - 8:45AM FIT Training

8:45AM - 9:15AM Video Analysis

After two months we finally finished our All the Goals of UEFA Euro 2004 DVD.  Today, we began analyzing the Arsenal 2005/2006 Farewell to Highbury.  Some really cool stuff on this one.

9:15AM - 10:45AM Field Training

I wanted to do some functional training for the players based on the positions they would likely be playing in Richmond next weekend.  With 15 girls at training, here is what I did.

I. Functional Positional Training

I wanted to do some functional training for the players based on the positions they would likely be playing in Richmond next weekend.  With 15 girls at training, here is what I did.

Forwards - Receiving and First Touch in the Box

I took the six girls who in all probability would play forward at some point next weekend to give them some ideas about receiving passes in the box (opposing team's penalty area).  I also took Mud (our GK) with us.

Defenders - Long Range Shooting/Long Balls

The other 8 girls worked on long range shooting and long ball passing/receiving technique.

II. 10v6 To Goal - Set Pieces

Setup

• 60x60 yard field with goals at each end
• One full team minus a GK of 10 players, all the remaining players on the short-handed team
• Short-handed team has a designated GK in goal, full team plays without a GK

Procedure

• Play the game
• Coach whistles random fouls and calls random corner kicks for the full team (the attacking team) in order to give that team numerous opportunities to work on their attacking set pieces
• Rotate the full team members with short-handed team members at will

Make It Competitive

• Keep score, losing team does a fun or fitness penalty
• If the short-handed team is finding it difficult to score, even on the empty goal, you can tweak this to give them points if they can play the ball out past a certain point or into a certain area, or if they can dribble the ball over an imaginary score line (35 yard line for example), etc.

Coaching Points - Corner Kicks

• Don't tune out when the ball goes out of play
• Get to positions quickly, all the while with and eye on the ball
• Be assertive and direct players where needed.  "Mac, you're near post!" rather than "Who's going to run near?"
• Attack the ball, pounce on any loose balls in the box... gotta have a scoring attitude!

Coaching Points - Attacking Free Kicks

• Know the ref hand signals for direct and indirect, ask if you are uncertain
• If you don't think you have 10 yards between you and the opponent's wall AND you want it, ask the ref for it
• For shots on goal, concentrate on hitting the target (get your shots on goal)
• Other players don't sleep and watch the ball, attack the goal and look for rebounds
• Understand where we want the ball played from different free kick areas

This is an exercise that Buzz used to do a lot with the Thunder prior to important games.  It was always fun if you were on the full team!  That would mean that you were in the starting line up for the next day's game.  It was tough being on the short handed team as 1) you knew you were not starting the next day, and 2) you would always get hammered by the full team.

III. 8v8 End Game Situations

We finished the session playing 8v8.  I would give different end game scenarios to the teams, focusing on them adjusting their play in order to keep a lead or press for a goal.  For example, I would put 5 minutes on the clock and say yellow is up 1-0 over blue.  Yellow would play to maintain the lead, blue would be forced to play to try and equalize.

If we have a lead late in a game:

• Don't panic - be smart
• Time is our friend, don't sprint to get balls back in play
• No risks in the back, play the ball long up field rather than taking chances
• We don't need to go to goal at 100mph - getting and holding the ball up field is important as well
• Low pressure, drop back behind the ball and keep the play in front of you

If we are behind and need a goal late in a game:

• Don't panic - be smart
• More urgency to get the ball in play quickly on throw ins, goal kicks, etc (and get the ball for the other team)
• High pressure to win the ball
• Man on man in the back to push players forward
• Get the ball in the danger area (opponent's box)

Set Pieces - Attacking and Defending Free Kicks

The idea for Tuesday's and Thursday's sessions this week was to try to get the team on the same page for some of our set pieces. Specifically, attacking and defending corner kicks and free kicks.  I always like to cover set pieces the week prior to a tournament or big event as the outcome of the game can be changed in an instant from a well, or poorly, run set piece.  Yes, I admit, this is results focused to a large extent.  But one can be dedicated to development and still want to get results.

Today the focus was on attacking and defending free kicks around the box, and attacking and defending free kicks from midfield.