Futsal/Street Soccer - Sunday, March 18

5:00PM - 6:15PM @ Lake Junior HS (Woodbury)

Another very fun and competitive session at Lake.  For the last two or three sessions, Bidi has brought an iPod and Lily a set of speakers, so music has been blasting away during the girls play.  The team that's sitting has usually had a couple girls boogying to the music while waiting to get on the field to play, and this has added a lot to the relaxed yet energetic and lively atmosphere of these sessions.

The girls look sharp and relaxed, and I'm excited for the weekend!

After the session, I spoke to the girls about doing what they could to take care of their bodies this week in prep for the weekend.  I reiterated once again how we are making this trip to compete with some of the top teams in Region I and III, at that we wanted to do everything in our control to help ensure that we perform to the best of our abilities.  The girls are really excited about the coming weekend, and we have one more session on Tuesday to prepare.

FIT Training - Sunday, March 18

3:15PM - 4:15PM @ FIT Studios (St Paul)

From Danielle Pellicano, FIT Training

Sunday’s session I feel was the team’s best yet!! The girls stayed incredibly focused and worked very hard. I tailored the session around Functional Speed & Agility .

We started with a dynamic 10-15min. warm-up followed by dynamic stretching. This is an important part of any training session because it allows the athlete to get more out of the muscle groups they are about to use.

From there we divided the team into two groups. One worked with trainer, Lisa Pederson (elite fitness trainer and former professional athlete) on the importance of agility and foot speed. She had the girls perform various activities at a max threshold while focusing on quickness and change of direction.

The other group worked with Adam and I on proper running technique through a series of sprint activities. I went over the mechanics of the body and the importance of proper body alignment while sprinting in a game as well as on the recovery. I could not emphasize this enough and feel it will be a recurring theme throughout our remaining training sessions.

I also had the team work on power and stability by having them do a series of explosive drills on the stairs. This is to prevent ACL and Meniscus tears. Although the activities may have seemed easy at first, the girls realized quickly how important technique was in performing the task properly.

Lastly, we finished as a team with a drill I like to call 4 corners. Each athlete works in a 4ft x 4ft square for a duration of 30 seconds with minimal recovery time. They were focusing on quick feet and reaction time.

I was very impressed with the work ethic throughout the entire session. Although it was a challenging hour the girls remained high spirited and encouraging of one another. I am convinced that they will have an edge on their opponents if they continue to train at this level. I wish the team the best of luck in Richmond and look forward to hearing about their performance.

Cheers! Danielle

Champion vs Ego Centered Behavior

Here's a PACT questionnaire that I completed about Champion vs Ego Centered Behaviors. According to PACT, a coach who is Champion Centered is more likely to create a nurturing climate in practice and games, opposed to an Ego Centered coach who is more likely to create a toxic climate.

I feel most successful coaching when...

Scoring Key for Champion-Ego Centered Behavior:

Add up the following:

• Items 2 + 4 + 6 + 8 + 10 + 12 = 30     Champion Centered Score / 30
• Items 1 + 3 + 5 + 7 + 9 + 11 = 22     Ego Centered Score / 30

I don't necessarily agree that being Ego Centered is all bad, even when involved with youth coaching. I also don't think I fall into the exact Ego Centered definition that PACT has developed, saying that Ego Centered coaches might sound like this in practice and games:

• Today I want you to win. We need a win today to secure our seeding in the conference tournament (OK, I might say something to that affect every once in a while) AND when we leave the field at the end of the day, we'll feel great with another in under our belts (I would never say that).
• Coach to Jill: Jill, you are almost as quick as Amanda. You are covering more of the field that you were last season, but still not as much as the starting midfielders. Today I'm going to put you against each other in drills and I want to see what you can do. Coach to Amanda: Amanda, your goal today is to stop Jill from taking your starting spot, let's see if you're up to the challenge. She's been gaining on you and you don't look like you want it.
• We lost today. We failed. Even though we help the other team to 10 shots on goal, we didn't get any red cards, and no one argued with the referee on whistles, a loss is a loss in the end. No one remembers who lost, only who won.
• Come on guys, let's pick up the intensity! You look lazy, Ben, if you don't beat Luis in this next sprint, the whole team is going to run another one.
• We didn't play our best today, we made some mistakes on defense in the second half that cost us. I want everyone to get up, meet me at the center of the field. We are going to run 20 sprints, one for every time I saw someone miss their defensive coverage at midfield.

A Champion Centered coach, according to PACT, might sound like this:

• Today I want you to go our and give full effort, win or lose, and leave the field knowing you’ve given it all you’ve got. If you do that, we will be a step closer to being ready for the conference tournament.
• Coach to Jill: Jill, you are getting quicker all the time. You are covering more of the field than you were last season, even compared to the beginning of the season. Keep working hard, it’s paying off. Coach to Amanda: I also want you to push yourself out of your comfort zone, work as hard as you can against Jill. I want you to push here and yourself. The harder you work each other, the better it will be for the team.
• Even though we lost today, we succeeded. We held the other team to 10 shots on goal, we didn’t get any red cards, and no one argued with the referees on whistles.
• Come on guys, let’s pick up the intensity! You look a little sluggish, everyone needs to take it up a notch. This is not our best effort. We need to practice with the same intensity that we need in games. Let’s go!
• We didn’t play our best today, we made some mistakes on defense in the second half that cost us. But we can learn from it, work on coverage in practice and try to be better the next game.

I do think I sound like this (Champion Centered) a great majority of the time (though I might feel differently on the inside!).  Interesting survey though.

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)