Finishing Session - Thursday, April 5
Friday, April 6, 2007 at 09:41AM 6:00PM - 6:30PM Ball Masters - Individual Skills Development
With spring break vacations in full swing, we had a dozen girls show up last night at Bielenberg for training.
I. Synchronized Ball Dancing
Set Up
- Ball per player, each player working with a partner
Procedure
- The partners are given a series of ball moves to work on together, attempting to execute the moves in as synchronized a fashion as possible
Make It Competitive
- Give the partners the sequence, have them work on it for a few minutes, then bring the team in to watch each pair work and rank them 1 to 10, with 1 being the worst and 10 being the best
Comments
In a continuing effort to find new ways to keep the girls interested in working on important individual ball skills, I came up with this idea. I would give a technical sequence like this:
- Forward touch with the inside of your right foot
- Left foot Step Over
- Right foot Cut Behind
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.
This was a lot of fun for the girls. We did this 3 or 4 times using different technical sequences, then I had the pairs try and make up their own 3-move routine to show off in front of the group.
6:30PM - 7:30PM Field Training
II. Sequence Passing
Continuing on with our "improve our passing" theme since returning from Virginia, a ran the girls though our Sequence Passing routine while I set up the field for the finishing work to follow.
Set Up
- 35x40 yard area
- Two teams of 6, gold and blue, and players on each team are assigned numbers 1 - 6
Procedure
- Two soccer ball, one with the #1 players on each team
- At the coach's signal, #1 passes to #2, #2 then passes to #3, and so on
- All players must be moving at all times
Make It Competitive
- +1 point for each team if they make a mistake (you don't want points)
- Mistakes could be errant passes outside of the grid or to incorrect teammates, more touches than is allowed, not receiving the ball in a proper position, etc.
Coaching Points
- Short passes - no more than 10 to 15 yards
- Short passes should still be crisp and game like
- Keep the ball on the group, strike the middle of the ball using proper passing technique
- See your intended target before you receive the ball - meaning, take a look prior to having a ball passed to you in order to see where your next pass will be going
- Adjust your body to receive a pass facing the teammate you are going to play to next - sometimes this means moving your feet quickly in order to best position your body
Progression
- Unlimited touches by all players to start
- Two touch by all players
- Two soccer balls for each team - one starts with #1 and one starts with #4 on each team
Reverse It! Variation
- On the coach's "Reverse It!" shout, players reverse the order of their passing - #4 now passes to #3, #3 to #2, etc.
III. Pattern Play Shooting With Limited Pressure
The idea here was to get the girls into a shooting rotation that would involve finishing for sure, but also keep the non-shooting girls involved and active as well as demand that the girls focus on a number of different technical aspects of the game.
Set Up
- With 12 players, players set up as in the illustration below. Note that I used blue and gold colors to help identify starting positions and the initial direction that players in these positions go. There is no need for two teams in this exercise.
- One player in each of the following positions (labeled in green) - GK, Passer, Target, Defender, Attacker. Same set up for another 5 players using the opposite side of the field, with all additional players waiting in the passing line.
- The pink cone marking Defender D's starting position is 3 yards behind Attacker A's starting cone
- All the soccer balls split between the two passing lines
Procedure
- (1) Passer P passes to Target T then follows their pass to become the next T. Note both blue and gold P start at the same time so that there are two passing patterns going up both sides of the field (in opposite directions) at the same time
- (2) Target T passed to Attacker A then takes D's position
- (3) Attacker A goes to goal then becomes the GK in the goal they just shot at
- (4) Once Attacker A touches the ball, Defender D is live and tries to stop A then returns to A's starting position to become the next A
- After a shot is taken on them, GKs retrieve the ball and wait in line at the passing cone by their goal in order to work they sequence up the other side of the field
- As soon as a shot is taken, the next player in line at the initial passing cone starts the next sequence
Make It Competitive
- +1 point for a goal
- +3 points for a far post goal (encouraging far post shots from angles)
- +1 point for a save as a GK
As I mentioned, though this is a fun finishing exercise for the girls, I wanted them to focus on a number of technical issues in the pattern play build up as well as on the finishing end of things. I would let the girls run through the exercise a few minutes, stop and bring up a point, let them run through it some more, stop and bring up another point, and so on. By the end of the 30 minutes, I had covered the following.
Coaching Points
- Good, firm pass from P to T
- T, knowing the direction of where they wanted to play, needed to receive the ball across their body with a tight touch (close to their feet). I wanted the target players to think about playing in a crowded midfield with not much room for larger control touches away from their feet. I also wanted this player to play 2-touch (control then pass) as quickly as possible. For blue in the illustration above, that would mean inside of the left foot control and a quick right foot pass.
- I wanted T to pass to A feet (as opposed to passing to space), and to focus on passing to A's lead foot, the foot closest to the direction A wanted to go (to goal) and furthest from Defender D. In the illustration above, that would me blue T would pass to blue A's right foot.
- Positive first touch by Attacker A to goal
Two Touch Variation
Same as above with the restriction that Attacker A only has two touches. Target T must still pass to Attacker A's feet, but now Attacker A is working on shots from distance at angles rather than also having the option to dribbling in 1v1 with the GK.
Pass to Space Variation
Same set up and sequence as the exercise above, only this time Target T plays Attacker A in to goal with a lead pass to space.
Coaching Points
- I wanted Attacker A to simulate holding their run to stay onsides, so I implemented the rule that the Defender D could not move until A left their cone. In this way, if A started "cheating forward" in anticipation of a pass, D could recover goal side even before the pass was made by T. Also, this cheating forward could also lead to A drifting into an offsides position.
- Attacker A even though not moving forward, should get their body down low and ready to explode to the ball when it is played in front of them
- Attacker A needs to communicate verbally ("Through!") and visually (with their hand out and extended showing Target T where they want the ball played
IV. 4v4 Small Sided with Neutral Team
Set Up
- 30x40 yard playing area with a goal set up at each end
- 3 teams of 4 players, each team in a different vest color
Procedure
- Two teams take the field to play 4v4
- The team that is not on the field provide a GK for each team as well as a side player on each sideline
- Wide players are neutral players and are limited to 3-touch or less
- Which ever team scores stays on the field. The team that was scored on changes places with the neutral team
