FIT Training - Sunday, March 11

3:15PM - 4:15PM @ Fit Studio (St Paul)

From Aaron Leventhal, Fit Trainer

The second Crash Training session with Fit Training went well today and the girls did a great job. Still getting used to the intensity of the work and the new environment, but it is great to work with a group of such elite athletes.

As we focus on our “game fit” training goal we also took some time for what we call pre-habilitation or injury prevention. We know that the girls demand a lot of work out of their bodies and we want to make sure that they understand that it is an important part of their training to recovery and regenerate.

We started with a dynamic warm up, light interval running in the skyway with Adam and then team stretching. Sprint mechanics and form running as a follow up from last week. This took us into the bulk of the session, again “game fit.”

Remember that we are preparing the girls to maximize performance under pressure. In other words, when our bodies are sore, tired, fatigued, or injured, skill level will drop. We are building so that none of these things will affect our skill level, thus operating at maximum performance level under the pressures of game intensity and duration. To administer this type of training we want to fatigue the girls then have them perform activities that require some sort of skill, for example balance, stability, agility, or proprioception.

We finished the session with stretching and a talk on recovery through the use of our foam rollers. We explained the importance of releasing tension in muscles and specifically tension in fatigued muscles.

We know the training is demanding, as it should be to match the demands the girls of the game, and we have made sure to remind the girls to make sure to see us (Aaron, Adam, or Danielle) on an individual basis to make sure that we can address past injuries or concerns the girls might have.

A Saturday at Shattuck

The team traveled to Shattuck St Marys in Faribault (MN) yesterday to play two games vs Bonivital (Winnipeg, CA) and Wayzata respectively.  As I mentioned, I was a little nervous coming into these games as I didn't think we had a very good week in training.  Once again, the girls surprised me by playing some good soccer in the games, especially in the morning game against the Canadian team.  We play 2 x 25 minute halves, with a short half time break. 

We started tentatively in the morning game, and though creating a number of chances early on we lacked the finishing execution.  Jilly got us on the board with a sweet volley from about 18 yards out to put us up 1-0, and we didn't look back from there.  We tallied 5 or 6 by the end of the hour, with Millie, Brownie, Bidi, and Getch putting the ball away for us.

We had a two hour break in between games, and the majority of families headed into downtown Faribault to The Depot to grab some lunch.  We agreed to meet back at the dome around 1:45PM for a 2:30PM kickoff against Wayzata.

I've known the Wayzata team's coach Dominic for a number of years now, and I knew he had a solid group.  He had a U12 player (Kylie) and a U11 player (Brittany) who had both guest played with our younger teams in some events in the last year.  Dom does a good job with the girls and I think they'll be one of the top 3 or 4 teams in this year's State Cup in May. 

Due to some very poor service at The Depot, more than half the girls didn't arrive back on site until nearly 2:15PM.  Most had stuffed their meals into their mouths before hustling out of the restaurant to get back to the facility, and many were complaining of feeling queasy.  What are you gonna do? 

Friendly or not, I knew Wayzata had come to play.  They had obviously heard about our group and I think were itching to see how they matched up.  The Wayzata girls came out on fire, and had two very good chances early on to go up in the match.  Our girls settled in after that and I think we had the great majority of play from that point on.  We got three goals in the first half, two by Sting and one from Ripper. 

At halftime, I made a GK change and put Hans back in goal.  Mudd (our main GK) loves to play on the field and I know she gets bored back at GK when there is not much action.  Also, Hans is not making the trip to Virginia with us and I wanted to give the players playing that weekend to get more of the time on the field.  Hans, like the team player she is, didn't mind at all though she didn't touch the ball the second half. 

I think the game was an eye-opener of sorts for the Wayzata team.  Dom is trying to do what he can to form a high level team based in the west and I know he's met with some resistance from the parent group to do some of the things he feels would be best for the team if they want to play with the big boys. 

All in all, I was fairly please with the girls performance.  In both games I had to call off the dogs a bit by changing formation and rotating players around, but the girls played well on defense and were creative on the attack.  Though missing two players (Blondie and Macky) due to the State Basketball Tournament, the team came together well and had a good experience in prep for Richmond. 

Here's hoping for a good two weeks of training, and then off to grass!!!! 

West Des Moines Schedules Posted

Schedules are now posted for the WDM Premier Games.

U13 Girls Brackets
Pool A
13GA1	WDMSC Celtic (IA)
13GA2	Wayzata Wapeka (MN)
13GA3	Chicago Magic 93/94 (IL)
13GA4	Toro Bravo (NE)
Pool B
13GB1	Bangu Tsunami FC 93/94 Blue (MN)
13GB2	Homer Hawks (IL)
13GB3	KC Heat (KS)
13GB4	Windy City Pride (IL)

U13 Girls Schedule
Saturday
11:00AM	Bangu Tsunami FC 93/94 Blue (MN)	vs	KC Heat (KS)
3:30PM	Windy City Pride (IL)	vs	Bangu Tsunami FC 93/94 Blue (MN)
Sunday
9:00AM	Bangu Tsunami FC 93/94 Blue (MN)	vs	Homer Hawks (IL)
1:30PM	1st in A	vs	1st in B

Our U11G and U12G top teams will also be making the trip down to Des Moines in April, along with our U14G White team.  Our U11B and U13B will be there as well, so it should be a fun event with all the teams participating.

I know nothing about the KC Heat team, I couldn't even find a website.  Windy City Pride is a Chicago based group, though I do not think that they are one of the strongest teams at the U13 age group in Illinois.  I've heard of the Homer Hawks team for a number of years.  I believe they will be the toughest competition in our group.

In the other group, I would love to come up against Toro Bravo or Chicago Magic, both teams we have not yet been able to beat - though I still hold to the fact that we are a better overall team than both of them.

I would think that we go into this event as one of favorites, if not the favorite.  I'm tempted to tell the girls this in order to have them experience this top-seed feeling prior to our own State Cup where we are most likely the hands down favorite to win the competition.  I'll have to think about this a little bit.  Regardless, it should be a good event for us sandwiched in between our two toughest competitive events of the season, the Jefferson Cup and the Arsenal Elite Invitational. 

Friday, March 9

I'm a little worried about tomorrow.  The girls did not look very sharp this week (Tues and Thurs) in training.  I wonder if I'm pushing them too hard, tackling stuff that is too advanced for them.  I may just have too high expectations in my own head about where I think they should be.  I sometimes see some real good stuff from them, then sometimes see some real garbage.  Though I think their garbage is still pretty good as compared to the average U13 girls player, I guess I hoped to see more from them at this stage of the year.

Tomorrow (playing against U13 teams) should be a good gauge about where these girls are at.  We are missing Mac and Blondie because of basketball, Bidi has a sore calf muscle, and Scratch has a sore back and hip flexor.  We'll see what the day brings.

Training - Thursday March 8

5:00PM - 6:30PM Field Training

OMG!  For like the second time this winter we had the full 17 girls at training!  It's a miracle! 

We had half the field to ourselves tonight and I wanted to make as much use of the space as I could. 

I. Crossing and Finishing With Recovery Pressure Wide

We've focused a lot on crossing and finishing in the last two years.  This winter we moved to adding pressure on the crossers.  This pressure makes the crosser play at a more game realistic speed (getting to the ball quickly, crossing quicker) rather than them having the ability to take their time getting the serve across with no defenders to worry about.  This time is not often available in competitive game matches.

In addition to helping the crossers more simulate game realistic situations, this wide pressure helps the runners develop a more realistic sense of reading the crosser and the timing of their own attacking runs in the box.  When I first went to pressure on the wide player with a recovering defender, all the attacking runs were late.  Why?  Because the runners had gotten used to slower, non-realistic play by the crosser.  Now that the crosser had a recovering defender to worry about, the crosses came over earlier (thus the runs were late).  If the crossers would then wait to let the attackers get into better positions, the recovering defenders would hammer them.  So I tell the crossers to whip the ball in when they can and FORCE the attacking runners to read when the ball is coming over and work on the timing of their runs. 

I could have looked to add this pressure to the wide players earlier on in our team's development, but the non-pressure crossing work helped the wide players get down their crossing technique, and the ability now to speed things up at this age allows the wide players and attacking players in the box to adjust quickly to the faster flow of the game. 

Setup

• 8 crossing playing, 8 central players, 1 GK
• Two disks on each flank, Crossing Disk and Recovery Disk, with the Recovery Disk 5 yards further away from goal that then Crossing Disk

Procedure

• central players work in pairs
• (1) Blue1 passes to Blue2
• (2) Blue2 lays off a pass back to Blue1
• (3) Blue1 plays wide to C, who tries to get in a cross to Blue1 (slot run), Blue2 (near post run), and Gold1 (a left-side wide player coming into the far post)
• recovering defenders (wide players take turns at being a recovering defender) start 5 yards behind the crossers and cannot leave their disk until the crosser leaves their disk

Coaching Points

• If crossers leave too early (before the play develops) and are forced to slow down their runs to wait for the ball, their recovering defenders (who can recover the second the crosser moves forward up the field, will be able to get back into a defensive position.  So crossers must read the central players in order to sprint quickly up the field at the right time in order to lose marking defenders.
• Wide passes from Blue1 must have the proper pace and direction
• Play your teammate in to dangerous positions whenever possible

II. 6v5 to Goal, Find the Point Player

In prep for our upcoming competitions, I wanted to continue to give the girls some attacking and defending ideas based on the team shape that we are likely to use.  At this point in time, I am leaning heavily to the 4-1-2-3 formation, so I set up the following exercise to run the girls through some game realistic scenarios in a scrimmage-type format (6 attackers versus 5 defenders attacking goal).

Set Up

• Back four defenders plus one defending midfield player and a GK, with two target players at midfield
• Front three attackers supported by two attacking mids and a defending mid
• All the soccer balls with the coach at midfield

Procedure

• I always started the exercise with the defending team pushed up to somewhere around the 40 yard line
• I would then serve a ball in and the girls would play until a goal or a shot was taken wide, or until the defending team was able to clear their area by finding one of their target players
• The service was varied; sometimes sent in behind the defensive line, sometimes in to a forwards feet, sometimes to a mid-field player

Coaching Points for the Attackers

• Find the Point player's feet to draw defensive eyes and collapse defenders to the ball
• Don't watch when the Point player gets the ball.  Anticipate, be proactive with runs, and look to get into dangerous spaces

Coaching Points for the Defenders

• Defensive team shape and good communication by the GK
• Find Target players quickly if possible to start the counter attacks