“It was Gerard Houllier’s idea to introduce what is known as ‘preformation’ training,” says Andy Roxburgh. “The idea was that between the ages of 13 and 16 most of the coaching should concentrate on individual work and developing technique. Gerard believed that if a player got to the age of 16 and his technique wasn’t up to scratch there was no way of ever catching up.”

After Saturday's session I was really excited to get to training today.  Our movement and passing had been fantastic so I wanted to combine a couple of topics in today's ball striking session.  I wanted to combine the timing of an overlap run, an attacker pulling away to create space, and one touch shooting.  

What I was really going after was a couple of different ball striking techniques while creating a picture in their head of one way that 3 players can combine for a shot on goal.  Station training within a movement involving a couple of players.

The basic set up for today was:

-Player 1 would start with the ball and dribble diagonally to the middle.
-Player 2 would start sprinting around Player 1 on an overlapping run
-Player 3 would start in the middle and pull away to create space

-Player 1 then passes to the girl who has pulled away and crashes the net for a rebound
-Player 2 keeps her overlap run going and receives a one touch pass from Player 3
-She finishes with a one touch shot on goal.

Key Points:
-The dribbler needs to create time and space for the overlapper to get around her and into the play.  This can be done a number of ways

• Dribbling at an angle
  Taking small quick touches
  Adding in a move

-The overlap runner needs to be at a full sprint to make up the ground.  She also needs to get as wide as possible so she can be running diagonally at the goal for her one touch shot.
-The dribbler should pass the ball as the runner leaves her peripheral vision.  Meaning that she should pass the ball when she can no longer see the runner while she is looking up field.  This will give the runner enough time to be in a position to shoot.
-The girl who is pulling away needs to do it quickly so she can get her feet set before the pass.
-For the one touch pass she needs to step forward into it.  If you are still running backwards you will be off balance.
-Shoot back to the far post to catch the goalie moving.

Suffice to say this was a lot of stuff for the girls to handle.  I had them stay in the same position for a number of reps so they could get comfortable with that spot before moving on but we had problems with this exercise and it was my fault.

In order for us to perform this sequence at the level that we want a number of things need to happen.
1)  We need to be able to make a pass to the front foot of the player pulling away while dribbling.
2)  We need to be able to hit a one touch pass after pulling away.
3)  We need to be able to strike a ball with accuracy on a full sprint.

I tell the girls all the time not to worry about the end product but instead they should focus on all the steps to get to the finished product.  Simply meaning that if I am working on a move I don't just rush into the move in a game right after I learn it.  Instead I should break the move down into different steps and focus on those steps.  Only after I feel confident with each individual step then will I put it all together and go at a defender.  I was too focussed on the end product and not the journey to get there.

I tried to combine too many things when it would have been more beneficial to just pick one of these topics and focus on that.  Today was a good reminder for me to focus on the basic steps and the final product will take care of itself.