Training 2/27 Lots of Shooting

I. Evan Warm Up

II. Heading Work

III. Shooting Technique

IV. Eric Shooting Game

V. 3v2 With Kneeling Targets

• Field size is approximately 36 x 44 yards although I often make the width more narrow with my team. Two target players are always on the field. 
• The one that is NOT in attack is always kneeling and ready to pop up if his team wins the ball or brings the ball onto the field, while the other target takes a knee. 
• Teams are situated behind opposite goals and are broken into pairs. A goalkeeper is in each goal. The two players of the pair position themselves on opposite posts. 
• One has a ball and must play to target first and then both players enter the field to attack the two players of the other team (their target is kneeling). 
• The 18 yard box is the half field mark. If your team scores a goal then your pair defends a pair from the other team that is just coming onto the field. 
• If the ball goes out of bounds in your teams half, then you are off and another pair from your team attacks.

Crossing and Finishing/ Defending Crosses Saturday 1/3

I. Evan Fitness (8:40-9:05)

II. Crossing and Finishing Video (9:05-9:20)

III. Crossing and Finishing (9:20-9:50)

Goal of the Activity:

• Attackers work on the pattern, crossing and finishing
• Defenders work on their footwork to defend crosses

Set Up

• Forwards- 2 go each time: Gaffer, Greely, Magic
• Wingers- 1 goes each time: Rt side: Kari, Kenzie Left Side: Jazzy
• Center Mids- 1 goes each time: Lydia, Sizzle
• Defenders- 2 go each time: Brownie, Stoker, Becks (Rotate Lydia and Kenzie in)
• Recovery Defender: Whichever winger is not going next out of the 3

Progression I

• One striker posts up against her defender and calls for the ball
• The center mid plays her the ball
• As the ball is played the other striker drops off of her defender to be an option for a drop pass
• As the ball is played forward the winger makes her run down the line
• The striker plays the ball through for the winger and turns to make a run to the far post
• The other striker makes a run to the near post
• The center mid makes a run to the top of the box
• As the ball is played out to the wing, the defenders drop in to defend the cross
• The recovery defender chases down the pass to the winger as soon as the ball is played to add pressure
• The winger receives the ball and chooses to play in an early cross or take the ball end line to cross

Key Points

• The passes in the pattern must be made crisply and with the proper weight on each pass in order to get the cross off before the recovery defender gets back to block the cross
• The strikers must work together to make their runs and must not end up flat
• The center mid needs to read the runs of the striker and decide to hold at the top of the box or run through and attack the cross
• The center mid and the forwards must work together and if the center mid is going to attack the cross one forward needs to drop off from the defenders
• One of the three attackers will be open if the runs are made properly.  The key is getting the winger to take a look up as she is going to the ball and play the right type of cross

Progression II

Set Up

• Same set up as before

Procedure

• The ball is played into the first target forward but this time she lays the ball off to the other forward, who has dropped off her defender, and she spins outside to create a passing lane 
• The second forward then plays a ball through (either via a split pass between the defenders or a chip pass over the top) to the winger
• As the ball is played the recovery defender chases down the winger and tries to block the cross
• The winger gets to the ball and finds a cross
• The forwards and the center mid work together to make their runs and finish the cross

Make It Competitive

Points for the Attackers- Max per turn is 6 points

• +1 point for a sharp pattern and good runs 
• +1 point for a shot
• +2 points for a shot on goal
• +5 points for a goal

Points for the Defenders- Max per turn is 3 points

• Defenders +1 point for the first touch on the cross
• Defenders +1 point for good positioning
• Defenders +1 point for a clear 

 IV. Recovery Defending- Eric Organizes

Goal of the Activity

• How to organize our back four to deal with the ball in our defensive third
• How to deal with the ball when it is played into their forwards 

Number of Players needed:

• 8 players + a goalie working on defending for us
• 6 players attacking
• We should have 10 field players plus Sonic to play goalie, we will need 3 extra players.  1 is me, check if Macie can play, see if another of the 15's can play

 V. Cut Throat Crossing and Finishing

Set Up

• 3 teams of 4 players (Red, Blue, Green)
• 2 teams (Red and Blue) are on the inside looking to finish crosses
• 1 team (Green) starts on the outside supplying the crosses
• 1 all time goal keeper 

Procedure

• The goalie punts a ball up into the air to start the game
• The two teams in the middle battle for possession of the ball, whoever wins possession (Blue) plays the ball out to the crossers and prepares to receive a cross
• The crosser then plays a cross into the blue team
• When the crossers receive the ball the defenders can pressure them and try to steal the ball
• If a crosser is under pressure she can cut the ball back and play it to another crosser
• If there is no pressure on the crosser she can take a shot
• Offside is in effect
• If the goal keeper saves the ball she plays it to the defending team (Red) who try to play it out to the crossers to become on offense
• If a goal is scored the team that was scored on becomes the crossers and the crossers take their place.  The goalie then punts up a ball to begin a new game.
• If the attackers can score a goal without playing the ball to the crossers the defensive team has a quick fitness and has to switch out with the crossers.  If the attacking team tries to score without playing the crossers but loses the ball or takes a bad shot they have to switch with the crossers.
• Corner kicks are in effect

Finishing, Forward and Midfield Movement: Training 4/30

Today's training was thrown a bit out of whack when Eric called me to say that he had an emergency at work and was not going to be able to attend the 16's training.  Originally he was just going to let the girls run it, but I said that we were doing a lot of finishing and different activities that are fun and I could have the 13's demonstrate the activity and the 16's could go and run it on their own.

It turned out I overestimated the 16's focus level and maturity.  Their was no leadership and they were perfectly happy to do everything at half speed and sloppily.  After 35 minutes I told them to go do whatever they wanted because it was a waste of time to explain the exercises to both groups and try to watch them since they were not putting in any effort.  

If the 13's ever show this type of attitude there will be major consequences and changes to who is on the team.

Here is what we did:

I. Off Foot Juggling & Driving The Ball With 1 Touch Back

All but 4 players can get to the 30 juggles with their opposite foot now and the 4 are really close to getting to 30.  The one touch back went better than expected last time.  

II. Finishing Technical Work

Lots of repetition.  We had 2 players serving balls from their hands on each side.  Every couple of minutes we switched up the type of ball being played in.  We concentrated on quick, sharp swings.  Finishing low.  And Headers.

• Line drives from throw
• Bouncing balls from throws
• Lofted balls from throws

III. Crossing and Finishing
Same set up we used on Tuesday to see if the technical work helped us out on our finishes. 

IV. Scrimmage vs the U16's
Some of the 16's had mentioned before training that they'd like to scrimmage the 13's.  I had said no before because there was a lot of things I wanted to work on and we were not going to have time.  But the 13's really wanted to play and they had been pretty focussed during training so for the last 40 minutes we scrimmaged.

The small training field at McMurray (100x55) would play to our advantage because the 16's wouldn't be able to out run us.  We played really well and created a handful of really good scoring chances.  As usual the girls battled extremely hard and didn't back down from the challenge.  The 16's hit the post but besides that the work rate of the 13's kept the ball away from our 18.  There was a controversial offside call by the 16's that pulled a goal back that the 13's had scored.  The game ended 0-0 and I left amazed at how the girls absolutely never back down.

Early Cross: Training 4/21

Evan had the last three sessions with the girls as I was out of town with the 16 Blues for their MRL games in Cincinnati from last Thursday-Sunday.  The 16's went 3-0 over the weekend and are in a great position to battle for the league title and a place in Regionals.

Evan continued with our crossing and finishing work and he brought in some defensive work for the Sunday training.

For today's session I found another great session that Mark did 2 years ago with the current 15's.  

I. Off Foot Juggling

II. Driving The Ball

III. Battle In The Box - Early Cross

This exercise was perfect for what we are working on and it gave the girls another variation to keep their attention.  

Set Up

• 4 teams of 4 players in different color vests (We had 3 teams of 5 players so we had 1 team serving, 1 team attacking, 1 team defending with one of the defending players stepping in goal.  We had 4 minute rounds)
• 35x60 yard field set up as in the illustration below (with a penalty box, goal, GK, and starting disks for attackers/defenders and wide players)

Procedure

• Blue team attacks, green defends, gray team on deck, gold team serving
• Gold 1 passes to gold 2 who takes a short prep touch and serves in a cross from the right for blue to finish
• Green tries to clear the ball from the box
• When the ball is dead (in the goal, out of bounds, or out of the penalty box), defending team exits the area and is on deck waiting, attacking team (blue) becomes the defending team, and the team on deck (gray) attacks a cross that will be played in from the other (left) side
• Gold pairs alternate positions after each cross

Make It Competitive

• +2 points for the first team that makes contact with the ball in the box (looking for aggressive movement towards the ball by both the attacking and defending teams)
• +4 points if the defenders clear the box in the air directly from a cross (so +6 total if they get to the ball first and clear the box in the air)
• +2 point if the attackers get a shot off
• +4 points for a goal

Coaching Points for the Crossers

• Good first prep touch, under control but away from your feet to set up the early cross
• Find a target for your cross instead of just kicking the ball (far post, near post, or a player's feet)
• Look up as the ball is being passes to you to see what you are going to do when you get it

Coaching Points for the Attackers

• Initial movement should be away from the ball to force your defender to work hard to see both the attacker and the ball
• Be creative and careful on your runs (careful about offsides) - lose your defender with quick changes of direction, starts and stops, or bursts of acceleration
• Don't get all 4 runners flat in the box, someone has to stay at the top of the box in the event of a poorly cleared ball from the defenders or to offer a lay back pass option
• Work hard to keep the ball in the box if the defending team gets to it first
• Wanting the ball is about attitude

Coaching Points for the Defenders

• Transition quickly from attack to defense and organize
• Communicate with each other and sort out who is marking who
• Don't lose your mark!
• Attack the ball, don't let it drop in our box
• Clearances should be high and wide
• Kamikaze to block shots in our box

IV. 7v7 Scrimmage With Service Boxes

For our scrimmage I added service boxes in the corners to encourage the girls to get the ball wide and to the end line before attacking the goal.  This is going to be where the space will be for us in State Cup so the girls need to continue to work on getting the ball wide.

 Points

• +1 for a goal without going into the service area
• +3 if the ball goes into the service area and your team gets a shot on goal
• +5 if the ball goes into the service area and you score a goal
• +10 if you deliver an early cross from your half that results in a goal

I didn't want the girls to have to wide if it was on to go straight to goal, but the points were set up to encourage getting to the end line.

12/15 Training- Combination Finishing and 1v0-4v4

We started off training with some fun partner juggling challenges for the girls.  The first one was one girl had to juggle the ball up high and her partner had to take a knee and hit the ball off her other knee, get up and juggle it back to her partner.  The second challenge was one partner juggles it up high and the other partner hits it off her back back to her partner.  The third challenge was to have one parter juggling and the other partner hits it with her shoulders back to her.

The girls seemed to enjoy the challenges and it helped to work on our ability to time the ball out of the air and control your body.

Next we did a Combination Finishing exercise that Mark Abboud wrote up.

We only focussed on the pulling away portion.  Eventually we added in live defenders at the trash cans that could start to recover as soon as the ball was passed.  Adding in the recovery defender really showed the girls how important the pass was to the success of the break away.

We talked about all the different ways that you could hit the through pass and it was exciting to see the girls actually trying the different ways to strike the ball.  Many of the girls struggled with the different ways to hit the passes but they kept trying the different ways even though they didn't have to.

After training I told the girls how happy I was that they were trying to push themselves to get better and they were not afraid to look bad.  If you don't look bad in training you are not pushing yourself to get better.  Looking back on it now I am also very pleased the the girls continued to try the different passes even when we were competing and did not get discouraged when their pass didn't come off and their team didn't score any points because of the missed pass.  They could have played it safe the next time but a lot of them continued to push themselves and continued to get better.

Next we played our 1v0 to 4v4 game but I modified it so we went to 2 goals and had teams coming off of each post.  The variation worked very well and I was able to get a lot out of the new set up with going from quick counter attacking to building the attack when it was 4v4.