Training 9/14- First Touch Check

Creativity can solve almost any problem. The creative act, the defeat of habit by originality, overcomes everything.- George Lois

Another beautiful day out in the rain today.  The first session with my U12's was luckily dry and as I looked to the sky I was hoping my luck would hold out for the 3 scrimmages I had scheduled for our U9 Boys, U10 Boys and U11 Girls would hold up.  Just as I was thinking that the carry over of Hurricane Ike hit us.  

I wondered how my U9 Boys would react to this poor weather since they were young, but when I looked over at them they were already sliding around on the wet grass exclaiming how lucky they were to get to play in such great slide tackling weather.  The boys then went on to almost outscore the Vikings and Colts game that ended somewhere around 15-12 in their game against our North boys.  Lots of offense on display:)

Part way through the third scrimmage our U10 coach called me and told me that he was canceling their training session which was scheduled for the same time as the U13's session.  I thought that this might not be a bad idea after spending all afternoon yesterday out in the rain and all day today out in it as well, but then I remembered that as a player I would have been upset if my coach had cancelled training due to a little rain, along with the fact that they hadn't spent the day outside, so we went ahead with training.

As I drove over to McMurray the rain stopped, for the most part, and we were able to have a semi dry session:)  Thank goodness. 

I wanted to get the girls moving right away since it was a little cold and wet so we started off with a game of Bulldog.  This game is similar to knockout but I had the girls divided up into 4 teams.  3 teams were on the inside of the grid and all of those players had a soccer ball and they were working together. 1 team was the bulldogs who started on the outside of the grid.

When I said go 2 bulldogs from the team on the outside would enter the grid and try to knock out all the balls.  Every 15 seconds I released 2 more bulldogs into the grid until all the bulldogs were in the grid.

The players on the inside protected their ball from getting kicked out by a bulldog, but once their ball was kicked out they helped the other players keep their ball inside the grid.  

When all the balls were knocked out I stopped the clock.  The bulldog team with the lowest time won.

After a couple games of Bulldog we went to our partner juggling.  Today we had 12 groups get to double digits and a couple of groups were able to get 16. 

I had decided to play a possession game with the girls today to see how our first touch was coming along. 

9v4 Keep Away, 5 Passes= 1 point

-I divided the girls up into two teams of 9 and one team of 10 players

-I had two grids set up

-1 team split their team in half and they were the defenders in each of the two grids

-We played for 2 minutes and every time that the attacking team was able to put 5 consecutive passes in a row together they received a point.

-After 2 minutes we combined the score from both grids to get the defending team's score and then switched the defending team

-The team with the lowest score wins

We had some success at the game, but not as much as I had hoped, but that was ok because I wanted the girls to understand that we needed to continue to work on our first touch.  The space was pretty tight so every time a player received the ball a defender was close to them.  A poor first touch would almost always lead to a take away.  

After the keep away we played our 7v7 games and the lights stayed on the entire time tonight!

Training 5/14 Be Conscious Of Your Surroundings

Yesterday is but a dream, tomorrow but a vision. But today well lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness, and every tomorrow a vision of hope. Look well, therefore, to this day. Such is the salutation to the dawn.
-Sanskrit Proverb

I. Spat Training
Today we really focused on proper turning technique.  We focused on what foot should come down first depending on which way you are turning and where your weight should be distributed.

II. Give and Go Exercise
-The first red player dribbles towards the first cone and passes to the blue player who is checking to the ball.

-The blue player one touches the ball back using the far foot from the passer.
-As the red player receives the ball she dribbles as fast as she can around the flag and to the back of the orange line.
-The orange player goes.

Key Points:
At first we really struggled to complete the give and go because after the red player would make the first pass she would run in a straight line.  By running in a straight line the blue player would have to make a perfect pass for this to work at speed.  After a couple of minutes we stopped and talked about the benefits of curving our runs away from the ball after the first pass it gives the passer more room to complete the pass while at the same time allowing the runner to receive the pass facing where she wants to dribble.

III. 6v6 Play It Wide: Be Aware of Your Surroundings
For this we played the same game that we have been playing the last couple of training sessions but with a new twist that Mark did with the U11's yesterday.  What he did, when it was their time to scrimmage, was he put up the little triangle cones that are about a foot high all over the field and the girls had to play through the cones.  He then had a point structure for the scrimmage:
+1 For a shot on goal
+3 For a goal
-1 If you pass the ball and knock over a cone
-3 If you knock a cone over while you are dribbling
-5 If you knock over a cone while running without the ball

Getting to work with other coaches is one of the best things that I like about Bangu and I get knew ideas like this all the time from other coaches.  This simple modification worked incredibly well as the girls all commented on how much more they kept looking around all game so they would be sure not to step on a cone.

Training 5/5 Changing The Point Of Attack

The difference between failure and success is doing a thing nearly right and doing it exactly right.
- Edward C. Simmons

(I did not get a chance to write up our last two training sessions but we worked on transition play and keeping our shape as we transition.)

We were going to have a pretty light training session today since we would be missing a number of girls due to other commitments and injuries.

I. Ball Masters
Pull-Cruyff into a step over turn
Double scissors into a cruyff
Roll over step over
Juggling with feet only

II. Long Distance Ball Striking
With a partner drive the ball to them in the air. 

III.  Changing The Point Of Attack Technique Work
As we turn our focus into team play over the summer months I really want to start to focus on our ability to receive the ball from one direction and pass it to the other side of the field to another runner who is already moving.  The three person combinations is still pretty advanced for this age group but we hope to make it a staple of this team's style of play in the coming months.

This is a simple exercise that can look a bit complicated when it gets going so communication is key. 

The Blue player in the upper right passes the ball to their teams point player. 
As the point receives the ball the other Blue player in the upper left side is running to receive the ball from the point at a sprint.

After the point player receives the ball the next two reds step up with their point person.  The red in the lower left plays the ball to the point person and the red in the lower right makes the run.

Then the Blue who made the pass on the first group steps up with the second blue from the first line and the second blue makes the pass.

Key Points:
-Pass hard.  This is a 20 yard pass so it needs to be played with pace.
-The point player needs to check to the ball to create space.
-The point player should take two touches at the start.
-The runner needs to time her run to receive the ball at a sprint and curve her run so she can receive it going inside.
-Communicate before the ball is played to your other group members.

IV. 5v5 Scrimmage
Focus was on finding the point person and changing the point of attack.  The scrimmage went really well today with tons of great runs off the ball.

4/22 Training: Read The Game

Good guys are a dime a dozen, but an aggressive leader is priceless.
-Red Blaik

Keeping Score
If you have ever asked kids what the score of a game was in training or any place where the kids have to keep track of their own scores you will hear a wide variety of scores and a ton of emotion exclaiming that the score that each player says is correct.  You can also hear cries of "The other team is cheating!" or "They can't count!"

With the U12's we have discussed the benefits of keeping track of the score out loud throughout the entire game but for some reason it does not happen.  It might be that nobody wants to yell out things so everyone can hear.  Or it might be that when the score is 1-0 or 2-1 it is obvious what the score is so it doesn't need to be said. 

We had a lot of score keeping issues today and it caused a lot of emotion because all the girls are very competitive and hate to lose, especially when they think they have won.  This is about the third time we've had this issue where it actually detracts from training a little bit.  I want the kids to keep score on their own because it forces them to think about more than what they are doing.  Also, I want the things that are obvious to you communicated since something that is obvious to you, may not be obvious to a teammate.  The more we communicate the more we are on the same page.

The only way that I have thought of to help this issue is if I ask a team what the score is and their entire team can immediately say the right score they get a bonus point.  Has anyone else done anything else that works?

On to the training . . .

One of the main things that I focus on in trainings and games is how to read the game.  The game is always changing and you need to constantly be moving and thinking one step ahead of the game.  This is a very advanced topic for 12 year olds but the more we work on it, the better they will understand it.

0-10 Ball Masters
We did the V cut from the Skills Sheets and the scissors and maradona.

10-20 Receiving Technique
Each girl was with a partner.  You ran forward to receive the ball and after you pass run backwards.
We did 3 touch with same foot and receive and pull cruyff with one foot then touch and pass with the other foot.

20-40 1v1 With 2 Support Players
Here from 4/8
We did this two weeks ago and the kids really understood how to move when they wanted the ball so today I wanted to really concentrate on them constantly moving whether they had a good chance to get the ball or not.

All the girls understood the movements (Get wide when we have the ball, back and in when we lose the ball) but everything is done at a jog or 3/4 sprint at best.  One of the things that I really wanted to happen was for them to realize when the other team was going to shoot so they could be ready and moving with a good first touch instead of being surprised by the shot and taking a poor first touch.  I was hoping that they would realize the benefits of a good first touch and how it would help their team score more often but it was not happening all the time.

* * *
This is a new game that I am working on developing.  I like the ideas but it is not quite where it should be so it gains the full attention of the kids.  I challenged the girls to sprint every time they needed to move and then once they were in the right spot they could relax while being on their toes, but getting everyone to do this consistently was a struggle.  I've got to find a way so the game rewards the players for moving quickly because in this game. 

The players who are on the outside can get stuck out there for a while if their teammate in the middle is shutting down the other team or she is not passing, causing their movements to become slow.  Plus the players attacking 1v1 are not always going at full speed 1v1 so the other players have more time to react.  Maybe putting in a 5 second max for the person with the ball will speed the game up and require the other players to move faster.
* * *

45-75 3v3 Transition Game
Here from 9/16/07
For this we moved our small 3v3 game, that is what the 1v1 plus 2 support players is, onto an entire half field going to goal.  For the first 10 minutes the kids just ran every where and looked to attack.  This caused a lot of breakaways because everyone was looking to get forward when they had the ball.  So we came in and talked about how we could bring the 1v1 with supporting players ideas into this game. 

The light bulb went on.  The girls started to understand that both players off the ball cannot make a run forward because we might lose the ball.  Thinking ahead!  Then they started to realize which player should make the run based off of where the defenders and open space was.

The last part we talked about was that the person with the ball should not be the person closest to our goal in most cases.  Once this clicked in the girls really started to make some great runs forward and play some outstanding offense while at the same time keeping a good defensive shape.

While this was a tough practice because of some of the tension over keeping score and working on thinking when you are not directly involved in the play, we really started to accomplish what we wanted.  We will revisit this on Thursday to hopefully solidify these ideas and come away excited about what we have learned.

Skills Time Follow Up

Since posting the Academy Skills Sheets yesterday I have been asked to elaborate on how the kids will do everything.

Reader-There is a lot of stuff on the sheets.  Are they supposed to do everything each day?

AK: The idea of putting so many things on the sheet was so the kids will have options.  The great thing about soccer is that there are so many different ways to pass, dribble, shoot, and trap a ball.  You can work on something different each day.
Here is how it will work:  Say a player wants to work on their dribbling for a half an hour.  She can look at the dribbling section and choose to start out with the Quick Dribbling.  If she starts out with the 4 touch she works for as long as she wants on the 4 touch and she can try as many times as she wants to get her top score.  When she is done working on that she can put down what her top score for the day was and then move on to another section of the Quick Touches and work on that.

Dribbling
Quick Touches-Do As Many As You Can In 30 Seconds
Date/Top Score:
4 Touch	Goal: 19	4/21: 15
4 Touch Cap	Goal: 19	4/21: 14

After that maybe she wants to work on some moves.  The moves section does not involve counting how many times you do the move in 30 seconds because we want you to work on taking the ball away different ways and setting up the move different ways.  To record for this section you simply put down the date that you worked on the move and if you want you can put down how much time you spent.

Maradona

4/21: 5 min

If you want to do the the cutting grid you can take as many turns as you want to try and get your best score.  You only record your top score.

Inside Cut

4/21: 20

The same goes for the timed dribbling exercises where you can take as many turns as you like, but you only record the date and your top score.

10 Cone Quick Touch- Put 10 cones in a straight line 1 yard apart
Date/Top Score:
Anything	4/21: 8.4 sec

Now if that is all the time you had for one day that is fine.  You can come back the next day and challenge yourself to beat your scores from the previous day or you can select new things to work on.

For the Ball Striking section you can record what you did like this or you can simply write down the amount of time you spent working on the shot.

Shooting
Date/Time/Shots
Laces	4/23 50 Shots

For the Long Distance portion you can take as many tries as you want from whatever distance but you only record the furthest distance that you hit the wall from 10 times in a row.

Long Distance Passing- Pick a distance and hit 10 in a row from that distance
Date/Distance
Driven Ball	20 yds

For the Juggling Portion you simply write down your score.  For the Combos section if it says Foot-Thigh you have to alternate between your foot and thigh and you write down what your highest score was alternating.

The last section is the Circuit Training.  All of these exercises were covered in our winter Spat training.  For these you just pick one of the 3 circuits and do everything on the list.

Reader: Are you using any sort of motivation for the players to get them to work on the skills?

AK: We will be having the Skills Days once a month where we will give out prizes for the areas that I mentioned in the first article.  Besides that we will try to keep the kids updated with where their peers are at and the leaders in the Academy are at so they can have some extrinsic goals to reach for.  The hope is that the kids will simply do this because they enjoy working on their game and they want to improve.

As I said before, none of this is required.  If you want to go out and do your own thing or play with your friends that is great.  If you don't want to see a soccer ball when you are away from soccer that is fine also.  But as the kids will start to see, the players who really spend time working on their game will eventually see the improvements in their game and their skills.

If you have any more questions please email them to me and I will try to answer all of them.