Set Piece Training, Transition Game, 9v9 vs U13 Boys - Tuesday 1/19

This is our final session before Laguna so I wanted to hit a couple of key topics in a competitive environment.  I had Mark Yuiell invite in some more of the U13 Boys to round out our numbers.

I. Evan Fitness

II. Set Piece Competition

Set Up

• Each team will get the same amount of repetitions on the various set pieces from different angles
• Corner Kicks Best of 7 from each side
• Free Kicks Best of 7 from each side

III. Transition Game

Most goals that will be scored this weekend will either be scored on set pieces or on transitions so we will play one of my favorite games and we will start it from a variety of ways while playing a best of 7 series.

Set Up

• One Red team and One Blue team
• One team at each goal with one line on each post.  Balls with one line.  1 GK in each goal.
• How many players are in each line will depend on the numbers you are starting with (1v0, 1v1, 2v1 ect)

Procedure

• 1 Blue attacker dribbles out and shoots from 20 yards out
• Immediately after the shot 2 Red attackers dribble out and go 2v1 versus the Blue player

• As soon as the 2v1 is over the next 2 Blues step on to create a 3v2
• The 3v2 continues until a goal is scored or the ball goes out of bounds.

• When the 3v2 ball is dead, no matter where the ball goes out, the next 2 Red players step onto the field to create a 4v3

• The game continues until all the players are on the field

Make It Competitive

• Keep track of the goals for each round and play a Best of 5 Series

Variations
This game can start out a number of different ways depending on what you are working on.  You can begin with a player coming from each goal to play

• 1v1  You can begin with a player coming from each goal to play.  Whoever scores on the 1v1 will send out the next player to create a 2v1. 
• 2v1 The attacking team starts with 2 players and the defending team sends out one defender
• 2v1 With A Target: The attacking team sends out a target player and begins with a defender on her back.  The ball starts from the post with a pass up to the target player and that player follows her pass to create the 2v1.
• 3v2 With A Target: Same set up as the 2v1

IV. 9v9 Scrimmage

V. Evan Fitness

I want to make sure we are in good shape going out this weekend so everyone can play a lot.

Training 4/21 Corner Kicks

Success is about having, excellence is about being. Success is about having money and fame, but excellence is being the best you can be.
- Mike Ditka

We started off with a little header progression so we could concentrate on our technique before we were going to goal.

Working on set pieces can be very difficult for players because they can involve a lot of talking about where to go and repetition.  Because of this I had originally planned to spend 20-30 minutes today working on corner kicks and I planned to revisit the topic later in the week.  I didn't want to kids to tune out.

As we started working on the corners the girls were completely focussed and they were really enjoying working on them.  Since it was working so well we kept with it and we ended up spending an hour on corner kicks.  I could tell a huge improvement in our volleying and heading from all the time spent playing tennis soccer over the last two weeks.

 For the last 15 minutes we scrimmaged.

I left training feeling really good about our corners and I can't wait to see them in action this weekend.