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Entries from September 9, 2007 - September 15, 2007

Tuesday
Sep112007

Training -Sunday, August 9th

After a whole week off from soccer, it seems like forever, we were back at it.  We started off the session with our juggling challenge.  During the week off I sent the girls an email challenging the girls to be able to get 25 juggles with just their feet by a week from today's training.  Why just their feet?  Juggling with your thighs is fun and you can get a really high total that way so we encourage kids to start out by juggling with their thighs.  As you get more confident with your juggling it is important to do less with your thighs and more with your feet because it turns out that when you are playing soccer you end up using your feet quite a bit more than your thighs.  So it is important to develop your touch with your feet. 

Normally I don't like setting a goal for the entire group because each individual player is different, but this is a goal that is both crucial to our team and attainable for everyone if they choose to go after it.

During the week I had a couple of girls email me about how excited they were that they got over 25 with just their feet.  That was great, they were working on it.  In order to pass the challenge the girls have to juggle the 25 times in front of all their teammates at training.  Even though I know a lot of them can do over 25 with their feet it put a little pressure on them to do it in front of the group.  You have to learn to enjoy the stage and enjoy being put under a little pressure.  Hopefully the pressure sharpens your focus and improves your play.  We had two players pass the challenge a week early with Magic and Ricky eaching getting well over 30 juggles.

Now to the session:

Learning from the NSR event we are spending the next month, and probably the entire winter, working on being relaxed, quick, and aware on the ball.  We never want our girls to panic with the ball or be unaware of their surroundings. 

I. Footskills Warm Up:

15 minutes quick foot work combinations with the focus on keeping your head up and looking around the field while dribbling.  Each combo is to be done quickly while being relaxed on the ball with one foot then completed with the other foot.

Touch, Touch, Pull Inside

Touch, Touch, Pull Outside

Touch, Touch, Pull Cruyff

Touch, Touch, Cruyff

Touch, Touch, Step Over- Challenge them to think of as many ways to take the ball away from the turn as possible.

II.  Squash The Ball

 

We had 14 girls at training so I started out simple with just two squashers.  As the girls got better I added squashers and we played the game within the game of having each girl see how many nutmegs she could get each time.

Squash-the-Ball-II.gif

III.  1v1 Turn Out Of Trouble

The first point of emphasis in this excersise is to teach the girls not to run straight forward, make one move on the defender and hope it works.  Instead we showed the girls how changing direction of the ball or by adding in a couple scissors or stepovers before you get to your defender can unbalance the defender and make it easier for you to get by her.  I encouraged the girls to try multiple moves and little changes of direction, while still moving forward quickly, and to watch the defender's feet as you are dribbling.

The second point of emphasis was realizing when we get into trouble and how to deal with it.  When we get in trouble, run out of space, we like to do one of two things; either a) Put our head down and try to run over the trouble, or b)Boot the ball up field and hope it goes to someone.  Neither of these are very good options.  This excersise works on realizing when you are in trouble and teaching you to play support or square out of trouble.

Same Set Up as 1v1 Stop It On The Line

The variation that we have now is that when you get into trouble, you now may turn and play the ball support  to
your teammate.  After you play it support you go back to the end of your line.
The idea is instead of losing the ball to the opponent, kicking it out of bounds, or just booting it forward, we want to
keep possession of the ball.

1v1-support-out-of-press-pi.gif

Variation:
After you pass the ball support you can stay on the field and make it a two on one against the defender. 
Ways to play:
-If the attacking team loses the ball only the person who lost the ball can defend
-Both attacking players can defend if they lose the ball
-Defender can play the ball support and make it a 2v2
-If ball goes out of bounds the play is dead and a new 1v1 is started

2v1 Restrictions:
Players can only pass the ball square or support in the two on one
-Players can only take two touches in the two on one
-Play the two on one with no restrictions.

III.  7v7 Scrimmage

I wanted the girls to value keeping possession of the ball and still be able to go forward so I implemented the restriction that if you pass it forward and the ball is stolen you have to take a knee for 10 seconds before rejoining the play.  I encouraged the girls to only play the "killer pass" if it was on.  If it was not on, keep the ball.