AHA Training 11-24 Lots of Ideas For Passing
Saturday, November 24, 2007 at 01:32PM Those who believe that playful football on the beaches explains why Brazil has exported 3087 professional players in the last four years might like to reconsider. In fact, it is the result of hard work and a military discipline that cannot be found anywhere else in the world.
-Tito Araujo
I really enjoy working with this group of girls and they are constantly surprising me with how quickly they can both grasp and execute new concepts. Today they were on top of their game and understood the concepts that I thought would take us weeks to become familiar with.
We are still working on playing with numbers up and the session was all about reading the game and moving into free space.
I. Ball Masters
II. Two Games of 2v1 Keep Away
Set Up:
Divide a 40x20 yard grid into 3 sections (15x20, 10x20, 15x20)
Players: 6 Total: 2 Attackers and 1 Defender in each outside grid
Procedure:
-The ball starts in one of the grids and the players play 2v1 keep away
-When the opportunity presents itself, the ball is played across to the other grid
Make It Competitive:
1 point for every pass the attackers make to their teammates in the other grid
1 point for the defenders if they can win the ball and play it to the coach
Play for 2 minutes
Key Points:
-Always be moving to give your teammate the best passing angle. As one teammate goes up the other should drop back.
-When in the grid away from the ball the attackers should get as wide as possible so the defender has to cover more ground.
-Play the ball across as soon as possible. A pass moving forward in a real game is much more dangerous than a square pass.
III. 2v1, 1v1, 2v1
Same set up as the last game but now there is an attacker and defender in the middle grid.
Make It Competitive:
1 Point if you can play the linking player and she plays it back to the same grid
2 Points if you can play the ball directly to the far grid
2 Points if you can play the ball to the linking player and she can turn and play the ball into the far grid
IV. 2v1, 1v1, 2v1 Cycle
Set up and points are the same as the last game but now we are working on two things:
1) How and when can we get a player to make a run forward to create a 3v1
(For the purpose of this game the linking attacker in the middle grid may not make the run forward into the final third.)
If a player from the starting grid can make a run forward into the far grid and receive a pass it is worth 5 points and you keep playing.
I wanted to work with the girls on recognizing when it is a good time for the player who starts back in the play should make the run forward. They quickly figured out that you should make your run forward when you are confident your team will keep possession of the ball. If you are not confident in possession you should keep your original shape.
2) How do we recover our shape as the game changes?
After we make the run forward how do we quickly regain our original shape?
It doesn't make sense for the person who just sprinted forward to recover all the way back to her starting spot because there are players closer to those positions than she is.
-The middle player should fall back into the grid with one player because she is the closest one.
-As she does this the other player in that grid may have to shift so they can get as wide as possible.
-In the grid that now has 3 attackers we want the attacker who is closest to the middle grid to move into that grid.
This concept of free flowing movement is difficult for a lot of players because they are so used to thinking that they need to stay on their area of the pitch. I want the girls to always be thinking "How can I make a play?" In order to do this they need to be able to read how the game is changing and where the open spaces are. The more they can recognize everything that is going on around them, the better we will be.
