5/7 Training First Summer Spat And Changing The Point Of Attack

The Six W's: Work will win when wishing won't.
- Todd Blackledge

Today we started our summer Spat program that we will do for a half an hour every Wednesday.  The training is focussed on making the girls stronger through the use of their own body weight, (Bear crawls and other exercises of that type) core work, and continue to teach the girls how to change direction and decelerate properly.  If we can teach them how to do these things at a young age they are way less likely to incur injuries as they get older.

After the Spat we ran the same session that we ran on Monday since a number of girls were gone and we wanted to improve on our form.

I. Ball Masters
II. Long Distance Ball Striking
III. Changing The Point Of Attack
IV. 6v6 Scrimmage

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.

State Cup Game #2 vs MapleBrook

Before the tournament started I told the girls that they would be playing to get the real experience of State Cup.  This would mean that we would be playing to win.  Every other tournament and game this year we will try to win, but that is not the end goal and we will play in a way that will help develop the girls into smart soccer players. 

With this age group we still have unlimited subs so the subbing would not be an issue.  But our style of play will switch from game to game and we will play each game in a fashion that gives us the best chance to win.

Against PSA that meant that we would play our usual game on offense but we would keep an extra eye on their #10 and eventually pulling one of our mids out to help with her.  Against MapleBrook we would be playing different.

MapleBrook has dominated the Northern and Western leagues with results over the past couple of seasons.  Last fall they won all their games just like PSA in the West league and last summer they also won all 12 of their league games.  So going into the game we knew that they would be a very strong team.  I had also seen them play twice last year and from what I had seen they were going to be very athletic and they were going to put us under a ton of pressure.

With these things in mind I asked the girls to come ready to battle hard and concentrate on defense.  I told our two outside forwards that they would be doing a lot of defensive work for us and we would be sacrificing our offensive fluidity and creativity in the name of defense.

We would be missing Hannah for this game who has been our main central defender during the WDM Premier Games and this tournament so we would have to pull Kari back to defense which would cause us to lose her skill on the offensive end.  Add in the wind that had been blowing all day and I felt a little sorry for the spectators as they were not going to be in store for a pretty game.

The game started and the girls were able to get the ball into MapleBrook's half and put them under pressure.  90 seconds in Jordy played a quick combination 30 yards out from goal and took a surprise shot that the goalie was slightly out of position for and we were up 1-0! 

1 minute later Blitz beat a couple of defenders and took a shot that rang off the far post and we were flying.  We were able to create some good chances with some nice offense during the first 10 minutes.  After that the game settled into the battle that I thought we would have. 

Our central defenders, (Bella, Kari, Gaffer) all did a great job of always having one of them drop early to eliminate the through balls and AJ was sharp at coming out and collecting anything that MapleBrook hit too far so we were able to eliminate the threat of a break away all game.

Our outside defenders continue to get better at rotating on the defensive end and stepping up to pressure their forwards at the midfield.

At the 35th minute mark we had a throw in deep in MapleBrook's end that went through to Jordy and she went in on a mini break away from the right hand side and slotted home a far post shot to put us up 2-0 just before half time.

At half time we talked about the need to win the air battle and continue to tackle hard.  We had the wind now so we would be able to look a little bit longer ourselves, but with the 2 goal lead I really wanted the girls to concentrate on playing defense in the middle of the field and keeping MapleBrook in their end.

Besides a couple of nice dribbling runs from Mad Dog in the second half there really wasn't much going on for either side besides the ball being hit around in the middle of the field.  Right where we wanted it. 

The game ended 2-0 and we moved into first place in our group.

Team	Win	Loss	Tie	Points	GF	GA	Place
BTE	1	0	1	4	2	0	1
MPB	1	1	0	3	1	2	2
PSA	0	0	2	2	1	1	3
BHK	0	1	1	1	1	2	4

In the other groups our U13's look set to advance and play the Wings in the other semi final.  Group A is still up for grabs but Tonka has the inside position on Woodbury with Burnsville having a slight chance to advance.

MVP's:
LK for playing so hard while battling a stomach virus all game
Mad Dog for her dribbling in the second half
Jordy for her hard work in the midfield and two goals