Training - Thursday, Sept 13
Tuesday, September 18, 2007 at 01:35PM Today I wanted to give the girls some ideas on finishing breakaways. By breakaways, I'm talking about 1v1s against opposing GKs. If you look at my U13G Season Review - By the Numbers post in the 93/94G Journal, you won't see a ton of goals scored off breakaways. Though they happen, they are not as prevalent at the top levels of the older age groups as the overall athleticism of opponents hinders numerous 1v1 chances at goal from balls over the top or by slotted through passes.
You might then be thinking, why then work on breakaways at this age group? Is this really long term development? Seems like you're just coaching to win games now, not working on technical aspects needed down the road.
First off, you bet I'm coaching to win games. I don't coach to lose, now nor down the road. To me, breakaways is more than a long ball over the top of the defenders, chased down by a speedy forward. It's more about technique and composure under pressure, having the skill to run and speed with the ball under pressure from recovering defenders, and have the control, confidence, and composure needed to calmly pass the ball by the GK.
Though my U13s last year didn't score a vast number of goals from what people typically think of as a breakaway, many, many goals came from 1v1 situations aginst opposing GKs (from short passes in the box, from crosses that fell to girl's feet, balls popping out of mad scrambles in the box to one of my player's feet, etc. In all these situations, many of the coaching points discussed in this particular training session are valuable tools and resources when trying to find the back of the net.
Speed Dribble to Controlled Dribble
Passing on the Run
Catch 'Em!
We are a very fast team, at least based on the teams that I've seen at this age group already. At this point we are also fairly direct, as most U11 teams are. The combination of the two factors translates into more than our share of 1v1 breakaways for us, so its important to me that we address finesse finishing often.
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