Rain Rain Go Away . . . Futsol Training

I. Synchronized Ball Dancing

Set Up

• 1 Ball per player, each player working with a partner

Procedure

• The partners are given a series of ball moves to work on together, attempting to execute the moves in as synchronized a fashion as possible

Make It Competitive

• Have the partners create their own sequence, have them work on it for a few minutes, then bring the team in to watch each pair work and rank them.  The ranking system was 
  • Thumbs Down - They were not together at all and lacked speed
  • So So sign with the hands - They were together part of the time, but lacked speed
  • Thumbs Up - They were together and had decent speed
  • Super Loud Cheering - They were together, had speed, degree of difficulty was high
• After everyone has performed send them back to their groups and have them practice their routines again and let the groups make any adjustments, that they see fit, in order to improve their rating when they perform again.

Comments

Every time I contemplate running this activity I think to myself "This is silly and they will never get into this."  But every time I do it, this activity continually amazes me with players who have a competitive fire.  The pairs work really hard and, without realizing it, they get tons of touches on the ball.  

We spent 20 minutes on this activity and the girls were asking to keep doing it until their groups could get the Super Loud Cheering rating.  The groups who received the SLC rating wanted to expand into groups of 4.  We will have to bring this activity out in warm ups at the tournament this weekend.

II. Figure 8 Open Up Relay

Set Up

• 3 teams of 3 players
• Space is 30 yards long 
• 2 cones in the middle that are 10 yards apart for the central player to check around
• 2 cones on each outside that are set up 10 yards apart

Procedure

• The outside player with the ball starts out doing a Figure 8 around her cones
• As she is doing that, the central person checks around the far cone from the player with the ball and receives the pass, turns and plays the far player

• When the far player receives the ball she sprints up towards the top cone, circles around it and continues to make a Figure 8 around the bottom cone
• As the outside player is completing the Figure 8, the central player checks around the far cone
• When the Figure 8 is complete the ball is played into the central person who opens up and plays the ball to the other side

Make It Competitive

• See who is the first group to switch the field 8 times

III. 2v2 With Outside Players - Switch The Field

Set Up

• 4 teams of two players each 
• 2 teams are on the end line of each side and act as neutral targets
• 2 teams are in the middle 

Procedure

• The ball is played into one of the teams (in this picture the blue team) and the blue team attempts to switch the ball to the green targets on the far side of the field to score a point
• If the blue player is unable to turn, she can play the ball to her partner, or she can play it back to one of the yellow targets
• If the defending team (red) wins the ball, they must get the ball to an outside target and then they are on offense
• Targets must play the ball within 2 seconds of receiving it 
• Targets are allowed to play the ball to their partner target or they can switch the ball to the far targets if no one is open

Make It Competitive

• Play for 2 minutes or the first team to three points wins

Key Points

• The central players need to check sharp and at an angle that will allow them to switch the field.  Do not receive the ball facing the person who passed the ball to you.   The key that I tell the girls is to face the center of the field or the side line.
• The attacking central players want to position themselves where the defending players cannot see both the ball and the attacker.  Make the defenders choose whether they are looking at the ball or the player.
• Outside players need to know before they get the ball what they are going to do in order to play quickly.  If the outside players took too long on the ball or turned the ball over I had them do 1 up down before they could get the ball again.  The idea was to get the outside players to understand that they are under no pressure so they should not turn the ball over. 

IV. Futsol Scrimmage

Players missing: Squirrel, Emma G, Adrienne, Emily, Josie