Saturday, 31 July 2010

Warm Ups - Goalkeeper

If you are fortunate enough to have time to dedicate to your goalkeeper it will provide a fantastic opportunity to both your goalkeeper and your overall team. The position of goalkeeper in the team is sometimes forced upon a player as no one else wants to play there or you have a player with a noticeable skill, either way a bit of specific goalkeeper training every couple of weeks at the most will bring on the skills very quickly.


I have been working with my under 9s looking to distribute the ball out to the defenders, rather than kicking the ball every time. This has definitely helped improve the teams dynamics and also adds a bit of doubt to the opposition whether they should push forward and mark up or get in position for the big kick.

This warm up session gets the goalkeeper moving around their area and improves vision and distribution.

The aim is to make a save from the coach either stopping on initial shot or winning the split ball, the goalkeeper then jumps up and distributes the ball looking to knock over a target. The targets will be specifically placed to represent were your defenders and centre midfield players will be placed. Keeps the repetition going for a few rounds. If the keeper is struggling make the target a grid, which the ball has to pass through or if it is too easy move the targets further away.


For clearer picture, please click on image

For clearer picture, please click on image

For clearer picture, please click on image

For clearer picture, please click on image

For clearer picture, please click on image

For clearer picture, please click on image

For clearer picture, please click on image

If your looking for specific sessions and would like me to provide relevant plans, please let me know and I will see what I can do

Tuesday, 27 July 2010

Creating Space

How many times do you watch your team train like pros and when it comes to a match, they just follow the ball, it’s something that I had with my team and took a while for the team to remember positions but more importantly create space.

There are plenty of sessions available to achieve this subject and when working with a team it is important to use different sessions to keep enthusiasm and interest high. I will be updating my blog with other related sessions in the near future.

Warm Up

Create an area 30yd by 20yd, splitting the area into 3 10yd by 20yd areas (plan below)

The aim of this session is simple, get the ball from one area to the other area by avoiding the middle area. Sounds simple but normally this sessions doesn’t click straight away, please do stick with it. If needed, break the session down to pass by pass until it clicks, once it does click you can start counting the successful passes.

This session can be split into two groups with more coaches and have 2 players in the two wider groups and 1 in the middle. If the session is too easy for the players, move the cones in a couple of yds and if to hard move out a couple of yds

Please click on picture to see in clear

Please click on picture to see in clear

Please click on picture to see in clear

Please click on picture to see in clear

Skill

This session is fantastic way to get the players thinking differently and expanding their game.

Use Mini Soccer dimensions for your pitch and use 3 goals on each side of the pitch,

The aim of the game is to get your players to score in any of the 3 goals there attacking and defend any of the 3 goals there defending, The skills you will want to see the players using include:- Head up, vision, communication, creating space, shooting, defending, passing, receiving. The main skill you need to focus on is creating space and make notes about other areas if training issues arise. If you coach too many things in one session you will never maximise the objective of the session in the time you have with the players.

If you notice your players grouping in one area of the pitch ask everyone to spread out or ask one player to stand of the other side and get the pass across to him, this will lead to a goal and normally lead to a more open session after.

I have attached a few screenshots of the session for you to imagine the layout


Please click on picture to see in clear

Please click on picture to see in clear

Please click on picture to see in clear

Please click on picture to see in clear
Match

Adopt the normal pitch layout

Ask the players to use what they have learnt from the warm up and skill element of the session and you can see who has and hasn’t picked up the skills

I have had a fantastic response from my team since I tried this session

Sunday, 25 July 2010

Passing and Receiving the ball

Whilst this subject to adults is very basic, and somewhat boring to under 9s it has to be a core part to any season. At grassroots level over the past 3 years the amount of mistakes that arise that comes from passing and receiving the ball is amazing. This is mainly down to very basic mistakes, body not behind the ball, too much power, not enough power, positioning on the field.

To make these sessions work over and over again the session has to be fresh and fun otherwise the kids will find the session very easy and become bored and mess around which isn’t what the parents want to see or you as a coach. I aim to provide you with several session plans for passing and receiving the ball which can be used at any mini soccer age groups of any ability. I will provide adjustments that can be used whether the session is too easy or too hard.

Warm Ups

• 20 x 20 yds

• Ideally 10 players

Get the team into pairs and with a ball per pair have them using the full square passing the ball between themselves making sure they don’t lose possession.

Place 5 goals using 2 cones (1 per pairing) about 1 ft apart and now get the team to make passes through each grid, this will get the kids making sure the path is clear to make the pass. And should control the speed of the pass and improve the receiving the ball as the body should automatically be behind the ball

Remove 2 goals (only 1 if the team are struggling), have the team carry on with what they were doing. By removing the two goals, this will encourage the players to lift the head and look for other players within the square whilst still trying to make the pass.

Add another goal back in to play (4 goals all together) turn two of the players into defenders and start again. This will then put the players under pressure. You can focus the defenders on particular pairs if they are comfortable and watch how they cope, they should use the same skills as previously mentioned but you should see an increase in communication.


Please click on picture to see clearer view

Overall this session should take 10 – 15 minutes

Skills used

• Passing
• Receiving
• Head up
• Communication
• Positioning
• Running with the ball
• Defending

Skill

After the warm up it is vital to make it more competitive to allow you, as the coach, to see if the players have picked the aim of the warm up.

A great game I use and can be used for many other session is a small pitch, 30yds x 10yds with two goals at each end. The team is split into 2, with one team in one corner and the other team in the opposite corner. The aim of the game is to run to the other end around the corner flag and attack the ball in the middle. The way that this works is by you issuing numbers 1 to 5 for each player. You need to shout 2 numbers per go, they will then both run around the corner flag at the other end and back into the middle, the ball will be in the middle and they need to score into their goal by using the skills learnt above. You can start off with no restrictions and watch them go, if you notice they are shooting straightaway you can add to passes before shooting which slows down the game but makes them think more. Initially it takes a while for them to get used to the concept at 2v2 but with communication and positioning it becomes easier.

Advancements

• 2v2

o Two passes minimum before shooting

• 3v3

o Three passes minimum before shooting

o Four passes minimum before shooting

• 5v5

o Pass to everyone in team before shooting



Please click on picture to see clearer view
Match

Normal match conditions but only coach passing and receiving the ball. If you start to coach other elements of the game you won’t develop the full skills for the session. If you find that the players aren’t passing and excellent way of improving this is to add channels down both side of the pitch, make 1 player from each team a winger who can’t be tackled and then each team has to pass into the channel when they receive the ball, the winger can then get into position and cross into the box, once the defending team win the ball this then switches and they need to get the ball into the channel before attacking.

Please click on picture to see clearer view

Comments gratefully appreciated

Thursday, 22 July 2010

Introduction

Across the UK there are 7 million players playing in 125,000 teams across 1,700 leagues and there are 400,000 volunteers who dedicate hours a week to the national game.

I want to create this blog for other coaches like myself to share tips, advice and best practice to help grow the grassroots game.

Over the coming weeks and months I will upload my blog with opinions, successes and sessions plans.

I hope this site helps others.

Dave