The team didn’t really play well during the first half. I talked to them about what I saw during the first have and we discussed how we could do better in the second half. Fortunately, the coach of the team was able to get to the game by halftime. They looked like a different team once he arrived. Having the coach they know and trust can make a big difference in a team.

One of my teams had two games over the weekend and another team had just one. My youngest team didn’t play because the other team requested a reschedule. So I only had three games of my own all weekend. Considering I was coaching eight to 10 games every weekend during Futsal season this was a nice change of pace.

We’re finishing up the last few weeks of the D License Course. It’s taken a lot more time than I thought it would going into it. Preparing for Zoom meetings and giving feedback on assignments has taken up just about all of my spare time. I’ve enjoyed the experience but I’m not sure I’m going to do it again for a while.

We’re already starting to plan for the summer tryouts. We have some information on what they will look like but not everything yet. I’ll share more about that as plans become finalized.

Today’s question comes from Dan. His question is about training ‘Skills’.

Dan says,

“Most of the girls on my teams have the technique down with most of the skills we’ve focused on.  We’re just not seeing them used in games as often as we’d like.  I just don’t think they’re seeing/understanding the right situation to utilize the different skills.  I’ve tried to ask questions to guide them to understanding the right situation for each skill.  I’ve demonstrated in slow motion the situation with my asst coaches to use each skill.  We have played a lot of 1v1 and used the opposing lines drill you’ve described to work on scissors, step overs and Mathews.  A few are getting it, but I haven’t seen the progress I’m looking for just yet.  Do you have any suggestions that could help them to better understand and execute skills/fakes in the right situations?”

Thanks for your question Dan!

The transition from technique to skill is what you’re describing. With my teams we work on the moves and play 1v1 games and everything else you describe. I encourage the girls to make their own decisions in games. They can find a pass or use a move. Over time they’re starting to learn when and where each move works best for them. It’s a slow process but I think it’s best for their long term development.

There’s another school of thought that if you ask a player to use a move every time they get the ball they will gain the confidence to try them and eventually learn when and where to apply them. This takes a lot of patience as the kids learn to use moves in game situations.

I’ve seen both of these methods work successfully. It’s down to what you think is going to be most beneficial for the players in the long term.

In this Episode

As we start the season there are so many things that I need to cover with my teams. We only train together twice per week so deciding which topics to cover during the first week is important. It can be the difference between getting off to a good start or coming out of the gate slow.

Today I’ll share the training sessions that I set up for my teams during out first week of outdoor training this spring.

Future Episodes

I’m interviewing my daughter, Alex, for next weeks show. We’ve received some great questions and I’m looking forward to sitting down with her and going through them.

You still have some time to submit a question for us to discuss. I’ve created a Google Form that you can complete ask a question. Go to www.coachingsoccerweekly.com/go/alex. These are questions that can be directed at me or my daughter to be answered as we discuss how dads and daughters (or parents and children in general) can navigate the potentially difficult relationship of coach and player. They can be about anything surrounding this relationship.

At this point in the season my players have hit their stride with Futsal; they all understand what we’re trying to do and are working their hardest make it happen on the field. This is the time where I start changing things up a bit to challenge them in a different way. We change back and forth between a box and diamond formation so that they can learn how to play both. I’ve given them some different options on corner kicks. I also give them control of the subbing. They know that we sub every three minutes so they’re responsible for watching the clock and subbing at the right time. Just another way to make the responsible for their own development to some degree.

This weekend was supposed to be US Youth Futsal Regionals. They’ve been pushed back to Presidents Day weekend in February. That’s when the Nationals usually take place. The Nationals will now be held in July. Just another casualty of the Covid crisis.

That all means no games for me this weekend. I have two interactions that I’m leading for the Blended D License Course that I’m an instructor on. One is the module on Formations Part 1 (which I’ll talk more about next week). The other is 4v4 Coaching Games and Stages of Development. This weekend I’ll be putting together those plans.

Being a first-time instructor of this course has been awesome. I’m learning so much from the experienced instructors and helping the next generation of coaches get started is very rewarding.

I had the chance to be part of a group of instructors that review a new community outreach program from US Soccer. It’s aimed at educating players, coaches, parents and soccer enthusiasts about the issues facing our youth and how soccer help to address some of them. It’s a free opportunity to learn the basics of the Play Practice Play methodology and the rationale behind it. Everyone who attends also receives a voucher for a free online Grassroots course. The program is in it’s final setup phase now so I can’t share much more about it but I think it’s a great opportunity to reach a lot of people and make a huge impact on player development across the nation.

This week’s question comes from Griffin. He’s asking about using Play-Practice-Play with older more advanced players.

Griffin says,

“Quick question that I’ve been thinking about for a while. I am a USSF D licensed coach and a strong proponent of the Play-Practice-Play method of training. In my experience, its greatest efficacy comes at the more formative ages (u9 – u14ish). I have used it with older players to fine effect, but I was curious to get your opinion on if PPP should be the primary session design for more advanced players, or if a more tailored methodology is more suitable.”

Thanks for your question Griffin!

There are so many different practice methodologies and I don’t think one is ‘best’ for any age. They’re all tools and using the right one for the job is the most important consideration when structuring a training session.

I like to mix it up even with my younger teams to keep the training environment fresh and interesting for the player or to train a particular technique or tactic. I do the same thing with older players.

Even when I’m not using a strict Play-Practice-Play methodology I still use elements of it. For example: I try to keep all my activities as game-like as possible. The closer we can get to creating game-like environments, the smoother our transfer of training will be from practice to games.

Don’t get caught up in thinking that it’s all or nothing. Pick the right tool for the right training session and then reflect on how effective it was for your players.

In this Episode

The training session that I’ll share today is one that I did with three of my teams last week. It’s one of those sessions that flowed really well and the players obviously enjoyed it. At the end of the session I could see a noticeable difference in the way they were playing and examples of what we had worked on happened throughout the 2^nd Play Phase.

Future Episodes

The formation you choose for your team not only structures the way that your team plays on the weekend but it impacts the long term development of your players. When you think about it like that, the formation that you choose is one of the most important decisions you make as a coach. Next week I’ll discuss the factors to consider and how those choices effect your players.

I had two teams in a tournament over the weekend. Both teams are playing 11 v 11 so I didn’t have any small-sided games over the weekend.

My 2005 group when 4-0 winning their games 1-0, 1-0, 1-0 and 1-0. They scored late in every game so we were always looking to adjustments that could help the team find that winning goal. I was impressed with the way the players stayed calm and eventually found a way to make it happen.

The 2009’s played up in the 2008 division. They ended up going 0-1-2 on the weekend. They’re still adjusting to the space they have on a full sized field. We often look like we’re playing 9 v 9 on an 11 v 11 sized field. Our best spacing is on goal kicks because that’s a situation where everyone knows their role. We spent a lot of time working on that during the beginning of the season. When we win the ball in open play we are having a tough time spreading out to create space. We’re working on that this week. If what we do works well I may share it next week.

This week’s question comes from Mike. He’s asking about how to deal with a situation where the referee is not dealing with fouls and players are getting injured.

Mike says,

“My team has played against a few teams that are overly aggressive, in my opinion. One the opposing coaches was getting on her players “you aren’t being physical enough.” To boot, the referee seem to be here to start and stop the game only.

I’ve never been a coach to get on the referees.  In my experience in other sports (specifically basketball) the more coaches complain, the worse the referees get.

When is it appropriate to call out the referee?  At half would be appropriate, but I lost both players in the first half.

Have you ever called out the other coach?

Any tips on how to instruct my players to combat aggressive players/play?

Bottomline, I want to protect my players and any guidance would be appreciated.”

Thanks for your question Mike!

In those situations I work to protect my players in two ways: I let my girls know that they need to play ‘tough but fair’ to protect themselves and be ready to move the ball quickly but I let the referee know that I’m not happy with the overly aggressive play and that I’m not going to be quiet about it.

This is a very different situation from one where coaches ‘work’ the referee to get calls in their favor. I’m working the referee to make sure that calls are made to keep the game safe. The safety of my players is more important to me than anything else and I’m going to do whatever I need to do to ensure that.

I have looked down the line at the other coach after a bad foul (or series of them) to see how they react. That’s usually the extent that I engage with the other coach.

In this Episode

The training session that I’m sharing this week is related to last week’s session on creating team awareness. It will train players to find and create 2 v 1 situations.

Future Episodes

I’m not sure what the topic will be for next week. Let me know if there’s something you’d be interesting in hearing about. It could be to expand one something I’ve covered in the past or something new that I haven’t addressed.

I’m really enjoying the chance to work with the players on the field again. Three of the team train twice a week. One team, the U16’s, trains three times a week. I decided to do one session on attacking and one on defending this week as we get ready for some preseason games. These sessions built on what we had already done in the month of summer practices.

I also do some physical training with the U16’s that I don’t do with the younger team. The description of the specific activities is in the recording of the episode so I won’t repeat it here.

My two younger teams are playing in a ‘Friendly’ event this weekend where they’ll each play three games. Both teams are playing 9 v 9 pretty much for the first time so this will be a good learning experience for them. For me, it’ll be a chance to see if the players understand what we’ve done so far and areas that we’ll need to continue to build on in the early part of the season.

Next weekend the older two teams play in an 11 v 11 tournament. This will be the first time that my 2009 team has played 11 v 11 so that will be interesting to see. I expect it to take some time for them to adjust but I could be wrong.

Today’s questions comes from on our Patreon Members, Steve. His question is about training teams to defend free kicks and corners.

Steve says,

“I was wondering if you have ever talked about set pieces and restarts. As great as dynamic sessions are for development, I feel we can be at a disadvantage against other teams that might be “drilling” their kids on set pieces. For example, our “let them figure it out approach” has us creative and generally effective when taking corner kicks, but not that strong when defending them. Are there games or activities that you can recommend that keep it “fun” but disciplined now that our boys are getting older?”

 Thanks for your question Steve!

There’s a game that I stole from Jon Walker, the Women’s Coach at Nebraska, that works on all type of restarts. Two equal teams play on a field appropriate to the number of players available (full sided if you can). Each team takes five throw-ins, five free kicks and five corner kicks.

You begin play with the restart but continue playing until the ball goes out of bounds before starting again with the appropriate restart. One team does all of their restarts and then the other team tries to score an equal number of goals/points.

As a coach you can choose to coach the attackers, defenders or just let them get on with it. You can give the teams points for shots on goal, double points if the defending team is able to regain possession and score or any other scoring system you like. The kids love it and it really focuses them on the restart situations.

I hadn’t thought about this game in a while so I appreciate your question. I know what I’m going to work into my training sessions for next week!

In this Episode

Counter attacking has become a very popular tactic for teams at the highest level. Today I’ll share a Facebook live discussion lead by WORLD CLASS COACHING President Mike Saif on the Pros and Cons of Counter Attacking Tactics.

Future Episodes

Next week I’m going to share an interview that I recorded a couple of months ago. My guest shares her thoughts on how we can better develop confident female players.

That means that I didn’t get to share my thoughts on the US Youth Futsal Youth National Finals that I had two teams in. You can listen to the episode to hear what I had to say about that.

The weather continues to be THE story in our area. We were supposed to play an outdoor tournament last weekend but there was still snow and ice on the fields. This week was to be the start of the league season but that’s been canceled because of the cold.

It has to get warmer sometime but with snow in the forecast for this weekend there’s no telling when that will happen.

Today’s question comes from Ryan. He’s asking about creating a practice plan.

Ryan says,

“ I currently struggle with practice planning, in that I am an activity “collector” as you say and have a bible of activities that is huge and I generally never get to.

I always plan out practices prior, but I generally don’t have a specific cycle or collection of practices that build together over the course of several weeks.

As a team we focus on ball skills and possession, and generally start with ball warmups/foot skills and move to small sided games (variations) that encourage possession and off the ball movement ending with full scrimmage.

Our team has really responded and we generally out possess and out pass all our opponents, but lack a bit of directness and finishing.

I feel from a developmental perspective we are doing the right thing and building technical players with a possession game, however I also take from your podcasts that I should have a more organized micro-cycle or partnered session plan long term.

Do you have examples of what a micro cycle might look like that still values possession but also helps to push a level of directness and effectiveness in the final third?

My biggest struggle is finding the time to put together lesson plans from scratch, and my joy comes from executing on the field with a set plan I can follow where I can focus on coaching in the moment and not “what comes next”.

Thanks for the question Ryan!

I get this question quite a bit. I don’t have anything specific that I can share because my club asks me to keep those kinds of documents private.

My suggestion is for you to think about what you want to accomplish (ball skills, possession, finishing) and then put the those into a month long plan.

Presuming that you train twice a week I would suggest doing ball skills at the beginning of every session. During the first practice of the week focus on possession from the back and through the midfield and use the second practice to focus on finishing in the final third.

Take a certain activity for each of these topics and work on it over a two to three week period. Start with the basics and add more complexity as the players improve. Then change the activity to a more challenging one and progress it for three weeks.

It doesn’t take a lot of time to put a plan like this together. You know where your team is starting and where you want them to go. Take the activities that work well for you and plan out a progression from one week to the next. If you’re able to pick out the right moments to coach during these sessions you’ll be amazed at the improvement that you see.

In this Episode

This is the third of the three part series on coaching teams in Zone 1 – U8 through U12. If you haven’t listened to the first two episodes I’d encourage you to go back and listen because what I’ll talk about today builds on those concepts

This week I’ll look at the final phase of Zone 1.

Next Episode

I don’t have a certain topic picked out for next week. At this rate it may be “How to prepare for a season without actually practicing”.

Looking through my session plans I realized that I haven’t done a shooting session in a while. Striking a Futsal ball is very unforgiving. If your technique is flawed in any way it’s hard to generate any power. I decided this week was a good time to do a session that revolved around ball striking.

Today’s question comes from Kieran. His question is about training players to transition.

Kieran says, “I coach a couple of soccer and futsal teams in New Zealand. The team I’m most excited about though is a team I have of U13 Girls. In an effort to bring more girls into the sport we prepared took a team to a major national futsal tournament. Out of a team of 9 I have 2 that have played every kind of “foot ball” before, 1 of whom is very good. The other 7 are brand new to the sport.
They all had a great time, winning a game, narrowly loosing a couple of very exciting games and even managing a draw against one of the top teams. They’re now hooked and excited for the futsal season that starts in a week.
We have trouble with individual ball skills but that will come in time. My biggest issue is getting the girls to switch on to the concept of transitions, both defensive and attacking. The bigger concern being defensive. When we loose possession we often have 3 players up the court watching the ball head the other way. I think this might be because most of them have netball backgrounds. They can press and mark fairly well but are very use to playing in set positions.
I’d love to hear some thoughts on how to improve on transition play for U13 girls completely new to the sport.”

Thanks for the question Kieran!

The best way to train your players to transition is to include a transitional element in every activity that you do. As an example, if you’re playing 2 v 1 to goal then make sure that if the defender wins the ball they have a goal they can score into or a line that they can dribble across to score a goal.

You can even include transition into a shooting activity. Look at the podcast episode on Creative Goalscoring. Those activities include a transition to defense.

The other very effective tool is to use a rule in your small-sided games and scrimmages that encourages transition. My favorite is that if a team loses the ball they have to get all of their players back into the defending half (or third) of the field before the other team scores. If they don’t make it back then the goal counts double.

You can also give them a time limit to get back. You could say that all defending players have five second to get back or the attacking team gets a point.

In This Episode

This week’s training sessions were focus on ball striking and finishing since this is such a challenging futsal skill and we haven’t specifically worked on the technique in a while. The patterns I use are specifically chosen because of how they relate to Futsal but they could also be used in an outdoor training session because the combination play involved still applies.

Printable Show Notes

The show notes for each episode are accessed through the WCC Training Center.

They are FREE but you will need at least a Free Membership to the Training Center in order to view and print them. They’ll be available there for eight weeks before they’re placed in our archive which can be accessed at any time by Elite Members.

Click on the image of the notes and if you’re already logged in to the Training Center you’ll be taken to the Podcast page. If you’re not logged in your be taken to a login page where you’ll also be able to login or register if you are not already a Member.

Thank You!

I received some great feedback and questions by email this week. I really appreciate everyone who takes the time to reach out with a suggestion or a question. The suggestions help me to improve the show and the questions allow me to share things that have worked well for me in the past. Many of which I borrowed from other coaches so it’s a chance for me to pay it forward.

Future Episodes

I’m going to be taking the next two weeks off from the podcast as a break for the Christmas and New Years holidays. I’ll be back in 2019 with more training sessions, interviews and commentary on youth soccer coaching.

In the beginning I let them play and watched to see if they would pick it up. When they didn’t I started to encourage them to ‘Go For It’ and ‘Play Quicker’. We talked about the issue at halftime and we picked it up a bit but we were never firing on all cylinders.  We ended up winning the game 2-1 but could have easily given up a goal or two due to sloppy, unfocused play.

Our second game was played in cold and raining conditions. I’m talking COLD. It was about 45 degrees (F) and raining. I was miserable and I was wearing waterproof clothes!

Before the game I told the girls that they could play however they wanted in this game; the goalie could punt the ball, they could take goal kicks long, they could play long balls into the other team’s half and then play soccer there….whatever they wanted. I said, “The handcuffs are off, just go play, do your best and enjoy it as much as you can.”

There was a bit of ‘kickball’ in the game but most of the time they were looking to connect even if they were playing longer balls than we normally would. They were also really creative in and around the other team’s box. We ended up winning 3-1 and scored a couple of very nice goals.

Today’s question comes from Cesar. His question is about the difference between coaching boys and girls.

Cesar says, “My name is Cesar and I am a soccer coach for a girls 2006 team this year. I’ve coached for about 7 years now. Last year I had the opportunity to coach a 2006 boys club team, that was my first experience as a high competition coach and it was a great experience. Prior to that I have been coaching in recreation league around my area. This year I had the the great opportunity to coach girls. My question is, is coaching boys different than coaching girls?

I have been part of many teams but the majority have been just boys and this year I’ve giving myself the chance to coach all girls. I have found that coaching girls has been easier for me.

I’ve heard a saying from a great baseball coach not long ago. He said, “Girls need to feel great to play good and boys need to play great to feel good”.

I want to know your opinion in this topic. I found that theory to work for me when coaching. There are many sides to coaching but I found this theory interesting.

Thanks for the question Cesar!

I definitely think that there’s a difference. I also agree that coaching a good group of girls is easier than coaching a good group of boys. That’s not just my opinion but I’ve spoken with many coaches who feel the same way.

The quote I like about coaching boys and girls is from Anson Dorrance. He says, “You drive men and you lead women.” If you try to drive women you lose them because they don’t think you care about them.

I’m only coaching girls teams this year after coaching both boys and girls teams during the same season for many years. I’m enjoying it and the girls are developing from one week to the next. It sounds like your team is also doing well.

In This Episode

This is the second of three episodes focused on the 5 v 2 to Score game that I discussed last week. This is a game focused on decision making. I introduced it to the players last week but I didn’t feel like they completely grasped the concepts so I’ll let you know how it went this week along with the things that I changed and how they effected the session.

Future Episodes

Next week I’ll finish up the three part MicroCycle on 5 v 2 to score. I’ll describe how I’ll change the session to challenge the players and see how they adapt.

During these games I was thinking about the way I change the positions that players are in during games. The way I used to do it was to have everyone play the same position for the first four games of league play and then rotate the attackers and defenders. This was far to long between changes for a kid that really didn’t want to play where I had him/her. In recent years I’ve rotated players much more frequently.

Earlier this year I was changing the position of the players at halftime. This was partially because I wasn’t quite sure how all of the pieces fit together since three out of my four teams are new ones for me this fall. Doing it this way ate up a far bit of the halftime interval leaving less time to talk to the players about their performance.

Now I’ve started to rotate the players through the various positions game-by-game. I want the players to experience different positions but I think giving them an entire game in one spot will help them begin to understand each role a little more deeply.

Today’s question comes from Chris. He’s having a problem with his team’s performance in the second half.

Chris says, “ I’m having an issue with my u13 boys team. So far we’ve played in one tournament, and have played 3 league games this season. In every single game we’ve played, we have a big drop off in the second half. Our past two league games have been 1-1 and 1-0 at HT, and we’ve given up a total of 7 goals and scored 2 in the second half of those two games.

I am a very new coach, but I believe the problem may be a combination of two issues. Fitness may be at the root of it, but there is most definitely and attitude problem within the team. We react poorly when we give up a goal, and usually another one isn’t too far off because of it.

After reading this back, I’m not too sure I know what I’m asking you. I’m an assistant coach on this team, and I’m really struggling and frustrated, myself, that I don’t have an answer for the issues, and I feel as if I’m letting the boys down. Of course I keep that frustration to myself and I react as positively as possible around the team.

I apologize for the long email. I know it’s impossible for you to diagnose this situation, but I guess what I can ask you is, have you ever been in a situation where you’ve had some issues you’ve struggled to correct?”

Thanks for the question Chris!

I’ve had that issue in the past and it’s usually come down to one key issue that we needed to solve in order take care of the other little things.

You’re very early into your season from the sound of it so fitness maybe that issue. If you’re U13 then this may be the first time they’ve played 11v11. A whole new level of fitness is required to manage the added space.
Make sure that you’re incorporating fitness into your small-sided games and technical activities. Make areas bigger and distances between cones farther to require more running while also achieving other technical and tactical objectives.

The attitude issue you describe is a tough one to overcome. My suggestion for that one would be to play a, “Goal Up / Goal Down” small-sided game. Play a five minute game where one team is a goal up and the other is a goal down. Focus on the team that’s a goal down and work with them on strategies that they can use to get a goal back. Practicing this positive attitude in a no risk environment like practice may help them deal with those situations better in games.

In This Episode

My oldest team, U17 girls, was having trouble converting possession into quality goal scoring chances. We were doing well defensively and possessing the ball through midfield but we ran out of ideas in the final third of the field.

The training session I’ll describe today has helped to give the players some ideas that have begun to transfer over to game situations.

Here’s the video on the hourglass passing pattern that I described.

Hopefully you were able to follow my description of the pattern play activity but if not, here’s an animated drill video that should clear up any questions you have.

Future Episodes

I have a number of topics and interviews lined up for the coming weeks thanks to helpful suggestions from listeners. Let me know if there’s a topic that you’d like me to discuss on a future episode.

The recreational league games started last week as well so with that, the amount of time and energy I have to devote to that area of my job will become less and less just as my coaching and Age Group Director responsibilities increase.

It’s been a lot of work to get the fall season up and running but seeing the players in our in-house league, some as young as four, get their first taste of soccer in a safe and fun environment gives me a great deal of satisfaction.

Today’s question comes from Greg. He’s asking about set pieces.

Greg  says, “I’ve read that 43% of the goals scored in the World Cup were from set pieces. How much time do you spend with your teams going over set pieces (offensively and defensively)? To me it seems like the only thing you can partially control in the game.”

Thanks for the question Greg!

This question got me thinking about what my teams do on all of our restarts so I’m going to do a whole episode on that topic for next week.

To answer the question, “Not a lot.”

There are so many technical and tactical components of the game to work on that I feel that spending any time actually focusing on free kick or corner kick routines is a waste of time for most youth teams.

Now, if you’re coaching a U14 team that is highly competitive and accomplished and training three or four times a week then you could afford to spend a session or two on set pieces. But even then I would focus more on the broad concepts involved in being effective in attacking and defending situations rather than choreographing intricate set plays.

I know there are other coaches that feel differently about this subject and you can tell that their teams have rehearsed these situations but it’s about economy of training for me. I can get more bang for my buck out of technical or small-sided game work at the youth level. I’ll leave the rest for the coaches they have later on.

In This Episode

As I said, we’ve been training for a few weeks but from the emails and comments I’ve received many teams don’t start until early September. So today I’m going to go back to some of my first training sessions of the year and discuss the importance of training individual and team possession.

Many of the activities I describe in this episode can be found on our YouTube Channel as Animated Drills. I would suggest checking the channel out if you haven’t already because there’s a lot of very useful information there.

Future Episodes

Next week I’ll go over what my teams do for every restart of the game from kickoff to free kicks, goal kicks, corner kick and even throw ins. Hopefully it will give you some ideas of how you can approach these situations with your own teams.

With all of that taken care of now I’m confident that I’ll be able to get a new episode out to you each week from here on out.

Thanks for your understanding and sticking with the show as I get through the busiest time of year.

This week’s question comes from Frank. He’s asking about defending at corner kicks.

Frank says, “I am a girls varsity high school coach. I am planning for our upcoming Fall season and am reworking our set piece attacking and defending principles.

I noticed throughout much of the World Cup that most teams were not having players on the posts while defending corners. Is it my imagination or is this a trend in professional soccer? What is your opinion on the value of players covering both posts? I would also appreciate any pointers to resources or advice as I work on my set piece plans.”

Thanks for your question Frank!

At the youth level, and at times at the highest level, corner kicks can be a great counter attacking situation. I leave two or three players forward on corners until the other team proves that they can attack us successfully from a corner. If we’re leaving players forward it means that we may only have one extra player in the box. I want that player to hunt the ball. That’s the reason that I don’t usually have my players covering the posts on corners.

If a team is very good from corners I may change this tactic and bring more players back. Then I’ll look to put a player on the far post first and then on the near post if we have a spare player.

In This Episode

Today I want to talk about the first games of the season with a team. I share my experiences from this season and some do’s and don’ts that I’ve learned over the years.

Please Help Spread the Word

I really appreciate the coaches that left reviews recently to try and get us over the 200 mark. We’re still short of that but just a few more people leave rankings or reviews this week we can get there and I’ll have that free eBook I promised. So if you haven’t left us a ranking or review on iTunes in the past, it would be a great time to take a minute and leave one now.

Future Episodes

I did a couple of sessions this week that focused on individual and team possession that I’ll share with you next week. I also have a couple of interviews that are on the back burner. Now that the things are getting into a bit of a rhythm I shouldn’t have to miss another week for some time to come.

At the same time as tryouts are occuring we’re also coming up on the deadline for the recreational soccer registration. That’s a new role for me on top of everything else. I now have a new appreciation for everything that goes into organizing and running a recreational program that I could only see from the inside.

This week’s question comes from Chris. He’s asking about how to make the transitional possession game I’ve described more directional.

Chris says,

“I’m currently working on possession and building from the back with my U13 Boys team, and I’ve been researching new ideas for various small-sided possession games. In the past, I’ve used variations of the game in which one team tries to possess the ball in their half of an area while the other team tries to win the ball back through a defender or two and play it back to their side. You’ve described your own variation with increasing pressure in episode #12, which I hadn’t come across, before, and really like. It was with that game in mind that I was trying to think of some ways to make it more directional. You may already have your own variations for that, but I’ll describe what I was considering, and I’d really appreciate your feedback.

The same setup with an appropriate sized area divided down the middle, but with the addition of a goal on each end. For this example, let’s say 6v6 (5v5+GKs), a Green team and an Orange team. At any point in this game, the team in possession in their own half may attack the other team’s goal. At the beginning, the game would play the same as what you’ve described in episode #12, with the Green team possessing the ball on their side and one Orange player coming over to try to win the ball and play it back to his side. Like your game, after a set amount of passes(3 in this example) the Orange team must send over another player. In this variation, there is a limit to how many Orange players will move to the Green side and pressure the ball. In this case I’m thinking 1 more than half of the players on a side, maybe more or less. So, no matter how many passes Green makes, no more than 3 from Orange can come over, leaving 2+GK in their half. Obviously, the longer Green possesses the ball in their half, the more the pressure builds. One important piece to this directional variation is that once a player from the Orange team crosses the line to pressure Green, that player may not cross back to their own half. So, as Green possesses the ball and draws pressure, they should be looking for opportunities to play forward and attack in a numbers up situation. A variation may be that Green does not have to wait until all 3 Orange players are in the Green half to attack. They can do so whenever they feel they have an opportunity to move forward and create a chance. A further variation is once Green does attack and the ball crosses the line into Orange’s half, one(or more) of the Orange players “stuck” in Green’s half may cross back over should Green connect a set number of passes in the Orange half. I thought it may be a good idea that instead of just one, all of the Orange players should be able to return to their side and defend after Green completes the set amount of passes in the Orange half, so as to increase the urgency for Green to try to quickly create a scoring opportunity. Of course, that can be just another variation.

One important aspect I haven’t found a solution for, though, is how Orange would gain possession once Green moves into the Orange half to attack. In the early game, just like in yours, if an Orange player wins the ball in the Green half, they just play it back to their own half and reset. I’ve considered a few things, but I’m not sure I like any of them. I’ve thought about a time limit once the ball crosses the line to the attacking half. I’ve considered anything that goes out of bounds goes to the Orange team, but I don’t want the players just stabbing at and knocking the ball out constantly. I think it may be too difficult for the orange team to regain possession naturally, being numbers down. Obviously, out of touch on the Green team, or the GK taking possession would make for a more natural transition, but I don’t think that I can depend on either of those.”

Thanks for the question Chris!

This is my favorite kind of question because it gets me thinking about how I can improve the activities that I use all the time with my teams.

Here’s my idea for how to have the defending team transition:

To solve the issue of what to do when the defending team regains possession I would suggest that you ask them to play the ball back to the goalkeeper, dribbling it out of bounds in a wide area or pass to a teammate who has moved out of bounds in a wide area. All of these would replicate the choices a defender makes when they win the ball.

In This Episode

My final training session of the year went very well and it connected many of the skills and concepts that we had been talking about all year. I wanted to talk about tryouts last week because it was so timely but I didn’t want to let too much time go by before sharing this rondo session with direction.

Printable Show Notes

The show notes for each episode are accessed through the WCC Training Center.

They are FREE but you will need at least a Free Membership to the Training Center in order to view and print them. They’ll be available there for eight weeks before they’re placed in our archive which can be accessed at any time by Elite Members.

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Please Help Spread the Word

I really appreciate everyone who subscribes to the podcast, has written a review on iTunes, sent me a question by email or posted our links on social media. If you enjoy this podcast would like to contribute to its continued growth; I’d ask you to do one or all of these things this week. You’d be helping me spread the word about the show.

Future Episodes

I’m planning an interview for next week’s show. If everything goes to plan I’ll be able to review a new soccer fitness app and interview the creator. If it doesn’t then I’ll have something else for you.

If you didn’t have a chance to listen to the show last week I’d suggest that you go back and listen if you can.

This week’s question is from Tony

Tony says:

“One aspect with my team I’ve been having trouble finding consistency is with the pregame warmup/drills. We have a set FIFA 11 warmup with dynamic stretching but I want to know your thoughts on effective drills to prepare the boys for the pace of the the game as well as to mentally engage them from the start. We’ve done rondos, offense v. defense, passing patterns, etc but i haven’t found something i consistently like.

Should there be consistency in the pregame warm up or should we switch it up each time to keep it interesting? How does the level of the potential game affect what drills/warm-ups to do?”

Here is my response to Tony’s question:

I like to use a pre-planned routine for at least part of our warm-up. That include a movement pattern that includes individual and small group technical work.

In the fall we used the Cogi Movement pattern shown in this YouTube video: https://youtu.be/1RpQSP6dd50 This got the players moving, working together as well as passing and dribbling. We could do this even in small spaces that were all that was available so it worked out very well.

Once we were able to get on the field we would play a 5 v 5 line game to create a game-like environment so we were ready right from the whistle.

I think having the start of the warm-up planned but then adapting the last 10 minutes or so to the game situation is the best way to go.

Every parent can’t always attend every game but with TeamSnap you can keep everyone updated on the game LIVE! When something happens in the game that you want to share you can update the TeamSnap app and everyone will receive a notification. With TeamSnap you can stay up-to-date on the game even if you can’t be there.

You can sign up for a demo and start your free 21-Day Trial today and find out why people rely on TeamSnap.

Whether you coach or manage a single team or organize a whole club, league TeamSnap makes organizing every aspect of active sports life easier.

You can sign up for a demo and start your free 21-Day Trial today and find out why people rely on TeamSnap by going to teamsnap.com/csw

All coaches want their team to play faster but it’s not enough to just tell them to play quicker, you have to put them in an environment that brings this out of them.

This week I look at how you can use circle drills to get your team dribbling, passing and combining quicker and in more creative ways.

We can all incorporate these qualities into our coaching and become much more effective and successful coaches.

This week’s question is from Dennis and concerns how his team defends. Dennis gave me some background about his U12 team and then asked:

“There is one huge aspect I am very uncertain of, and that is defense. We tend to use a man on man coverage, but continuously the kids don’t come back to help out or are marking them on the wrong side. They just seem to be relaxed in coverage and the urgency no matter what I do. I am just wondering if you can give me any advise as to. Should we switch to a zonal defence or if there is a way to create that importance. There doesn’t seem to be much info out there as to pros and cons of both styles of defence and how to properly carry them out.”

On the podcast I share my suggestions to Dennis about how he can develop a defensive attitude within his team. 

 TeamSnap is the sponsor of this week’s episode. One of my favorite hidden benefits of using TeamSnap is the ability you have to track every aspect of your team’s season in one place. You can look at the lists of locations your team has played, the opponents they competed against, the results from those game and even see the pictures that parents have uploaded from those events.

All of this can be really useful if you need any of this information to return to a field you haven’t been to in a while, contact a team to attend your tournament or set up a friendly or list your team’s record when applying to attend a tournament.

Whether you coach or manage a single team or organize a whole club, league TeamSnap makes organizing every aspect of active sports life easier.

You can start your free 21-Day Trial today without entering any credit card information by going to teamsnap.com/csw

This week I share a shooting training session that I decided to do after seeing my players struggle with their balance while shooting and passing in our games last weekend.

I’ve shared a couple of shooting sessions in the past. In episode 23 I discussed a progressive shooting session. Just about a year ago I released episode 43 Great Shooting Activities for the Winter Months.

This episode includes different activities that focus specifically on the importance of balance in the shooting action.

Check the show notes below for the complete diagrams and descriptions in this session.

Next Week

After last week’s episode on the qualities and habits of great coaches I was emailed buy a coach who just finished a Masters Degree in Sports Coaching and he had some interesting things to say about the Player / Coach relationship. We’ve set up a time to talk so hopefully I’ll have that discussion for you on next week’s podcast.

They’ve made great progress since the start of the season and some of them are incorporating great combination play along with excellent individual skills. It’s fun to see them pick up the concepts of the game that we’ve been working on so quickly and apply them in actual games.

This week’s question comes from Jeremy. He says:

“I’m trying to utilize the positional numbering system more. What I don’t understand, though, is how it accounts for all formations. It seems to be based on the 4-3-3”

Here’s the answer I sent him:

“The numbering system can be used for any formation with some adjustment. There are some standards that you can use to decide how to adjust them based on your formation.

The center backs are always 5 and 4 (left and right) but if you were playing three in the back you would call them 5, 6 and 4 because the #6 is considered the most defensive of the midfield three and plays the farthest back.

The number 3 and 2 are generally the farthest back on the outside.

The players farthest forward on the outside are your number 11 and 7. If you’re playing a 4-4-2 they would be outside mids rather than forwards. Number 10 and 9 would be the forwards with 6 and 8 playing in the middle.”

I talk about it in more detail on the show but that’s the basic idea of how the numbering system works.

 TeamSnap.com is again our sponsor of this week’s episode. Last week I talked about how I use TeamSnap keep track of who will and won’t be at a game or training session. This week I describe a new feature called, ‘Assignment’. You can use it to track who has turned in paperwork, who is responsible for pre game activities like putting up nets or lining the field. You can also use it to organize car pools or team parties.

Whether you coach or manage a single team or organize a whole club, league TeamSnap makes organizing every aspect of active sports life easier.

You can start your free 21-Day Trial today without entering any credit card information by going to teamsnap.com/csw

This week I layout how I plan my training for the indoor season. The concepts can be applied to the start of any season, indoor or outdoor.

With so much to cover before the start of games it’s important to give your players enough information to get started and then build from there throughout the rest of the season.

We’re all limited in the time we have with our teams. Hopefully this information will help you plan your upcoming season so that your players can hit the ground running.

In the Next Episode

I’ll be taking the next two weeks off for the holidays but I have some topics for the new year that I’m really excited about. They include how to develop your own style of play, getting players to ‘play for each other’, scaling training sessions to fit the number of players you have and a lot more.

I hope you and your family have a Happy and Healthy Holiday Season!

Last week I interviewed Wayne Harrison. We discussed the common thread that goes through all game formats from 4 v 4 to 11 v 11. He has some very interesting methods that you should consider using with your team next fall. Look for that interview in two weeks.

I’m working to set up an interview with a very innovative coach who has a unique take on the best way to maximize player development. I’ll have that the week after Wayne’s interview and it will be interesting to compare their two very successful methods.

In the meantime, here is a video I did describing one of Wayne’s favorite training environments – The Double Rondo

I’ll talk to you again in two weeks.

Thanks!

If you haven’t checked it out already I would suggest you take a look because there are more diagrams of exercises ,along with detail descriptions, posted there than there are in many books that you can find.

We’re now in the middle of Inter-Club evaluations for all of our teams. It’s important that we pull all of the player together that have been playing in two different age groups but will be trying out together in a few months.

We want to be sure that we’re placing all of our players on teams that will continue to help them continue to improve develop. The best way to do that is to make sure we look at all of our players side-by-side so we know how they fit together before we start looking at that many players that will be attending tryouts from other clubs.

I also start to review the progress of my teams at this time of year since we only have about four weeks left in the spring season. It’s important for me to understand what has worked and what can be improved in the process I’ve used to develop the players on my teams.

I’ve been implementing many of the ideas from one of our most recent books, One-Setup Soccer Training. The book includes 95 training sessions that are all structured around one simple field setup. This means that there isn’t any time wasted moving cones and goals for each drill or game. But more importantly using one setup allows the players to see how each activity builds on the previous one and connects to actual game situations that the player will have to deal with.

In addition to using sessions from the book I’ve also started to structure my own sessions around one field setup and I think it’s really helped my players understand not only what we’re doing but why we’re doing it.

There are certain topic that I don’t think are covered often enough. I’ve mentioned some others in previous episodes including, turning, arial receiving and others.

This week I want to highlight another area that you might think you’re training when you work on dribbling but you’re not. The key components are different and you need to teach them specifically for the player to be able to apply them to game situations.

This is a complete training session from warm-up through small-sided game that provides so many opportunities for repletion that it will have your players more comfortable and confident in this area after only one session.

Training Session

I see a lot of training sessions focused on dribbling but hardly any on running with the ball. There are a number of differences between dribbling a ball and running with a ball: the ball is touched farther away from the feet, the surfaces of the foot that are used are different and the goal is speed rather than close control.

Teaching players how to run with the ball will make them more effective in important game situations. Players in wide areas will often find themselves with room to run down the line. Defenders who have just won possession will sometimes have space to run into in order to start a counter attack. Forwards will get in behind the defense and have the opportunity to run with the ball to goal.

I’m sure your players have found themselves in these situations only to move too slowly and be caught from behind or go so fast that they lose control and give the ball away.

This session will help your players know what it’s like to be in these situations and give them the ability to of having success when they have the chance to run with the in your next game.

Four Squares

Organization

• 30 x 40
• 5 yard squares in each corner
• Three to four players in each square

Description

• Players dribble within their square until the coach calls ‘Go’
• The players dribble to the next square in a counter clockwise pattern
• First team will all their players in gets a point
• Talk about the difference between controlled dribbling and running with the ball

Coaching Points

• Get the ball out of your feet
• Use the three small toes for touches
• Don’t break your stride
• Control into the square
  • Just like gaining control for shot or pass

Progressions

• Teams on the ends go exchange squares
  • Fast, control, fast, control
• Teams change diagonally
  • Run into the space

Dribble and Pass

Organization

• Use squares on one end of the field
• Line of player on opposite sides of the front cones
• One ball at the front of each line
• Six players in each line allows time for recovery

Description

• The first player in each line runs with the ball toward the right side of the ‘gate’ in front of the other line
• The ball is passed through the gate to the next player in line
• Two balls are being run simultaneously

Coaching Points

• Get the ball out of your feet
• Use the three small toes for touches
• Don’t break your stride
• Control the ball before passing through
  • Inside of far foot or outside of near foot

Progression

• After passing the ball the player chases the player now running with the ball
  • Tries to run in front of him
  • Or Tries to tag him
  • Don’t stop the pattern

1 v 1 Flying Changes

Organization

• Two small goals are place 10 yards apart on each side of the field
• Divide into two teams
• The teams are next to goals that are diagonal from each other
• Each player has a ball

Description

• The game starts with one player from each team dribbling toward the goal across from them
• They must shoot within five yards of the goal
• After the shot the next player in each line attacks the goal while the player that just scored chases the attacker
• The team that scores the most goals wins

Coaching Points

• All previous points
• Protect the ball with your body

Progression

• Move the goals closer together to make it more of a challenge for the attacker
• Make the scoring zone 10 yards

End to End Possession

Organization

• Use the same teams as with 1 v 1 Flying Changes
• One player from each team with a ball in each end zone created by connecting the squares at each end of the field
• The remaining players are on the inside of the area

Description

• The coach plays one ball into the middle of the area
• The team that wins possession can dribble into either end zone for one point
• The player from that team that was waiting in the end zone then dribbles into the field and combines with teammates to try and dribble into the other end zone releasing the player waiting there
• The first team to score 10 points wins

Coaching Points

• The waiting player should move to the open space away from the player dribbling into the end zone
• Attack the space and be ready to switch the ball away from pressure to release a teammate

Four Goal Game

Organization

Move the small goals inside of the squares on each end of the field

Description

• Play a regular game with four goals
• Encourage players to dribble into available space

Scrimmage

• Play a two goal game on a large field
• Creating more opportunities to run with the ball

This session will provide your players with lots of opportunities to run with the ball and understand the key factors that will increase their effectiveness when they face these situations in the game.

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In the Next Episode

Next week I’m going to look at formations you can use for teams playing 7 v 7 and how you can train your team to use them. With the new formats coming for next year I’ve had a number of coaches email me about this topic so I thought it was a good time to go over it.

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I received an email from a coach in Virginia asking about free kicks for youth teams. This has been a topic on my list for a while now so his email got me thinking about it.

The question that I’ve discussed with other coaches is ‘How much time should you really spend on free kick?’ I think it’s tricky. Today I’ll talk about what I think is appropriate for each age group. As well as give examples of the key concepts and actual restarts I teach my own teams at each stage of development.

I’ve come across some very good videos of several free kicks that could be useful for your teams. I’ll talk about them on the show but be sure to check out the show notes below to see them in action.

Corner kicks and free kicks create a lot of goal scoring opportunities but I spend a very limited amount of time working on them. I only have so much training time with my teams and there are so many important technical and tactical aspects of the game that the players need to learn. So the time I do spend on restarts is focused on principles of the game that apply to more than just free kicks.

At the club level you will usually only get your players twice a week, maybe three times. If you’re coaching a high school or college team you’ll see them a lot more and since the players are more experienced you don’t have to spend as much time teaching technique so you can spend more time on tactics and set pieces.

Today I look at each level of the game and my suggestions for the best way to approach free kicks for each group.

U8 – U10

Corner Kicks

I think that short corners are the best approach for young teams taking corner kicks. The setup is simple and easy to teach. I usually teach my teams during a couple of scrimmages before our first game of the season.

The more opportunities they have during the games the more they’ll begin to see the option and learn to make the best choice.

Free Kicks

Anytime we have a free kick that we can’t shoot, I want my players to look for a pass to keep possession and work on building the attack. I don’t think there’s anything to learn from just launching a ball from our own half to get it as far up the field as possible.

If we’re able to shoot then I want the shot to be to the far post. The other players should move to attack rebounds and be sure to stay onside.

Throw Ins

It’s important to young players to understand the purpose of throw ins is get the ball back in and keep possession. Just throwing the ball as far forward as possible serves the same purpose as just kicking the ball forward on a free kick. Your team usually ends up losing the ball and wasting an opportunity to keep the ball and build an attack.

Goal Kicks

As I’ve mentioned in the past, I teach my teams to pass the ball out from goal kick. If your players take up the positions above they will spread the defenders out enough to create open passing options.

Defending

The key point for defending at this level is for the players to understand that they need to stay between the player the are marking and the goal. This is especially important when the attacker moves toward the goal. It’s important that the attacker does not, ‘Get across them.’

I want us to put two or three players in front of the ball on free kicks that are close enough for a shot on our goal. At this stage I don’t spend time worrying about having them take away one side of the goal or the other. I just want them to get in the way of the shot.

U11 – U12

Crossing from Corners

Keeping the ball from going straight to the goalkeeper is important to making sure your team has the best chance of scoring from these situations. The server should keep the cross away from the goalkeeper but putting a player in front of the keeper will also keep the ball alive more often.

In an 8 v 8 format I put three players on the top of the box and keep two defenders back to cover. Two of the players at the top of the box attack the cross while the player at the far side bends their run to attack any ball that makes it through.

Show for a Short Corner

This is a great variation from the same setup. Having the player in front of the goalkeeper check toward the ball to receive it and lay it back creates a better angle for a cross or shot on goal. The ball can also be dribbled or passed to the middle for a shot.

Lofted Pass

When defenses start to push up for free kicks and hold the players farther from the goal it creates an option for the ball to be served in between the goalkeeper and the line of defenders. The key is to pass the ball far enough away from the goalkeeper but still behind the defenders.

Defending

This is the time to start having defenders on the posts for corner kicks to help the goalkeeper cover the larger goal. It continues to be important to stay between the attacker and the goal and compete for the ball so that the attacker can’t get to the ball first.

I want a wall for free kicks that covers one side of the goal and make the goalkeeper responsible for the other side.

U13 – U14

Diamond Formation

With more players on the field in the 11 v 11 game we are able to commit more players forward on corner kicks. I still keep one player in front of the goalkeeper to prevent them from collecting it easily. Four players start grouped together at the far side of the ‘D’ at the top of the box. I keep one player, usually a holding midfielder at the top of the box to shoot anything that comes to them. We always want to have one more defender back than the attacking team has forward.

From this setup the four players at the far side of the break out with one player running near post, one inside the far post, one to the penalty spot and one to the outside of the far post.

I’ve shown the formation above without the defenders so that you can see how the players are organized more clearly.

This spreads our players out so that they can cover all of the dangerous areas in the penalty area. It also means that our player taking the corner knows what to expect from the attackers in the box.

This is a simple variation that is great for taking advantage of an overly aggressive offside trap. The player in front of the goalkeeper shows for a short pass but instead of passing it back he dribbles toward the halfline. It’s important that the kicker moves back with him to stay onside. This causes the defenders to push up in an attempt to trap us offside.

The ball is then ‘back heeled’ to the original kicker in the space behind the defense. Our players then run back in to finish from a ball played on the ground across the box.

Defending

At this age I want the goalkeeper to start taking charge of organizing the wall. We usually want two, three or four players in the wall depending on the distance and angle to our goal.

On corner kicks I want to players defending the top of the six-yard box on corner kicks or free kicks from very wide area. This is in addition to the players that are marking man-to-man.

Free Kick Game

A fun and competitive way to work on converting from free kicks to to make it a game. Form two team and give them each a chance to attack and defend once. Each team gets four corner kicks, two wide free kicks, two central free kicks, Two throw ins from each side and four penalty kick. The ball is live until a goal is scored, it goes out of bounds or is caught by the goalkeeper. The team that scores the most goals wins.

This game gives the players a lot of opportunities to work on attacking and defending free kicks in a competitive environment that you don’t get by just lining up and taking corners.

High School and Up

At this level you’re spending more time with your team, usually four or five days a week, and you can afford devote more of it to working on set pieces. Here are some interesting ideas for free kicks that I’ve used with my own teams.

These are some great variations on indirect free kicks from the middle of the field.

Here are two great corner kicks from the same game. The video also breaks down the movements making it easy to see how you can teach your players how to perform them.

Here’s a link to a post with my favorite free kick play from the U.S. National team. They used it in this game against Belgium in the 2012 World Cup.

There’s certainly a place for working on restarts at every level of the game but I feel that as with everything else, it is focused on the needs of the player at each developmental level. There’s no point in wasting valuable training time trying to teach most U12 teams how to do the central free kick performed by the US in the World Cup. You could spend an entire training session on it and use it only once or twice in a season.

But if you progress through each level of development then you’ll be building on a solid foundation that will not only make the players successful from restarts but also give them a better understanding of the game in general.

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I will be giving away a free eBook of your choice to one person who leaves a review on iTunes between now and April 6, 2016.

In the Next Episode

Next week I’ll have a complete training session on another area that I think is often overlooked, running with the ball. This is very different than dribbling to control the ball or beat a player. If you’ve ever had a player find themselves in wide open space only to be caught from behind or lose the ball because of a heavy touch this will be session you’ll be interested in.

I like this exercise because it incorporates passing, receiving, change of direction moves, 1 v 1 moves and shooting in a competitive environment that the players really enjoy.

The first player on the left passes to the player across from them and sprints to touch the top of the six yard box. The receiving player takes their first touch toward the top of the arc, performs a change of direction move and dribbles toward goal. The attacker beats the defender with a 1 v 1 move and finishes past the goalkeeper.

The players then switch lines. Each team keeps track of how many goals they score. You can give the defender a point if they win the ball and dribble it past the top of the box.

Coaching Points

• Quality of pass
• First touch out of the feet and toward the top of the arc
• Players must dribble with the ball under control
• When they change directions the must explode out of the move
• Be animated & sell the move!
• Check shooting form – ankle locked, toe down, non-kicking foot next to the ball, land on kicking foot

Next Week

I’ll be back with a defensive training session focused on the challenges of the indoor game.

This was not a surprise to most coaches and administrators but it this announcement makes the decision official.

As part of the announcement US Youth Soccer provided a number of documents to help player, parents, coaches and administrators understand the reasons for these changes. The first is a Question and Answer sheet that covers the most commonly asked questions. The second is survey of more than 30 countries that asks them to describe the types of formats used for their young teams. The survey provides some useful comparisons to our new system.

One Hour Attacking Session

Skills Warm-Up

Dribbling across the court and back

1. Inside and Outside
2. Sole
   1. Walking it next to them
   2. Lots of small touches
3. Stop and back up halfway
4. Facing up
5. Pull Back and Push in (backward)

Passing Square

Four players on a cone each. One ball.

Basic Pass and Follow

1. Pass to the player on your right and follow
2. Receiving player faces up using the sole and then passes to the right
3. Fourth player dribbles to the empty cone, faces up, passes and follows

Same going the other direction

Passing and Moving

Same set-up

1. Player A passes to Player B next to him and follows his pass
2. Player C checks diagonally into the middle
3. Player B completes a Give-and-Go with Player C
4. Player D slides to the open cone

Scrimmage to Finish

1. Require the players to receive with the sole
2. Decisions when to face and when to shield
3. Movement of players without the ball
4. Basic defending concepts

This is a basic introduction to the skills. In future sessions we would progress each of these exercises to include more complexity and pressure.

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In the Next Episode

With Thanksgiving (in the US) coming up next week I’ll be in a turkey coma on Friday so I won’t have a full podcast but I will share one of my favorite exercises. I like it so much because it includes passing, receiving, changes of direction, 1 v 1 (attacking and defending) and shooting. It can also be made into a team game so that the competitive nature of it raises the level of pressure and intensity.

We use a website called ZoomReports.com to complete evaluations for more than 60 teams in our club. The online format allows each coach to have a record of the evaluation and gives the players and parents an opportunity to comment on it as well. This whole process can be overseen by age group directors to make sure that the players are receiving the kind of feedback that will help them to develop.

This week I want to share some of my favorite variations on diamond passing exercises. This is a popular format for training passing technique as well as movement and body positioning but it can get stale and boring if you just do the same exercise over and over.

Keeping technical exercises fresh and interesting for your players ensures that they will be more engaged during training. If they’re able to see how the exercises they’re doing are related to the game you’re also more likely to see the technical work you do in training cross over to the next game you play.

Opening Up from the Middle

After each pass the players move to the middle of the diamond. Before they are to receive the ball each player moves to the cone, opens up and receives the ball before passing to the next player.

This allows you to coach the players to time their run and open their body when they show for the ball.

Two to a Corner

Whether you use cones or triangles, having two players at each corner gives the receiving player an actual person to check away from so they can open up to receive the ball.

You can also incorporate the extra player into the passing combination if you’d like.

Turning Inside

Most diamond passing exercises involve the players moving around the outside of the cones. This movement trains the players to turn inside using the inside or outside of the foot.

Showing from the Other Side

I like this pattern because it involves both of the wide players each time. You can also work on passing across the body to a supporting player.

Adding Dribbling

By using only four players you can add dribbling to the exercise. You could also have each player in line have a ball so that the next ball can be played while the last player is still dribbling to the end of the line. This will speed up the activity and correct for poor passes more quickly.

Splitting the Diamond – Dribbling Outside

Creating two triangles gives the players more repetitions while also creating more possible ways of combining. This pattern requires two through balls and a move to go past the cone / flag / mannequin.

The players should switch sides each time so that they complete the exercise using both feet.

Splitting the Diamond – Dribbling Through

This combination works on passing and dribbling to penetrate a defense. It’s easy for players to see how this activity can be related to the game.

Splitting the Diamond – Give-and-Go Through

This pattern creates two opportunities for give-and-goes to break through the defense.

Double Diamond

This is a simple variation that adds turning to the pattern. You can have the players complete any of the combinations on the outside before turning the ball to join the other diamond.

Diamond Around a Square

I found this exercise on the Keepitonthedeck Facebook page. I suggest you like this page if you are active on Facebook. They share a lot of great drills and exercises from teams around the world.

I like the format because it involves the diamond shape while working on playing through the last line of defense.

Different Actions at Each Cone

With more advanced players I like to have them complete a different combination play at each cone. This keeps them focused because they have to remember which one they perform at each location. Changing the activity also makes it more similar to the game and less repetitive.

Finally, if your players are up for it, have them decide what they do each time. The receiver can check to the ball or open up. The passer can support and ask for the ball back or move inside for a give-and-go. They could even tell the receiver to hold it and overlap him. The possibilities are only limited by the player’s decision making.

I don’t believe that we should be teaching our players new and ever more complicated exercises each week. If we do then we’re going to spend more time teaching them how to do the exercise than we do on the important technical and tactical coaching points that are going to make them better soccer players.

Using variations on key exercises like diamond passing will keep the activity fresh in the eyes of the players while allowing you to coach the game in a familiar format that will help your players relate the skills back to the game environment which will improve their ability to play the game successfully.

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In the Next Episode

I want to share a training session that really helped my players make better decisions about when to pass and when to dribble.

These sessions represent a three-week MicroCycle that I used with a couple of my teams to teach them how to combine effectively. There are a wide variety of combination plays that can be taught but I focus on the give-and-go and the overlap. I think these are the two most common and provide most of the key elements of combination play.

The first session focuses on the give-and-go. The second one teaches overlapping and the third one gives the players the opportunity to decide when and where to use each one.

Week One – Give-and-Go

Triangle Passing

We start with passing and moving to the right and then to the left as a technical warm-up. Then the players complete a type of give-and-go around the triangles.

Give-and-Go Pattern

First I teach the player the pattern where the defender passes to the attacker. Once the attacker touches the ball the defender moves to pressure him. The attacker dribbles at the defender. The wall passer moves onto the shoulder of the defender to set-up the give-and-go to beat the defender

Key Points

• Dribble at defender
• Wall Passer angle
• Choice of foot – use the outside of the foot closest to the wall passer

Once the players understand the pattern and key points they need to focus on the decision making aspects. The attacker needs to commit the defender before passing. The wall passer needs to recognize when NOT to make the return pass. This is when the attacker has not fully committed the defender because the ball was passed too early. This is a cue for them to keep the ball and dribble.

Give-and-Go Around Triangles

We use the triangle from the warm-up to represent defenders.

Two Defenders

Two players become defenders. The pairs take turns dribbling at the defenders and completing a give-and-go around them. The defenders are not trying to win the ball as the players dribble but they are trying to disrupt the completion of a give-and-go around them.

2 v 1 to Goal

The defender passes to the outside attacker who then passes to his teammate. The attacker with the ball dribbles at the defender while the second attacker moves into position as a wall passer. The defender attempts to win the ball.

The attackers must make the correct decisions to beat the defender and finish on goal.

4 v 4 Endzone Game

The players are required to perform a give-and-go before they can dribble into the endzone. You can remove this rule and allow for free play at the end of the session.

Week Two – Overlap

Triangle Passing

We start with passing and moving to the right and then to the left again as a technical warm-up. I also introduce the players to turning with their back to pressure around the ‘defenders’. 

Overlap Pattern

The defender passes to the outside player who then passes to the inside attacker. The defender moves to pressure the dribbler who is moving to the middle while the outside player shouts, ‘Hold It!’ and runs behind and the ahead of him.

Key Points

• Tell them to ‘Hold It’ as you pass the ball
• Dribble to the middle to create space on the outside
• Tell when the dribbler when to release the ball

The decision making comes in when you allow the defender to try and stop the pass to the overlapping player. If the defender moves to intercept the pass then then dribbler should keep the ball and take the open space in front of him. If the defender tries to steal the ball from the dribbler then it should be passed to the overlapping player.

2 v 1 to Goal

This is the same exercise we used for give-and-goes. It provides the opportunity to emphasis the key points and put the combination play under the pressure of an active defender. The players are punished for mistakes by losing the ball and rewarded for good decisions with a shot on goal.

2 v 2 to Goal

The player play 2 v 2 without restriction. They are instructed to look for opportunities to complete overlaps.

Endzone Game

We again finish with an endzone game. I look to see if the players are correctly taking advantage of opportunities to complete overlaps.

Week Three – Using Both

Triangle Passing

We use triangle passing as our technical warm-up for this session again. After passing to the right and left and making sure that the players were making good passes I give them the freedom to open up and pass, check to the ball for a give-and-go or turn with their back to pressure around the ‘defender’.

Passing Pattern

We return to this passing pattern and review the give-and-go and overlap before I give them the choice. They can perform either combination play. The decision is made by the outside player who receives the ball from the defender. They tell their teammate to, ‘Hold It’ or ‘Go at Him’. This tells his teammate what he is looking for.

2 v 1 to Goal

As with the passing pattern, the player with the ball decides whether to perform a give-and-go or overlap by telling his teammate what to do. Now the dribbler has to decide whether to pass it to the supporting player or take the space that the defender is giving him.

2 v 2 to Goal

The players now have all of the tools to decide what to do. I let the exercise flow freely and coach within it but not by stopping the action unless the same mistake is being made by multiple players.

These are very technical sessions that involve a great deal of dribbling, passing and shooting. The exercises provide a great environment to teach the key factors necessary for effective combination play. Once the players understand the keys then it becomes all about decision making; what to do, when to do it and whether or not they should change their mind depending on what the defender is doing.

These sessions will teach the combination plays but will also give your players the tools to make good soccer decisions during the game.

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We would appreciate it if you would leave us a 5 star rating and a written review on iTunes to help spread the word about the show and the information that we are sharing here.

In the Next Episode

Putting combination and finishing skills together in front of goal makes the shots more realistic and gets the players looking for these opportunities in the game. Next week I’ll share my favorite finishing activities that involve combination play.

This week I will share a training session that will help your players make the connection between the work you do on possession in practice to the way they function within a team shape in the match.

But first….

Congratulations to Sporting Kansas City for winning the 2015 Lamar Hunt Open Cup! As a coach with a Sporting KC Affiliate Club I’ve been fortunate to work with the first team staff on ways that we can help develop more homegrown players like Kevin Ellis, Erik Palmer-Brown and Jon Kempin.

Seth Sinovic and Matt Besler also grew up playing in Kansas City youth clubs before the MLS clubs started Academy systems.

Having five local boys in our team is a badge of honor to the clubs and coaches who work every day to develop young soccer players in Kansas City.

AND THEN….

Right before this episode goes live FC Kansas City wins the National Women’s Soccer League Championship for the second year in a row!

Position Specific Possession

Most possession games are set-up in a similar way: two teams of players and a couple of neutrals play keep away inside a square or rectangular space. This is a useful format for teaching the basic concepts of possession but it doesn’t relate clearly back to the game because the players are moving freely around the space with no defined shape or position. This is the opposite of the way they play in the game.

On match day they play in certain positions with defined roles and responsibilities. If we train them in a similar way to how they will play then we will have a greater chance of seeing the possession work we do on Wednesday showing up in the game on Sunday.

This training session progressively increases the pressure while making each activity relate as closely to the actual game as possible. You may choose to spend more time in one area or another depending on the age and skill level of your players. You may also do part of this session on one day and then come back the next day and do the remainder.

Training Session

Diamond Passing

Starting with this as a technical warm-up will give you the opportunity to focus on the key factors involved in effective possession:

• Quality of the pass
• Body shape
• Movement

At the same time you can relate the shape of the players to positions on the field. The player at the bottom of the diamond could be a defender. The wide players are midfielders. The player at the top of the diamond is the forward.

This will help the players begin to visualize how this activity relates to the game. It will also be the framework used in each of the following activities.

4 v 1

We have basically just added a defender to the diamond passing exercise. Since the location of the pressure will be moving we have to train the players to support the ball in more specific ways.

Key Points

• Be sure the player with the ball has support on the right, left and a split (or through ball)
• The closer the pressure is the ‘sharper’ you have to make your angle
• Be on the shoulder of the pressuring player
• Anticipate the pass so that you can move to support it

This is a great first step for young players and one that you might skip with older, more experienced teams.

2 v 2 + 3

This is essentially a 5 v 2 game like the ones I discussed in Episode 6 but we retain the diamond shape that are so easily related to the positions on the field. We’re adding more pressure but giving the attacking team a target to play to that will release that pressure by moving the ball into space.

So now we have the two wide midfield players (Black) opening up wide for the defensive center mid (Red with the ball) with the attacking center midfielder (Red in the middle) showing for a split. All with the goal of passing to the forward on the other end (Red on the far end).

When the Yellow team win the ball they pass it to a neutral player on the end and open up to spread the field and create the attacking shape.

4 v 4 + 3

This is a progression of the previous exercise which adds more pressure and complexity. At first I keep restrict the players to operate in only one half of the field. The central Red Neutral is the only players allowed to move between the halves. As the players improve I grant them free movement anywhere in the area.

This can be a great warm-up activity before a game because it can include all 11 starting players. The players can start to think of their shape and responsibilities while working to link passes and keep possession.

Directional Possession

I want the players to define their shape before the start of this game so that they continue to see how they can possess and move the ball relative to their position on the field.

Possession games to targets keep the focus on moving the ball and linking up rather than focusing on scoring the goal. I feel that this is an important step to take before moving to a full match situation.

Small-Sided Game

Ending the session with a match will let you gage the level of understand your players have gained from the training session. It also allows you to use the coaching points from the previous activities in a game environment like you will in the weekend match. This is even more helpful in making the connection from the training session to the game.

If you’ve struggled to see a transfer of training with other possession activities you’ve used with your teams I would encourage you to present this session to your team a couple of times. I’m sure they will have a greater understanding of how you want them to maintain possession with a purpose in your next game.

If you’re interested in more ideas on possession play I would encourage you to check out, ‘Coaching Possession with a Purpose Vol 1 & 2’. These excellent books by Jonny Cater and Michael J Louter outline the important concepts of possession and provide complete training sessions that you can use with your own teams.

Each training session includes a, ‘Print and Play’ page that allows you to print that page and have everything you need to run the session including the diagrams and descriptions of each activity.

Click Here to get a copy for yourself.

Printable Show Notes

The show notes for each episode are accessed through the WCC Training Center.

They are FREE but you will need at least a Free Membership to the Training Center in order to view and print them.

Click on the image of the notes and if you’re already logged in to the Training Center you’ll be taken to the Podcast page. If you’re not logged in your be taken to a login page where you’ll also be able to login or register if you are not already a Member.

Remember!

Make sure you subscribe to Coaching Soccer Weekly through iTunes, or your podcast provider of choice, to be sure you never miss an episode.

Please take a moment while you’re on iTunes and give us a ranking and a review. This will help bring our podcast to the attention of more coaches and spread the word about the ideas and training sessions that we’re sharing.

In the Next Episode

Tomorrow I’m talking with Bob Warming, Head Men’s Coach at Penn State University about how to help your players translate the technical training that you do with them into more effective team play in your next game.

The youngest are our U8 Pre Academy boys and the oldest is a U16 girls team. In between I have U10 and U12 girls teams. I enjoy coaching teams that play 6v6 8v8 and 11v11 so these are great groups to have. It also means that I’ll be able to bring you topics that span every age group. Which will keep this podcast relevant for most coaches.

I really enjoy having discussions with coach who comment on the show or send me an email. This week’s topic comes out of one of those conversations.

The focus is on teaching players the importance of constantly checking their shoulder and scanning the field around them so they are aware of the space, pressure and support that they have.
This is a challenge for coaches at every level and I think that you’re going to enjoy this exercises and games.

Vision and Awareness

I recently received an email from a coach, Daniel A. I won’t use his full name because I didn’t ask him if I could. He is looking for some ways to teach his players to be constantly checking their shoulders. Another way to say it is to, ‘Play with their head on a swivel.

I recently read a stat that Xavi, formerly of Barcelona, checked his shoulder and looked around more than 890 times in a single 90 minute game.

Creating this habit will make your players more aware of the position of the ball relative to their teammates and their opponents. The more they are aware of these factors, the easier it is for them to make decisions about where to move and where to play.

When I read his question from Daniel I instantly thought of a DVD that had been sent to us at WORLD CLASS COACHING several years ago call, ‘Developing Vision and Awareness’. I really liked the ideas and methods they used and I tried them with my own teams.

I’ll give you a couple of examples today and put a link to their website in the show notes because there’s a lot more to their methods than I’ll be able to share with you here.

Training Exercises

Checking the Shoulder

• Three Players
• Two Passers
• One player in the middle
• Player in the middle looks behind them (checks their shoulder) after the pass is made
• Middle player can pass the ball back one touch or play two touch

Identifying a Color

• Three Players
• Two Passers
• One player in the middle
• Player in the middle checks their shoulder after the pass is made
• Calls out the color of the cone or bib that is held up before their first touch

Coaching Points

• The color is held up as the pass is played
• Receiver adjusts to the ball just before checking the shoulder
• Watch for the players moving away to buy time

React Based on the Color

• As before but now two cones are added to the middle
• They match the color of the cones being held up by the passers
• The receiver stays behind the cones so that they can take their first touch outside of the cone to pass it back

Coaching Points

• Continue to call out the color
• Get first touch outside of the cone
• Shift the ball with the inside foot and pass with the outside foot
• Checking over both shoulders

One Ball Progression

• The player now turns with the ball and passes it to the player on the other side
• No cones
• With cones

Add Movement

• Cones are spread wide to create a diamond with the players on the end
• The middle player moves between the cones
• Open your body
• Check shoulder after the ball is played
• Call the color out
• Receive with the back foot and pass to the other player

Progression

• When the color is red the ball is played back to the same player
• If the color is the same as the one you’re standing on you pass it back

Find the Open Player

Setup

• One receive
• Three players with cones (red and yellow)
• Two Players have a ball

Pattern

• One player passes to the receiver
• Free player holds up a color
• Receive calls the color before taking their first touch
• Pass to the open player

Coaching Points

• One or two touch
• Receive with the back foot
• Across the body to set up the pass
• Make sure the players with the balls and colors are always thinking and ready

Progression #1

Position the player in a triangle around the receive

Progression #1

Have the players move freely around the receiver

Two Team Passing and Moving

Setup

• Two teams of player in side an area 20×20
• One ball per team
• One player from each team outside the area with two color cone

Pattern

• The ball is passed from one player to another on the inside
• Receiver calls out the color of the cone held up by their teammate on the outside
• Two teams of players move around and through each other to find space and create angles for passes

Coaching Points

• Move without the ball to receive it
• Always know where the ball and the colors are
• Open body to both

Progression #1

• Pass must be to a player on the other team

Progression #2

• Add a red and yellow ball and make players with cones where either a red or yellow penny
• When receiving the red ball, check the red player on the outside

Fun Game – Soccer Tennis

Setup

• 10×20 with line of cones down the middle
• Two players on each team

Rules

• The ball must bounce before you play it
• You have one touch
• The player who receives it from the other team sets it for their teammate
• That teammate allows it to bounce and plays it over the cones to the other team
• You must check both shoulders before playing the ball

Progression #1

• Add players behind each team with cones
• Call the color of the cone before playing the ball

Progression #2

• Add player in front as well
• First player calls the color behind
• Second player calls the color in front

There are a lot of other great ideas on the DVD. There are some 2 v 1 and 3 v 2 games that help to transfer the concepts to game situations more quickly.

They also have some other tools and ideas for adding even more complexity. I highly recommend you checking the  ‘Developing Vision and Awareness’ DVD out soon.

Printable Show Notes

The show notes for each episode are accessed through the WCC Training Center.

They are FREE but you will need at least a Free Membership to the Training Center in order to view and print them.

Click on the image of the notes and if you’re already logged in to the Training Center you’ll be taken to the Podcast page. If you’re not logged in your be taken to a login page where you’ll also be able to login or register if you are not already a Member.

Remember!

Make sure you subscribe to Coaching Soccer Weekly through iTunes, or your podcast provider of choice, to be sure you never miss an episode.

We would appreciate it if you would leave us a 5 star rating and/or a written review on iTunes to help spread the word about the show and ensure that we can continue to bring you top notch guests in the future.

In the Next Episode

At the start of each year I always plan a shooting session for my teams regardless of the age group or experience level. Players at every level need to be reminded of the key principles of ball striking and finishing. On next week’s show I’ll share a progressive training session that I used this week with my own teams.

I like this exercise because it incorporates passing, receiving, change of direction moves, 1 v 1 moves and shooting in a competitive environment that the players really enjoy.

The first player on the left passes to the player across from them and sprints to touch the top of the six yard box. The receiving player takes their first touch toward the top of the arc, performs a change of direction move and dribbles toward goal. The attacker beats the defender with a 1 v 1 move and finishes past the goalkeeper.

The players then switch lines. Each team keeps track of how many goals they score. You can give the defender a point if they win the ball and dribble it past the top of the box.

Coaching Points

• Quality of pass
• First touch out of the feet and toward the top of the arc
• Players must dribble with the ball under control
• When they change directions the must explode out of the move
• Be animated & sell the move!
• Check shooting form – ankle locked, toe down, non-kicking foot next to the ball, land on kicking foot

Next Week

I’ll be back with summer preseason conditioning and skills suggestions to get your players ready for the start of training.

Bryan left a comment on the last episode asking if I could include dimensions on the diagrams. The dimensions of any exercise will vary depending on the age and ability level of your players but I’m going to include them from now on so that at least you have a starting point. You can always adjust the size to fit your team. Thanks for the feedback Bryan!

To begin with each team has a player with a ball in each endzone. One ball is in play in the middle. The player with the ball tries to run it into either endzone. When he does, his teammate who was waiting there dribbles out and works with the players in the middle to try and run the ball into the other endzone.

When the defending team wins the ball they can run it into either endzone and the pattern continues.

As a progression I make the players in the endzone neutral. Both teams in the middle are trying to pass the ball to either target and then work it through the middle to the other target. When one side gets crowded it’s important that the players recognize this and move the ball to the open space on the other side of the field. The target can move anywhere in the endzone to be open for the pass.

The final progression is to have each team defend one end and attack the other. A goalie is the only player allowed in the endzone and can move to prevent the ball from going into any of the three goals.

Encourage the players to see where the pressure is ‘flowing’ and look for opportunities to switch the ball away from the pressure and into the space.

Thank You!

The meaning of Memorial Day in the United States can get lost in a sea of barbeques and soccer tournaments. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all of the men and women who have served in the military both past and present as well as their families for the sacrifices they have made.

Next Week

I’ll be back with training ideas to teach your players how to move more effectively without the ball.

Learning to be Creative

I believe that we need to teach our players a variety of individual fakes and moves in order to spark their imagination and encourage their creativity. By learning a few moves they will see what is possible and this will give them a framework for their own creativity.

The same can be done with creative combination play. If we teach the players a few basic movement patterns, and the keys to making them successful, then this will lead them to find their own patterns in the game.

That is the goal of this session.

Arrival Game – Wembley

This game can be played individually or in pairs. I prefer to play it individually as an arrival game. When a player scores they become the goalkeeper. If you play in pairs you can say that the first team to score three goals wins.

Technical Warm-Up – Passing in Pairs

Start with two touch. Focus on good technique: ankle locked, toes up and out, bouncing the ball off of your foot. We begin by passing right to right. I use my right foot to pass to their right foot. We switch to left to left and then to receiving with one foot and passing with the other.

Next I have one player pass with one touch and the other play with two touches. This is less challenging than having them both play one touch because the player with two touches can clean up the mistakes of the one-touch player. Have the player switch roles so that they both have the opportunity to play one-touch passes.

Only progress to all one touch passes if you think your players are ready for that.

Triangle Passing – Diagonal

The pattern starts with a checking movement and shout by Player 2. Player 1 passes to him and follows his pass. Player 1 and 2 then complete a give-and-go around the cone before Player 2 passes diagonally to Player 3

Coaching Points

• Quality of each pass
• Checking to trigger the pass
• Calling for the ball
• Timing of runs
• Distance of support

Player 1 moves to the second cone, checks and the pattern continues.

Triangle Passing – Give-and-Goes

The first movement are the same but now a second give-and-go is completed around the third cone with Players 2 and 3 before Player 3 dribbles to the first cone.

The coaching points are the same as above.

Triangle Passing – Square Pass

Player 1 now passes to Player 3 after receiving the layoff from Player 2. Then Player 2 runs around the second cone to support Player 3 and complete a give-and-go.

The final phase is to allow the player to choose which combination of passes and movements the will use to get the ball around the triangle. Anything the choose is fine as long as the quality of the passes are good and the timing and distance are realistic to the game.

3 v 1

While the movements aren’t exactly the same as the pattern play, this is an opportunity to work on providing a short and long pass to the player with the ball. This will make it hard for the defender to pin the attackers down to one area.

It’s also a time to talk about dropping off to support your team mate after a pass in order to draw the defender in and open up the longer pass.

4 v 4 + 1

This is a nondirectional game where five passes equals one point. Encourage the players to find patterns in the game from the previous exercises. They should also look for the chance to draw a defender in and then switch the ball to the open space.

4 v 4 Game

This is a multiple ball game that was on our CoachingSoccerConditioning.com blog post a couple of weeks ago. Here is a link to that post.

This is a normal 4 v 4 game except there is a ball on each of the out-of-bounds cones. When the ball goes out of play, whoever touched it last has to retrieve it while the team who gets possession takes a ball off any of the cones around the field. The player retrieving the ball must return it to the empty cone.

This creates a numbers up situation for the attacking team. This numbers-up situation is perfect for working on the combinations learned earlier in the session. It also creates a fast paced game that involves a lot of sprinting so it’s great fitness as well.

8 v 8 

You could end the session with the 4 v 4 games but I wanted to work with larger number to finish so we played an 8 v 8 game. This let me see if the players could find the patterns within a game with larger numbers.

You can use this session to give you inspiration for creating your own combination play session. There are many other drills and exercises you could use to accomplish the same objective.

In the end it’s about giving your players ideas and then letting them apply those ideas to what they see happening in the game.

Printable Show Notes

The show notes for each episode are accessed through the WCC Training Center.

They are FREE but you will need at least a Free Membership to the Training Center in order to view and print them.

Click on the image of the notes and if you’re already logged in to the Training Center you’ll be taken to the Podcast page. If you’re not logged in your be taken to a login page where you’ll also be able to login or register if you are not already a Member.

Remember!

Make sure you subscribe to Coaching Soccer Weekly through iTunes, or your podcast provider of choice, to be sure you never miss an episode.

We would appreciate it if you would leave us a 5 star rating and/or a written review on iTunes to help spread the word about the show and ensure that we can continue to bring you top notch guests in the future.

In the Next Episode

In next week’s episode I’ll share ideas for how to train your players to move more effectively without the ball.

One of them is focused on how to use ‘Free Play’

Tim asks, “How do you set up free play?  Whenever you allow your players free play, how involved are you? I image you handle substitutions and try to ensure equal playing time, but is that where you stop? Do you do anything in regards to formations, positions, or any other technical or tactical coaching? How much free play do you allow your teams? Would you vary the amount of free time that players get in different age groups?

Thanks for the question Tim. I use the last part of the small-sided game at the end of each training session as ‘free play’. I make sure everyone is involved so that we don’t have any subs. I use a neutral player if we have an odd number. If i want to play 4v4 I’ll just create two of these games so that everyone is playing. I have the players decide what shape and positions they’ll use. Even your youngest players can do this. I try to give the players five to 10 minutes at the end for free play. This is the same for every age I work with.

Session Overview

In this episode I want to share a complete training session designed to teach your players different ways to get behind the defense. It starts with an arrival game to get the players engaged right away. Then we do some technical work so that the players are passing and moving well. Next, I introduce some patterns along with options that the players can choose from.

I’ll show you the progressions I use that lead to taking a shot on goal. We then get into a game related activity to allow the players to use the patterns against active pressure. The session finishes with small-sided games to test the player’s ability to use the techniques and tactics in game situations.

Training Session

Today it seems that coaches are most concerned about maintaining possession. Keeping possession without creating chances to score is more of a defensive tactic than an attacking one.

If you’re going to create goal scoring chances you’re going to have to do more than possess it in front of the other team. You need to get the ball behind lines of pressure.

This training session is focused on finding combinations of movement and passing to accomplish this goal.

Arrival 5 v 2

There are six Cones but only five attackers. As the ball is passed the players move to make sure that the player with the ball has support. The two defenders work to break up the possession. Change defenders after the ball is lost four times.

Six Cones

Three balls are passed back and forth. The players pass and follow to the end of the other line. This is a technical warm-up to prepare for the session. It’s important to stress the quality of first touch and the pass.

Passing Pattern with Two Balls

The pattern begins with a diagonal pass to the right by both players in the middle. The the ball is passed down the line to the player in front of them. Finally the ball is passed diagonally to the left to restart the pattern. Each player follows their pass.

Next the same pattern is completed in the other direction.

Coaching Points

• First touch
• Pass to outside foot
• Setup your teammate with quality pass
• Be aware of where the next pass is coming from

Barca Passing Pattern

Setup:

• One cone 10 yards from each end of a 10 yard square
• Line of players on first cone
• One on the first line of the square
• One on the second line
• One on the last cone

The movements are cued off of the seocnd player. He chooses right or left. The third player goes in the opposite direction.

Ball played to second player and laid off. The ball is then passed to third player who lays it off for the second player to follow and pass to the last player.

Coaching Points

• Quality of Pass
• Which foot to pass to
• Body position of receiver
• Angle of support and layoff

Progressions

• Add give and go with last player
• First pass goes to third player
• First passer chooses
• Receiver can turn
• Each player can choose their pass
• Add Defender
  • Passive
  • Active

You know it’s clicking when the second player starts to fake one way and go the other. The players are asking for the ball. They are spinning out after their layoff to support the next pass. Once the players start to move quickly and play one touch they are ready for the next exercise.

Barca Passing Pattern with Shooting

Use the same patterns but the last player can turn and shoot or lay the ball off and then move for the return pass.

2 v 2 Target to Target

This is the same setup but I’ve widened it to 20 yards. The targets have unlimited touches to begin with but you can progress to playing two touch. The middle players have unlimited touches. You can also reduce this as the players improve.

Look for similar movements and patterns:

• High and Low
• Open on opposite side
• Movement to open spaces
• ENCOURAGE CREATIVITY
• Target can play directly to target if the space is open but only on the ground

Team Target to Target

This is really just a progression from the 2 v 2 game. It’s more complex with more players to combine with.

Look for the players to create levels of support (right, left and split) as they try to move the ball from one target to the other.

Finish with a Game

Look for the players to recognize situations from early in training. Be sure to focus your comments on the topic. Be sure that the players are getting the ball through lines of pressure. If this isn’t happening it can often be because the attacking team is not making runs behind the defenders.

Don’t stop play unless absolutely necessary. Let the player express themselves and see what they have learned from the session.

Remember!

Make sure you subscribe to Coaching Soccer Weekly through iTunes, or your podcast provider of choice, to be sure you never miss an episode.

We would appreciate it if you would leave us a 5 star rating and/or a written review on iTunes to help spread the word about the show and ensure that we can continue to bring you top notch guests in the future.

In the Next Episode

In next week’s episode I want to show you fun ways to start your training sessions that will help to motivate and engage your players so that they are ready to learn what you have to teach them.

1v1 situations are such an important part of the game that coaches at every level should be spending at least some of their valuable training time in these types of environments.

Broken down to its most basic elements, soccer is a series of 1v1 games all over the field. The objective of each one is different. Sometimes it’s to keep possession and find a pass. Another time it may be to win a loose ball. In the attacking third the objective may be to create enough space for a cross. In front of goal the 1v1 is a battle between a player trying score and one trying to stop him.

When we’re designing our training environments we need to keep in mind that all of these situations are important and be sure that each one is addressed with a different exercise or game. If we plan well, we can even train more than one of these aspects of 1v1 at the same time.

Before I do 1 v 1 training with my players I like to teach them a few moves to give them ideas about how they can break down defenders.

An easy way to work on these moves is to create two lines facing each other. At first both players can have a ball and they dribble toward each other and perform the same move (with the same foot) and then dribble past each other.

You can then progress to having one player pass to the other and then pressure him. First passively, only jogging toward the attacker. Then you can make the defender more active to challenge the defender.

This is also an opportunity to teach defensive positioning and tactics.

These are my six favorite training environments to work on 1 v 1 situations.

Two Line – One Next to Each Goal

Defender passes to the attacker and pressures. The attacker attempts to beat the defender and score.

If the defender wins the ball they can attack the other goal.

Two Lines – Defenders to One Side

As before but now the defenders are running to the get in front of the attackers. The attackers can take advantage of this by tricking the defender into over-committing or by driving inside and then taking the ball outside.

Two Lines – One on Each Side of the Field

The defenders are now forced to move across more quickly which creates an even greater likelihood that the defender will over-commit.

Two Lines – Recovering Defender

Now the defender passes in front of the attacker who takes his first touch toward goal. The defender attempts to recover to a goalside position.

You can increase or decrease the pressure on the attacker by changing the position of the line of attackers. Move them farther back and the defender has a greater chance to recover. Move them farther forward and they’ll have more time before the defender can arrive.

Two Lines – Down the Line

The defender plays the ball in front of the attacker who tries to beat the defender and create a chance to shoot.

If the defender wins the ball he can move to attack the other goal.

Move the lines to the other side of the field to work on shooting with the other foot.

Diagonal Continuous Game

The attacker must get the ball into the ‘scoring zone’ before they can shoot. As soon as they shoot an attacker from the other team comes on to the field and tries to score in the goal diagonally across from them. Each time an attacker shoots they immediately become a defender.

1 v 1 Team Keep Away

Players are matched up and compete to keep the ball. At irregular intervals the coach stops the game and counts the number of soccer balls each team possesses. The team with the most wins a point for that round. You can play for a set period of time or until one team reaches 10 points.

1 v 1 Round Robin Tournament

The ideas and methodology behind this competition are described in ‘Training Soccer Legends’ by Andy Barney.

Each player in the session plays every other player in game that lasts from two to three minutes, depending on the number of players in the session. If the attacker scores they keep the ball and attack in the other direction. This ‘make-it-take-it’ format encourages the players to work hard defensively or they will not get a chance to attack.

At the end of each round the score of each player is recorded. If a player wins their score is recorded as 2-1. If they lose the score is recorded as 1-2. At the end of the session each player’s score is calculated so that they each have a total number of goals scored, goals against and goal difference. They are also ranked in each of these categories.

You can download a PDF of the 1 v 1 Round Robin Matrix and Score Sheet by clicking the link.

1 v 1 Rotation

The same format is used but it is NOT ‘make-it-take-it’ and each game is played until one player scores three goals. At the end of each game the players in come to the side and wait for another game to end. The winners of each game play next as do the players who lost each match-up.

The first player to win three match-ups wins the competition.

These are the six different environments I use to train 1v1 situations. Over the years I’ve found that they effectively teach players how to deal with each of the situations they face in the game.

No matter what age group or ability level you’re working with, 1v1 games should be an important part of your training plan.

Printable Show Notes

The show notes for each episode are accessed through the WCC Training Center.

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Click on the image of the notes and if you’re already logged in to the Training Center you’ll be taken to the Podcast page. If you’re not logged in your be taken to a login page where you’ll also be able to login or register if you are not already a Member.

Remember!

Make sure you subscribe to Coaching Soccer Weekly through iTunes, or your podcast provider of choice, to be sure you never miss an episode.

We would appreciate it if you would leave us a 5 star rating and/or a written review on iTunes to help spread the word about the show and ensure that we can continue to bring you top notch guests in the future.

In the Next Episode

In next week’s episode I will share a complete training session to help your players learn to combine in order to get behind the defense and create goal scoring chances.

Your players will enjoy these shooting exercises because they’re fast paced and give the players a lot of chances to do what they enjoy doing most…..scoring goals.

In part two I want to talk about how you can use Twitter to help you in your coaching.

• I talk about how I use Twitter
• The groups and individuals I follow
• What information you can expect to find
• How I organize all of the information that is posted on Twitter
• Why you should considering sharing your ideas

I hope you enjoy the information in this episode and find some ideas that will help you with your training sessions.

Featured Activity

As coaches we should always be looking for ways to train our players in environments that they’ll encounter in the game. There’s a place for isolated technical training where the players can learn the key points of a skill with little or no pressure from limited space, time or opponents. But once they understand the technique they need to be challenged to perform the technique the way they will in the game.

I think we’ve probably all had times where we covered a technique in training only to see it breakdown in the game. It takes time and repetition to master any technique but the more game related activities we put our players in, the more often they will be successful when they try to use them in games.

Too often I see shooting sessions that look nothing like realistic game scenarios. They are often isolated even static.

I’ve found that the most effective training session put players in situations they’ll face in a game. This shooting progression is a great example.

This is a progression of an exercise from a book called ‘Training Creative Goalscorers’.

The author is Michael Beale who is currently the manager of Liverpool’s U21 team. Before joining Liverpool in 2013 as a youth development lead coach for the U15 and U16 age group, Beale was a Full Time Youth Development Office and a U12 coach at Chelsea for 10 years. A structural overhaul in August 2014 included the promotion of Beale to take charge of the U21’s.

Set-Up

Three cones are lined up 10 to 15 yards away from the edge of the penalty area. So distance from goal will vary depending on the age of the players. The cones are numbers 1, 2 and 3. This will remain the same throughout the progressions of the exercise.

You can choose to have a goalkeeper defend the goal or not, depending on what you want the focus to be.

Practice 1

With young players I’ll have them start by just dribbling toward the edge of the box and shooting. I know this is not functional but this is when they’re at an age (or stage) where they’re still learning the technique.

After they shoot from one position they get their ball, dribble back with some kind of skill or pattern and change lines. This teaches the pattern of the exercise as well as shooting on the move from different angles.

With the time it takes for them to collect their ball and dribble back, there should be minimal standing and waiting.

First Progression

Next, we put a cone in front of each line so that they can perform a fake at the cone, play away from the pressure and shoot. This is slightly more functional but still basic so that the players can start to judge the distance to the ‘defender’, use a move early and play away at an angle that will allow them to shoot.

Third Progression

• Player 1 dribble at cone, fakes and shoots
• Then Player 1 shows for a pass from Player 2 who follows and shoots
• Player 2 does the same thing with Player 3

Final Progression

1. Player 1 dribble at cone, fakes and shoots
2. Then Player 1 shows for a pass from Player 2 who follows and shoots
3. Player 2 then moves to defend Player 3 in a 1 v 1

This is the first progression I’d use with an inexperienced team. Once the players understand not only the shooting technique (Which is constantly corrected during these exercises) but they also understand the flow of the exercise.

One of key points that this exercise will teach the players is to quickly think about THE NEXT THING. If they spend any time worrying about the shot they just hit they will not be ready for the next action.

Practice 2 (More Experienced Players)

I start where I left off with the younger players. This gets everyone switch on and in the rhythm of the exercise. It also gets everyone focusing on the techniques involved.

1 v 1 and 2 v 1

• Player 1 dribble at cone, fakes and shoots
• Then Player 1 defends Player 2 in a 1 v 1
• Player 3 passes to Player 1 and together they attack Player 2

Progression

Player 3 passes to either Player 1 or Player 2 and they attack the remaining player 2 v 1.

Practice 3 (Combination play as well as crossing and finishing)

Player 1 dribbles and shoots from the middle , Player 1 turns and makes a choice of which player on the outside to combine with, the chosen player passes to Player 1 and runs inside to receive a return pass (this is the same for each progression after this).

The ball is then passed out wide to the opposite player, Player 1 and his chosen teammate run into the penalty area and attempt to score from a cross.

Coaching Points

• Timing of the run
• Areas to attack (near post, far post and slot)
• Technique to finish

Progression 1

The player makes a through pass for the remaining player to run onto and shoot.

Progression 2

The player makes a through pass for the remaining player to run onto and shoot but now Player 1 reacts and becomes a defender to try and prevent the shot.

There are many more combinations that can be applied to this setup. You can pick any aspect of finishing that you want to work on and tailor this exercise to meet that need.

In ‘Training Creative Goalscorers’ there more than 100 exercises that Michael Beale uses to make his shooting sessions fun, engaging and functional. I’ll put a link in the show notes if you’re interested in more information about his book.

Twitter

Here are the Twitter groups I mentioned in this episode: @CoachingFamily – @coachingbadges – @markproskills and @soccertutor.com.

Here are the individuals that I follow for drills and exercises: @cosmosoccerCA, @coachtonymee, @power_ray and @NCHammer19080.

Please list any people you follow in the show notes below.

Don’t Forget!

Make sure you subscribe to Coaching Soccer Weekly through iTunes, or your podcast provider of choice, to be sure you never miss an episode.

We would appreciate it if you would leave us a 5 star rating and/or a written review on iTunes to help spread the word about the show and ensure that we can continue to bring you top notch guests in the future.

In the Next Episode

I have a follow up session that I often use after the turning session that I shared in Episode 2.

Future Interviews

In an upcoming episode I’m going to talk to Penn State University Head Men’s Coach, Bob Warming about a new training method he’s been using with great success.

This is a progressive session so it gradually adds pressure and complexity and ends by applying the skills in game situations. This progression helps to create a transfer of training from the basic practice to a game.

I think you’ll find this session useful for teams of any age or experience level.

Featured Training Session

Show, Pass and Turn

SetUp

Two lines of players. There’s a cone gate in between them. One player starts with a ball. The player across from him shows into the gate. Timing their run to go through the gate as the ball arrives. The passer needs to be sure to let the receiver get through the gate before they have to take their first touch.

The receiver then turns around the outside or through the middle depending on the type of turn they are using. After turning the ball is passed to the first player in the line they came from. With younger players you might have each player have their own ball so that the exercise moves more quickly.

Types of Turns

Opening the Gate

• Step toward the ball so that the ball rolls across your body
• Receive it with the inside of your back foot
• Play away with the outside of the same foot through the gate

Inside of the Foot

• Use the inside of the foot that the ball comes to
• Control it across your body
• Taking it early, out in front of you, will allow you to turn around the cone with one touch

Outside of the Foot

• Use the outside of the OPPOSITE foot
• This means that you have to reach across your body
• Control the ball across your body
• Again, taking it early will help you to turn in one touch
• This one is challenging at first so have the players take a little off their passes to give the receiver more time to react

(Good, isn’t she!)

Cruyff

• Use the inside of the foot that the ball comes to
• Control it behind your standing leg
• Diagonally through the gate
• Have the receiver show to one cone or the other to create an angle
• This also helps with the outside of the foot turn
• There are other turns but these are the four core movements that I teach

Tag Turning

This begins as a pattern exercise to focus on the technique of turning and we gradually add pressure.

1. Basic Pattern
   1. Two lines of players are facing each other
   2. One player has a ball (Player 3)
   3. A player from the opposite line starts in the middle (Player 1)
   4. Player 1 goes back toward his line and tags the next player (Player 2)
   5. Player 1 then checks back toward the ball and Player 3
   6. Player 2 follows closely behind
   7. Player 1 calls for the ball and Player 3 passes it to him
   8. Player 1 receives the ball and turns around Player 2 using one of the four turns taught earlier
   9. Player 2 then moves to tag Player 3 while Player 1 passes to Player 4 and the pattern continues

Coaching Points

1. Make sure the passer is ready before checking to the ball
2. Hold your run if necessary
3. Check away quickly from Player 2
4. Check your shoulder to see if Player 2 is following
5. Call for the ball early so you have space to receive the ball
6. Check your shoulder again after calling for the ball to see the position of the defender
7. Turn the ball across your body and away from the defender
8. Always demand a quality of the pass

Progressions

1. Apply physical pressure by having the defender put one had on the attackers shoulder
2. This also provides a clue as to which side to turn away from
3. Have the defender pick a side so that they attacker can turn to the open side but do not put a hand on their shoulder so they have to look for the defender
4. Allow the defender to tackle if the attacker turns into them
5. Allow full pressure from the defender

Turning to Shoot

I like to incorporate shooting into training sessions whenever possible

1. Fun for the players
2. Shows them how the skill can create goalscoring opportunities
3. Helps with transfer of training

Setup

1. Line of players with a ball each next to each goal (diagonal from each other)
2. A flag (or cone) 15 yards in front of the line and outside of the penalty area
3. This will be different for different age groups but that’s the point

Pattern

1. The first player in line starts without a ball and jogs to the flag and then checks back to receive a pass
2. Use a turn and shoot on goal
3. The shooter can become the keeper and the keeper gets a ball and joins the end of the line next to that goal
4. Have the lines switch to the other side of the goal to work on turning both ways

Progression

1. Put a player in place of the flag or cone
2. The players rotate from passer to receiver to defender and then the goalkeeper
3. Start with shadow defender and progress to full pressure

Possession to Target

Now we’re moving toward applying these skills to game situations

Set-Up

1. There are three zones
2. In the example we play 3 v 3 in the middle
3. Each team has a forward in front of the goal they are attacking as well as a defender protecting their goal
4. These are the only players allowed outside of the middle zone
5. You can scale this up depending on the number of players you have at training
6. The middle players attempt to complete three passes before playing to their attacker
7. The attacker attempts to turn and finish
8. Rotate your attacker, defenders and midfielder if you would like or put them in their usually positions depending on the age group you are working with

Coaching Points

1. To start with, the defend must stay behind the attacker until they have their first touch
2. Encourage the attacker to ‘stay high’ up the field, away from the middle zone
   1. This creates space for them to show into and room to turn
   2. If they get too close too early the defender will be right on top of them when they receive the ball

Progression

1. Have one defensive midfielder recover to encourage the attacker to turn quickly and score
2. Have one attacking midfielder join the attacker in support
3. Add a second attacker and defender to the final third to work on the attackers movements and combinations between them

Finish with free play

This allows you to see if what you’ve taught has been understood and can be applied without artificial rules.

Don’t Forget!

Make sure you subscribe to Coaching Soccer Weekly through iTunes, or your podcast provider of choice, to be sure you never miss an episode.

We would appreciate it if you would leave us a 5 star rating and/or a written review on iTunes to help spread the word about the show and ensure that we can continue to bring you top notch guests in the future.

In the Next Episode

I talk about my favorite format for training creative goalscorers. Technical shooting work is necessary but it’s exercises like this that help you transfer that skill training to the game.

Future Interviews

In an upcoming episode we talk to Wayne Harrison about training soccer awareness. Wayne has coached at every level of the game and I know you’ll enjoy his insights.