Technical Training for our club started this week. Once a week all of the teams, U12 and below, complete the same training session. It's focused on a particular technical topic. I talked about how we structure our technical training back in episode 18 - Creating a Technical Training Plan. It's a great way to make sure all of the team in an age group are being exposed to the same instruction on the most important technical topics. Our spring outdoor league … [Read more...]
#076 Breaking Down and Teaching Skills
The weather was really unsettled last week. We ended up having to cancel a number of practices. Outdoor training sessions in the midwest each spring can often be interrupted by bad weather but it's not usually an issue in the fall. Luckily we didn't have a busy weekend of game scheduled so it didn't affect us too badly. I've been seeing great progress in my teams recently. It's great to see things we've worked on it training sessions showing up in game … [Read more...]
#022 Developing Vision and Awareness
Training sessions have started in our area and it’s great to get back on the field with the players again. The summer provides a welcome break but I enjoy working with kids and watching them develop so I’m always excited to start a new year. I have a range of age groups that I’m working with again this year. 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 … [Read more...]
#004 Training Session to Prevent Turning
When we're working on a certain technique or tactic it’s important that we focus solely on that aspect of play. In my last training session I presented a practice that focused on turning. Once I began to add pressure to the turning attacker I didn't tell the defender HOW to pressure or make any corrections to what they were doing. I continued to focus on teaching the attacker to turn and beat the defender. I didn't want to pull the player’s focus away from … [Read more...]
#002 Training Session to Teach Turning
In this episode I share a session on turning. This is obviously an important skill for players at every position. Turning away from pressure and into space is one of the foundational skills required to possess the ball. Turning the ball with control also works on the first touch since you have to have a plan for where the ball will go and how you will get it there. It’s very important that the players know where the pressure is so awareness is a key element of … [Read more...]