Hi, this might be helpful for you to check out if you're wanting a team drill that only needs one ball to run. Hope you find it useful. Soccer drill to coach defending as a unit In this soccer drill we look at developing a team's ability to defend as a unit. What you tell your players the drill is about: Working hard together to win possession. Pressing, supporting and covering as a team unit. What you tell your players to do: Demonstrate a positive, aggressive but controlled attitude. Remember and apply the work on individual pressing. Observe the opponents' positions and your team mates. Keep compact as a unit. Cover spaces as well as players. Seize the opportunity to challenge correctly for the ball. What to shout in the drill: “Press quickly.” “Keep together and work as a unit.” “Get tighter and close the gap.” “Stay on your feet.” “Don’t dive in.” “Win it!” What to look for in this soccer drill: Slow reactions and movement. Gaps between players. Lack of positive mental attitude. Failure to intercept or challenge when there is a chance. Rash challenges, fouls, going to ground. Lack of communication and specific information. What to think about in the drill: Are your players working “smart” or just hard? Are they applying the lessons learned in marking and covering? Think about rotating tired players, as done well this is a hard soccer drill. Drinks and rest pauses are advisable. Relax the 8 pass rule in the game after a while and it will be less frantic. Think about letting them defend deep as a team and counter attack. Applaud all goals and good attempts deriving from good defending. What you get your players to do in the drill: Stage 1: Use an area approx 30m x 20m. Three players stand outside the area at both ends. Three other players from each team stand in the middle third. The coach plays a ball into one end and the players at that end step into the grid to receive. Now they must make 3/4/5 passes before they can pass into the other team at the far end. When they do they get a point and their team mates in the middle can now pressurise the opponents who are receiving the ball. Each successful long pass gets a point. Rotate the players in the middle. Develop the soccer drill When the ball is played in by the coach, one white player can move into the attacking third. His team mates must now make 4/5/6 passes in the other two thirds before passing to him to get a point. All the grey players now work as a team to intercept before the final pass can be made. If they do, it is their turn in possession, if not, whites retain the ball and start again. How would I put these soccer drill skills into a game situation? Play 5 v 5 on a 30m by 45m area with goals. Divide the pitch into thirds. The goalkeeper in possession must distribute in his defending third. A team making eight passes gets a goal. A normal goal also counts. This encourages the defenders to hunt as a pack and try to win the ball back early. They must work as a team. Click here for a competitive team game to make defending fun. 64 Small-Sided Soccer Games is a valuable tool for any soccer (football) coaches who would like to vary their training sessions and keep their players keen. Click here to order a copy. This soccer drill is taken from http://www.bettersoccercoaching.com
I have used numerous exercises and iterations of ideas from this site: http://www.strongsoccer.com/ . It has a lot of animated exercises that give you the feel for what they want. There are also a lot of combination pattern practice sets you can use. Like several have said though, you have to see what you have first. If they can't receive the ball properly, make a good balanced pass with different weights, etc., have at least 2 moves they can do solidly, etc. you will have to start with more basic training for the first few sessions. One drill that I found on one of the British Premier junior club sites has really helped my team and my players love it. It is simply a numbers up possession challenge but it is 8v4, 7v3, 9v5 - whatever just make sure there are four more on the possession team. Half of an 8v8 field size or less. I use four goals - the real goal with a goalie, then cone goals on the left touch - midfield line - and right touch with no goalies, smaller width though since no keep. I have also used 3 when we were indoor. Possessing team gets one goal each time they get to 8 passes in a row (or the number of players they have), defending team can score on any of the goals at any time. I rotate players in and out of the defender spot so that everyone gets time to work on both defending/finishing when on D and on possession when numbers up. I always use this on a day when the topic has been proper receiving of the ball, one touch in squares, other one touch drills, etc. Just thought I would share.
All right CCSC, I will try to be more creative with my words! It will be hard as I have always called something that you do over and over to get better at a drill but it has been banned from my lexicon. Keep those links to sites coming, always looking for new ideas to keep my boys from getting bored in the first hour of our training sessions.
Ha. Mine was cross dressing. My instructor made us vow never to show up cross dressed in brands. Words to live by. My co-workers found that so funny. Now I have a complex about it, strictly adidas for this kid now or no-brand showing club gear.
I understand how using the word "drill" when talking to young players may send a negative message but I don't understand why its inappropriate to use in conversations with coaches. I can even understand not using the word around older players, when they obviously are not fooled into thinking a drill is not a drill by it. As if sprinting was more fun for a high school team if the coach says "Okay everybody let's line up to play the suicide/ladder/blood & guts game!"
Fixed No. I don't think it matters too much. However, a drill kind of strikes up thoughts of lines, etc. Stuff USSF teaches coaches to avoid in the E and D licenses.
This may be more of the case for the coaches than the kids, depending on the kids though. If kids have never been exposed to drills, then you are giving them the first impression of a drill. That impression could be of lines or it could be of a game of keep away. It's up to you as the coach to paint the picture for them/set the tone. IMHO that matters a whole lot more than the term you use.
I'm not getting paid by Nike, Adidas or anyone else, so I'm going to wear the best stuff I've got no matter the label. Adidas has better shoes than Nike, so I get those. Nike has better shorts and shirts, so... Makes no difference really, unless you feel like you need to pay to advertise for some company.
there is a great site called www.internationalstreetsoccer.com This site has got info on a new exciting method to develop skill in players. My biggest piece of advice if your new to coaching soccer is to play music at your sessions. It really does work! It helps kids lossen up and forget any external pressures that may effect their game. It helps create an environment that kids want to be in and you'll notice time will fly by. I can't run sessions without music now! Another great site is www.creativeskillcamps.com QUOTE=MetroChile;18109231]Hi, there. I recently received an offer to start coaching in the U12-U15 age range. I have done some sporadic coaching (fillining) at the middle school and pre-school levels before but nothing like this. I was hoping someone would point me in the right direction with some times with some good drills/tips, etc... Personally, I would imagine that at that age, working on fundamentals/technique should take priority so sites with drills that covers said areas would be helpful. Thanks in advance for your guys help and I will be sure to be posting my progress as this goes along! Cheers![/QUOTE]
Looks like InsideSoccer went with a subscription program. Anybody have something of similar quality but for free? Thanks in advance.
Ajax has launched a new website for soccer coaches: www.ajaxonlineacademy.com This site is great and Ajax told me that it will soon be available in a english version.
I just took a quick look at the site and it appeared to be mostly oriented toward obtaining successful match results through "correct" tactics. I would not find that information helpful for coaching pre-teens, and some of the tactical recommendations I think would take away decision making from the players stunting their tactical development. That is not to say that some of the information isn't useful, but its not a site that I would recommend for coaches of pre-teens.
Yes but it's not what I'm looking for. I'm looking for something with video. I've found my players are more interested in watching and emulating than reading and trying to figure out if they have the proper footwork. If you had videos to every drill and technique you've mentioned in that site, then I think it would be what I'm looking for.
DAMN!!!! This site is awesome. I don't know of anything close to the same quality. barefootballer and bettersoccermorefun are good, but not at the same level as insidesoccer. Now I'm going to have to convince my wife to let me spend more money on something soccer related in order to get a subscription...
I still like NSCAA nscaa.com They have a lot of useful articles. For videos I usually just google to find what I want. There is a lot of good video clips of teams running drills scattered accross the web. Here is a page that I think is particularly good from the NSCAA site for functional training: http://www.nscaa.com/subpages/20081001125813816.php You can also do what the professional coaches do. Go watch some other teams practice and steal every good idea you see Seriously.
The www.ajaxonlineacademy.com website is now also available in English. I like this site a lot. Every drill is explained by animation and videos.
These are all great sites. Does anyone know any that help with soccer speed training and athletic development?
http://www.soccer-training-info.com/soccer_speed_training.asp Patrick Beith has written a lot of articles on the subject of agility and speed training for youth scattered around the net. You can find a lot of stuff on speed training, but you have to be selective to weed out the uninformed. This is only one article rather than a website of them, but I kept it on my favorites. I like it because it represents a whole workout with some explanation behind the selection of the different exercises: http://magazine.stack.com/TheIssue/Article/2385/Strength_Training_with_Freddy_Adu_and_DC_United.aspx
