All Posts by Mike Saif

1 Defensive Shape With Overlapping Runs

Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter.  Today’s featured activity is a 4 v 4 game working on defensive shape with overlapping runs.
There are some excellent activities working on this aspect of the game in the book Defending & Goalkeeping Drills of the World’s Top Teams & Coaches

Start with 4 attacking players around 35 yards out and 4 defending players.  There is a keeper in goal and one of the central attacking players has the ball.

The two central players pass the

5 Change of Direction and Diving

Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter.  Today’s featured activity works on explosiveness, change of direction, diving and shot blocking.

Start with a keeper in the center of the goal with a hurdle one yard in front of each post.  The hurdles are facing the sidelines.  A server is at the top of the 18 with some balls

The keeper starts by sliding, side to side, toward one of the

1 Soccer Agility-Change of Pace

Changing pace is critical in soccer. A player that possesses this skill is able to accelerate and decelerate quickly, transferring energy from the front foot to the back and then to the front again.  It is a skill used by strikers when making accelerating diagonal runs or when defenders need to intercept a penetrating ball.  Here is an exercise that will help teach this change from acceleration to deceleration:  Change of pace.

Purpose:

-        To develop the ability to accelerate and decelerate over a very short distance.

-        To develop sport specific evasion

0 Shooting from Central Areas in a 4-3-3

I've written about my teams transition to playing a 4-3-3 in previous posts. The process has been going really well. I've been very pleased with how we are defending with the system. This was a concern for me because I could see how we were going to be able to deal with the other team's wide players. The girls have done well sharing this responsibility between the winger, attacking midfielders and wing backs.

We've been able to create a lot of offense using the wingers and wing backs getting forward. The player we haven't used much is our center forward. The spaces in the middle have been so congested that it's been easier to get the ball wide and attack from there.

This week I want to work on attacking combinations in the middle of the field. We have a number of good resources for this type of session. An article in the September Magazine Update to our Member Drills Database includes a great session from Jan Pruijn of Ajax International. The session was originally presented at the Nebraska WORLD CLASS COACHING International Coaching Seminar held last February in Lincoln, NE.

Another great resource is Player's Roles in the 4-3-3. One of the two books focuses on

15 Corner Kicks, Free Kicks & Counter-Attacks

Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter.  Today’s featured activity works on corner kicks, free kicks and counter attacks.  This is an interesting way to work on dead ball situations while incorporating other aspects of the game of soccer. There are other variations such as these in the book Brazilian Soccer Coaching: Learn How to Train Technically Superior and Tactically Intelligent Players Training the Brazilian Way

This is a regular 11 v 11 scrimmage (or less numbers depending upon how many you have available).  One team starts on offense and takes 10 corner kicks from one side.  Players line up as they would in a regular game.

The attacking team (in this case the black team) makes it’s normal runs trying to score while

3 Near Post Shots

Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter.  Today’s activity works on near post shots and reading a situation.

Start with a server with balls12 yards out from the 6 extended.  Another player is near the 12 yard spot and a keeper is at the far post.

The server says “go” and the keeper quickly works his

1 Dynamic Warm-Up

When talking about fitness and conditioning one of the most important things for players (and teams) to do is make sure they get a proper warm up.  If you are a coach, it’s vital you make sure your players warm up properly.  If you are a player, it’s your responsibility to make sure you are warmed up properly.  If your team or coach doesn’t make sure you warm up properly, you should do it yourself.

Years ago, warming up meant static stretching and then a little bit of jogging.  Nowadays, one is much more likely to do some form of dynamic warm up

Below is an example of a dynamic warm up I used for years.

1 Creating Movement and Combination Play

My U13 team that is playing in the 4-3-3 formation played it's first tournament this weekend. I think it's very beneficial to have an early season tournament so that the team plays three or four games over the course of a weekend. Generally I'm not a fan of the current tournament system and feel that they put too much emphasis on who has the fittest team rather than who has the best team. But the advantage is that you can spot areas that need to be worked on in one game and then come back and focus on those in the next game.

After an early season tournament I usually have two or three weeks of sessions in mind based things that we need to improve on from those games. This weekend we were clearly the strongest team but we ran into a team that knew our players and system of play. They sat in and played a 4-5-1 (which looked more like a 4-6-0 at times) and just looked to catch us on the counter attack. They were successful in keeping us out because we

1 Movement OFF the Ball

Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter.  Today’s featured game works on movement off the ball and the use of depth in the attack.  You can see similar type games in the book Brazilian Training Games; 102 Small-Sided Games, Exercises and Drills.

There is a tendency for forwards to come back far to get the ball and while their eagerness to be involved is commendable, the problem is it makes it difficult to stretch the field in the attack.  This makes it easier for the opponent to compress the field when defending and eliminates a lot of space to work with,

This game is on a field that is 50 x 30 (size can vary depending upon the number of players on the field) with two teams of 6.  Use flags (or poles) to make a goal 10 yards in from each end line.

This is a regular game with the exception that a team can score from

4 A Catching Game to Work on Hands & Distribution

Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter.  Today’s featured activity is a catching game to work on hands, confidence and distribution.

Start with 2 keepers 10 yards apart (the distance can vary depending upon the level of the keepers.  You do want this to be done between 2 keepers of similar abilities.  One keeper starts with a ball in their hands.

The keeper with the ball throws the ball at the other keeper.  The ball can be thrown at any

0 Agility and Perception

All too often coaches train agility with their athletes simply by running pattern-based drills with ladders, dots, cones or lines. And although this is a necessary tactic in teaching pattern movement, it quickly loses it value once the players understand where they need to go. The player’s focus is isolated on getting to the cone by reaching with the foot or hand. Their vision is focused on the cone or line where they lose the athletic feel of the pattern, and when this happens the drill loses its effectiveness.

In reactive-situational agility we do not want the player focused on moving to a spot on the field, and we certainly do not want them

5 Management Lessons from Youth Sports

By Dan Coughlin - Author of Find a Way to Win

A few weeks ago I completed a really enjoyable five-year experience of coaching my son’s recreational soccer teams. I was an assistant coach and a head coach for Ben’s soccer teams from kindergarten co-ed soccer where we used nerf soccer balls in indoor soccer through fourth grade all-boys soccer where things were starting to become a bit more like competitive soccer.

If you’ve ever been in this situation, you probably have seen a number of parallels from this experience to that of being a business manager. I encourage you to coach a youth sports team even if you don’t know that much about the sport. You will learn a lot about yourself and about human dynamics in scenarios that are hard to duplicate anywhere else.

Relationships with Players/Employees
In the end, being a youth coach is extraordinarily fun to do because of the relationships with the players. It is truly priceless to watch kids literally go from holding hands during a game to working as hard as they can at practice after practice. As the memories wash over me of the multiple personalities and situations I encountered with the kids, it brings back nothing but smiles. Being with kids, at least for me, was pure fun. It was about trying to help them improve and encouraging them along the way. As they got older, it was about trying to teach

3 A Quick Shooting Activity From An Angle

Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter.  Today’s featured activity is a quick shooting activity working on coming in from an angle.  The book A Year in the Championship: A complete season of training sessions with Millwall FC shows similar type of activities where they take a simple activity and alter it to make it more effective.

Frequently we see teams do a simple shooting activity where a coach or player stands near the top of the 18 and there is a line of players with balls.

The first player passes into the coach who lays the ball off for

2 Ways to Work On Ball Handling Activities

Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter.  Today’s article will show some ways to work on ball handling activities.

The reason for this topic is I recently ran the goalkeeping section of a camp and was surprised at how uncomfortable the keepers were with the ball.  Sure they could catch a ball thrown or kicked at them but simple things such as catching a ball with one hand, catching a ball in an awkward position etc was something they simply couldn’t do.  This isn’t due to bad training but rather the keepers not spending enough time with a ball in their hands.

These are two person activities with 2 balls.  The keepers start 5 yards apart and can move closer as they become more comfortable with the activities.

1 Integrating Technical and Tactical Training Into Conditioning Workouts

While it would be wonderful if we could focus all of our time in training on technical and tactical parts of the game, the reality is additional fitness work is important. The key is whenever possible, try to integrate either technical or tactical aspects into your fitness work.

Below is an example of how you can use plyometrics and incorporate quick one and two touches into the activity to get the best of all worlds

Plyometrics usually involve short quick jumps to improve quickness, explosiveness and to decrease the likelihood of injury. One way to look at plyometrics is they wont make much of an impact on your time in the one mile run but potentially can make a major impact on your first step and since you have a whole lot more first steps than you do one mile runs, they are extremely valuable.

5 Getting Our Players to Watch the Game

Last spring we were having practice and there was tie during a 1v1 competition we were having. Whenever this happens I ask the players a trivia question to break the tie. This time I asked, "Name a Women's National Team player other than Abby Wambach." One of the girls blurted out, "Mia Hamm!" The other had a blank expression on her face. These were 12 year old girls. I think I would have had much the same response had I asked a similar question of a group of 12 year old boys about the Men's National Team.

With the Women's World Cup happening this summer I organized a team get together for the final. It worked out perfectly when the U.S. made the final. In the weeks leading up to the final we talked about the way the games were going and who was playing well. I asked if the girls could name one of the U.S. defenders

0 Small-Sided Game Working On Interchanging Positions and Support

Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter.  Today’s featured activity is a structured small sided game working on interchanging positions and support.  Similar type activities can be found in the book Professional Youth Academy Training Sessions by  Sam Saif.

This is a 5 v 5 game on a 30 x 20 field with 2 full sized goals. The field is broken into thirds and there is a keeper in each goal, 2 backs, 1 midfielder and 1 forward for each team.

The ball starts with the black teams keeper who can roll the ball to either of his backs.  

0 Positioning and Shot Blocking

Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter.  Today’s featured activity works on positioning and shot blocking.

This activity is a long shot/short shot sequence that forces the keeper to react based on location and position themselves accordingly.

The keeper starts in goal and there are two lines of balls.  One line is around 15 yards from goal and the other line is 22-25 yards from goal.  The server starts just outside the far line.

1 Soccer Agility – 4 Cone 1/4 Ladder Drill

Changing direction and foot speed are essential in the game of soccer.  There are numerous times where a player must use these skills to quickly distribute a pass or run for a 50/50 challenge. Here is an exercise that will help with foot speed and change of direction: 4 Cone 1/4 Ladder Drill.