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Building Pattern Plays
This week's Animated Drills Video describes a structure that you can use to create passing combinations that will train your team to build up and finish. The diagram is created with the session planner on Planet Training that is available through from Planet.Training. Have a great week! Tom
Continue reading#109 Four Favorite Possession Games
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Promoting Confidence in Young Goalkeepers
By Wayne Henderson - The aim of the following practices is to promote confidence, to teach younger goalkeepers how to have a good forward shape when diving and to enjoy making saves. The exercise begins with every goalkeeper having 1 football to the right side of them and 1 football to the left side –
Continue readingMove to Support
By Mike Smith Lesson 1 Get, Give and Go Set-Up Set up 6 passing stations ( as shown .) 3 should be 10yds and 3 should be 15 – 20yds in width. Make sure 3 stations run lateral and 3 run vertical. Groups of 2 pass to each other between the cones at each station. An
Continue readingCombination Play
By Gregg Gillies - Set Up: 20 yds x 10 yds up to 30 x 20 depending on age, skill level, etc. The Drill: Players 1 and 4 stand at opposite ends of the 20 yard rectangle. Player 5 stands in front of Player 1 as a passive defender. Player 2 stands on the side, off
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Three Team Possession
This week's Animated Drills Video is of a possession activity you may have seen before but I don't want to assume that. It's not a very functional possession game but it will force your players to think and react to changes of possession quickly. The diagram is created with the session planner on Planet Training that
Continue readingCentral Midfielders’ Runs Behind the Back Line
By Alex Trukan Typical penetration in behind the opposition’s back line involves a striker or a winger running off defenders’ shoulder to a well-timed pass. This approach, however is relatively easy to defend against as striker remains within defender’s vision and his starting position is predictable. Much more complex to defend against are forward runs
Continue readingMovements to Create Space
By George Kee Area Size: 2/3 field Players: 12-18 Time: 15-20 minutes Objectives To develop attacking combinations create and exploit space for the center forward To develop timing of runs To understand movements of center forward and attacking midfielder or winger Set up This setup calls for one large zone (10x10), 2 small zones (5x5), and
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Pass as a Unit
By Mike Smith So many good things come from basic triangle passing. 2 players can use wall passing in triangle shapes to consistently move the ball. 3 players moving in triangles adds even more to the equation. And, many times during a game, a team will find itself with its back 4 holding a line, 2
Continue readingFinishing and Defending
By Anthony Hazelwood The following activity is a short intensive finishing and defending exercise intended to train the players explosive and soccer specific muscle strength. The specific fitness target is intermittent endurance while adapting the player’s anaerobic capacity in a small sided group format. In this activity, groups of players go through three sequences: Muscle
Continue readingPassing Patterns
By David Johnson - Objective This session will focus on passing and game like patterns of play. The focus needs to be on proper weight and direction of the pass and the quality of the runs. The focus is also on moving without the ball. This should be done as close to game speed as possible.
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Build Up with Attacking Movements
By George Kee Area Size: Half Field Players: 12-18 Time: 25-30 minutes Objectives To develop attacking combinations in order to create space To develop timing of runs to exploit space To understand movements of center forward and the attacking midfielder To understand movements of center forward and winger Set up This is for teams that play
Continue readingDifferent Types of Crosses
By Sean Pearson Area: 40 x 30 yards Time: 20 mins Players: 6 v 6 Objectives To understand the different types of cross To understand when to use a certain cross Set Up Three areas, 2 end zones 10 x 30 yards and a middle zone 20 x 30 yards. 3v3 in the middle with 2 players for
Continue readingExplosive Movement across the Goal to Save
By Scott Housden - As is the case for all other players, the goalkeeper moves considerably during games. Nevertheless, only a few of these movements undertaken serve to fulfil the defensive duties of the goalkeeper. Active movement (i.e. the goalkeeper’s movement on the pitch to ensure good positioning before attempting to make a save) across the
Continue readingKeep Moving
By Mike Smith While so much of success in sports comes down to strength and conditioning, even in the best team environments running for conditioning is on the low end of favorite player activities. I have found it astonishing over the years how many players love soccer, but hate running. Unfortunately for those players, soccer is,
Continue reading1 v 1 Flying Changes
This week's Animated Drills Video shows an example of a fast paced 1 v 1 game that can be used to train the attacking and defending side of the 1 v 1 duel. The diagrams are created with the session planner on Planet Training that is available through from Planet.Training. Have a great week! Tom
Continue readingCreate Space for Driving Forwards
By Alex Trukan Driving forwards with the ball is popular attacking option when the opposition is disorganised. This is because of the spaces left free and insufficiently covered. Options to drive forwards with the ball can be created though. One of the main ways to do it is by using movements off the ball to
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