The end of the year includes the most important tournaments of the year. We played one over Memorial Day weekend and our State Cup competition begins on the following Friday. I usually plan to train for an hour one each of the days in between the tournament and State Cup.
The first session is purely for recovery. I want the players to get together get warmed up and go through a couple of easy, non contact exercises and fun games to get players loose and rejuvenated after having played four games over the long weekend. The tournament was an eight hour car ride away so the players are pretty worn out and need to spend some time in active recovery so that they bounce back faster.
Here's an example of our recent recovery session.
We begin with a set of dynamic stretches. After that we do a warm-up led by Scott Moody of Soccer F.I.T Academy. Here is a link that shows the progression of the exercises.
I wanted to do some work on finishing so we used this exercise:
It's a basic passing and shouting drill but it's not taxing and provides the players with plenty of time between repetitions. We add intensity by asking the shooter to act as if they are in a game. They need to get the ball out of their feet and shoot as quickly as possible. The group on the opposite side begins as soon as the shooter receives the ball.
After this we play one of the girls favorite games, Soccer Tennis. This isn't a very functional game but they are working on their touch and they really enjoy it. Mental recovery is just as important as physical recovery so games like this serve a real purpose in the session.
We finish by working on some creative free kicks from the middle and wide areas. These could be useful in our upcoming tournaments and State Cup. They also serve to stimulate the girls imagination.
Finally, the girls take a short cool-down jog and perform some static stretching before ending the session.
[wpsharely id="6889"][/wpsharely]Please share any ideas you have for recovery sessions in the comments area below.
Have a Great Day!
Tom
