By Matt Carroll -
One common issue amongst younger teams is the directness of play. Often younger players will look to rush the ball forward with the concept that forward to goal is often the best route, ignoring the diagonal route that would lead to a better goal-scoring opportunity that the coach sees. Film can help with this as an instructional tool showing them what they are missing by playing that threaded diagonal through ball, but repetition of those situations will be what really helps these players identify how to find diagonal scoring opportunities. This session is designed to help players with exactly that.
The session begins with a 1v1 setup in a 15x15 grid with goals in either corner of the defender's grid. The defending player passes to the attacking player who attempts to go 1v1 against the defender and pass into one of the small goals. The focus here should be for the attacker to drive the defender to one side in order to create a passing lane to play into one of the gates on the opposite side the defender is on.
From here we move to a 3v3 to a 1v1 with a 30x30 grid connected to a 20x30 grid with small goals at either end. The attacking team sets up with a “goalie” who will just be the player who starts with the ball from the goal line and two wide players in the 30x30 grid. It will probably be helpful, especially for younger ages, to establish a build-out line here as well. The defending team has three players defending from the build-out line. In the 20x30 grid, the attacking and defending team play with one player each in the grid. The drill starts with the “goalie” playing the ball out to one of their teammates. The attacking team is trying to break the defensive line and play a pass to their teammate in the 1v1 grid to score. The defending team is looking to win possession and score on the goal in the 30x30 grid. If the ball enters the 1v1 grid and the defender wins the ball they can feed the ball to the players in the 30x30 grid to try to score. After the ball is scored or goes out both teams switch roles.
Next, a 40x40 grid is set up with a 40x10 grid set up at both ends with a goal at the end of each of those grids. Two bumper players are put toward the touch lines of the large grid and teams are placed evenly within the center grid. Players attempt to string together a pattern of three passes, once they do so they can play to one of the bumper players. The bumper player then can string a ball into either 10x40 grid and one of the attacking teams then can run through the line into that grid to finish. They must enter the grid after the ball in order to stay “onside”. Initially, defenders are not allowed to enter the grid, but as players begin to understand the concept of line-breaking, a defender from the opposition can eventually be allowed to enter the grid in order to defend.
Finally, the session ends with a scrimmage in which the coach is looking to coach specifically those moments discussed within the session.
By Matt Carroll -
