By Danny Carvalho -
This Small Sided-game was applied to a group of seven players aged 15 to 23 and two coaches. Have a player be a Goalkeeper and split the rest into two teams of three. Have them sort out which team starts attacking and which team starts defending.
The game is going to be played in rounds of three minutes non-stop in an area of about 25x25 yards, with the regular rules of soccer (throw-ins, corner kicks, goal kicks, fouls…) except for no offsides. The coaches played as the support players (SP) who must stay behind the line opposed to the goal.
Attacking team must score on the goal as the defending team works to stop them, win the ball and connect a pass to one of the SPs to become attackers (transition to attack).
If this happens, attackers must quickly become defenders (transition to defense) because the game goes on with teams rapidly switching from offense to defense and vice versa.
After every three minutes have the players track their heart rate (HR) to control the intensity and intervals between rounds. If the player in goal is not an actual Goalkeeper, have players take turns and rotate as GKs.
With the group I worked with, the HR average after every round was 170-180 bpm which proved the game to be a great tool for conditioning while playing and combining with some tactical content worked previously in the week/month.
By Danny Carvalho, DOC at Corinthians Campinas Youth Club, Brasil
