Tag Archives for " Control "

0 Use the Box for Better Touch

By Mike Smith Pele famously stated, “ There are no tactics without technique”.  And while a skillful debater could argue the advantage of tactical awareness and application, Pele’s words still prevail. From a developmental stand point, I boil down the idea of technique into one aspect, first touch. “It”, i.e. success, all comes down to that

0 Play AWAY from Pressure

By Mike Smith “Why is the other team touching the ball?”  This is a great question to ask your team, and while there are obvious reasons the other team gets the ball, many times, it is because we actually play INTO pressure and didn’t use all our options. A team who can learn to relieve pressure

0 Long Pass Accuracy and Aerial Control

By Sean Pearson Area Size: 42 x 36 yards Time: 20 mins Players: 4 v 4 + 5 Objectives To decide the where, when and how to play a long aerial pass To decide early which body part to use to execute a close control of the ball (chest, thigh or foot) Set-Up 1 large

0 Small Details Big Results

By Mike Smith Throw ins, Flicks, Trapping a Ball Out of the Air, Volleying and Turning. Have you ever had one of those games where just a little different bounce of the ball would have made a huge difference? Have you ever been the coach caught saying “ Unlucky” at least a dozen times a game?

0 Receiving Out of the Air

By Chris Kouns USSF A License (USSF Coaching Education Instructor) – NSCAA Premier Diploma (NSCAA Coaching Education Associate Staff Coach) – Head Women’s Soccer Coach – Georgia Gwinnett College In these activities we are working on players improving their ability to receive balls in the air with different surfaces of the body. Receiving in the

0 Stay on Target

By Jason Stockmann -

Too often it seems that when coaching younger ages and planning practices we forget a major element of the game – goalies. Sure, we send them to goalie-specific training when offered and we have good intentions by not pigeon-holing a kid as only a goalie at that young of an age, but we all still have those couple of kids that tend to be our main goalies. We train the team in defense, offense, set pieces, etc. – so why do we not work more with the keepers as well?

In all honesty, this is most likely due to lack of time, skill and/or extra help at practices. But I refuse to take that as the answer and just let the goalies flounder on their own – they need help from us and they need to work with their teams. Working with the team on drills helps out in two solid ways by letting the keepers show off their own skills (building confidence) and lets the field players see that they can trust their keepers. This keeper-field player trust is a huge aspect of the

1 Gaining Possession

This is a training session that I've often used to work receiving. I'll return to it once a month or so. Sometimes I'll repeat the session once a week (with variations) for three weeks to focus the players on these skills.

Juggling
I begin with a juggling warm-up. It begins with free juggling and progresses to include some form of limitation depending on the level of the players.

Progressions

• One juggle and catch - for players having trouble with the technique of juggling
• Progressive Juggling - One and catch, two and catch, three and catch, etc.
• Right Foot, Left Foot continuous pattern

Throw, Receive and Dribble Away
The players each have a ball in their hands. They jog around the area, throw the ball slightly

0 Passing and Movement off the Ball

By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.

Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on passing and movement off the ball.

This is a simple diamond passing activity. One player starts by himself, 3 players are opposite him, 15 yards away and there are cones on each side, 10 yards apart.. The first player in the line of 3 has a ball.

The player with the ball passes to the

0 Turning, Shielding and Taking Players On

By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.

Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on turning with the ball, shielding and taking players on.

Start with groups of 2’s with a 30 x 10 field for each group and a small goal on each endline. There is one ball per group.

This is a simple 1 v 1 game with an

1 Progressive Turning Practice

Turning is an important skill to develop because players often receive the ball with their back to pressure and need to have the ability to control the ball around that pressure and move the ball forward.

As with all soccer skills, they developed over time through a number of training sessions but below is one example of a practice that will lead your players through the learning process.

5 First Touch Training in 'The Cage'

When I'm constructing an activity for a training session I try to make sure there is an opportunity for the players to work on their first touch. After all, every individual action begins with a first touch. A one touch pass is really just a controlled first touch to another player. I also like use