Tag Archives for " Small-Sided Games "

Possession to Finish

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 possession with the purpose of finding the correct opportunity to create finishing chances. The Blitz Set Up Place two

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Defending Deep to Counter Attack

By Sean Pearson Area Size: 30 x 45 yards Teams: 6 v 6 Time: 15 Minutes Objectives To transition from defending to attacking with speed Use the overload of 3v2 to manipulate the defense After defending deep and stopping penetrations it is important for the team to capitalize on the space in front of them via a counter

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Defending Deep

By Sean Pearson Area Size: 30 x 45 yards Teams: 6 v 6 Time: 15 Minutes Objectives To stay compact Deny penetration through the middle Work together as a team Defending deep in and around your own area is useful when the opposition has a prolonged period of possession and dominance. It is important your players don’t panic

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Switching the Ball in a 4-3-3

By Sean Pearson Area Size: Central Area: 30 x 40 yards, Channels 5 x 40 yards Teams: 5 v 5 + 2 Time: 15 Minutes Objectives To understand when to switch the ball To relate the switch to the formation 4-3-3 To understand how to switch depending on opposition player positioning This is a practice I have adapted from when

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Penetration Through the Lines

By Sean Pearson Area Size: Central Area: 15 x 30 yards, End Zones 10 x 30 yards Teams: 6 v 6 + 1 Time: 15 Minutes Objectives To move the ball through all 3 zones via passing or dribbling Make the field as big as possible Understand the best option to move the ball forwards depending on the

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Using Small-Sided Games

Presenting your players with many different small-sided game environments is a great way to keep them thinking and adapting to the format of the game. If you choose the format carefully you can put the emphasis of the game on just about any area of the game that you've been working on in training .

CoachingSoccerChampions

We have three different books that I look to for new ideas when it comes to small-sided games. One of them is 'Coaching Soccer Champions'. The author, Terry Michler, is the winningest high school coach in the country. He's been the Head Coach

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Changing Your 4v4 Games

Small-sided games are an excellent way to give your players a lot of touches while retaining the core elements of the game. In my opinion the 4 v 4 format is the best of all. It has everything the full sided game has but it allows for a lot more touches and opportunities for each player to contribute to the game. There's no where to hide in a 4 v 4 game.

Obviously, different methods of scoring drastically change way your players approach game. I like to challenge the players with different environments that challenge them to come up with solutions to the problems the game presents

CoachingSoccerChampions

We have three different books that I look to for new ideas when it comes to small-sided games. One of them is 'Coaching Soccer Champions'. The author, Terry Michler, is the winningest high school coach in the country. He's been the Head Coach

Continue reading

Competitive Finishing Options for Players U14 and Above

By Chris Kouns USSF A License (USSF Coaching Education Instructor) – NSCAA Premier Diploma (NSCAA Coaching Education Associate Staff Coach) – Head Coach Capital University Women’s Soccer (OH) These finishing activities are designed to allow players to feel pressure (from competition and technical components) but not face defenders while working to improve their finishing. Activity

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Pre-Game Training Activities for Players U14 and Above

By Chris Kouns USSF A License (USSF Coaching Education Instructor) – NSCAA Premier Diploma (NSCAA Coaching Education Associate Staff Coach) – Head Coach Capital University Women’s Soccer (OH) These activities are designed to help your players focus on mastering the situations that your players may find themselves in on game day Activity 1: Technical and

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Training Indoors for Outdoor Games

As the winter indoor season comes to an end coaches start to look at transitioning to the outdoor game while we're still forced to do most of our training indoor. This is a challenge as they prepare for outdoor leagues and tournaments just around the corner.

I'm fortunate to train my teams on two basketball courts that are side by side. This allows us to start to spread things out a bit and get the players looking for longer passes in open space.

Here are a couple of games that I used last week to start the transition.

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After warming up and playing some 4 v 2 possession games we moved to

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Different Scoring Methods

Small-Sided games are a great training tool used by most coaches. Most of the small-sided games I see used require each team to score in the same way.

Games like the ones below from Coaching Soccer Through Small-Sided Games are used by coaches at every level, all around the world.

The standard small-sided game has two teams playing on a small field between two goals.

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This type of game will give each player more

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Winter Outdoor Training

With more and more turf soccer fields being installed around the country an increasing number of coaches are training their teams outdoor during the winter months. This provides a great opportunity to continue to focus on playing 'Real Soccer' when we used to be limited to practicing and playing small indoor versions of the game.

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3x5 Small-Sided Game

By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.

Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Todays featured activity works on passing, receiving, communication and much more.

Start with a 40 x 40 grid with three groups of fives. One group (in this case the black group) starts with balls, one other group is on offense and the third group is on defense.

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Any of the players can go anywhere in

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2v1 Small-Sided Games

By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.

Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activity involves a series of 2 v1 attacks working on possession, penetration and scoring.

Start with a 10 x 40 grid broken into fourths. There is a 3 yard wide goal on each line (except where the attackers will start) and a defender in each goal.

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The first two attackers start with a ball and as soon as they enter the grid, the defender can

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Just Let Them Play

I sat down to plan my U8 and U10 practices the other day and while going through my old sessions and thinking about previous games I realized that it would be a great day to just let them play. We didn't have any games the following weekend and there hadn't been a practice this season that I just let them go at it.

I regularly have the boys play various 1v1 games and we always finish with a small-sided game at the end of training but every once in a while I like to plan an entire session around playing competitive 1v1, 2v2, 3v3 and 4v4 games. This gives the players a break from the usual format and gives them a chance to use all of the skills that we've been working to improve. They love it because

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2v2 SSG for Defensive Organization

By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.

Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on defensive organization in a 2 v 2 situation

Frequently we train by starting with the players in traditional positions and then see how they react. In this activity we have a 2 v 2 going to goal but the 2 attacking players start one in front of the other.

Start with a keeper in goal and 2 defending players. The first attacker starts 35 yards out with a ball and then second attacker is 10 yards further back.

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The player with the ball starts with a dribble and then it’s a live attack on goal. The defenders want to concentrate on

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Conditioned SSG - 6v4 Offense vs Defense

by Gabriel Celante

This drill focuses on teaching the art of attacking in numbers and building attack from the center of the field and finishing in the 4-2 (from 4-4-2 Diamond formation). This soccer drill also focuses on innervating tactical movements.

6v4 - Offense vs Diffense

Organization

  • Set up the field as showed in the diagram:
  • Two full size goals (GK in each goal)
  • Two smaller goals (made with cones)
  • Divide one team into
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Using One-Touch Passing to Improve Attacking

By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.

Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on one touch passing and attacking in a game situation.

This is a small sided game (although it can be 11 v 11 on a full sized field) with only two limitations.

A player can only play one touch

The only exception so rule 1 is if they attack a defender or the goal with their first touch.

As an example, in the picture below the black team has the ball.

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The player can pass one touch or can

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