By Matt Carroll -
The most difficult part of technical work in a group setting is giving highly individualized instructions to several players simultaneously. To give the necessary instruction it usually requires players to go one at a time, but in a group setting this means that several players now are not participating meaning best case you are losing instructional time for those players, worst case it is allowing for negative behaviors brought on by boredom. The technical move diamond allows for players to participate in technical work while creating a singular focal point of focus for the coach to evaluate and provide feedback. To set the activity up start with one cone and march 10 yards forward laying out four more cones in a plus sign pattern about a foot away from each other. Next, walk out the three remaining cones and add a cone 10 yards away creating an even larger plus sign pattern. Have players line up evenly with a ball at all of the outside cones.
The drill starts with the player in the front of each line dribbling up to the inner cone in front of them, all four players should be moving simultaneously. Players are instructed to pull their move close enough that they do not end up running into the cone, but not too far away that they don’t end their move within 2 feet of the inner cone. Players should be instructed then to move to the next cone, either to the left or right of them, and go to the end of the line at that cone. Once the first player has cleared the path to the inner cone the next player then starts their dribble to pull the move.
After moving one way the drill then can be reversed to work on the opposite foot. Two additional changes that can be made to the drill is to add a decision-making element as well as a passing addition. For the decision the players have to pull a different move every time they reach the cone, they cannot pull the same move at any point at each of the four corners. The other option is to play with only four balls and have the players pass to the next line after they pull their move to work on utilizing said move to create an opportunity to pass. The focus should be on how is the player able to come out of the move and work themselves into the proper body positioning to play a pass.
By Matt Carroll
