While much of what I do during the Futsal season is intended relate to soccer in general and not just Futsal, there is still an adjustment period that my teams go through when we move from indoor to outdoor. The two areas that I focus on during the transition are recognizing and playing longer passes and finishing with a different ball, on the larger goal.
Shooting sessions to prepare the players for the different ball and larger goals are pretty straightforward. I'll use various shooting exercises depending on the age and ability of the players.
This shooting exercise is based on a diamond passing drill that we do quite often. Each player passes and follows their pass. The player at the top of the box takes a touch out of their feet on an angle toward the penalty spot and strikes the ball with their inside foot. After shooting, the player retrieves a ball and joins the line on the other side of the goal so that all of the players take shots with both fee.
Since there are only four field players and a goalkeeper on each Futsal team the players become very used to playing with the closest player. The first few sessions it can often be a challenge to get the players to look beyond the closest player to get the ball forward early when possible. There are a number of different games that I've used to help the players look for the longer pass but this is my one I use the most.
I play this 6 v 6 possession game in a large space (30 x 40) divided in half. The team with possession has five players in one half of the field and a target player in the other half. The defending team pressures with three players and the other three players are out of bounds in the other half.
The attacking team scores a point by passing the ball to their target players. When they are successful, four attackers move into the other half to support the target and one player remains to become the new target. The three defenders who were pressuring the ball move off the field behind the new target. The defenders that were off on the other side come onto the field to try and win the ball. The attacking team now tries to play it to the new target as soon as possible.
If the defending team wins the ball they work to keep it for as long as possible.
After three minutes change the attacking and defending teams.
If this becomes too easy for the attacking team you can allow one of the defenders on the far side to mark the target player.
[wpsharely id="6889"][/wpsharely]Do you do anything special to transition your team from indoor to outdoor? Share it with other coaches in the comments section below.
Have a great day!
Tom
