Soccer Coach Weekly 1

6 yds

2 13

player movement pass

When out of possession, Barcelona are renowned for the intensity with which they will attempt to win the ball back, and they do this by pressing quickly and with purpose. Their energy and bravery in retrieving possession high up the pitch is now very well established, and sometimes their reputation alone can cause teams to make a bad pass or fail to control the ball.

But at the heart of effective pressing is hard work, concentration and focus, so here’s a session designed to make the most impact when not in possession of the ball.

How to set it up:• The session is comprised of two parts – a six-yard warm-up played in a narrow channel marked out by four cones – and a main 50x30-yard practice area, with a goal at each end.

Warm-up:• In pairs, player 1 passes to his partner then follows the pass. He must try to slow the player on the ball, whose task it is to get the ball back to the far end from where the exercise started.

• Players are not allowed to tackle – instead they must use a jockeying technique to block their opponent’s movement.

Main game:• This is a standard 4v4 game, plus a keeper in each goal, except for the fact that the player who receives the ball must take three touches before he can pass. This gives the opposing team the chance to close down and press the player before he feeds the ball to a team mate.

• Play this for 10 minutes.

Developing the session:• Remove the three-touch rule.

• All restarts are with the goalkeepers who must roll the ball out to a team mate – no kicking.

• If either team wins the ball in the opposition half and scores without the ball going back into their own half, they get three points. A goal scored by any other method earns one point.

• Play this for 10 minutes.

Why this works:The warm-up to this session helps in coaching players to

be aware of opportunities in which they can quickly close their opponents down, thus making it harder to pass the ball. It helps to show players that if they haven’t got the ball they must work hard to win it back.

The session advances into a positive attacking game whereby a team’s ability to press high up the pitch can end not only in regaining possession, but in scoring goals as well.

September 28 2011 Issue 231Under 4s - Under 16s weekly

Pressing with purposeA dynamic session that teaches players how to press successfully

Pressing with purpose

WELCOME…...to the new issue of Soccer

Coach Weekly. Kids love playing football, and us coaches get a thrill out of seeing players

progress, but our guide on page three offers some useful advice

on overuse injuries. After all, your players are no use to you

on the sidelines! With some fantastic drills, sessions and

practices, enjoy the issue and we’ll see you next week.

1 At first, players press each other in a simple 1v1 set-up

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player movement pass

2 In the main game, players must take three touches before passing the ball

6 yds

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player movement pass

3 The greys press high up the pitch with the incentive of gaining three points if

they win possession and score

6 yds

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player movement pass

weekly

Soccer Coach Weekly 2

SAID LIKE A PROWARM-UP

Go left or go rightSAID LIKE A PROa WARM-UP

One-two drop-offHow to set it up:• Place six cones in a line with a gap of five yards between each cone.

• One group of players begins at top left, while another starts the practice at bottom right.

• One of the players from the bottom row – the ‘starter’ – is placed at top right.

Getting started:• The starter progresses down the line completing one-two passes through the cones with a working player from top left.

• On reaching the end of the line, the starter goes off and a new player enters. The grey player waits to receive a pass from the incoming white player.

• The practice continues in the opposite direction with each player going both ways. After each player has completed his upward and downward length, he goes to the back of the line and a new player moves in to take over.

Why this works:This is a technical warm-up that concentrates players on touch

and weight of pass. Each team needs to be alert, they must know their turn and have to stay on the move at all times.

player movement pass

2

3

1

4

One-two drop-off

KEy

ELEM

EntS • Control

• Passing

• Awareness

• ReactionsPlayers

make one-twos up

and down through

the line of cones

player movement pass

2

3

1

4

tOOLS, tIPS AnD tECHnIQUES

Shielding showcase

try it out:• The set-up is two players in a 10x10-yard grid with one ball.

• The first player starts with the ball and has to shield it for 10 seconds. If the second player wins the ball, he tries to shield it for the remainder of the 10 seconds.

• To make it more competitive let each player start with the ball five times and see who has possession more often at the end of the 10-second periods.

• Arms out – Put the arms to the side to help balance and to keep the opponent away.

• Be aggressive – Use arms, shoulders, body and legs to keep an opponent at bay, and body weight to push them away.

• Head up – The head should be raised in order to see what options are open. While shielding, encourage players to play the ball with the inside and outside of the foot, and to try using the sole of the foot to roll it from side to side. It’s also important they constantly readjust their body position to counter pressure from the opponent, and that they practise using both feet.

Using your training sessions properly is essential when equipping young

players with the skills they need to be successful at soccer. This drill helps you to show your players how to fend off a challenge in order to either wait for support or buy time... or both!

A great way of doing this is to shield the ball. Shielding is all about positioning the body and legs between the ball and the opponent. Then, using the foot furthest away, the player keeps the ball as far from the opponent as possible whilst maintaining close control at all times.

Here are some top tips:• Get side on – Ideally, have one shoulder pointed at the opponent to see what they are doing.

• Crouched posture – Bend the knees, lower the bottom, and keep feet a shoulder-width apart to provide a stable base and balance.

“Shielding is all about positioning the body and legs between the ball and

the opponent”

Teaching your players how to protect the ball

Soccer Coach Weekly 3

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Injuries in young players are certainly less frequent than would be encountered by senior players, but they shouldn’t be taken any less seriously. In particular, overuse injuries come about because players and coaches are keen to play as much football as possible. But knowing the limitations of your kids is important...

What are overuse injuries?Overuse injuries in youth football usually

result from repetitive forces that cause ‘micro trauma’. Damaged tissues become inflamed, causing swelling and a loss of function. Continuing to exercise leads to a vicious cycle and the injury becomes chronic.

Occasionally, children can suffer even more serious injuries (such as fractures) as a direct result of too much coaching, especially if it is combined with a punishing programme of match play.

Too much football coaching and match play (and, more importantly, the wrong type of coaching) can cause serious, long-lasting injuries to children. This is simply because a child’s body is not fully developed and is unable to withstand repeated impact, even if that impact is simply from running for a long time on hard or uneven ground.

How common are overuse injuries?

Overuse injuries are responsible for almost 30% of the injuries in football and range from mild tendinitis (swelling of a tendon) to a stress fracture.

What damage can be caused by too much coaching and/or match play?

1. The inflammation, or even fracture, of a child’s delicate ‘growth plates’ (tissue at the ends of growing bones). Fractured growth plates are not only painful, they can result in a bone that stops growing.

2. Knee pain caused by soreness and swelling from inflammation of the tendon or cartilage under the kneecap.

3. Spondylolysis - persistent lower back pain caused by trauma, or from repetitive flexing, twisting, or over extension of the back muscles.

4. Osgood-Schlatter’s disease (apophysitis) - a painful bump where the kneecap tendon attaches to the shin bone.

tHE ARt Of COACHInG CHILDREn

How much is too much?Not a great deal of hard data is available

on this subject. That is because large groups of children would have to be put through an increasingly punishing schedule of coaching to see how long it takes them to collapse – and that defeats the object of the advice!

You just need to be sensible, watchful and treat children as individuals.

How to minimise the risk• Modify or stop training during growth spurts.

• Don’t force children to take part in sports they are patently unsuited to for reasons of physique or temperament.

• Make sure all young players are adequately warmed up before exercise and cooled down afterwards.

• Children should never be told to ‘run it off’ - even minor injuries need to be properly treated.

How to treat overuse injuriesRest and, if appropriate, use ice to reduce

inflammation or compression wraps to reduce swelling. Always get medical advice at the earliest opportunity.

References:Federation of Holistic TherapistsBriggs, James: Children in Sport / Child Abuse in Sport. Sports Therapy: Theoretical and Practical Thoughts and Considerations, 2001

Risk factorsA child is especially vulnerable to overuse

injuries while going through growth spurts (bones growing quicker than the connecting tendons). This usually occurs between the ages of 10-14 for girls and 12-16 for boys.

Having pushy parents doesn’t help! Andre Agassi used to have a tennis racket taped to his hand when he was just two years old, and a tennis ball suspended above his cot for something to ‘fix his eyes on’.

That may be an extreme example, but parents of young football players can also become over-concerned with their child’s success, encouraging them to train too hard before their bodies (and minds) are strong enough to withstand the pressure.

In addition, poor quality coaching can lead to overuse injuries. Children shouldn’t be treated

as though they are mini-adults, while failure to warm up and cool down young players properly can greatly increase the risk of an overuse injury.

Coaches have to put their players’ health before trophies.

Don’t get your players in for lots of extra training sessions just because you have a cup final coming up! If you do, that cup final could be their last.

the danger signs• Reluctance to attend practice sessions

• Sudden deterioration in performance

• Getting tired easily

• Becoming impatient or arguing with team mates

• Repeated minor injuries and pain that doesn’t go away

Overuse injuriesWhat they are, why they occur and how to stop them

“the child’s body is a lot like a paperclip. If you just keep

bending it over and over and over again, eventually that paperclip is going to break”. - Dr. Michael

Busch, Orthopedic Surgeon, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta

SCW SURGERy

Q My keeper needs to improve his distribution from throws. What’s the

best tip you’ve got? Tony Langshott, Woking.

A People assume that direction is everything for keepers looking to throw the ball to

a team mate further up the pitch. Coaches therefore spend large amounts of time practising aim.

Yet the bigger cause of problems for keepers – or, more accurately, the receiving outfield players – is often the trajectory of the ball.

Younger keepers, especially, assume that any ball in the line of their target is a good ball. But on each throw it should be landing at the feet of the receiver so that the player can take it in his stride and move forward. All too often balls can be too high and need to be chested down; or worse still, climbing in height having bounced on the ground in front of the player.

The ideal short throw should bounce midway between the keeper and the player, so that the ball is on its way down from the bounce when it arrives, having also lost some of its momentum.

If your keeper can combine this skill with pace and direction, he’ll really be maximising his throwing ability.

Got a question for SCW Surgery?Email it to us at james.evans@coach-soccer.com

Q A rival coach tells me he’s been using ‘view restricting devices’ in training.

Are they any good? Zak Erskine, Ottawa, Canada.

A I’ve seen a few examples of these in coaching sessions and the jury still seems

to be out on exactly how effective they are.The last variety I saw consisted of a circular

disc that was worn around the neck. It obstructed the view from the neck down, with the intention of encouraging players to look up at all times, to receive the ball on the front foot and to play with positive forward intentions.

In many ways I’d say the idea worked. The game I witnessed was visibly expansive in terms of the distribution of the ball and both teams’ intentions to attack and involve team mates.

But what was gained in that respect was lost in players’ inability to see the ball when underfoot, or to tackle safely. Play also became overly linear since it was difficult for players to look to the side.

Supporters of the idea will say that the idea of using the devices is to adopt good habits in isolation, but if in rehearsing those principles players are also taking on bad habits (such as not looking sideways, for instance), then, personally, I’m not convinced at the overall end benefit.

Q A pro club has offered me some coaching work – it would mean leaving

my side behind if I go for it. If I do, what should I be looking for? Gordon Love, Glasgow.

A You should approach this as you would do most jobs in most sectors – they might be

interviewing you, but you’re certainly running the rule over them too.

So you need to know what their philosophy is, where the progression is both for you and the players you’ll be overseeing, and how much control you’ll have over the things that matter the most to you.

You’ll certainly find that things are done very differently to anything you know of at the moment. Pro clubs generally have a number of different faces leaning in and contributing, so your days of being the leading light and in sole charge will almost certainly come to an end.

What is expected of you, as well, and why has this opportunity come about?

But all of the above uncertainty needn’t be a bad thing. I think most successful coaches find that embracing a new challenge is the most important thing, rather than concentrating on how their football existence has changed.

this week’s coach: Adam Maas Group: 12 to 15-year-oldsAdam is a coaching assessor in Hamburg, Germany

Soccer Coach Weekly is published by Green Star Media Ltd, Meadow View, Tannery Lane, Bramley, Guildford, GU5 0AB, UK. Email: james.evans@coach-soccer.com Tel: +44 (0)1483 892894 Fax: +44 (0)1483 894148 Editor: James Evans Publisher: Kevin Barrow Managing Director: Andrew Griffiths

Customer Service: Duncan Heard Designer: Steve Southern Contributors: David Clarke, Paul Dargan, Chris Galea © Green Star Media Ltd. All rights reserved.

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Soccer Coach Weekly 4

This is a great game for angles of defence and changing roles in attack.DAVID CLARKE’S tOUCHLInE tALES

Why warm-ups workMy Under-11s played a match last week that they had won even before the game

kicked off. It was the first cold day of the year and rain

was drizzling down. I was warming my team up with a fast moving keep-ball game when I noticed the opposition players. They were all standing in the penalty area with the exception of one who was crossing balls in. Very few of the players were making any effort to go for the ball.

The players were standing around in small groups with their shirt sleeves over their hands, and shoulders hunched against the rain. They already looked a beaten side. This made me even more determined that my players would enjoy the build-up to the game and go into it feeling confident they could win.

My players were running around without letting the rain or cold bother them. As we gathered momentum, the opposition players became even more huddled – the managers were also some distance from the players,

themselves looking as though they wished they were somewhere else.

What the opposition manager should have been doing was keeping his players warm, ensuring that they kept moving around. That way, when the match started they would have had a better chance of getting up to speed quickly.

I was just doing what I normally do with

my team and ignoring the drizzling rain. Sure enough, when the match kicked off we found ourselves 2-0 up after 10 minutes and never looked back.

Were we a better team than them? Who knows? But the game was won during the warm-up - the players were ready to play the game. If

the opposition manager and coach had done the same as we did their team may have beaten us. Indeed, our opponents did begin to play well in the second half, but by then they had too great a hill to climb to get back into the game.

Of course, at times we all find it hard to get ourselves up and ready. Sometimes it seems easier to just allow the players to do what they want before the game kicks off.

But while it may be an easy fix at the time, you’re only storing up problems for the game itself. And then you really do have to work hard to try to get your players back and focused again.

Warm-ups should be simple and you can, with a minimum amount of organisation, get your team passing the ball between them, preparing their muscles and brains for the match ahead. Believe me, it’s worth it.

“Our opponents did begin to play well in the second half, but by

then they had too great a hill to climb to get back into the game.”

Soccer Coach Weekly 5

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SMALL-SIDED GAME

Circular multi-goal game

The players pass the ball

back and forth

player movement passshot on goalrun with ball

player movement passshot on goalrun with ball

player movement passshot on goalrun with ball

The players must try to score,

quickly retrieve another ball and

start again

When the group of balls run out, the

game switches

to overload play

The game starts with

four 1v1 situations

1

2

3

How to set it up:• Mark out a circle of about 25 yards diameter using cones or markers.

• Four mini goals are placed at equal points around the circle.

• Place a good number of balls in the centre of the area.

• This small-sided game features two teams of four players - attackers and defenders.

Getting started:• To start, the attacking players have a ball each and must try to score in the mini goals. Each player attacks a different goal, going 1v1 against a defender.

• Once the phase is run through, the attacking player must quickly race back to the centre, retrieve a new ball and attack again.

• After the initial 1v1 set-ups, there will be no balls left in the middle, so serve balls in from the edge of the circle. You can serve any number from one to four, and at the same time, but players not in possession must support a player who receives the ball, meaning that one, two, three or four players may be attacking the same goal.

• Defenders should therefore support their team mates in racing across the circle to help protect a goal.

• Play for five minutes, or until the balls run out, then switch over. The winning side is the one to have scored the most goals in their allotted time.

Why this game works:This is an unrelenting game that initially practises 1v1 game situations,

before evolving into a multiplayer and multidirectional pursuit that teaches each team to attack and defend as individuals, pairs, trios, and even foursomes.

Players must look to cover space as well as opposition players in order to protect the four goals.

Circular multi-goal game

SKIL

LS

• Defending

• Teamwork

• Awareness

• Reactions

player movement passshot on goalrun with ball

A quick-phase game that’s multidirectional and multiplayer

this game was taken from 64 Small-Sided Soccer Games by Michael Beale. the manual contains a vast range of

competitive scenarios to develop attacking and defending skill. Get your copy here: www.coach-soccer.com/64ssgs