Friday, February 3, 2012

Getting the creative bug again

So its been awhile since Ive been on to write. No excuses. Just didn't feel like it for a while. I am coaching two U9 teams right now and they have got my creative juices flowing. It is a lot of work trying to come up with age/focus specific training to get them ready for the season ahead. With one team playing division 1 and the other in 3, the pressure is on to be successful. So I think that I may start sharing my practice plans, what worked and what didn't and try to find corresponding youtube videos to post.

This week I introduced two new games/drills to the teams:

The first one is Flying Changes. Both teams loved the fast play and the quick transition from Attack to Defense. The D1 team, the Stingers, took to this drill with a little confusion at first. But a few minutes in and you could see the boys learning to make the most of a numerical advantage and attack with speed. It became very exciting and the results were very good.  With this drill I am hoping to see even better accuracy with angled passing into space to beat the defenders as well as learning to quickly transition from the attacker to defender. This is something that both teams need to do better. Over the next few weeks, I know they will improve.

The next drill that we introduced was 2v2+4.
This drill started with no goals in the middle and just free play. The goal was to make 10 consecutive passes. This worked very well. Once the boys got in the groove, the movement off and on the ball was very positive. One thing that the boys must do better with is making quicker decisions on the ball; identifying when to shoot, dribble, pass, or shield.

As I was looking on youtube for some examples, I have found a a wonderful resource in the many great intructional uploads by YSC/Philadelphia Union. I just hope that the vids remain available as I may just invite my players and their parents to watch them and learn by example as well as by doing the physical work.

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