U13 - Challenging for the ball

I feel closer to my team than ever after our session last night. Last night we had our training on a mini field at our club.

Environment:

• 14 players 
• 60x40 mini-field with 2 goals
• 20 balls, 12 agility poles, cones, blue and yellow pinnies 

I was tired and emotionally drained yesterday, so I made sure the practice plan kept the boys busy and productive and not let my fatigue set me up to ruin training. My goal for the end of the night was to have more “challenges” 1v1 and playing the ball out of the air.

I did not do any running. It was VERY hot, and I wanted them with full energy for the subsequent drills.

We started with a dribbling warm-up that included dribbling through 6 agility poles and then running with the ball for 20 yds. Going through the poles we circled each one with the inside and outside of the feet then right and left foot only. Running with the ball is always a challenge for some boys and it requires more practice than some people think.

We then set up a 1v1 sequence that we always use. Simple serve and play setup. I didn’t coach it because I was going to over-coach the next drill.

We then set up a 10x20 grid. 7 yellow, 7 greys. Each team lined up on their own end, holding hands across as if to form a wall across the end of the grid. Each player was assigned a number. I would serve a ball in the middle, call a number and each corresponding number from each end entered the “battle area” to win the ball. To score the ball had to be played on the ground past the wall of players holding hands. I was looking for hard challenges and we were starting to get them.

Our progression was that I would call 2 numbers. The first number had the challenge. If a player was beat, then his teammate (the second number) stepped in to cover.

Coaching points:

• CHALLENGE!
• Don’t let us at the moment of impact, to avoid injury
• Full body into the challenge
• If you win the ball, lift your head and make the next play a smart one.

I have to say I was happy with how this ended. I work hard to stay patient as I know each player needs that moment when they have a collision and realize it doesn’t hurt. The guys were whooping it up when there was a good challenge and I saw guys helping each other up after collisions.

Getting your players to challenge is more mental than it is technical.  It's not like teaching how to cross or defend as there is fear to overcome. When it's happening, one player at a time, the entire team senses a new level of intensity.

When we got into our game I was looking for challenges for each ball. I was also encouraging the keepers to put the ball in the air as I also wanted to get them in the mindset for playing balls out of the air (and challenging for balls in the air)

As a coach, I am happy with our progress heading the ball, playing the ball out of the air and the appreciation they are developing for strong challenges.

I wouldn’t say it was my best coached session ever, but I wasn’t in the mood to be frustrated and I didn’t want to ruin a 90-minute opportunity to work with my boys... so I will say I am proud of how I planned it. They gave me 100% and showed improvement, so I can't be unhappy. We even took a 10 minute break to cheer on our U9 boys in their first ever game on the next field.

Watching them leave, I felt good that they were feeling good and they know they did a good job.  Reflecting afterwards, I can say we worked together to keep the practice on track and productive.

There is one thing we need to improve on ... chasing balls during the pre-practice goof-around.  The boys were told last night that practice stops when I do not see 20 balls present.