U13 and St Mike's , not a good soccer day!

Today we cancelled an 11v11 session with the U13 boys and a phase-of-play session with the St Mike's boys.

There was a SNOW STORM on April 23.  What the heck??  it was -5'C with snow and rain.

Bad news for both.  For the Welland U13 boys, we just came off 2 good sessions and may not be able to get in another team-only session before our friendly on Monday.  Today was our chance to set the tone for Monday.

For the St Mike's boys, they have a tournament Tuesday.  After the tournament this past Friday, this was a chance to fix a few issues before they play again tomorrow.

I am not a big fan of playing 2 games in a row without a training session to make some adjustments.  You also have players who may have had a bad game and a training session is a good time to get some good positive touches on the ball to rebuild confidence.

Our out-of-season snow storm!

U17 Boys - Moving with the ball

This afternoon we had a session with the U17 Welland boys.  My goal was to get into a small sided game and work on shape and moving with the ball. 

We started off with a dynamic warm-up then some turning exercises.  Lots of turns, all the time.  :-)

We then moved them to a functional drill when we set up a grid approx 60yds long and 20yds wide to simulate a slice of field that 4 defenders might use to work the ball around the back.  We had 2 grids facing each other.

We started with the boys moving the ball back and forth, working on their shape and technique and how to properly execute the sequence.  All players were to make their first touch/look forward looking to attack (head up, eyes probing), then turn and pass to support.  Both sides were doing it, facing each other with no defenders.

We then put a passive defender in there just moving with the ball and forcing some decisions by the 4 players.  We then took one ball out and each team had a target player in the opposite grid.  So the ball was being moved around looking to play a ball to the target.  Most times he wasn't open so the ball had to be turned moved to support, quickly.  To make it more realistic, I worked on the defensive shape of the other team to set the stage.  The target player when you were in possession was a defending players when the other team was in possession, pressuring "high".

The next progression was 2 target men (also acting as high pressure) and this was forcing the ball to move quicker and sooner.  We were getting some success and the players were feeling their success.  Some players struggled with the idea of the wide players staying wide in possession so I demonstrated how they are important support for the target players if they are stuck.  Shape is EVERYTHING in this exercise.

The next progression was having the 2 target men and one extra cross into the grid when defending.  Now it was 4v3 but the 2 target men now had one less defender in that half, making them easier targets.

Was it a smash success?  No.  Did they make progress and improve?  I would say yes.  During a brief question and answer session the coaches realized the players were getting the idea.  They understood that sometimes they were under immense pressure receiving the ball because the shape was collapsing and they were taking away their own space.

Coaching points:

• Shape and movement depending on where the ball is
• Quick-early-accurate passes
• Receiving the ball with first touch/look forward.  Long first touch when there is space in front
• Eyes up and probing looking for forward options
• Set up defensive shape to make possession more realistic
• No square balls

When we moved to our small sides game, we introduced how the shape of the back players would form in different situations and how the midfielders and strikers had to move with the ball so there was always support and better chances to keep possession if there was no forward option.  The GK was a part of that shape movement.  Before starting the game we did a quick run through of what we might look like as the ball moves around.

Coaching points during the game:

• Same points as the functional exercise
• Look to move the ball forward when the option is there and continue moving with the ball, as a unit

I have to think more about what I could improve here.  There are a number of things.  With this age, the boys are fun and work hard, I just can't be sure of numbers and that throws things off.  I adapted my original plan and it worked well, I just prefer knowing as much as possible before showing up.  I left the balls in my trunk and the weather turned cold quickly last night and I forgot to check the air in them before arrival.  We had a pump, but it's still not professional. My coaching position was not good for the functional part as I got in the way a few times.  I will have to make note of that on my plans to remind me.

The other coaches had good points to make and I need to remember to integrate them more into the delivery of the session.

It's frustrating not having these players more often, but high school soccer is very busy and we don't want players breaking down and falling behind with school.  My hope is that they apply this info form our sessions into their play for their schools.

Good Bye, Al

Today our club lost a good friend. Alan Edwards passed away Friday April 20 after a long battle with cancer.

He was born in Liverpool, England and came to Welland via St Catharines.  He was a die-hard Everton Supporter, but supported Canadian soccer with a passion.

Al served the Welland Soccer Club as a coach, board member, convenor, and through various committees for many years.  He preached the simple message of fair-play, enjoyment for all and the free and unobstructed sharing of information.

He had a positive effect on many of my friends and me.  He was always very encouraging towards anybody's efforts when it came to soccer.  His family, friends, former players and students will miss him.

St Mike's Junior Boys - Annual Tournament

The St Michael's High School annual tournament was held today.  I was able to see 2 games when I wasn't in class.  This morning I wasn't sure what to expect for their first game.  Honestly, I didn't think they were ready to play from what i have seen so far.

At the end of the day the team had lost their three matches 0-1, 0-2 and 0-1  BUT they didn't look lost on the field and they have a place to work forward from.  Some of the boys are hard-nosed competitors and any coach loves to see that.  They had chances, challenged for most balls and have a solid GK to back them up.  It would have been nice to see their spirits pumped up with a goal, but it was not to be.

It's an exciting time because the team has moved from the preparation stage to competition.  A few more sessions would have been good, but we'll see what the change in scenery brings to the program.

Coaches Lucchetta and Luppino want to fix up their shape a bit on Monday because they play again Tuesday.  I wish there was more time, but that's high school soccer.

Go Mustangs!

U13 Fitness and agility - Session 5

Tonight we had another fitness and agility session with the combined 5 teams, U10-U13 boys.  We had 61 players in total.

We didn't change it much from last week.  We ran a 30-minute combined run and exercise segment then 30 minutes with a ball doing turns and dribbling on the tennis courts.

The energy with the combined teams continues to be there and the boys are responding positively to the program.  That is the most rewarding part of this whole thing.  The coaches of the five teams have great chemistry and the parents who are helping seem like they are excited to be there.

We will make a few tweaks for next week to keep it fresh, but I wanted to give this format 3 weeks like we gave the other format from weeks 1-3.

Two of my observations are that many of the boys are running better and their footwork has improved during the ball skills portion.  So we are seeing improvement and that is a major goal of any program.

One of my hopes is that we can still reconvene on occasion once the season starts.  We will have to co-ordinate that between all of our schedules.  Another hope is that the other coaches take the turns we do and work on those.

Overall, I think the organization worked and we were able to flow from the track to the tennis courts and from sequence to sequence.

There is a difficulty with coaching position.  There are so many players and if I get to one side to address them all, the other side is a fair distance when it's windy AND it's difficult to get 60 young players to stay quiet all at once.  I will have to think this over.  And during the run I use a whistle and the coaches walk the track opposite the running to cheer the players on.

There is a safety concern.  We do have to take some time and cut some stray branches away from the base of the fence around the court and refasten the fence to the bottom guide wire.  There are portions where the fence sticks out.  It's not in our immediate area, but it's there and the coaches would be sick if somebody were to be injured.  This can be a job for some parents while the kids run.