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This is a possession,
speed of play soccer drill that builds vision, decision making and
communication by all players.
The person in control of the ball is, as we know, designated the first
attacker. She obviously has a lot of responsibility when it comes to ball
possession and establishing an effective passing game. But the second
attackers, those in direct support of the first attacker, probably have
equal, or perhaps even greater, responsibility for maintaining possession.
Why? Because the second attacker must make herself available to the
passer. She does this through movement to space or by a check back towards
the ball. Communication is key, whether verbal, or non-verbal. Even when
they are not good passing options, second attackers can affect the
possession and passing game by clearing the area and perhaps opening it up
for a teammate to make a supporting run into the vacated space.
Second
Attacker Support Set Up
Set up a 20 x 20 area with three (3) teams. Each
team has either 3 or 4 players and each team MUST wear a different colour
bib. One team is on defence and the other 2 teams possess the ball. When
the defensive team gains possession of the ball, they switch to offence
and the team that lost possession switches to defence. Therefore you
always have 6 v 3 or 8 v 4.
Second Attacker Support Play
Restrict players to two (2) touches on the ball. Restrict players to pass
to players wearing the opposite colour jersey. That is if you have red and
green playing offence, the red players may pass only to green and the
green players only to red.
The coach should be stressing the need for the second attacker to be
communicating via voice and movement to the first attacker. Ideally this
should be done prior to the first attacker receiving the ball.
What you should see with this exercise is the players tending to talk
more, sometimes it's to argue who is on defence. Reinforce the importance
of communication as much as possible and the role of the second attacker.
Absolutely avoid the tendency to jump in and correct play at the
beginning. Every coach that I have shown this to sees CHAOS at the
beginning and says, "They are not getting it."
Wrong! Give them time and the chaos will work itself out. Remember we are
trying to teach communication. We don't want robots who listen only to our
voice. We want creative thinkers.
This exercise makes the ball carrier look up and find his second
attackers.
This exercise makes the players in the same colour jersey as the first
attacker move to open positions to get not the next pass, but the pass
after that.
Progression of
the Second Attacker Support -- Match Related
A simple progression of the second attacker support is to add a few 3 yard
goals randomly within the playing area. The attacking team scores a point
every time they complete a pass, between the cones, to a teammate wearing
the opposite colour jersey. Each of the two attacking teams gets a point.
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