Communication – Page 7

Piranha Waters

Equipment: 4 cones to mark boundaries. 20-40 objects of various sizes. Stopwatch

Space: 15×15 yards

Numbers: 2 teams of any number

Objective:

To get your team, one blindfolded member at a time, from one side of the square to the other w/o being “eaten” by a piranha. The square area represents water. Only one blindfolded person is allowed in the water at any one time. You may designate one sighted captain or you can spread the wealth by alternating captains so that everyone has to lead at least once. The captain is the only one who can communicate while he or she tries to guide the blindfolded players, one by one, through the water w/o their being touched by any of the piranhas (objects). If the player does touch one, there is a ten-second penalty. The team that gets all their members across the water fastest is the winner. A coach should be assigned to each team and add any penalty seconds resulting from touching a piranha.

Lesson:

Players learn to keep their eyes on the prize while attempting to transfer the entire group safely to the other side. Sometimes we’re “blind” and lose sight of our goals and sometimes things are clear. When there is clarity, it’s easy to reach the prize. Sometimes there are obstacles and setbacks, but that’s part of what the season is all about: navigating and negotiating through these challenges and setbacks and getting safely and successfully to the other side.

Debriefing:

What was the hardest part of this exercise?
How did it feel to be completely responsible for the success of your teammates?
Who had the toughest job? Why?
What did you notice about yourself and experience when you were blindfolded?
How can we apply these lessons to our session?

Pass and move (1)

Objectives: to improve passing, movement and support play. It is also useful for improving defending.

THE PRACTICE IS PHYSICALLY DEMANDING AND SHOULD THEREFORE BE PRACTICED FOR ABOUT 2 MINUTES WITH A REST THAT IS AT LEAST THE SAME AS THE WORKING TIME.

Use a 25×50 grid for younger players. Reduce the size to make the exercise more demanding.

ORGANISATION

If goalkeepers are available widen the goal
To score all players attacking players must be in the opponents half
The shooter must be inside the goal scoring area
No corners
No throw ins, balls are passed in to play from the touch lines
Scoring is not important, pass & move is. If a player fails to move after passing then a free kick is given to the opponents

KEY COACHING POINTS

It is important to let the players play and experience, don’t stop the practice.

Offer encouragement & positive advice from outside the area.

Use the rest period to question and give feedback.

Improve scanning ability with the emphasis on good positions, open body stance and scanning before receiving.

Run at the defender, turn and screen the ball if forward passing is not on, then pass back to a supporting player.

Don’t allow players to force the passes.

Introduce runs to create space as the players develop.

Encourage defending goal side of the ball to develop the principles of defending and realistic play.

Numbers up to goal

One team, the offensive team, has two more players than the defensive team. Teams can be 6 vs. 4, 5 vs. 3, or 4 vs. 2 depending on the number of players.

The offensive team tries to score on the goal. The defenders try to pass the ball through either of the two small goals on the centre line.

Play starts at half field with the ball given to one of the offensive players or from a kick from the goalie.

COACHING POINTS

“Spread the defence out” – offensive players should be near the sidelines.

“Make smart passes” – with a two person numerical advantage, the offensive team shouldn’t lose the ball easily. Encourage team-mates to get into position to receive a pass before the player with the ball gets into trouble.

“Clear the ball wide” – when the defenders win possession of the ball.

“How can they pass to you if you are standing there?” – show players without the ball where to be to best support team-mates.

VARIATIONS

Require offensive team to complete three passes in a row before shooting.

Defenders have only one less player than offenders (e.g. 3 vs. 2, 4 vs. 3, etc.)

No go zone

A soccer coaching drill is designed to keep players spread out across the soccer field.

Encourages good communication and team work.

The Game

Play a regular soccer game with two teams, goals and keepers.
Mark the middle of the field with the No-Go zone.
No player may enter this zone, although the ball is allowed to pass through it.
If a player enters the zone, assess a 30 second to one minute penalty, giving the opponent a one-player advantage.

Coaching Points

Vary the size of the No-Go zone

Line soccer

Set-up

Can be played by two equal groups (i.e. 8v8, 7v7, 6v6, 5v5, 4v4) on a large rectangular or square area with one soccer ball. Use half a field (approximately 60 yards x 65 yards) for 8v8, 7v7 and 6v6. For smaller groups decrease field size accordingly.

Boundaries of field should be touch-lines, goal-line and mid-line. In absence of marked lines (and for smaller size fields) use cones placed about 10 yards apart. Each team should be in a different colour bib.

Play

Teams spread out on field and one team begins play with a pass (first pass is free – cannot be stolen or defended). Line soccer is played similar to keep-away games except that points can be scored by receiving a pass with the sole of the foot on the line. Ball cannot be dribbled to the line and stopped – it must be passed. And to get a point it must be stopped right on the line (or within a few inches). Once a team scores the opposite team takes over and tries to score.

Variation: Once a team scores they retain possession and can immediately try to score again.

Coaching Points

Unlike most keep-away type games, Line Soccer encourages teams to spread the field and switch play quickly. Our teams play a lot of keep-away games to work on holding possession. Line Soccer works in a similar manner to encourage possession but it also provides a goal.

Progressions/Options

To provide direction, designate only two end lines as lines where points can be scored. Or award two points for balls stopped on the end-lines and only one point for each ball stopped on the touchlines.

Line game

The Game

Two teams of equal numbers. Coach calls out a number and that number of players go out into the field. The remaining players stay on the goal line, hold hands, and try to prevent goals. After a goal, or a period of play, coach calls out another number.

Coaching Points:

Call out different numbers, so players learn to interact with different subsets..

Give advantages to certain teams so players can learn to deal with numbers of up and down situations (for example, red team 3 players, blue team 4 players).

After players understand the game, have them switch quickly. it is important that players control who comes out and how. This helps develop organizational skills and team dynamics.

Try These Variations:

Three touch: each player can use up to three touches.

Double points if scored off a headed ball.

Double points if scored off combination (i.e.. give and go, take over, etc.).

Setup: Only one player from each team is allowed to score.

Lane soccer

Set up: Use a lined practice pitch or two rows of cones to divide the field vertically into three equal size rectangles. Play 3v3 (one player in each zone) or 4v4 (two players in the centre zone). Goalkeepers are optional.

The basic game: Each team must have at least one player in each of the three zones. They can receive, pass and dribble but can’t go out of their zone. They run, get open and mark defensively inside their zone. If they leave their zone (even if it is just by stepping over the line), they concede a free kick wherever the infringement took place.

After a few scores, swap the players to a new zone.

This taught my players to immediately get wide the minute that their team stole the ball and to space properly.

Variations:

1. After playing 3v3 widen the centre lane and play 4v4 (2v2 in the centre lane) as in the illustration.

When playing 4v4 allow two players of each team to be in any lane at one time. If a third player from that team wants to enter that same lane, one of the two players from his team must leave the lane before he can enter it. This requires lots of communication and ingenuity to get numbers up quickly on your opponents. It also teaches players to make “ball side” runs within their lanes to receive the ball.3. Set up three teams of 4 players and two teams play on the field and winning team stays on. Winning can be one, two or three goals. We play just one goal wins a game. When playing “winners stay on” we add these conditions for balls played out of bounds: Balls kicked over the end line outside of goal result in corner kick or goal kicks, BUT balls kicked across the touch-line mean an automatic loss for team that last touched the ball. The team sitting out must be ready to immediately defend their goal (or attack) when the ball goes out of touch.
Do not assign players to a specific zone and allow movement between zones provided at least one player from each team is in each zone.

Offensively, this activity will encourage teams to switch balls quickly (looking for 1 v 1 situations or numbers up situations before the other team can switch quickly) and defensively this is working on constant communication. If, at any time, a team doesn’t have a player in each section, it’s a point for the other team.

Additional helpful ideas from Coach Orlay Johnson:

I love Ken’s lane games and have used them almost every practice in some shape, manner, or form. Yes, you can use four lanes, but three is a little easier to deal with and forces more team play (see below). One of the best adaptations of lanes is to help the defence understand the complexities and advantages of zonal play, or flat back four, or whatever you want to call it.

I am really into running practices where players are forced to make various decisions on how they will play. So i used something similar to Ken’s 1 and 2 options (above), but focus on defence and give them restrictions on how they play – one would be you must stay in your lanes, but one player can move lanes and be a stopper or sweeper, then after a few minutes tell them to switch to straight zonal defence. Then a combination. Another day you might tell them that the defence has to protect one of your defenders who is slow or hurt (tell her she can only walk, not run). Another is to switch from 2 defenders in centre lane, to 2 in left lane, and see how long it takes the offence to figure it out (longer than you’d think).

Hot potato

Objectives: communication, goalkeeping, movement, decision-making, passing, receiving, fun.

Age range: 6+

Number of children: 10+

Equipment: enough cones to mark out the grid, 8 or 10 footballs, coloured bibs.

Set up: Mark out a 40×30 grid with two target areas as shown in the diagram. Place 8 or 10 footballs in one target area. Put one player in each target area.

The basic game

Set your players a problem to solve – how can you get the footballs from one target area to the other as quickly as possible?

I suggest that you have just two rules: every player must touch every ball as it is transferred to the other target area and there can only be one ball in play at a time.

Now watch how they achieve their task. How do they communicate? Who are the leaders?

Ask them: “how can you do this more quickly?” “Is it quicker to take up static positions and throw the ball rather than pass it to each with your feet?” “Why?”

Conditions

If you prefer, you can direct your players by setting conditions such as:

Use hands only (a good starting point for younger players)
You cannot run with the ball
You can only run N paces

Don’t forget to rotate the target players with the outfield players.

Progression 1: Introduce an element of competition.

Keep one player in each target area and split the remainder into two teams wearing coloured bibs. Start by sharing the grid as shown below.

The two teams now compete with each other to get a specified number of footballs from one target area to the other as quickly as they can. Keep the same basic rules, i.e., only one ball in play for each time at a time and every player must touch the ball. Introduce other conditions as required.

Progression 2: The two teams now play a netball (i.e., not allowed to run with the ball) or basketball (can run with the ball) game. They score a point by successfully passing the ball to a target player.

Progression 3: The next step is for the two teams to play soccer in the grid. They score a point by making a completed pass to one or either of the target players.

Summary

These soccer coaching activities, when combined with a suitable warm up and cool down, are a good way to improve your players decision making, passing, receiving and communication skills. The simplicity of the games makes them particularly suitable for younger players.