Being comfortable in a 1v1 situation is so important for young players to learn early, so this week we have a fun 1v1 game with lots of competition.
Advice for coaches on how to deal with parents
Ask any coach around the world for some of the problems in youth sport and they will 100% mention parents. For the most part there are no problems, but there will always be one or two who take up a little more of your time for various reasons. I have found that getting in early with them and being consistent will help to minimise the number of issues you encounter.
Exercise of the Week – Continuous 2v1 to goal
For this week's exercise we will look at 2v1s. This is an important part of soccer/football to train your players to understand how to exploit because there are so many 2v1 situations that occur in any given match.
Exercise of the Week – Dribbling Gates Game
This week we have a dribbling game that I like to use in particular after a foot skills warm up for young players when doing a 1v1 topic during a session.
Exercise of the Week – Penetration and Possession Game
In this week's exercise, we will look at a very important aspect of possession soccer, which is developing the understanding of when to maintain possession and when to penetrate to score.
Exercise of the Week – Passing and Receiving With Interference
The focus of this exercise is on passing and receiving technique, with plenty of interference to encourage decision making.
Exercise of the Week – Playing out from the back small sided game
In recent years the role of the goalkeeper and defenders in possession has gone from them getting rid of the ball as quickly as possible to the need for them to be comfortable in possession. The exercise below is great for developing this ability and confidence on the ball in a small small sided game.
It’s all in the detail!
I have been lucky enough to attend the United Soccer Coaches Convention (formerly NSCAA Convention) in the US a few times and one moment sticks out for me from all my visits and to sum it up….content is king!
Exercise of the Week – The Y Drill
This week we will take a look at some variations to a common exercise, the Y drill. It's a great technical warm up exercise to work on your player's passing, movement, communication and with the variations below, you can incorporate other areas of the game such as shooting and 1v1s. We spend such limited time with our players so this is a great way to be economical with your time.
Exerxise of the Week – 1v1 Corridor
Here is another 1v1 exercise to goal that your players will love following on from last week's continuous 1v1, which you can read here.