Recognizing Opportunities to Shoot 09/03/2011
The When and The Why: I did the following training session with my U-14 Girls team on August 22, 2011. Last year we had a difficult time scoring goals mainly because we weren't seeing the chances we were creating. Part of the problem is the fact that most 12 and 13 year old girls are more concerned with fitting in than standing out so they tend to be unselfish when opportunities to shoot present themselves. This was our first training session of the year and I decided to start right away with getting them to see their chances and take them. As the season goes on I will continue to work on recognizing chances in front of goal with the goal being that the girls start taking shots as they present themselves habitually.
Warm Up: Each player has a ball, is assigned a number, a team, and an attacking direction to begin the warm up. Players are to dribble at game pace inside the designated central area until the goalkeeper on the end they are attacking calls his/her designated number at which time they have a prep touch and a shot. To begin have players simply working on striking the ball properly with the laces, ankles locked, toe pointed down and landing on the kicking foot. As players warm up instruct them to begin trying to score. With older players you may want to have them stretch a bit as they go or stop and stretch before upping the intensity.
Coaching Points:
Ankle locked; toe down.
Knee and shoulders over the ball.
Land on kicking foot.
Eye on the ball.
Good prep touch out from under feet.
Small Sided: The two teams play 3v3 or 4v4 (depending on numbers) in the middle while the rest of the players are off to either side each with a supply of balls. When a team gets a shot that goes out of play the defending team is immediately off the field and their teammates waiting on the sidelines come into play to attack the other teams goal. If a goal is scored the defending team is off the field but their teammates have to wait for the attacking team to reset before restarting play with the ball.
Coaching Points:
Head up to find shooting chances.
Take the chances that present themselves; BE SELFISH IN FRONT OF GOAL.
First time shots.
Near post far post decisions.
Attack quickly as the defending team is recovering.
See above coaching points.
Coaching Points:
Head up to find shooting chances.
Take the chances that present themselves; BE SELFISH IN FRONT OF GOAL.
First time shots.
Near post far post decisions.
Attack quickly as the defending team is recovering.
See above coaching points.
Expanded Small Sided: 5v5+5 Players are divided into three teams with two teams playing in the middle and the third team playing neutral (2 players on each side and 1 playing centrally). Either play 3, 7 minute games rotating teams each 7 minutes or switch teams off and on as goals are scored.
Coaching Points:
Take advantage of numbers up situations to create scoring chances.
Recognize opportunities to penetrate and shoot.
See Above Coaching Points.
Coaching Points:
Take advantage of numbers up situations to create scoring chances.
Recognize opportunities to penetrate and shoot.
See Above Coaching Points.
The Game: End the session with an unrestricted game including all players. Emphasize the coaching points and themes from the session.
Below you can see and download the training session form that I wrote up for my session. Simply click on the image and you will get a window where you can print or save the session plan form.
Below you can see and download the training session form that I wrote up for my session. Simply click on the image and you will get a window where you can print or save the session plan form.
