Training Review (07/10/2020)

Great getting the players into winter training a little bit earlier this season on a newly relayed 4g surface at St Bedes...we won't play on better.

Session Focus - Communication & Movement
Really pushing on this at the moment because if we can get the players into good habits like these it will allow them time on the ball and find space to make better decisions.

Arrival Activity -

The aim here was to get the players going straight away. By giving a simple instruction like, "If your orange, receive a pass off a yellow and then pass to a different yellow player", allows them to make decisions on and off the ball.

As their coach it enables me to see what the individual is doing in relation to the game.

• Is there head up in possession looking for that pass?
• How does that player react once they have released it, are they scanning for another possible pass?
• Are they calling for the ball?
• Are they moving, anticipating or showing for a pass?
• Are they standing still?

I will be scaffolding on this activity over the weeks, adding layers making it more realistic to a match and really highlighting the above points if needed.

Middle Activity -

PASSING COMBINATION OUT WIDE

The players have done this a few times this year and it is a good activity to get them moving and seeing if communication is becoming embedded. 

It was great to watch them try deal with the situations in front of them when the rain came as it made the surface very fast and if the passes weren't perfect it gave them decisions to make, which is what would happen in a game.

Safe to say at times the balls were going everywhere, but the talking and movement was really good even if the movement incorporated fetching the ball from outside our area because of stray passing LOL.

End Activity - 

1-4-1 vs 2-3-1 MATCH

The match at the end is tool that allows me to see if any of the session information has been understood and to see how the players roll it out in a game situation.

Some of the players are still in 'bad habits' from the 5v5 format and not learning that constant dribbling cannot always be the answer. By playing two different formations I'm hoping the players realise that there is space out wide in a 1-4-1, so passing wide and maybe looking for the ball back is a better option...by setting this up it linked up to both the arrival and middle activities.

We will get there but we will take some hammerings this season, as players got to learn by mistakes.

Speak to you all on the weekend #purplearmy