Training Review (28/10/2020)

27/10/2020

SESSION FOCUS:

Communication, Movement & Scanning

Arrival Activity

Part 1 -

Nick wanted to try something as the players arrived which incorporated a number of different stations and the players following their pass. This for the best part was very good for the children as they arrived and involved a lot of repetition allowing opportunities to get them moving. Upon reviewing the activity, as more players arrived they became a little lost on rotations and the communication stopped, so we will progress this so it becomes more fluid, but will definitely use it again.

Part 2 - Three Coloured Sequence Passing
The children were very confident, vocal and some were really showing well for the ball. This is a high tempo activity and as with anything, when you start becoming a little tired, mistakes happen.

Although I am asking for constant movement, I want them to manage this and not continually go at speed. This only comes with experience and at these ages everything is 100 mph, so I did break it down and show them possible movements they could do and when to slow up and explode.

Also highlighted scanning over shoulder and body shape so they can see both the player who is passing and the direction they want to take first touch upon receiving the ball.

Middle Activity

Four Cone Scanning -
So I had them in groups of three and within their groups spread out every 10 yards with one in the middle.

One player feeding the pass back and forth to the middle player from one side.
The player on the other side alternating two coloured cones.
Third player in the middle, scanning, calling out colour cone being held up, moving and receiving the ball then playing it back.

For the first time doing this activity they got the principle of what we were doing and I was able to get some great learning points across to them. We also had some fun with the lads holding the cones saying they were cheerleaders and me prancing around saying "Give me a P, give me a O" etc.

Again I could of improved the layout. I tried to be clever by only putting one cone in the middle instead of the intended 4 cones area. This at times made the middle player sometimes stationary as it acted as a visual barrier, so I introduced two pressing players.

The player in the middle naturally moved away from the central cone to protect the ball when scanning and seeing the defender coming in his direction. What was also good was hearing aiding shouts of 'man on' from a few of the wider players.

End Activity

The Match -

I had to change the set up from a match, due to numbers short from availabilities, with four not attending, so we made pitch smaller and played a match with four scoring boxes. To score the players had to maintain possession and dribble or pass through 1 of 2 boxes either end of the area.

Communication

The talking during this was the best we have been and the confidence from everyone on the pitch to want the ball was amazing to see. Some are even starting to use 'football terms' such as one-two or even a simple yeah, showing they want the ball.

Movement

Again, signs that it is starting to be embedded in their footballing brains. There was some fantastic link up play, body shape/angle to receive the ball and even just being in a position of space to receive off a team mate, was really good to see.

There was also alot bunching at times, that seems to go during playing our matches but then ironically returns during training sessions. This is something i believe will eradicate itself the older they become.

Scanning

I felt gutted after training as didn't really see what we concentrated on during the session coming out in the game. There were alot of breakdowns and transitions that I thought could of been nullified just by scanning over the shoulder... HOW WRONG WAS I.

I recorded only 4 or 5 minutes of the match and saw four lads scanning within the game. This is amazing and by getting their heads up it allowed them time on the ball to make a positive decisions, retaining possession.

WELL DONE EVERYONE