Part 4 from Coach Corey about How he Improved a Weak U-12 Soccer Team So they Went from Losing Most Games to Winning a Multi-City Tournament and Not Giving Up Any Goals - What He Did at Practice and How he Taught Positioning and Defense. In Parts 2 and 3 on Oct. 16 and 18 Corey described the soccer drills he used to improve his players skills. This is copied and pasted from Coreys email - Links to the things he discusses are at the end… Corey wrote I hope this letter might be beneficial to other coaches. It describes my U-12 team and the Practice Games and tactics I found most beneficial. We went from losing most of our games to winning the end-of-season Multi-City Tournament, giving up no goals. It was a huge turnaround. We started the season with a very unique set of girls. Only a few had meaningful experience. Formations I tried: We started the season with a 3-1-4-2 soccer formation, then towards the middle of the season switched to a 3-2-3-2, and finally by the last regular season game and then for the tournament we switched to a 3-2-2-3. I will say that for me a 3-2-2-3 was the easiest to teach and most successful formation, and the formation that left the least number of girls out of the action as possible since the midfielder and Stopper that were on the opposite side of the field from the ball actually shifted to the center of the field. One of the things that greatly helped out before the tournament started was to practice with our offense up against our defense - With a 3-2-2-3 formation it was easy to put our offense (3 forwards, 2 midfielders) against our defense (3 fullbacks, 2 stoppers). I played goalie so I could closely watch defensive rotations and so I could blow the whistle when a defender was found out of position, to show how the stoppers should position themselves (stopper away from the ball at the center top of the penalty box, stopper on ball as first defender). And I could quickly throw a ball out to have the offense start again. I think the girls need to actually experience proper positioning to know what it means. For example, the Center Fullback does not quite know what it feels like to be off the near post during a game without actually being shown what it is like to be there in a practice game with a coach blowing the whistle and showing her exactly where to be (and her seeing where the ball and other teammates are relative to where she should be). Same goes for the Far Fullback (who I had position herself at the top of the Goal Box, centered on goal). Once they got it though, they got it. We played this for an entire practice on an actual game field a few days before the tournament and I think it helped. We had 0 goals scored against us in the tournament. I recall several instances during the tournament where balls would get through and the Far Fullback would boot it out right before the other teams forward would get to it. Thats not possible without being positioned correctly no matter how good of a defensive player you are. Then it was easy for the Far Stopper (at the top of the Penalty Box) to complete the clear out and that was it for the other teams attack. One of the things I emphasized greatly was the stopper and midfielder on the opposite side of the field from the ball shifting to the center of the field. I *always* wanted a midfielder or Stopper right in the Center of the field (center meaning an imaginary line drawn between center of the 2 goals) because the ball very often squirted out from the side towards the center. They were right there to swipe it up and push it forward. I am utterly convinced shifting and sagging and proper positioning are critical to winning a game. I would say that a team that is effective at shifting and sagging, and a defense that properly positions itself depending on where the ball is and so forth, has an even greater advantage than a team that has faster and stronger players in the Rec league. Im not sure that my team ever had the faster and stronger players. But we won the tournament and I really believe it was because the players became disciplined at positioning themselves properly on the field to win 50/50 balls. My players were also more aggressive and we had a few newer players become pretty skilled by the end that it was enough for us to score goals. It also helped that our best, fastest player played center forward and could really make things happen at that position. But this was only possible because the midfielders and stoppers shifted and sagged so well. My midfielders were not allowed to go into either of the Penalty Boxes. This helped us clear the ball from the defensive end. It also helped us to stay on the attack on the offensive end. Anyway, I love SoccerHelp and, quite frankly, it would have not been possible for us to win the tournament without the help presented on SoccerHelp Premium. Thank you again!! Corey, Premium Member If you want to subscribe to SoccerHelp Premium, use the COUPON below to SAVE $5 and get a 120 day subscription for $20 or a one year subscription for $35, or you can get 30 days for $15 - 5offpremium If you are a Premium subscriber, How to Teach First Defender/Second Defender is at soccerhelp/premium/Quick_Team_Improvement.shtml#3 and How to Teach Players to Shift and Sag and a Basic Zone Defense is at soccerhelp/premium/Quick_Team_Improvement.shtml#4 You can read Coreys entire letter at soccerhelp/soccer-articles/120413-start-winning-soccer-games.shtml
Posted on: Mon, 20 Oct 2014 15:49:46 +0000
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