Defending the Target Player

Ken Gamble

 

     Occasionally your team will play an opponent who has one player that is heads above the rest of the players.  This can be a striker that they rely on to score all their goals.  Or it can be a player that the team goes through on all their attacks - in that case it's usually a center midfielder.

    Before you play that team you need to work on "Defending the Target" player.  You have two real choices.  You can immediately collapse and be in the face of that player anytime he/she receives the ball. That doesn't always work since the target player often possesses better ball skills and "escapability".  A better choice is to stop the player before he/she gets started by denying the player the ball.

    Here's a game called the "Defending the Target man" game designed to deny the player the ball.  I did not create this game but picked it up some time ago and tweaked it over the years.  I can't remember where it originally was published.

SETUP:

    Designate one player as the TARGET PLAYER.  This can be one of your players with good fitness and ball skills.  A better choice for the target player is an older exceptional player.  For example, if your team is a U14 girls team it might be a U16 boys center midfielder.  For a U18 boys' team it might be a college or adult league striker.  It needs to be someone with good fitness who is always moving to be open.

    Put the target player in a different color training bib to differentiate him.

    Divide into two teams and play keep-away. Adjust your RECTANGULAR grid size to the usual size you use for your team's skill level. 

    Assign the target man to one team and one (or two if necessary) defenders on the other team to mark him. It's important to use the same defenders you would have marking the target man in a game. Their job is to deny the target player the ball and to immediately collapse on the target player if he is able to get the ball.

    Tell the marking defender(s) that he/she must always be ballside of the target player AND at the same time be able to put his/her hand on the target player (be within arm's reach).

VARIATIONS:

    You can also do the same thing in a regular scrimmage game (instead of just playing keep-a-way).

    Give a point to the attacking team every time that they can get the ball to the attacking player. Go for two or three minutes and the goal is for the target man's team to accumulate a certain number of points in that time period - i.e. 10 points in 2 minutes.

     After you run the drill once or twice stop and explain to the defending team that they have two ways of winning the game. They can deny the ball to the target player OR they can keep the ball away from the target player's team. Both accomplish the goal of keeping the target player from receiving a pass.

     These same games can be used to train the target player to get open and to deal with man-marking defenders.

• SPECIAL NOTE: This is not the same as proper marking which should be both ball-side and goal-side.  In this situation you are going all-out to deny the ball to a player, who once she receives the ball, is virtually impossible to stop.

  Web Administrator    Ken Gamble