PAGE  26
by Gary Rue
garyrue@bellsouth.net
 

NOTE:  Gary did not write these exercises and tips with the idea that someone would publish them.  I subscribe to the Soccer-Coach-L e-mail list and Gary is one of the coaches that posts extremely well thought out replies.  These are some of Gary's posts that I collected for use in coaching my own teams.   I approached Gary and he was gracious enough to allow me to publish them here.  If you like what you see or have a question about one of the exercises you can reach Gary at garyrue@bellsouth.net There are 50+ more pages of Gary's posts categorized at the Home Page of Exercises of the Day by Gary Rue. Click here and enjoy.

Defending Tactics in the Back Third
George Perry: Canterbury School,
NSCAA Associate Director of Coaching

<From Convention Program Notes>

• 1st Defender
  • Deny shot.
  • Delay the attack.
  • Make attack predictable.
  • Dealing with combination play.
    
• 2nd Defender
  • Support  with pressure.
  • Support without pressure.
  • Double team.
  • Dealing with combination play.
    
• 3rd Defender
  • Dealing with the space between the ball and the weak side attackers.
  • Dealing with the space between the ball and the goal.
    
• ORGANIZATION:
  
• Warm-up:
  • 4v2 transition.
    
• Main Activity:
  • One goalkeeper, 2 defenders, 2 attackers, 1 server; Large goal and 2 counter goals wide of the halfway circle.
  • One goalkeeper, 3 defenders, 2 defending midfielders, 2 front runners, 3 attacking midfielders; a large goal and two counter goals.
  • Add a third defending midfielder to Exercise 2.
    
• Concluding Activity:
  • Play 9v9, one of which is the goalkeeper.
    

Improving Awareness and Turning to Create Space in Midfield
Sue Lopez - FA UEFA' A License Coach,
Director of Southampton FC Centre of Excellence (female)
NSCAA 1999 Convention
<Convention Program Notes>

• Keeping possession in crowded midfield areas is vital to enable attacks to be built. To maximize possession, midfield players need to practice for when they are in three key situations:
  • Receiving the ball with their back to goal.
  • Placed under pressure within moments of receiving ball possession.
  • There is little time or space to decide and execute skills.
     
• Key Principles of Midfield Play
  • Support
  • Awareness
  • Receiving

  Need:

  • 1. First Touch - to set ball up; to turn: to keep ball away from opponent
  • 2. Deceptive first touches
  • 3. Let the bell run
    
• Practice One - Basic Technique
  • Turns
  • inside/outside foot
  • feint Left and Right
  • let ball run
  • Y turns and passes to Z; Z passes to O who turns to pass to X
  • Dummy through legs of Y, react immediately for one-two with O
    
• Key points:
  • 1. Awareness
        To receive:
    • * be 'free' as passer lifts head.
    • * know who's behind and how close.
          To pass:
    • * opponent's position dictates
  • 2. Good touch - 1 touch to turn, 2nd touch to release ball and support
  • 3. Quick turn
  • 4. Precise, accurate passing
    
     

  Develop practice: Add pressure by Y or O acting as passive defender
  

• Practice Two - Unopposed Technique - Develop Awareness
  • Three teams of 4.
    As ball is traveling towards a player, that player calls name of player he/she will next pass to. Pass and sprint into space.
  • Progression - two teams v one (8 attacking v 4 opponents) aim for one of team of 8 to receive ball on end line Continue up and down field. Team of 4 who lose possession become opposition.
    
• Practice Three - Opposed Zone Play
  • End zones 3 v 1 passing ball through middle section to opposite end - ball to be received by a player moving to back line to receive and continuing possession to other end.
  • Middle third 2 v 'I with the two players getting free by being 'half-turned' (to see ball and opposition) and using techniques in Practice One.
  • If marked tightly, One touch turns; Shield ball, receive on 'front foot' - try to play past opponent and forward or combine play - 'take over', 'one-two'. Progression, maximum 3 touches.
    
• Practice Four - Opposed Possession Game - 6 v 6
  • Play ball from one Target end player to other Target end player, until possession is lost.
  • Same Target player for both teams.
  • Two neutral players play for team with possession.
  • Ball can be played back to Target player
  • Progression - can't play ball back to Target player

1v1 Featuring Safety, Technical and Tactical Principles of Goalkeeping
Lincoln Phillips, Black Soccer Coaches Association,
Top Flight Goalkeeper School
1999 NSCAA Convention Program Notes

         Diving at the feet of an oncoming attacker is probably one of the most
dangerous goalkeeping skills to perform. A goalkeeper can sustain serious injuries when dividing into the patch of oncoming players, especially in a reckless manner. A goalkeeper who is well trained in dealing with one vs one situation will not only perform game winning saves but also significantly reduce the incidence of injuries.

• Safety Points to Remember
  
  Do's:
  1. Present a long barrier
  2. Stay on the goal side of the ball
  3. Present both hands to the ball, Position the head close to the ground and at a safe distance behind the hands
  4. Stay down as long as possible until it is safe to get up.
      

  Don'ts:

  1. Slide into attacker feet first
  2. Slide in head first
  3. Get up too soon
     
• Drills (accent on safety and technique)
  1. Goalkeeper lying on the side with hands approaching ball
  2. Goalkeeper in the kneeling position diving hands first to ball
  3. Goalkeeper in the standing position, steps forward diving hands first to the ball
  4. Outfield players dribbling,. Goalkeeper dive at their feet to make save, GK starting position is kneeling then progress to standing.
     
     
• Methods of Dealing with the 5 One vs One situation:
  1. Getting To The Ball "First" ...
  2. Getting To The Ball At "The Same Time" As the Attacker ...
  3. Arriving "Just After" Shot Is Taken (approximately 2-3 yds away from attacker) . . .
  4. Arriving "Well After" Shot Is Taken (approximately 4-6 yd from the body and. . .
  5. Approaching An Attacker In "Full Control" Of The Ball.
     
     
• Drills & Game Situations:
  1. Attacker approaching with defender trailing
  2. Ball passed between attacker and goalkeeper
  3. Game situations.

Soccer Conditioning
Integrating Power Training in Normal Practice
Vern Gambetta
1999 NSCAA Convention 1/21/99

       The following are descriptions of random exercises and side comments by the clinician as presented.

• Leg Circuit #1
  (about 1 per second, 20 reps each) - Go immediately from one exercise to the next; dribble a ball between (2-3?) sets .
• Body upright squat, hands behind head
• Lunge (as far as you are tall)
• Step up (12" box); switch feet
• Jump Squat, legs apart Plyometric training-improve power not endurance; it is better to do 100 plyometric exercises well, than 500 at less quality
  
  
• Leg Circuit #2
• Double leg jumps, forward and back
• Lateral jumps forward one direction, back the other direction * Forward jump over a hurdle (4 hurdles position in a square) and sprint to a ball being played by a server
• Lateral jump over a hurdle and sprint to a ball Core strength should be developed before extremity strength. Lower abdominal and glut (butt) weakness may contribute to knee injuries more than any other reason. A player should catch a medicine ball and stop on one leg while moving laterally.
  
• Volume and Intensity - do less than more; i.e., more intense over quantity
  
• Training Age - an 11 year old should not be treated the same as a trained adult; likewise, players chronologically the same age may need to be treated different based upon their training background and foundation.
  
• The clinician prefers to do the exercises at the END of a practice session, but they can be done before or in the middle, as well.

Soccer Conditioning
Warm-up/Stability, Straight Ahead Running

by Ken Kontor
1999 NSCAA Convention- January 22, 1999

The average sprint distance of a soccer player is 15 meters.

Do not train to run efficiently for long distance-train to run fast.

Warm-up to play-do not play to warm-up. Movements have to build gradually to game speed; raise the core temperature and engage the nervous system.

• Warm-up
  • Jog for 5 minutes
  • Leg swings-forward, cross body, 10 each
  • Active stretching over 20 yards with the following warm-ups
    
• #1
  • Skip forward, backwards
  • Side skip with arm swing
  • Cross step, skip across foot-big hip movement (quick steps)
  • Carioca
  • High knee carioca as if going to sprint
  • Backward run, heels kick up to butt
  • High skip
    
• #2
  • Skip with loops or swings
  • Cross over skip
  • Quick hip swings
  • Long shuffles with turn in the middle
  • Carioca with turn
  • Carioca at angles
  • Plant and cut; three steps plant and cut, stopping and bending
  • Forward and backward leg swings
  • High leg forward and backwards
  • Quick step backpedal to sprint
     

  Sprint to backpedal
  
  Master straight-ahead speed first, but go to lateral movements, stops and
  cuts, etc.
  
  First step is often too long.
  
  There are 18-22 different starting (from a stop) positions in a game.
  

• Hoop equipment (18" diameter) exercises:
  • Walk and hit the first hoop with coach specified foot and sprint out
  • Jog and hit the first hoop with coach specified foot and sprint out
  • Sprint with coach specified foot and sprint out
  • Side-on with cross step into hoop...
  • Side-on with an open step...
  • Shuffle into hoop, plant and sprint
  • Jump and turn in air, step into hoop and sprint
    
• Hoops are 10 yards apart, sprint to first, then sprint to second, but halfway turn and run backwards, turning again just before the hoop.
  
• Four lines of players, each group of four sprinting to 4 hoops, then to 2 hoops.
  
• Player dribbles to gate, passes to another player and sprints forwards as second player passes ball ahead. The first player retrieves and crosses for another player to shoot on goal. The player should be timed over the first ten yards after the pass. A defender can be added at the gate to turn on the
  pass and sprint with the passer.
  

*** Carioca - A carioca (who knows how to spell it) is a footwork exercise. While moving sideways, the trail foot crosses in front of the lead foot. The lead foot then moves ahead of the trail foot. The trail foot then crosses BEHIND the lead foot, etc.

Follow the numbered sequence below for the lead and trail feet
(T1,L1,T2,L2...):

        T1             T3
  T   L     L1     L2      L3      L4
               T2              T4

Do this footwork with very quick steps or do it slow with big steps and a hip turn stretch (arms out) when the trail foot crosses the lead foot. Turn away from the direction you are moving when the foot crosses in front, towards the moving direction when the foot crosses behind.

I used to shy away from this footwork because of the feet crossing each other, but foot crossing does happen on a field on cut backs, power steps, etc. It's a good warm-up exercise.

Soccer Conditioning - Lateral Speed
Steve Mynard
1999 NSCAA Convention - January 22, 1999

Soccer-quick starts and stops. Most injuries occur with stops

• Balance analysis (10 seconds per rep)
  • Single leg squat
  • Leg in front
  • Leg out wide
  • Bent to the side
  • Roll ball back and forth; to the side
  • One touch passing while balancing on one foot
  • Walk and stop and balance on one foot
    
• Recognition/reaction/change of direction/obstacle avoidance/footwork
  
• Ball drop and roll recognition drills; server holds two balls out and drops one or rolls a ball to one side or the other, player must react.
  
• Time run and dribble weave through flags; change flags to staggered setup.
  • Plant and cut at each flag, feed ball in random direction at last flag to ensure balance
  • Plant and shuffle at each flag
  • Plant and turn at each flag
    
• Hurdles 4 feet apart, with double steps between hurdles; widen distance between hurdles; 2 hurdles with rings staggered laterally, step in ring with both feet.
  
• Broad jump may equate to standing jump; i.e., either one will show power.  Land on balance
  
• 3 meter circle wheel drill-12" high cones at N, NNE, E, SSE, S, etc. and in center; start on center cone, touch each cone, returning to center each time; timed.
  
• Shuttle test-2-3 minute rest between. First run 10-20-30-40-50, then run 50-40-30-20-10. Coach calls out times.
  
• 10 meter acceleration test-10 meter triangle, start at cone A and run around cone B and past cone C; time when player crosses cone C; repeat test running around cone C first. Add ball and stop time when ball stops.