Exercises of the Day - Part 30

exercises.gif (7158 bytes)

PAGE 30
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.

Exercise of the Day - Stick It - Footwork
Exercise of the Day - Stick It - Hops
Exercise of the Day - Stick It - With Ball
Exercise of the Day - Stick It - Goalkeeper with Ball
Exercise of the Day - Stick It - Part 5
Exercise of the Day - Stick It - Part 6

Exercise of the Day - Stick It - Footwork
Part 1 of 6

      This past spring, I incorporated several 4-5 foot, 1x1 inch pieces of wood (sticks) in my footwork exercises. Tobacco sticks (of which Kentucky unfortunately has an large quantity) are perfect. By laying the 10-16 sticks horizontally in row like a ladder, 18 inches apart, the coach has several options for the players to improve their footwork skills.

This exercises will submitted in several segments:

Footwork

Simple plyometrics (hops)

With a ball

Goalkeeper with a Ball

Balance

Part of other exercise

       This first segment is on footwork. In the figure below, the players first movement through the channels formed by the sticks is with short and quick lateral shuffling steps, sprinting away after the last one. The player faces forward as he goes through each channel.

    X...>....
        ---- .
      ...<....
      . ----
      ...>....
        ---- .
      ...<....
      . ----
      .
      v

Other footwork exercises include:

lateral shuffling backwards

lateral shuffling with a turn each stick, face forward on the first, backward on the second, forward on the third, etc.

running through, one step per space

running through, two steps per space

by facing the same way the sticks are pointing, run forward in the first
channel, run backwards in the second, etc.

place flat cones randomly in the channels; as players run through, they have to skip the channels with cones

with the random flat cones, the players have to split step (a foot on each
side of the cone) in a brief stop and go at the cones

figure 8 shuffle around two sticks, facing in one direction

vary distance between sticks for short and long-strided run-throughs

with sticks placed in two parallel straight lines (like railroad tracks), about 1.5 to 2 yards apart, players use lateral strides outside of the channel to move forward;

using the previous exercise, vary the width of each pair of sticks, the players will have to vary their lateral strides (see figure below)

      -- ____--
             --
           ____
       --    ----

In the next segment we will discuss some hopping exercises.

Exercise of the Day - Stick It - Hops
Part 2 of 6

The next way you can make use of the sticks are for simple hopping exercises. 10-16 sticks are initially laid out in a row as if slats on a ladder. The spacing between is about 1.5. Of course, the coach could make the exercises more intense with a few adjustments, such as lengthen the distance between the sticks.

The following are simple plyometric exercises:

two footed hops

two footed hops over two sticks

two footed hops over two sticks and back one, then two and one

two footed hops sideways

two footed hops sideways, 2 forward and back 1

two footed hops sideways, with a 180 degree turn on each hop

two footed hops, alternating wide stance to feet close together

two footed hops, alternating sides of flat cones in each channel

one footed (all of the above)

with sticks placed in parallel straight lines about a yard apart, players

hop forward and laterally wide of each line

same as above but quick hops side to side and forward over one line

(quickness is key here)

(variation: put sticks on top of two flat cones for a little extra height) forward (as if closing down) to a ball or even another channel that he figure 8's

Exercise of the Day - Stick It - With ball
Part 3 of 6

We continue with exercises that can be done with the 4-5 foot sticks. In this session, we will make again align the sticks in a ladder-like shape with about 2-3 apart. The distance is set to ensure adequate, but some challenging width for the players to move a ball between the channels.

With a ball:

player dribbles ball between the sticks (perhaps make the channel a shade
wider?)

two balls at each end of the first channel, player pushes a ball to the next channel, shuffles through the first channel and pushes ball at the other end to the third channel, shuffles through and move other ball to the forth channel, etc.; explodes on dribble at last channel or back heels each ball to next player to set at the ends of the first channel

passes ball through channel and sprints after it, passes through next, etc.

with a player and ball on each side at the other end, one touch return a pass to the other player down one side, shuffle through and one touch a return pass to the other player; end players should time passes as player comes out of channel

with two extra players and one ball at the end of each channel, active player passes ball through channel and follows pass at speed; receiving player stops ball and moves out of way, as active player collects ball and follows pass down the next channel to player at the other end

active player with ball, passes through channel, follows at speed, collects ball, passes through the next channel, etc.

two man passing, each player hop to one side of a stick and back for the next reception

Exercise of the Day - Stick It
Goalkeeper with Ball
Part 4 of 6

To work the GK, exercises using sticks can be done in the same setup as the prior exercises. The distance between the sticks should be about 2 feet. In some of the exercises, only one channel (2 sticks) is needed.

shuffle through each channel facing forward and catching ball served from the last channel

shuffling through each channel backwards, still facing forward while catching ball

change above to catches that are served wide of each channel, as the GK reaches the end

diving saves after shuffling through the channel

using just one channel, shuffle through, make a ground pickup carrying ball to a cone at least 4 yards away, return ball to server, run backwards to channel and shuffle through for a ground pickup on the other side

same as above, but sprint to cone for high ball after shuffling through the channel; return to channel by backwards running

same as above, but ball is served so that GK must run backwards for the catch; ball is returned to server and a sprint forward to the channel to do
the same thing on the other side

figure 8's while catching served balls

side hops over a channel, while catching served balls

with two servers (one in front of the GK and one behind), the GK hops over
a channel with a turn for a catch, hops back over the channel with a turn for a catch from the other server