Practice - Receiving
Warm Up 5 - 10 minutes. Activity level
- Mild ramping up. Space: General. 1 - 2 Players per group.
Toss and Control
The Game
Players move around the space freely, tossing their own ball in the air and
trying to control it before it lands. Players dribble around controlling, then
repeat the activity.
Coaching Points
- Have player's body touch ball before it first hits the ground.
- Have players control first touch with different body parts: foot, head,
thigh, etc.
- Have players flick ball into hands befoe the toss, don't allow them to pick
the ball off the ground with their hands.
- watch for height. Encourage different heights.
- Have players fake before their first touch, fake on way to first touch in
the opposite direction.
Small Game 20 - 25 Minutes. Activity
level: Medium progression to high. Space: Defined space "smaller". 3
- 5 players per group.
Receiving Square
The Game
Define a space approximately 20 x 20. Each player should have a partner and
one ball per group. One partnet goes to the outside of the defined space with a
soccer ball. The other partner goes into the space. On command, outside players
pass the ball to partner, who must receive and turn the ball. While dribbling,
the inside player must find a new outside player to pass to. After a successfull
pass, the inside player must move to any outside player with the ball and repeat
the sequence.
Coaching Points
- Inside players must be moving toward the incoming pass.
- Encourage players to turn the ball several ways inside, outside of foot.
Use of both feet is important.
- After the turn, encourage quick decisions on where to pass or dribble next.
- Change player roles (inside/outside) every 2 minutes.
- As players become more proficient at receiving and turning, encourage them
to fake one way before receiving, then turn the oopsite way.
Team Game 30 Minutes plus. Activity
level: High. Space: Defined for the game = larger space. 7 - 11 players per
team.
Keeper Game Receiving
The Game
Play on your soccer field or across the width. Two equal teams, each with at
least two keepers. keepers are allowed to move anywhere on the field and use
their hands, but are not allowed to score. Field players can score one point by
getting a header over the endline and five poinys for a header in the goal. Play
a regular game. When keepers get the ball the only way they can pass to their
field players is with underhand tosses to the players body or bowling on the
ground to their feet.
Coaching Points
- This game allows keeper to use hands out of the penalty area to make sure
players get plenty of good air balls and ground balls to receive.
- It may be necessary to add or delete keepers for desired results.
- Make rules only when necessary.
- If keepers run too much with ball, allow them only four steps.
- Keepers throwing to other keepers? Make it so they can not make a direct
pass from keeper to keeper, they must use a field player.
- Encourage keepers to attack and defend.
Match Conditions
The Game
- An even sided game with full goals that is played just like the real game
but not necessarily with an 11 v. 11 format.
- The coach then observes if the training has had any effect on the players'
ability to meet the demands of the game.
- Coaching points can still be made, but the coach focuses comments on the
theme of the practice.
- If the session was a technical session, the coach focuses on the players
dody, and sees if it is meeting the demands of the game technically.
- If the session wa stactical, the coach focuses on what the player is
seeing, and focuses on whether or not the player is interpreting the visual
clues correctly and making the correct decisions based on what is seen.
Receiving Through Gates
The Game
Two Players per gate. The gates are approximately two steps apart. One ball
per group. First player must play ball on ground through the gate within two
touches. The game continues until players can not get ball back through gate on
the ground within two touches.
Coaching Points
Practice List