End of High School Season

It is a difficult time of year for me as a Varsity coach.  Each year I wish I had more matches to put the girls in.  Each year it seems that we are just at the point of getting it and then it ends.

 I was only able to work on one aspect of the game this season as opposed to 3 or 4 due to the lack of experience on the team.  It was painfully apparent in our last regular season match when we had 90% of the posession and zero shots on goal and the other team had one fluke shot while falling down and one goal.

We had 5 corners and nothing to show for it.  What is needed is for the girls to play in between school seasons with other better players or with each other and even for different coaches.

Why is High School Different?

I coach both club and high school soccer.  To me it is evident that girls at a private high school view playing at school different than those that play at a club or both.

The girls at school usually play every sport that the school sport schedule permits or they play soccer because they can’t make any other team and then they go and do glee club type activities in place of playing for a club after the school season ends.

There are 3 games over the next 2 two weeks left to play and then district play offs after that.  The team is pretty much assured just to play one game and then pack it in until next season.

Do you have similar observations?

Practice Journal 4/3

Practice Tuesday night was yet again an improvement over the previous practice. The girls seemed to enjoy themselves and those that usually balk a lot about the physical strain of practice were doing the balking less.

1. I started with a warm up jog with the ball.
Some static stretching.
2. Set up 4 coaching sticks in a 10×10 square just atop a little incline.

• Start from a standing position
  Sprint to 2nd stick and turn outside to the left and continue to the 3rd stick and turn again and print to the 4th and then back to line.
  Progressed to making headers at 2nd stick

3. Did some agility training with the 8 point star.

4. Worked on passing with a partner 10 yards apart (just inside right and inside left due to time constraints).

5. My coaching coordinator was observing and noticed an opportunity for inserting a progression here (I actually removed it seconds before because of time, but he was right so I went with it. He is the boss).

• 30×30 square with a 10yd section in the middle.

• Split team into groups of 3

• Outside players have a ball

• Middle players receive a pass from outside player, return it, and turn to receive pass from opposite outside player

• Do this for a minute having the middle players count their passes.

• Switch roles and continue

• You can progress to volleys, headers, chest and volley, etc.

6. 30×30 square. Divided team into Blue and Yellow bibs with one free player in Green. Started Blue with the ball passing to Yellow. Yellow must return ball back to same Blue and then seek to receive pass from Different Blue player.

• Green tries to disrupt by tapping as many balls to the outside of the square

• Blue and Yellow must pass and move to be successful

• Players can dribble out of trouble from Green.

• Do this for a minute and then switch Green. You can also switch the roles of Blue and Yellow.

7. Ended with Match related game of 5v5+1 to 2 small goals in 40×30 square. +1 is on the team with the ball.

• I was able to them to work on spreading the field and quick transition.

• Practice ended with warm-down exercise of Throwing In due to the last match where all but 3 could take throw ins.

All in all it was good and I look forward to Thursday. I hope they all show up again.

Practice Journal Entry 4/2

Practice turned out to be upbeat and useful to the athletes. The girls really made the practice work and the majority of them worked hard and learned hard.

I broke out the hurdles, adjustable 6″ and 9″, in a straight line 2′ apart. I stepped out 10 paces and laid out a 10 x 10 square. Each player then

1. high stepped at pace through the hurdles
2. sprinted to the box
3. shuffled to the left
4. burst up
5. shuffle to the right
6. jogged back to the line.

I had them do the above for 8 minutes with a break at 4 minutes. Recovery time was 30 seconds.

I then used an exercise from the folks over at FineSoccer. I split the players into two groups. 1 half were in the center of a 30 x 30 circle and the other half on the outside. The center received the ball from the outside and 2 touch passed it back to the outside, turned around to the left and changed position to receive the ball from a different partner. I switched outside to in after 1 minute. I did this for 10 minutes with a rest of 30 seconds before the start of each repetition.

Next was the “Triangle of Death”. Inside a circle of about 30 yards in diameter, place 3 coaching sticks, or taller cones in the center. Half of the players in the center burst to an outside player at an angle and 1 touch pass back to the outside then jog back to the center and burst through the circle to different partner on the outside. I kept the pace up on this one switching with little or no break in between. Change from ground passing on the inside foot to volleys, headers, chest and volley, etc.

I ended practice with a match related game 6v5+gk where the defending players could score by getting the ball into either of 2 goals placed on each touchline at the halfway mark of the pitch.

Following 20 minutes of the match related game we worked on corner kicks for 10 minutes from both sides where the rules from the game still applied to the defense.

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U14 Girls – March 31, 2007 Match

As a recreational level coach, some matches can be nightmares. Nothing from the outset goes right and you end up trying to feel sorry for yourself.

Saturday’s match was predictably bad days before it kicked off. My starting keeper was not coming, three or four others were not coming, my backup keeper is 50% of my offense, the other 50% had only 2 hours of sleep the night before, and on and on.

This spring season seems really difficult when it comes to motivating players. I have tried being laid back in my approach, very stern, and even something in between.

I am an USSF certified coach, NSCAA schooled at multiple levels and disciplines, but it is frustrating.

If you have comments or suggestions, please feel free to post them below.

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