Turning a bad exercise into a great training session
I recently watched a practice where a coach had the players passing back and forth in pairs up and down the field. Once they completed this task, they waited for another group to go before repeating the same activity. I watched for a few minutes without interrupting the coach. One reason I didn't interrupt the coach is that he has not reacted positively to me in the past, so I figured I would let him do his thing just in case he had a similar response.
What struck me later was that this activity failed to do the two things we most want our activities to do: improve skill and solve problems.
The coach was obviously trying to improve the passing skills of the players, but in the time I watched the activity there wasn't a single pass that showed any real attempt by the player to make a skillful, accurate pass. There were defects in body position, foot position and contact point on all of the players involved in the activity. All of the passes were made to players who were less than 5 yards away from each other. The players were moving at a slow, near constant speed and they never asked for the pass to be made because they were given only one option.
Because the path they followed was prescribed by the coach (pass the ball back and forth from one goal back to the other goal), there was no problem to solve for the players. In the early years of the sport, there was no passing and one person dribbled the ball until he lost it and then the next player did the same. Once passing was introduced, players realized that the ball could move faster that way than by dribbling. The reason to choose a pass over a dribbling move is that you can move the ball more quickly around the field than you can by dribbling. Watching this exercise, I realized that the two players passing were moving more slowly than either one would if they simply dribbled down the field alone.
So where did this activity fit into a practice and are there any simple tweaks that could make the exercise better?
Typically, when you ask players to pass in pairs, the focus is on skill and is part of the warmup phase of the practice. Passing to set up a goal-scoring opportunity is part of either the small-sided or expanded small-sided portion of practice.
So the first thing we have to do is determine what our snapshot is going to look like. Remember that the snapshot (it used to be called a Kodak moment, for those of you old enough to remember Kodak cameras) is what the player looks like when they are executing a skill perfectly. So let's imagine that the passing snapshot has a player making a side-foot pass with an ankle locked, maintaining her balance and that the ball travels at the right speed to the target player accurately.
With that in mind, the practice can start with pairs passing in a grid. Players can work on passing with both feet, passing to players checking in and moving into space. Adding 5 foot goals can force the players to move into making specific passes. Make the space large enough that the players can make longer passes and spread out more.
As a coach, you are looking for the snapshot and hoping to make lots of positive comments about the skill.
Moving into the small-sided game, 3 v 3 with two small goals. This activity allows you to put the players into position to use the pass to set up goal-scoring opportunities. Again, you are still looking for the snapshot as the game speeds up and the number of decisions players are asked to make increases.
Before scrimmaging, the expanded small-sided activity can be 6 v 6 with two GK's, a line at midfield and 3 v 2 on each half. Players cannot cross midfield, so the entry pass from the defenders to the forwards has to be accurate and well-timed. The forwards can look to attack or possess by playing either the other forward or the defender. While there will be fewer good snapshots in this exercise, if you are looking for them specifically, you can find them.
We started with a bad exercise that failed to: be clearly a warmup or small-sided activity; focus on a specific snapshot; and challenge players to use the skill in a competitive atmosphere. By focusing on a technique, knowing the phases of training and fostering a competitive atmosphere that challenges your players to do their best, you can take even a bad exercise and make a great session.
What struck me later was that this activity failed to do the two things we most want our activities to do: improve skill and solve problems.
The coach was obviously trying to improve the passing skills of the players, but in the time I watched the activity there wasn't a single pass that showed any real attempt by the player to make a skillful, accurate pass. There were defects in body position, foot position and contact point on all of the players involved in the activity. All of the passes were made to players who were less than 5 yards away from each other. The players were moving at a slow, near constant speed and they never asked for the pass to be made because they were given only one option.
Because the path they followed was prescribed by the coach (pass the ball back and forth from one goal back to the other goal), there was no problem to solve for the players. In the early years of the sport, there was no passing and one person dribbled the ball until he lost it and then the next player did the same. Once passing was introduced, players realized that the ball could move faster that way than by dribbling. The reason to choose a pass over a dribbling move is that you can move the ball more quickly around the field than you can by dribbling. Watching this exercise, I realized that the two players passing were moving more slowly than either one would if they simply dribbled down the field alone.
So where did this activity fit into a practice and are there any simple tweaks that could make the exercise better?
Typically, when you ask players to pass in pairs, the focus is on skill and is part of the warmup phase of the practice. Passing to set up a goal-scoring opportunity is part of either the small-sided or expanded small-sided portion of practice.
So the first thing we have to do is determine what our snapshot is going to look like. Remember that the snapshot (it used to be called a Kodak moment, for those of you old enough to remember Kodak cameras) is what the player looks like when they are executing a skill perfectly. So let's imagine that the passing snapshot has a player making a side-foot pass with an ankle locked, maintaining her balance and that the ball travels at the right speed to the target player accurately.
With that in mind, the practice can start with pairs passing in a grid. Players can work on passing with both feet, passing to players checking in and moving into space. Adding 5 foot goals can force the players to move into making specific passes. Make the space large enough that the players can make longer passes and spread out more.
As a coach, you are looking for the snapshot and hoping to make lots of positive comments about the skill.
Moving into the small-sided game, 3 v 3 with two small goals. This activity allows you to put the players into position to use the pass to set up goal-scoring opportunities. Again, you are still looking for the snapshot as the game speeds up and the number of decisions players are asked to make increases.
Before scrimmaging, the expanded small-sided activity can be 6 v 6 with two GK's, a line at midfield and 3 v 2 on each half. Players cannot cross midfield, so the entry pass from the defenders to the forwards has to be accurate and well-timed. The forwards can look to attack or possess by playing either the other forward or the defender. While there will be fewer good snapshots in this exercise, if you are looking for them specifically, you can find them.
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