Midfielder Drills – YouTube video is nice

[frank starsinicSpectator]

Here’s  what I feel is a great drill for receiving the ball across your body, turning, passing, control, etc.  I tried this with my U14 team and aside from the first couple drills it’s been a disaster. Shows me just how poorly they have been coached in the basics.

 

 

I plan on incorporating this drill every single day for the rest of the season.

If you watch closely you’ll see that it teaches many basic concepts, such as facing the way you play and playing the way you face, etc.

[DanaParticipant]

I know the “complete disaster” feeling. My u13 team last year was pretty weak technically, and drills like this would often break down from poor fundamentals and lack of intensity.

There are a couple good comments on coaching points and checking over the shoulder. I think the shoulder look is a critical element.

[frank starsinicSpectator]

I love the idea of making the center player look over their shoulder.  I’ll be incorporating this from now on.  Taking a look and making a decision based on what they see behind them. Great idea!

[David WilliamsParticipant]

All pretty basic really, checking shoulder, receiving on half turn, would not touch this drill personally.

[frank starsinicSpectator]

For my kids this is far from basic. I’ve realized that none of them have ever been trained to do this, and they are in U14.

 

[Justin BoatmanParticipant]

I know Gary is pretty adamant about sticking to the core drills that we’ve all received on this site, but I’m curious if he would approve this drill as a way to “mix things up” for the kids, yet it still hammers home the concept of “receiving across your body”?

[frank starsinicSpectator]

Personally, I think the drill is excellent if the kids are not good at performing those tasks and my kids definitely are not.

They have been doing this drill during each practice and before each game and are WAY BETTER than they were 2 weeks ago at this drill.

Does it help during the game? I think it will. I asked my kids if they naturally take the ball across their bodies during games now and they told me “yes”.

Whether or not they know it, receiving the ball that way speeds up play.

 

[Eric DykesParticipant]

This is basically a different version of the S drill. Same concept of turning the ball- good mix up I think. One thing its not teaching that I think is missed by many with the S drill is the player movement off the ball. My kids always leave early and hurt our chances of connecting passes. The S drill states to not move until the teammate collects the ball cleanly.

modification of the video drill. Im thinking about placing a ghost player placed behind the player in the center of the drill that either pressures or lays off the person receiving. This forces a peek and communication by the team mates. The receiving player if pressured lays the ball back to the passer for the longer touch to the teammate furthest away. If the receiving player has space they tell him to turn and his peek should also let him know and then play it the normal way.

[frank starsinicSpectator]

I did the ghost player bit in the drill this week but it was hard for the players to cycle properly so I played that part myself and did exactly what you say.

I also had the kids peek over their shoulder before receiving the ball and yell out the kids name behind them.

Of course some of them were more interested in short-cutting the concept and just noticing who was behind them in line as they moved up to that position in the drill and then yelling out the kids name so they didn’t have to peek at all.  I hate that crap with a passion.

To prevent that, I also tried having the kid behind hold up fingers and the player in the center had to peek and say the number of fingers he saw.

The issue with that is that some of the kids at this age don’t pay much attnetion and are more interested in talking with friends instead of remembering to hold up fingers.  Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr…..

I”m happy with the progress. It has been very noticeable.

Comparing it with the S-Shape drill, the passes are more difficult to make, IMO and a bit more challenging. I like both drills.

 

 

 

[frank starsinicSpectator]

The part of the S-Drill where the players take a few yards of space can easily be worked into this drill as well. As soon as an end player receives the ball, the center player back-pedals toward the edge of the circle to receive the pass across their body. The same can be applied to the give-and-go phase as well as the other phases.

Many of my players still try to cheat to avoid having to look over their shoulder. Their willingness to refuse to learn and cheat themselves is insane but the reality of the situation. Still looking for something that makes them do it, such as the ghost player concept, without ruining the flow of the drill.

 

[Dirk BennettParticipant]

I just finished up my first week of preseason for the high school girls team I coach and have a few bits of advice. First of all, let it be noted that this is probably the best group of girls we’ve ever had in the program (10 seniors, 6 signed to college already), so they’ve got a good grasp of some basics and are quite moldable to our cause.

We’ve been doing 4v0’s and S-Patterns every day for a week, amongst other exercises. Each day, they seem to improve, and I try to add a little more focus when they do. For example: during the S-Pattern drill, I have now incorporated the shoulder “look” before they receive the ball (either centrally or at the angle). At first I didn’t ask this of anyone, then the 2nd day I put that challenge to my center mids, and now I’ve got the whole team doing it. Baby steps.

Personally, I love this set of exercises in the video – I’d seen it a few months ago – I had plans to use this with my midfielders/forwards when we breakout between offense/defense next week. Great way to mix things up. As much as I appreciate the dedication that it takes to master simple drills like 4v0, kids still want some variety. That’s where it comes down to your skill as a coach to plan and execute training, as well as being empathetic to the needs of your players.

Best of luck all!

[frank starsinicSpectator]

I’m now coaching a different team (U16) and they are equally horrible at doing this drill and none of the kids on the team know anything about the concept of receiving the ball across the body.

I’ve adjusted the drill somewhat for this team and we’re really only doing the first 2 phases at the moment.

For me, this drill (with the focus I’m using) is astoundingly wonderful for teaching first touch, good passing/receiving, etc. and after 2 weeks, the kids are impressively better and they all seem to actually enjoy the drill.

I use it with the following as coaching points during the drill:
1. doing shoulder check to see who is near/behind them
2. moving to lose their defender at the right time
3. positioning themselves early to be able to receive the ball across their body, with the proper foot, to facilitate playing it forward (this was the key point in this video, that I emphasized in my training sessions)
4. passing the ball so it can be received properly to play it forward by a teammate
5. indication (with hand gesture or otherwise) to show where they want the ball passed by a teammate
6. verbal communication
7. combination plays to play forward
8. passing the ball on the ground (rolling, not bouncing)

• This reply was modified 10 years, 2 months ago by  frank starsinic.

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