Practice 1

Warm up
I had an advantage of seeing most of the girls at the 6 soccer clinics. I always try to focus on passing. my philosophy is to get this right before anything.

I have an Hour for this practice.

15 Minutes

I realized that I had no Goal Keeper, so to start off the practice I played a game that involved the girls catching the ball. This can give me a clear picture of who has the ability to go in goal. It also lets the girls have fun. It is soccer related, it is allowing the girls to make decisions.

Make a grid 30 x 20, with two end lines.

  • Players move around the grid throwing and catching the ball.

  • Once the ball is caught, the players can’t run.

  • To score the players have to run past the end line and catch the ball thrown by one of their team mates. Players cannot stand in the end zone and wait for a catch. They must receive the ball on the move.

Variation:

  1. Put in a goal at each end. To score players have to volley the ball in the goal (No heading)

Passing
30 Minutes - Working on Passing and First touch.

 
Set up cones as above, the cones are 10 yards away from each other.

To get the girls use to the passing exercise, we ran the course of were I want the ball to go. We all got in a line and ran the course (Red line). After the second run I asked who new the course to run. I then allowed girls to be in front leading the girls round the course. This was fun and the girls enjoyed the challenge. Some got it wrong at the start, but eventually they saw the picture. Now we got the soccer ball.
  • One player is put on a cone. The middle cone has to players back to back. The players at the start all have a soccer ball each.
  • Players pass the ball and then follow their pass.
  • keep this going working on passing.

Variation:

  • Change direction of the course and go the opposite way.

Focus on:

  • Side foot passes.
  • Weight, Accuracy and Timing of the pass.
This went on longer than expected. I always want the girls to scrimmage at the end, so for the last 15 minutes we had a game. I was looking for the girls passing the ball with the side of their foot. The girls all chased the ball. it was like 1 versus 9. It was a good practice and the girls worked hard and had fun.

I just wish I could spend more time with them, but we all have other things going on in our lives. I am looking forward to next week.

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