I’m back at home… another lockdown and all forms of youth soccer have been put on hold. So what I am going to do is send out homework for my players to help them keep up their skills during the time they are away from the sport. But I know that not all of you are in lockdown at the moment and the sessions below can be used at training with your team as well.
Turning with the ball has always been a skill that draws names from the great players through the ages – think of the Cruff turn or Zidane spin turn. It used to make me wonder how players like Lionel Messi, Andrés Iniesta, Zinedine Zidane or Johan Cruyff could turn their opponents inside out, game after game – I now know it needs practice and from a young age. Cruyff made his famous turn because he had nowhere to go when boxed in on the pitch, so he turned. The great players can turn anywhere on the pitch whenever they need to but don’t think they got that skill easily.
Hard work is important when players are training and now is a good time to start.
First, take a look at Vital skills – The hook turn. Here you can get your players to watch the skill in the video and then practise it in a game.
You should also work on an end product that is created by turning with the ball… In Shoot on the turn the player turns and finishes by shooting. This is a great way to take a player’s mind off the turn and focus on the shot so he learns to do it without having to think about it.
Dave Clarke talks to sport psychologist Dan Abrahams discussing how to motivate players, social/psychological, winning/losing, working with parents and much, much more MORE
The Hook Turn is a great attacking skill. Watch the video THE HOOK TURN which will teach your players how to do it and this activity will help them to practise MORE
Turning with the ball is a skill in itself but there should be an end product which is created by turning with the ball – in this case the players turns and finishes by shooting MORE
In this session the player controlling the ball turns, swinging his body around ready to take a route towards the goal i.e. away from the defender, who will struggle to make a challenge if the control and turn is made skilfully enough. MORE
In this activity suggest that right footed players turn with the outside of the foot to go round the cone, and left-footers use the inside of the foot. MORE
One of the options your attacking players have when they approach the penalty area, be it a winger, wingback or number 10, is to go it alone into the box to get past the defenders. MORE
It is a very difficult time to be coaching our players around the world. So to help you I have created the Coaching Classroom where you can download lessons to give to your players online. Here I have focused on Compactness and Penetration MORE
I was out walking on the local golf course where I live this week and in the distance I saw a child running from what seemed miles away at top speed. As the child got closer I realised that it was someone dribbling a ball. Of course on the fairways it was like being at Wembley on a well cared for football pitch! It was great to see a child enjoying dribbling a ball, chipping over the bunkers and swerving around the patches of heather that catch out an unwary golfer. MORE
At the United Soccer Coaches Digital Convention yesterday I was in the presentation by Dan Abrahams on performance of your team with well being in mind. He explored three environmental approaches and combines them to help you establish a healthy and safe coaching environment for players of all ages and levels. MORE
I'm usually high up in the sky on my way to the United Soccer Coaches convention in America at this time of the year – last year I was at the convention in Baltimore and there was loads of coaching education on offer. Yet it is still exciting to be entering the United Soccer Coaches Digital Convention 2021 on my computer in the home office. MORE
