April 12th, 2010 10:04 pm
Soccer drills are the backbone of every training session and especially the ones that have formations as a feature. No matter how good your training techniques be, they’ll be useless if these drills are not apt for the players.
By formation I mean the manner in which the players are arranged on field. Players will find it easy to act in response to various situations in the field if they carry out those drills which use formations. Soccer training has a few standard formations which will be talked about below.
Centering the ball: The player strikes the ball from one side into the center of the field. This is without doubt one of the finest ways to get the ball into the arch of concentration. At this juncture, there has to be a correct balance between the player centering the ball and the remaining teammates. It is very easy to center the ball which is done on both sides of the field.
You must ensure that soccer drills lay emphasis on all theories of offence, mid-field, defense, and support. Therefore, the player with the ball will try to move it towards the outer region to the end line. Players can be taught to use passing or dribbling to do it. Make sure your players get in close proximity to the end line.
To protect the goal, the best bet is for the defense to break up and make a line engaging the one centering the ball as well as the goal. So, when on defense, your team must have the ability to remain in their formation and remove the ball fast.
The chances of the ball going offside are minimal when the ball is centered from the end line or is close to the end line. This is due to the fact that the player in possession of the ball is behind the point from where the kick was taken.
Kickoff formations: Most of the teams with young players practice such soccer exercises to get to the center circle and kick the ball as hard as possible. This is their kickoff plan. There are a number of benefits of shooting the ball. First, the ball gets fairly close to the opposition’s goal. Second, the team only needs to cover a less area if the ball is kicked to the right or left side.
Also, it is easier to learn to first kick the ball and then take off. Although it’s a good idea to just kick off the ball, but I prefer a soccer practice where the players spin the ball forward to a teammate, move about the ball to the outer field, and then moving along the field towards the opponent’s goal.
In this way, the team is in a better position to control the ball. Make it a point to position your players in a suitable formation and run the formation as you would do in any other drill. Keep in mind that this is not a real game. You are only helping the players to learn to play in different positions.
So move ahead, execute the formation drill, end, modify, and run the drill again. Keep going with these soccer drills till all the players have learnt to maintain their positions and react suitably in them.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Andre Botelho is known online as “The Expert Youth Soccer Coach” and his free ebooks and reports have been downloaded more than 100,000 times. Learn how to skyrocket your players’ skills and make training fun in record time. Download your free ebook at: Soccer Practice
Tags: drills soccer, soccer drills, soccer exercises, Soccer practice, soccer training