To Train, or Not to Train, That is the Question...
Online Training | Wednesday, Aug 26 | 7:00PM - 8:00PM
Woke up and saw that the forecast looked crappy for today. Emailed the team early in the morning to let them know I was thinking of hosting an online session tonight rather than field training.
I have no problem training in the rain. In fact, so of my fondest memories of training as a youth and as a pro happened at rainy practices. Always felt I could run forever when it was wet out…
But we have many families traveling to training from distance. If there is a threat of severe weather, I’d prefer to make the call early, let parents plan their evenings, and get the team together for an online session.
And that’s what I did around 2PM this afternoon. Then, it promptly stopped storming, the sun came out, and the t-storms icons that had littered my hourly view in my iPhone’s weather app magically vanished.
Great.
Parents are going to be pissed off. They pay a lot of money to play in this club, and I’m sure some of them who don’t yet see the value of online video analysis might feel slighted.
And I’m sure the girls want to train.
But I needed to make this call for other reasons. We played 3 friendlies on Saturday, a tough physical game vs the MTA 08 ECNL on Sunday (followed by GK training), trained Tuesday, and trained last night. I was conscious about the girls’ physical health, so had planned on running an easy heading session last night in prep for another more demanding session tonight. But the MTA 08 ECNL team had enough space for us to play 11v11, and their coach asked if we wouldn’t mind scrimmaging so they could continue to work on things. I didn’t mind, but that meant that we had a very physical session last night, when it was going to be an easier-on-the-body session.
So a day off today seemed the right play.
Oh, and we have 2 games this weekend.
Anyway, we got together online and spent 45 minutes going over 10 minutes of our friendly vs St Croix 09s. I think the girls enjoyed it, and the new girls to the team realized how beneficial these sessions can be.
Some of the things we covered:
Kickoff procedure
First 5 minutes, we play in their half
Defending opponent’s goal kicks when they play short (bent runs, making things predictable)
Passing lanes
Dropping off, letting teammates breathe, making the space big
Holding mid, finding the hole/gap between opponent’s lines
Target players, sealing off defenders, looking like you’re ready for a ball into your feet
Playing vs 3 central mids = space wide for our forwards to drop back into, or for our wide backs to attack
Skip midfielders, find forwards for layoffs
Getting defenders forward at the right time when playing a back 4
Center backs vs a single center forward - one tight, one free
Wide backs never want a throw-in to go over their head
Weak-side defender sees everything, needs to provide info
Center backs should’t take throw-ins in our defending third
Movement to create space on throw-ins
Forwards need to win the ball played into the negative space, or throw defenders off at the very least
Individual defending, shorten your strides as you approach dribblers, don’t get beat with a quick touch
Wide backs tuck in and recover early, don’t get beat with split passes
The better team doesn’t always get the result - you don’t get what you deserve, you get what you earn
Numerous short passes in one area? Need to get out
Forwards don’t always have to run straight at the goal to try and get open
A chance you’re going to get the ball? Scan the field
Get a 1/2 step on the defender? Get your next touch across her body (wide players, get into goal)
Benefits of attacking the end line, trying to get crosses off, winning corner kicks
Far post runner, you can always move forward and attack the ball, so don’t get it too early
Defenders need to realize if teammates are out of position, and can’t dive and be beat. Delay
Recognition by forwards on when to make runs behind, and when to come back for the ball at feet
Oh, and here’s a snapshot of the current radar.
