Football/Soccer Session (Difficult): Positional Possession w Tommy

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Tommy is in the final days of returning to play from ACL reconstruction and 10 months of rehabilitation.

As he has transitioned from solo sport-specific movement into non-contact group activity, our small-sided games incorporated him first as a target player (outside the grid). As medical practitioners approved higher levels of play, we used him as a neutral player within the exercise with a clearly identifiable neon training bib. The rest of the team was instructed to not tackle or bump him. He was off-limits, no contact. Over some days, he progressed from unlimited touches to a touch restriction that began to help him speed up his decision-making and technical before he transitioned fully to contact activity.

In the activity above, the exercise is a positional transition game 7v7+ neutral (Tommy in yellow) to targets. The space is 35y L x 25y W.