Football/Soccer Session (Academy Sessions): u11 session-Defending

Blocked Practice (20 mins)

Blocked practice

to begin with there will be 3 channels where 2 players will stand on each side. one side will start with the ball and the other side will defend. to begin all I want is the player with the ball to moderatley run with the ball towards the defender and the defenders job is just to jockey the player to the end, you dont want him to tackle yet. (4-5 minutes)

then once this has been done i want the defending player to actually attempt to make a tackle on the attacking player. this is the progression. (2 minutes)

Small sided game (35 mins)

Small Sided game 6v6

to begin with there will be 2 zones on either side on the pitch, only 1 player from each team can go into these zones. once an attacking player has gone into this zone he cannot dribble the ball abck onto the pitch, only a pass ia available. the defender's job is to win the ball back in the zone as its 1 v 1 and if they do they win 2 pts.

for the first progression i will give the option to the defending team once they,ve won the ball back to shoot in the goal with their first touch and if they score they get 5 pts, the pitch is fairly small and this would be realistc. it would almost be creating a counter attact scenario in a football match.

for the seconf progression i will allow the player with the ball to dribble back onto to the pitch but if they choose this option they have to make sure everyone in the team has a touc of the ball before they can score, this gives the defending team more time to win the ball back and apply high pressure, but if they chose to stay in the channel they have the option of taking 1 player on and a better chance to create space and encourages more defending.