Football/Soccer Session (Beginner): Technical Session: Running with the Ball (RWTB)

Ball Mastery Warm Up (10 mins)

Organisation

• Players dribble in the coned area doing different skills, turns and movements, on
  the coach's call, without losing the control of the ball or bumping into anyone else
• Focus skills this block: Step Over, Drag Back/L Turn, Sole Role, V Cut

Progressions

• add defenders trying to tackle the ball and give all the players five lives, every time they get tackled, or the ball goes out of play, they lose a life
  

• Players taking small touches
• Players keeping their heads up
• Players playing at high tempo
• Encourage players to try new skills/turns/movements even if they find it difficult
• Look out for players who are struggling with the the technique the coach has asked the player to execute

Core Move to RWTB to Finish - Overlap (10 mins)

Part 2 of 2 of the same practice working on two different 2-player core moves. The second one works on a overlap

Organisation:

• Split players into two groups, one group on one corner of the pitch, the other group on the opposite corner with one player starting on the nearby middle cone
• The player at the front of the line plays a pass into the middle player and then makes an overlapping run around the middle player who plays it back to the first player, who then RWTB before finishing
• The player who has had their shot should join the back of the opposite line. The players on the middle cone remain for a few goes and then get rotated out after 
• Swap sides after a few attempts

Coaching Points

• Overlap: The first pass into the middle player should be done to the correct side of receiving player (the side in which they are looking to overlap on) to make it easy for the middle player to play the next pass
• Overlap: Initial player should run at speed to overlap and then receiving the ball
• Overlap: Ideally when doing the overlap the initial player should arc their run to receive in a wider position (not too close to the middle player)
• Overlap: Pass from the middle player should be in front of the initial player who shouldn't need to break stride
• RWTB: appropriate length of touches on the ball, as we are running with the ball into space we may look to take larger touches to exploit the space
• RWTB: Potential to use one of the skill moves whilst running with the ball before shooting

1v1/2v2/3v3 (20 mins)

Organisation

• Players are split into two teams and each player has a number​

• When a player’s number is called out, they come onto the pitch and play a 1v1 against their opponent​

• Games should last 60-90 seconds each​

• Once their game is done the player should stand behind or to the side of the goal​

• Multiple games can be played at the same time (max of three games at once) – players will be challenged on awareness in this situation

Progressions

• This can progress into doing 2v2s and 3v3s by calling out numbers (in total have a maximum of 6 players on the pitch at any time)
  

• Players should try and score as close to the goal as possible in to work on their dribbling. You can add an end zone on each side of the pitch that players must score within​

• Encourage defenders to try and press/engage as soon as possible to put the attacker under pressure​

• Challenge players who are dominating by asking them to do a skill to beat their player or score/dribble with their weak foot​

• Ensure players are playing against those who are similar ability and/or physically similar – this is vital!

• Use of this block's focus skill moves can be worth extra points
• For the 2v2/3v3, use of this blocks core moves can be worth extra points or even a game breaker