Football/Soccer Session (Moderate): 11/12U Academy W2 - Recognizing Situations when to Dribble or Find an Open Pass

5v2 Rondos - Warmup

Warm up with Rondos just to get the kids moving for the first 10 minutes or so. Play the game as you prefer (competitive, penny in hand, etc.), if you put two defenders encourage the players to look for splits and introduce breaking lines. Play with one defender if necessary. Make the space big enough to find success based on the amount of defenders.

If defenders win the ball they can look to dribble outside of the grid to get 2 points. Attacking players get a point for 6 passses or a split.

3v2 - 2v2 Transition Game

This is a transition game. Takes a good demonstration/explanation. If you need further explanation please ask. 4-5 minute rounds; then switch.

Coach has all the balls at one side of the grid. Play a ball to the 3 attackers (red); 3v2 to goal. The last player to touch the ball in the goal/out of bounds (blue line in diagram) has to go off the field. Coach will roll in a 2nd ball to the other team (yellow) and play 2v2 to the other goal and Red team defends. Play is not over until the 2nd ball goes out. After the 2nd ball all 5 players should go to the back of the line.

Coaching Points:

- Player on the ball should look to take aggressive first touch to make the defender commit and look for the 'open player'

- If defending team allows space then take space on the dribble

- Must play with our head up

- Quick transitions to attack

- Dynamic forward movement (Diagonal runs, overlaps, etc.)

6v6 No Restrictions

Good opportunity to talk about positional responsibilities/situations that can be applied from topic, while allowing the players to play. Give them a formation to run (example: 1-3-1) depending on the amount of players to teach these positional responsibilities.