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FineSoccer Drill 7 The first drill in the finishing progression is one of my favorites because it combines finishing, defending and an incredible amount of conditioning. I simply call it the breakaway drill. Before starting this drill, you might want to review the newsletter I wrote on finishing breakaways by clicking here The set up of the field is quite simple. If available, use a full field with two full sized goals. The minimum number of players needed for this drill is 10 with two keepers although 12-14 is ideal. Split the team into two groups. One group should be 10 yards outside of one goal with balls and the other group should be 10 yards outside of the other goal (opposite post). See the diagram below to get a better understanding of this.
Each player has a ball. The first player in the X line takes off on a full field breakaway at full speed (consider having a coach or player chase her from behind to put pressure on this one player). As soon as she finishes the breakaway, the first player in line O takes off on her breakaway. The X player who just finished her breakaway then becomes the defender and must chase the O player down to pressure her on her breakaway. As soon as the O player finishes her breakaway, then SHE becomes the defender and the next person in the X line takes off. This drill can be done for 8-10 minutes and while it might seem like there is a lot of standing around while waiting for a players turn, the truth is that the players are making TWO full field sprints in a row and need the time to recover. Players will try to cheat in this drill to make it easier for themselves. One way will be to take off on offense before the opponent finishes her breakaway. If necessary, the coach can be the one who says "so" before is allowed to take off. Another way to cheat is for the player who is on offense to shoot from a far distance so she can get back quicker on defense. If this starts to happen, make the players touch the goalpost that they are finishing on before they are allowed to get back and defend (I admit it, I was the kid who was always looking for ways to cheat so I could win). The great thing about this drill is that it works on finishing breakaways in a game like situation (under pressure of lack of time as well as while suffering from exhaustion) and it is a great way to end a training session instead of doing something that involves plain conditioning. It has been my experience that after doing this drill a few times, teams have become much more comfortable with finishing in actual games. You can turn this drill into a competition between the two teams although if you do that, you really must guard against players starting early to cheat. Give this drill a try but be aware that this is not an easy drill and the players must really be pushed as they get tired. Let me know what you think of this drill Lawrence |
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