Planning Practices for Success

One of the questions we are frequently asked is how to train a team for a specific formation and system of play.  In my opinion, this is the king consideration to having a successful season, especially in a high school setting. Ohio limits the number of contact days a coach can have with his players out of season and once regular season play gets under way there is precious little time for instruction between preparing for a match, the actual match and a recovery day following the match.

Establishing continuity in your training while also maintaining skill level and addressing tactical concerns is a balancing act many coaches struggle with.  Mastering this is also the single most important key to a successful season. My approach is to decide on a formation and system of play then analyze the key tactical components of play that will be required to execute successfully within this framework.  Call it reverse engineering of a soccer system of play, if you will.

I then build my season long training themes around these ideas. Using this past spring season as an example I knew the technical components that would be most emphasized in our play were the push pass, crossing the soccer ball and running with the soccer ball.  Therefore all technical training throughout the season was grounded in these three areas.

Some type of sequence of touches work was done daily and incorporated into preparation for matches, pre game warm ups and touches on recovery days. The sequence of touches I am referring to involves 2 touch play. Receive with the right foot and pass with the right foot is considered to be Right / Right or R/R.  The four sequences of touches are therefore R/R,  R/L, L/L and L/R.  Breaking lines and its variations were staples of our training as warm up exercises.

Warming up for what?

Playing soccer utilizing a specific system of play, of course.  So, the tactical application of the techniques we worked on in warm ups took center stage in our play in practice. From small side games through full sided work we emphasized the sequence of touches.  It is critical to receive across the body when utilizing any of the four sequences of touches as this is the basis of combination passing. In fact, the cues for knowing when a specific combination pass is on are often triggered by the receiver's ability to receive the ball across his body.

Combination passing infers the ability to interchange positions so this becomes a central focus in our small-sided and full-side practice play as well. We did a lot of 3 team scrimmaging work to emphasize the four elements of play - Penetration, Depth, Width and Mobility. An example would see 3 teams of 6 players each. Two are active inside an appropriate sized grid with the third team in-waiting around the grid.  Upon a team successfully competing "X" number of passes inside the grid they would play to the team outside. Those two teams then interchange positions - the team inside the grid moving to the outside and the team on the outside moving to the inside of the grid. Play is continuous.

Target play and flank play were two of the main tactical themes of our formation and system of play so we built on the above referenced possession game by dividing the squad into two teams. We utilized a large grid of approximately 44 yards wide by 50 yards long.  On the top or 44 yard ends we positioned target players and along each side we positioned flank players for each side. No defense allowed outside the grid to begin with.  We built this game into allowing targets and wings to interchange (Mobility) with players inside the grid both with and without the ball.  This provided us with a realistic depiction of the sometimes chaotic world of spine play and the importance of target play (Penetration) and flank play (Width) to provide space for and allow the spine players room to maneuver in the middle of the pitch.  Add in goalkeepers or a defender with the targets and you have Depth. covered as well.

There is continuity of technique and tactical emphasis throughout these progressions that all applies directly to the formational alignment and system of play we utilized.  Were there other areas of concern, technical and tactical, that cropped up during the season? Of course, but we incorporated addressing them into the continuity of our practice activities. 

With so much active play in our practices we also address the physical aspects of play. One of the best ways to condition for playing a game is ... to play the game! We used a lot of small-sided and full-side team play to condition us for actually playing and by staying consistent with our practice and playing themes we addressed the psychological (confidence) aspects of play as well.  We had a plan. We stuck to it and as a result as the players improved their confidence grew.  As did the success of our season. 47-8-5 speaks for itself, doesn't it?