GFC Boys 2011/12 Game vs. CSA

I’m going to break down one of our practice drills that is meant to help us finish our attacks with a goal and see how it was applied in our game against CSA. The three finishing shots on goal drill is meant to practice

1. a breakaway ball to quick goal,

2. a wall pass to goal, and

3. a 1v1 chop to a quick goal.

Unfortunately this practice hasn’t made it into our game, as we will see below. The good news is that more focused practice can help us improve when these situation inevitably arise.

Let’s take a look at what skills the drill is meant to build and how we are doing during game play.

Breakaway ball to goal

When a ball gets behind the defense there is little time to run with the ball or dribble the ball into the 18 yard box and shoot before the opposition gets into place. Here is a good example this in a professional game:

While we’ve practiced this drill several times this season it hasn’t translated into our game:

Key points of this part of the drill:

1. Sprint with the ball into the 18 yard box, don’t go slowly or the defense will catch up and put pressure, causing you to make mistakes.

2. Don’t wait too long to shoot or the goalie will get to the ball before you can shoot cleanly.

3. The shot has to be accurate, into the goal and away from the goalie, and doesn’t necessarily have to be powerful.

Wall pass to goal

A wall pass is when a player passes the ball to a teammate who one-touches it right back. This is helpful to get around the defense and potentially open you up to make a goal, as we see in this example:

Here are two examples of where the wall pass could have been used.

Key points to this drill:

1. Passes must be accurate and with the correct weight or speed. The first pass is to the teammate’s feet and the second pass sets up the kick so the shot is quick (player doesn’t have to waste time to get into the proper position to shoot the ball).

2. Start the wall pass and make a run behind the cone/defender, don’t pass and stand still.

1v1 chop to goal https://youtu.be/y33Uj7nFpfk

There are many moves we can use to get past a defender in a 1v1 situation. In this drill we are working on the Ronaldo chop. The key to making this work is to change directions so suddenly that the defender give you a second to make the shot on goal, as seen here:

And here it is in game with a good attempt.

Key points to this drill:

1. Chop hard enough to open just enough space to make the shot.

2. Chop the ball diagonally forward to keep the running momentum.

3. Make the shot quickly before the defense can recover.

The last clip from the game illustrates why we practice passing and rondo drills for weight (speed) of pass and passing accuracy.

The take away from this should be that we (coaches and parents) need to help our kids understand that practice is about improving our skills for the game. Please review this post and the clips with your child and help them associate our practice to the game.

Would love to hear comments on what you saw in the game (good and bad) that we can all learn from.