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by Gary Rue
garyrue@bellsouth.net
 

NOTE:  Gary did not write these exercises and tips with the idea that someone would publish them.  I subscribe to the Soccer-Coach-L e-mail list and Gary is one of the coaches that posts extremely well thought out replies.  These are some of Gary's posts that I collected for use in coaching my own teams.   I approached Gary and he was gracious enough to allow me to publish them here.  If you like what you see or have a question about one of the exercises you can reach Gary at garyrue@bellsouth.net There are 50+ more pages of Gary's posts categorized at the Home Page of Exercises of the Day by Gary Rue. Click here and enjoy.

Work the Break!

       Water breaks for the players can be an invaluable bonus time for the coach. Plan for and make use of this time. For instance, setup the next exercise with cones or flags. 
       If your planned session is not going as planned, a quick assessment and reformatting can occur during this time.
      Use this time to have an individual talk with a player. Over a couple of weeks, the coach can talk to every player like this. Generally, I tell the player what I am expecting from him. I try to use the session as a motivation talk.
      You might go over a technical or tactical problem with one or more players. Make the talks very short so the player can get back to the group. However, if you may delay the player long enough for the rest of the team to start returning, so there are not as many questions about what was discussed.
      You may talk to your assistants about how things are going. Perhaps there are situations or problems of which you are not aware.
      Players that return early can be asked about how things are going for them. This information can be useful for later.
     Water breaks can be a dead time or it could be a time to make things happen.

Practice Tip - Best Foot Forward

      When doing an exercise where players start from stationary positions, be sure to have them start from different foot positions. For instance use:

• right foot forward
• left foot forward
• feet together
• sideways on (use drop step or power step to turn)
• backwards
• off a jump
• off a shove or hold from the next player in line
• lying on the stomach
• lying on the back
• off some sort of movement--forward (and backward) walk/skip/jog, sideways shuffle, etc.
  
  You will be surprised at some of the extra foot movement some players
  will have, thus delaying their response time.

What to do about Late Arrivals

       Dave, I make the parents do pushups (or at least threaten to). Unfortunately, the answer is, "it depends." Normally, this is a parent-oriented problem and it's the parents that need to be approached.
       Now if I find it's the player who is not ready on time, then that's another story, one that I can certainly handle. I really get upset if a late player saunters out of the car and sits down to put his guards, shoes and socks on. Now that player will pay dearly.
       I've found that it does very little good to chastise or punish a player, if the parents can't get him to practice on time. That doesn't stop me from making remarks to the player, but I don't expect those remarks to change anything. I may reduce playing time or starting privileges, however, making the reason very clear to all involved. Sometimes, I've kept late players later. Generally the late parents are the same ones that have to leave at the stroke of practice end. I just tell them, "pay me now or pay me later."

Practice Tip - And One to Spare..

      Here's where a coach must be creative-you've divided the groups up into some number to do an exercise, but you have a player or two too many.  What do you do?
       If the exercise allows it, find a way for the extras to participate in a group. If it's a two man passing drill, make one group a three man exercise; you may even change it so that there are two balls involved. Or perhaps, the extra man could be a pressuring defender in a 3 man combo. In a 2 man defensive stance exercise, I used the third player as a second defender that mirrors the movement of the defender in front of him.
       An odd player is excellent chance to separate a GK out and do some definitive GK work. Perhaps a player has a specific problem that you need to address individually. Use this time and give that player a few minutes. Then switch him in for another player to work on another problem. If you need to talk to a player separately, here's your chance.
        In games, the extra player can be a neutral that plays for both teams. Maybe, you can set up a goal on one end and the extra can be the GK for a brief time. For high intensity games, the extra can switch in after a short period of time and the player he replaced will go to a different group and switch with a player there. This allows players to take a quick break and to dynamically change team makeup.
       Also, by substituting extra players, they can get a drink before they go. This way, you can have the exercise go for a longer time, yet the players can get a drink a few words of wisdom, before they replace the next set.

Practice Tip - Deja Vu All Over Again

      Over-teach so that your players will over-learn.  Even the pros (of all sports) have to reinforce basic fundamentals. The coach should find different ways of saying or showing the same thing.
      Be sure you watch for bad habits forming in warm-ups on techniques and skills. Reinforce everything. Assume nothing.

Practice Tip - Watch Your Language

     "Be aggressive! Show some intensity!" How many times have you said this or something like it to your team? Now ask your team to define the words "aggressive" or "intensity." I once had only two players on a U14 team that could define these words.
      The point is, we need to be careful about what we say. Wide eyes and a nodding head do not mean that our words have been understood. If you want to use specific terms such as wing, diagonal, back, recover, etc., then make sure you them constantly in practice and that your players understand (and can understand) what they mean.
      It is recommended that you and your team develop a limited vocabulary during practices. Use only those words during a game that your team has been trained to understand. If you do use new words, just don't expect your team to understand what you are talking about.

<As a side and personal note, foul (undisciplined) language should not be tolerated from players, parents and especially coaches.>

Practice Tip - Magnet Ball

        I have an exercise that is in conceptual stages-that is, I've just thought it up and have never run it real time. Therefore, it may need to be changed when put into practice or it may not be useful at all.
         Premise: to understand the concepts of creating width in the attack and
compactness on defense.
         Setup: Start with a grid of 15x10 up to 20x15. Put two players on each end. Put two players in the middle and designate one of the players on the ends to be their teammate. The "opponent" starts with the ball.
         Procedure: On signal, the end player with ball passes to the other end
player. When the players in the middle (who let the ball go through) see their teammate receive the ball, they move to the sides (outside of the grid). When the opponent receives the ball they move back into the grid.
         Coaching Points: initially, work on getting the players in the middle wide or compact as soon as the ball transitions (changes possession). Once that concept is understood, then the shape of the run wide can be worked on. For instance, a "C" out with the player getting his hips facing the field offering the best passing angle possible. Or one could work on a diagonal run out, a check back at an angle, etc.
          On defense, one player could close down the ball and the other provide support. Now we have pressure on the ball and support depth.

Variations:
 

• Put the end players on the sideline; when the ball is played to a teammate, one inside player should run to an angle forward and the other should drop back in support. When the ball is played to an opponent, the one inside player (closest to the opponent) should close down, with the other dropping deep into support.
   
• Put one player from each "team" in the middle. When the ball is played to a teammate, the inside player runs wide as the other inside player closes down.
         The above are short training grid sessions to establish early concepts. It is very important that these concepts are carried into a 2v2 or 3v3 games with small goals where the coach points out width, depth, compactness and support issues. 2v2 or 3v3 with neutral players would also be a good exercises to move the concepts into match related situations.
          If anyone uses the above, I would be most interested in the results or the changes to make it work. Thx!

Practice Tip - Simple Simon Says

     One of the biggest coaching problems is that we coaches talk too much. In order to keep a practice moving at light speed, keep your explanations as short as possible; use a subset of the players to demonstrate; set up the rest of the players and get them in action, stop after a few early attempts, demonstrate again and stop when needed thereafter.
       Now the big hint--start your setup small and keep your procedure simple, gradually adding on the complexity as the players start to feel comfortable. This way, you do not have to give the complete history of the game of soccer to run a complex exercise that could be developed with a couple of short simple instructions, problem fixes and progressive enhancement. If your initial setup is too complex, you will spend half your practice trying to organize and explain it

Two-Man Stretching

       I must admit that I am amazed at how well two man stretching is working
with my high school team. I have fought the concept for several years now and decided to give it a try. I did this mainly because I have a lot of players that do not take stretching seriously. We've only had three practices to date, but the players seem to enjoy it and my stretching slackers are actually getting a good stretch.
        Below are the stretches we are doing, but I would ask anyone who has
other recommended two-man stretches to pass them on:  
        All stretches are done for 10 seconds, followed by an isometric counter-stretch, followed by another 10 second stretch. Player A is the player stretching and player B is the one assisting the stretcher.

• Groin - A sits with the sole of his feet together as close to the crotch as possible. B presses his chest against the back of A, pushing on A's knees until A reaches his maximum stretch point (slight discomfort) for 10 ten seconds. A then pushes back against B's chest for 5 seconds, then relaxes and stretches for the second 0.
  
• Lower Back - A sits with legs straight out and together. B presses his
  chest against A's back and against the legs, just above the knees, keeping the legs straight. A then pushes back for 5 and stretches for a second 10.
  
• Hamstrings - A lays back with one leg straight in the air. B presses the heel of the raised foot and the thigh, just above the knee to straighten the leg. A tries to bend the knee (B needs to be in a strong position on this one).
  
• Hips - A lays on his back, bends one leg over the other leg and tries to touch the ground. B presses against the bent knee and the shoulder opposite the location of the knee. For instance, the right shoulder and the right knee are pressed. A tries to turn the hips back.
  
• Adductors - A lays on his back, puts his legs straight up in the air and spreads his legs. B presses the legs wider, generally just below the knee. A tries to squeeze the legs together.
  
• Quadriceps - A lays on his stomach and bends one leg. B kneels beside A lifts the thigh of that leg up onto his thigh, forcing A's foot down. After 10 seconds, A tries to straighten his leg.
  
• Abdominals - A lays on his stomach with his hands clasped behind his head. B from behind, grabs A underneath the upper arms and lifts. After 10 seconds, A tries to force himself back down, before relaxing and stretching for another 10.
  
• Shoulders - With both hands clasped behind the back near the waist, B lifts the hands as high as possible.
  
• Calf - Both players facing each other grasp each other's shoulders, or upper arms and press against one another while leaning forward with both feet flat on the ground. (Note: I have not tried this one as it did not seem to appeal to me for some reason.)
  
  We are doing these stretches at the end of each practice. I'm not sure if we will do two man or individual stretching after a game. We are doing mostly dynamic and rhythmic stretching during warm-ups with a few individual static stretches thrown in. It is so hot, I feel there is little need for serious stretching during warm-ups.

Practice Tip--Bouncy, Bouncy

       The bounce theory--given everything equal, a flat footed player will be beaten by a player that is bouncing on the balls of his feet.
         During any exercise or game, every player should be constantly bouncing. This does not mean their feet come off the ground, but their heels do not touch the ground.
         Train players by bouncing on one foot while dribbling.  Alternate touching a ball with the inside of the foot and the outside of the foot.  Alternate touching the top of the ball with each hop. Pull the ball around with the sole of the foot while bouncing on one foot. Do one touch passing from about 2 yards apart while bouncing on one foot ( the pass has to be the non-support foot, of course). While bouncing on one foot, do volley kicks off a hand serve with the instep, with the inside of the foot, from the side, and with the outside of the foot (have the kick the foot up and hit the ball near the hips). Do a chest trap and volley off a hand serve while bouncing on one foot. Do a hand server header while bouncing off one foot, then do a one foot jump header.
         Do hopping warm-up exercises. For instance, one footed hops for 10-20 yards. Or two footed hops with a 180 degree turn. Hop over and back a line on one foot, either in the same spot or forward/backward down the line. If you have a speed ladder, one could do a double hop on one foot in a square then leap over the rung to a double hop.
          Remember to stretch and flex the ankles after a heavy bounce and hop session.
          As you can see, there are many things a coach can do with or with out ball in a warm-up or cool down session to strengthen the ankles and legs and reinforce the notion that a moving foot is a happy foot (and makes a happy coach).