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Index to Gary's Exercises of the day, Practice Tips, and articles.

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.

Exercise of the Day
More Shooting Exercises

Here are a couple of shooting exercises:

Two Man Layoff--place two goals about 50 yards apart. Two players dribble from each goal towards one another, when about 5 to 10 yards apart, they lay their ball off to the side (each to their right or each to their left); then
each player shoots the other's ball. If only one goal is available, then the player without a goal makes a long instep pass back to the next player in line--small cones can be used as a goal for accuracy.

            ^       ^
               A
                /
                \
           <- - /
                  - ->
                \
                /
                \
                B
            ^       ^


Three Man Weave--in groups of three, run the three man weave, middle player B passes to wide player C and follows pass and over laps as C dribbles towards the middle and passes to A; C follows and overlaps A.
 

• initially shoot off one of the passes, preferably C on his overlap
• C plays to B on his overlap; B then crosses to A for the shot
• Instead of B overlapping C, B and C do a takeover, and C hits A for a shot
• using either of the series above, A makes a diagonal run across the goal and receives pass and lays off to the third man coming down the middle
   
• (progression stages of the three man weave--B - C - A - B, etc.)
  
  A              Bo                C
  
  A              Co                B
  
  C               Ao                B
  

Exercise of the Day - More Passing Patterns

       Passing patterns make good warm-ups, preparing the player both technically and a mentally. The patterns should be related to a game situation if possible, but should be focused on excellent execution and quick thinking. Below are two patterns that use two balls and 4 players per group.

        1


 4             2


        3

Swing it:

• Setup:
  Four players are in a diamond shape, 15-20 yards apart. The balls start with players at corners opposite each other. Initially, each player plays to the player on their left (clockwise). The receiving player is asked to receive on their back foot, play the ball to space (towards the next player) and pass (second touch) to that player; he is to return to his position to receive the second ball. The second ball adds pressure and speeds up play.
  (see example above, 1->2-->3-->4-->1, etc.
  
• Coaching points
  The coach should focus almost totally on the back foot reception. First the player as to adjust his position to receive the ball across his body and with his back foot. The first touch must be to space, away from the reception touch and certainly in the direction of the next receiver.
  
• Variation
  Let the players switch the direction on their own, as quickly as possible. Spread the distance between players and play longer balls (with a little air under them). Tighten the distance and play as quick as possible.
  
  

     Square/Diagonal:

• Setup
  Same as above, except the balls start with adjacent players (e.g., 1 & 4). Player 1 plays to player 3 who is diagonal to 1. As 1 passes the ball, 4 passes to 1 who plays the second ball again to 3. The series continues as
  1-->3-->2-->4-->1, etc. or diagonal, square, diagonal, square, etc. The balls should be played one touch if possible. Switch directions.
  
• Coaching points
  If done correctly, the second ball is being passed to an
  adjacent player as the first ball is going diagonal. The second ball should put the passer under pressure to get his pass off, before the next pass arrives.
  

        The passing patterns have a drawback in that there is not much player movement, but there should be quick footwork to get into passing receiving position. The passing patterns are not meant to be run for very long, so other exercises can be used to get the movement. The coach will be able to focus on technique problems in these basically stationary situations.

Exercise of the Day - Short, Short, Long

        One of the guidelines often espoused by soccer experts is concept of short, short, long. That is, once a team has played a couple of short passes in one area of the field, it is time to move the ball to another area of the field with a longer pass.

        The following warm-up exercise was actually developed to emphasize the need to provide support for a receiving player to allow for one-touch passing. As it happens, the short, short, long concept is the foundation to this exercise.

• Setup and Procedure:
  In a large area, a group of 4-5 players are sequentially numbered. Player #1 plays a long ball to #2, who one-touches to #3, who one-touches to #4. Player #4 "cleans up" the reception and plays a long ball to Player #1, one-touch to #2, one-touch to #3, two-touches to #4, etc.
  
• Coaching Points: 
  Positioning of the next player to receive a ball is critical. Players that will receive the one-touch need to align themselves to make is as easy as possible on the player that will be passing them the ball. Players that are to receive the long ball, need to time their run with the passer. Also, they need to make their runs wide to provide the passer with a good angle to pass the ball.
  

        A major emphasis in this exercise needs to be on the player supporting the player receiving the long ball. A one-touch reception/pass of a long ball can be deadly to the opposition. It is when the receiver must bring the long ball under control with multiple touches that the defense has time to close down.

Exercise of the Day - Bringing in the Wings

       As an extension of the "L Passing Pattern" post, the following attacking pattern brings the wings inside away from the touch line. It incorporates the L Check runs of the forwards to put an attacker "on goal." 

• Purpose:
  The main job of a wing halfback on most teams is to stretch out the defense by playing as wide as possible. However, a wing can create a lot of havoc to a defense by moving in from the wing in certain situations to support the forwards for a central attack on goal.
  
• Setup: 
  The pattern shape is a center halfback, a checking forward, a diagonalling forward and a near side wing halfback. The halfback plays up field to the checking forward. The wing halfback checks to the forward and receives an angled drop pass. The off ball forward then diagonals into the space created when by the checking forward, running onto a through ball by the wing.
  
  
   WH .                   CH
            .                  o  .
             .                /     .
              \\ (2)      /        .
               \ \       /            .
                \  \   /  (1)        .
                 \   .                  .
                  \   .                 v
                   \   F1
                    \     . . . . F2
                (3) \  .
                       \.
  
  The series can then be enhanced by having the WH play the ball over the top to the CH that has overlapped into the space where F2 started. F1 should also spin "away" from his pass to WH. He would then be in a position to either receive an over the top ball from WH or to support the run of CH.
  
• Coaching Points:
  The timing of the runs of F1 and WH are important, but the timing of F2 is critical. If too soon, the run may be too wide causing a pass from the wing that is too vertical and down the line. Because this pass is not towards the goal, the attack has not penetrated the defense as effectively. F2 wants to be able to run onto the pass, turning towards goal as the ball runs by.
  
  Now, all F2 has to do is finish.

Exercise of the Day - Color Sequence

       I picked this "thinking" exercise up at the 1999 NSCAA convention. If you have enough pinnies of different color, this exercise is great for working particular technique, plus the awareness side of the game.

       Divide into four groups of different colors. Set up the color sequence (e.g., Red -->Green-->Yellow-->White-->Red)

Now give each passing combination a technique. For example:

* Red works takeover with Green
* Green hits long ball to Yellow
* Yellow one touches to White
* White receives and turns, does a dibbling move (e.g., stepover or scissors) and front foot passes to Red

       Initially, the players should do this in their own group of four; however, quickly progress to where all players are in the same area and Red (for example) does a takeover with a different Green player, etc.

       Without pinnies, the last progression would not work as well, but the exercise can remain in the groups of four and just number the players. For fairly young players, just start off with regular inside of the foot passing until they understand their combination responsibilities.

       As a side recommendation, the coach should have his passing sequences (and color combinations) worked out on paper. I like to rotate the same techniques down a player to ensure everyone gets a go at it, but that is not extremely important. This can be a great warm-up exercise for EVERY practice. It's now the coach's turn to be creative.

Exercise of the Day - Offside Trap Training

        Listed below is just one progression method to train defensive players to be alert to the fact that they can use the offside law to their advantage. Certainly, I think the age needs to be above U12 for adequate understanding of the spatial concepts involved. After the players understand the offside law and after they have been coached in the critical points (see prior post) to determine when to push up and when to stay back, most any exercise a coach does can be used to reinforce this concept.

• Start with a 2v2 half speed setup.
  <Note: this setup is great to teach concepts of defensive close down and second defender support.> 
  Two attacking players alternate passing and moving forward and backward in a 12 by 15 grid. Player A1 with ball is closely marked by Defender D1. A1 passes to A2 and runs forward trying to stay onside. D1 drops back in good support position of D2 (who has closed down the ball) while maintaining a mark on A1. D1 starts to "play" with A1 by stepping forward causing A1 to move backwards. D1 then drops back into a better support position, creating space between A1 and himself.
  
• This exercise can quickly progress to 2v2 + server that serves balls to the two attackers. The defenders man mark and look for opportunities to "step up." The attacker with out ball should be asked to "stretch out the defense" as much as possible by going to that invisible line drawn through the deepest defender.
  
• The next progression is to add the drop pass to the server; while the ball is moving back to the server, the defenders are asked to quickly step to and towards the receiver (server). The key here is that the defenders  need to be aware of their related positions and the positions of the attackers. If the attackers are well in an offside position, and the defenders are square, then the defenders should continue moving to ball. However, if one defender is deeper, the other defender needs to maintain his marking position on his mark until his teammate is along side. Additionally, if the attackers are able to recover sufficiently, the defenders need to stop their progress to the ball and drop back into marking and supporting positions as the ball is being received.
  
• The exercises can then progress to several combination of players 3v2, 2v3, 3v3, 4v3, 3v3, 3v4 and 6v4. Especially when it is numbers up on the defensive side, one player could be designated the "sweeper" to play deep and then step up at appropriate times. When working with these numbers, take the exercise to goal. Encourage the attackers to stretch the defense and to drop the ball to neutral players. Train the defense to automatically think moving up on any dropped ball. The coach may want to add an extra defender to pressure the drop ball receiver to reinforce the need for pressure on the ball before compressing. Wide neutral players could be used to help the defense find shape when the ball is dropped wide.
  
• Communication must be established with players when more than one player is involved. There are several possible words and phrases that could be used to communicate the process of compressing. Examples are: Step, Push (sounds too much like a foul designation), Pull, Out, To Ball, etc. Often one central player (such as a sweeper) is designated as the "step" captain. However, at times, the wing back may have a better picture of things and should direct the team's compression.
  
• In closing, let me reemphasize the critical need for any defender that is compressing forward to maintain shape during the forward movement and be ready to recover back at the point the ball is being played. If an attacking pass forward is imminent, then the defender should assume every attacker will be onside and start recovering back. Even if there are attackers in an offside position, a referee may assess them to be out of play as an onside attacker comes shooting through.