Soccer training, soccer drills, articles, soccer training videos and more from Wayne Harrison/Soccer Awareness.
Soccer Awareness training develops SELF THINKING players who are not coach driven; but coach guided, and within this they are allowed to make mistakes without criticism; but rather; encouraged to learn from them.
Welcome to the Soccer Awareness Coaches Corner. Browse through soccer drills, small sided games, tactical thoughts, full sessions and a variety of resources. Posts marked “Training Center Exclusive” are for members only.
This exercise is great for the thinking processes and fast decision making on and off the ball and rotations between players. Can call this the striker (9) and Shadow Striker (10) also working off each other. But it can apply to players in other parts of the field supporting each other.
Read MoreHere is an overview of what coaches should be working on in their training with 6-7 year olds. This is the “Fundamental” stage of development. Coaching emphasis is on teaching Technical and Mental development in the correct Environment.
Read More4 v 4 game. Players have to pass diagonally forward because of the condition set. This develops the checking and passing habits of players. Players stay in their same corridors or zones. Theme is to have them check off at an angle and sideways on so they can see the opponent, their team mates and the goal behind them.
Read MoreObjective: To Encourage Players To Use Width And Offer An Area To Play Without Pressure
Read More70% of all goals are scored with one touch so it is important to practice this technique regularly. This is a continuous practice with lots of work for the keeper also.
Read MoreThe main idea here is for the defending team to condense the area the ball can be played into the defending team become a diamond within the opponents attacking diamond. As the opponents move the defending team must move to compensate.
Read MoreThis game was based on how you would structure a small sided game in the style that the present Arsenal side would play. Their play is made up of lots of quick short passing with plenty of movement off the ball. They use give and goes a lot (wall passes) which I have highlighted in the game.
Read MoreThe following presentation is designed to simplify the potential Patterns of Play of players at 7 v 7. Eventually we will show several movements but we need to build up to these slowly and with patience. Patterns of Play are designed to be practiced to help players identify common situations in the game itself.
Read MoreSmall-sided games are less than 11 v 11 and can be any number from 3 v 3 to 9 v 9. The general sizes of a game to establish team coaching themes are usually 6 v 6 or 8 v 8. Here are two examples of set ups for these sizes of games and information on U.S. Soccer's small-sided games standards.
Read MoreWork on your goalkeepers ability to attack the ball, aggression, timing and competitiveness with this 1 v 1 crossing drill from Soccer Awareness.
Read MoreThere will be many occasions where you have to change the system of play to suit the moment. This article from Soccer Awareness will help you be able to play several different ways depending on the course of the game.
Read MoreWe are teaching your children to see the game unfold before it happens. We are training their “minds” to sub-consciously be Proactive rather than be Reactive. The net result is the game cognitively slows down for them, even if all around is chaos.
Read MoreOne way to teach the basic tactical game of the 4 v 4 is to offer many different ideas on actual game situation that focus on certain themes. This is what the following presentations does. You cannot do better than put players into game situations to learn the game, we just take it one stage further by what we present here. We begin by teaching defending principles in a 4 v 4 game situation so several thoughts on different set ups to teach it individually and collectively as team players.
Read MoreThe best form of attacking is expert defending. As a team we need to improve on this. Therefore a big part of our game MUST be heavy pressing all over the field with ALL players tuned into the way to do it. Players on the opposite side of the field when the ball is with opponents especially should understand their roles and the need to condense the spaces.
Read MoreWhatever method you use it is always important to have a game plan for a 10 v 11 Game Situation as it will happen at some stage of the season. How your players react will depend on what you teach them in training; so, reproduce the most common moments that may occur on the field. These are my thoughts on the theme of 10 v 11, I have offered quite a few alternatives, I know which I like the best, you the coach decide; which way suits your players the best; and start to teach it in training.
Read MoreSoccer Awareness developmental training focuses on the concept of the THIRD EYE of Awareness, Imagination and Anticipation in Performance. Soccer Awareness is a highly innovative concept which aims to develop the thinking coach and player. Soccer Awareness focuses on the creation of a player centered environment which encourages autonomy and an ability to make correct decisions within a game specific context.
Soccer Awareness Training Center provides unlimited access to Wayne Harrison's Soccer Awareness systems, training sessions, drills and more. Wayne's system helps the development of all levels of soccer players and teams in a systematic and imaginative manner that guarantees performance at the highest level of competition.
This video is an example of a “One Touch Mentality” game situation U14 boys.
Here are 9 ways to distribute from the keeper and play out from the back. We owe it to the players to teach them this as Young as is possible.
I work on this initially practicing all ways to get out. Have opponents only intercepting passes to begin. Then let it go free. When opponents win it back we work on the defending team condensing and defending correctly.
If three or four ways to develop play are done very frequently then it becomes a subconscious decision to move into position so no decision making required as such.
Linking foot preparation, body position and mental preparation to the technique involved in making a one touch pass leads us to a discussion on one touch play and its benefits.
One touch play teaches the value of being able to take your eye off the ball when keeping your eye on the ball can be a disadvantage.
To make this work, players need to have good teamwork and positional sense and therefore must work hard for each other.
54 Pages
We want to stay with our own game plan as closely as possible; based on what we practice and to keep it simple for us; as we dictate to our opponents; and we impose OUR WAY on them.
But there will be many occasions where we must change the system of play and we may have to adjust to suit the opponents.
Here are some ideas for you to consider for your team starting with the 13313 and 14231 systems of play.
Teaching players to develop a "one touch mentality" in their game, to train the MIND.
To play in "Anticipation" of the ball; both on and off it by Scanning the field constantly to make earlier, faster and more successful decisions in the game.
How do we do this? Here are some sessions to use to help develop this ability.
45 Pages
Using the 1-3-3-1-3 system of play for this, we show how your players can find free spaces between opponents with inverted runs from outside to in. Including how to create freedom of movement within the team framework.
This 295 page ebook includes 17 game situational clinics focused on tactical play and target games. To achieve the given theme successfully, many of the situational games have set conditions to them to force the theme to happen consistently and to maintain the focus of it. As we will explain, a big part of teaching in ALL these games is developing a One Touch Mentality in each players brain. So the “general” theme around all of them will be establishing this thinking process no matter the “specific” theme being taught.
This book is also available to Elite and Premium Members in the Soccer Awareness Training Center. Access Here.
We produced the eBook "Tactical Thoughts on the Development of the 4 v 4, 7 v 7 and 9 v 9 Game Sizes" covering information on team shape and development. We now add this eBook to provide Curriculums in each game size to support the tactical games eBook.
What this eBook offers you:
Its all done here for you, paying attention to the ages of the players and the depth of teaching suitable to them.
As the program moves from 4 v 4 through to 11 v 11 the focus changes from individual teachings at 4 v 4, to small sided situations at 7 v 7, to Phases of play and tactical needs at 9 v 9; through to team tactical development at 11 v 11.
11 v 11 focuses on advanced training ideas to teach the “team”.
This eBook covers up to 14 weeks of training for each game size presented as one session per week.
All sessions have small sided games scrimmage set ups as close as we can get it to finish to reflect the theme of the session.
This eBook shows how these different size games can be taught and also shows different systems of play that might be useful to you.
The idea I am trying to cultivate is to find a pattern of development that goes from 4 v 4 to 7 v 7 all the way through 9 v 9 to 11 v 11 that educates the players VERY EARLY on how to ultimately play the 11 v 11, a common thread running right through the book.
Often players position to receive the ball with their back to play. These session plans show some ideas on how to position and instead "Face Forward" or at least Half Turned or three quarters turned rather than positioning square and facing back.