For a training session to be a success, we can use a variety of practices that will combine in order, to contribute to the overall objective.
Whether you have a small area to train in once per week, or you have the opportunity to train on a full size pitch, there is no reason to not design an effective training session and have practices to suit.
Before we go any further, we need to define the different practices that you could use;
Kicking exercise – Unopposed, without any interference.
Passing exercise – Opposed, with at least 2 players on the same team.
Possession exercise – Opposed, with the objective being, keeping the ball.
Position exercise – Opposed, with goals present.
Tactical exercise – Opposed, with a larger format used (more players & bigger space).
As you can see from the above, there are 5 different practices that you could opt to use within your training session.
Each exercise will have it’s own benefits, with some better suited to a certain age group than others. Before you decide what exercise you want to use, you may want to decide on the following questions;
How big is the training area that you have at your disposal?
How many players are attending?
What is the objective of the session?
How are you planning on achieving this?
What football actions will the players be required to execute?
Is there a scoring system that you wish to implement?
There are plenty more questions you could ask yourself, while anticipating all the external factors. These could be the weather, training area/surface and equipment that is available, to name a few.
By anticipating the external factors, you are then giving yourself a much better opportunity to prepare accordingly.
Once you have acknowledged the external factors, what next?
You will need an intention that you wish to work to and by doing this, you give yourself direction in achieving the respective objective. Maybe you could consider the following?
Where does this moment of the game take place on the field?
Who are the key players in making this happen?
What is your team intention in this part of the field?
Which actions will the players need to execute?
When could this moment of the game take place?
Why does this happen, during the game?
By answering some or all of the above questions, you should be able to visualise what you would want, in your training session. Now, the question is how are you going to achieve this?
If you take the objectivity from football and then use your subjective application (external factors considered), you now have the art of coaching. This will need to be applied, in order for you to execute the desired practices. If you opt to use one training session, opposed to another, this is completely your choice. What you as a coach needs to understand though, is that some exercises will benefit the team better than others. You also have to consider the players within these exercises and this is what we will look at next week!
