Circuit-Training with athlete of the Brazilian club AAInternacional of limeira with Physical Trainer Djair Garcia
Tags:
What makes a great striker or centre forward? Surely it is the ability to score goals. Nobody remembers how hard a striker worked off the ball, or how they pressured the opposition defence. Everyone remembers the goals they scored, or the ones that they did not score. Traditionally as players grow towards senior ranks there will be fewer goal scoring opportunities for strikers, and so they must be able to take the ones that they get. Balance, speed, agility and power are the key characteristics that make a great young striker. The soccer drills that you use at training should develop these attributes in your young strikers.
When using shooting drills at training, the first thing I do is make clear areas in the goal in which I want them to shoot. I use hats or cones, which I usually place about 2 metres inside of each post. As players become more proficient move the hats closer to the goal posts. To start I encourage the players to shot along the ground, and as they become more proficient I encourage them to shoot into the top corners. As strikers mature I also encourage them to take into consideration the strengths and weaknesses of the opposing goalkeeper. If it is a tall keeper that is strong in the air I encourage them to shoot along the ground, or if I know the keeper is not strong in the air I encourage them to shoot at the top corners.
Power and coordination are key attributes of a good striker. I use tennis balls at training to help develop these attributes. Using a small ball encourages the players to watch the ball more closely. They will find this frustrating at first and there will be some funny moments at training, but I guarantee that a striker that can shoot well with a tennis ball will be dynamite with a soccer ball. I particularly like to use a tennis ball for first time shot drills, and volley drills as I find it most effective.
Strikers will face many different situations in a game. It is important that you practice these at training with a variety of soccer drills. A good striker must know when to hit a shot first time and when to take a touch. A good striker will know when to have a shot themselves and when to lay the ball off to a teammate. Practice different types of shots including volleys, first time shots, lobs, shooting with their weaker foot, shooting with their head, and shooting on the turn are a few of the different situations that you can practice at training to improve the proficiency of your strikers.
The final element that I like to include at training is always an element of realism. Make them beat a defender and then take a shot. Make them beat the goalkeeper. I always watch my strikers closely to see how many times they hit the goalkeeper with their shot. If this is happening frequently you will see that they look directly at the goalkeeper when taking a shot. Encourage them to look at the spot where they want the ball to go and not to look at the goalkeeper. You will need to reinforce this many times at training if you have a striker that consistently hits the goalkeeper with their shot. If they are shooting over the bar consistently encourage them to keep their head down over the ball, and to place the ball into the net. Trying for too much power tends to make the head go up and the ball go over the bar. The other thing I watch for is how strong they are on their weaker foot. A one footed striker is much easier to defend against.
If you want your young strikers to shoot like pros your training drills must focus on the key aspects which make a good striker. These are power, speed, agility and balance. Teach them to shoot in different situations at training so they make good decisions on the field. Make sure the training drills have an element of realism. Give them targets to aim at in the goals, develop their power and coordination, and practice, practice, practice.
Soccer Drills - Teach Your Young Soccer Players to Shoot Like the ProsFootball is one of those sports where a variety of physical skills are needed, and the objective with any strength training and weight training for football routine should be on increasing your overall performance level. A simple bodybuilding program is not good enough, as you require functional muscles, not just big ones.
In this respect, a weight training for football routine can be split into 3 major areas that will focus on building strength and power, increasing speed and agility, and increasing explosiveness. Depending on which position you play, there may be a slight bias to one area more than another.
Build Strength and Power
Strength and power are essential for blocking opponents and holding your own, and can make all the difference late in the game.
To build strength and power your weight training for football program should focus on high intensity low volume training - which is where you are lifting as heavy as possible for low numbers of reps. Stick to compound exercises like Squats and Bench Press, as these will maximise your time in the gym and help you to gain muscle quickly. This type of training is the best for building solid slabs of muscle mass
Increase Speed and Agility
To increase your speed and agility you need to be focusing on exercises that have a large range of movement and allow you to perform them quickly and at high intensity.
For this reason your approach should be different to just building muscle mass as above. You should look to perform exercises like push-ups, burpees and pull-ups using a weighted vest and/or ankle and wrist weights to add some extra bulk and force you to up your efforts.
These exercises create functional muscles that respond in the same way as they would when you're out on the field.
Increase Explosiveness
We all know that explosiveness is the secret ingredient to success in this sport, and the guy who can off the mark quickest can make all the difference in the game.
To increase your explosiveness you'll want to perform exercises where the weight is enough to keep you challenged but not as heavy as in your strength building workouts.
The key here is to "explode" the weight up through the first part of the exercise very quickly and then do a slow contraction so you maintain a 1:3 ratio. So, for example, on a bench press you lower the bar slowly (the "3" portion of the exercise), then you push the weight upwards explosively.
Weight Training For Football - Strength Training Tips For Football PlayersHow your soccer players practice makes a huge difference in how they will perform in real soccer matches. The key to playing better in real soccer matches is practice that involves lots of touches and repetition of a soccer skill while under pressure so it can be done fast and instinctively. This article discusses a training approach using soccer practice games that train players to play fast and instinctively while under pressure
1. Soccer drills are a poor way to train players to play fast because they aren't "game realistic". Soccer drills don't involve competition which creates pressure and forces players to play fast. Drills can actually train players to play slow because players are learning skills at a speed that is slower than they will need in a game and without pressure. It is one thing to learn to do a skill slowly and without pressure and very different to try to do it fast while under pressure. Try it yourself if you doubt it. I can do some great soccer moves at a slow speed, but not while playing fast under pressure. If you want to train your players to play fast, use soccer practice games that involve keeping score so players are competing against each other and are under pressure to play fast. Good soccer practice games are better than drills. They are more efficient, they involve more touches and they involve pressure which forces players to play at a fast speed so they can win the game. Good soccer practice games are game realistic, but most soccer drills aren't
2. The Dribble Across a Square soccer practice game teaches many things. Play it 4 times as a warm-up to start each practice. Play it twice with a smaller square as wide as 10 of your player's steps and use the smaller square to teach Control Dribbling (dribbling in traffic). Then make the square as wide as 15-17 of your player's steps and use it to teach recognition of open space and acceleration into open space, which teaches breakaways. This game teaches instinctive reactions and that is why playing it a lot is good. You want your players to react instinctively when they dribble, which means to react without thinking. You want them to have confidence with the ball. There is no more important soccer skill than dribbling.
3. Use the Dribble Around Cone & Pass Relay Race practice game to teach aggressive receiving. This will train your players to always be ready for a pass and to move to the pass rather than waiting for it to come to them. It will teach your players not to expect the pass to come to their feet. It teaches them to expect a bad pass and be ready for it. The result will be that your team will play faster because your players are moving to the ball and you will have many less turnovers due to "bad passes" because your players will learn to stop many of the "bad passes". This teaches receivers to accept responsibility and to not expect a perfect pass.
4. Teach "passing to space" instead of "passing to feet". This will greatly improve the speed, flow and creativity of your attack and teach your players how to use open space. Instead of waiting for a pass to come to their feet, they will start to intuitively understand where the open space is and be ready for a pass to that open space.
5. Use the Dribble Around Cone & Pass Relay Race practice game to teach one-touch play. This game will teach players that they can play faster if they one-touch the ball in front of them and then run onto it. The players who do so will win the games and those that don't will lose, so it very clearly shows the benefits of one-touch play. Unless players want to lose, they will have to learn to "one-touch". That will teach them the concept of one-touching the ball as a way to speed up or to one-touch it into open space in order to avoid pressure. Once they understand this it is easy to teach the idea of one-touch passes.
6. Chaos is good in practice. Soccer practice games that involve chaos train your players to be cool in chaotic situations. Real matches are chaotic and practice games that are chaotic help prepare players for real soccer matches. Dribble Across a Square and 2 Team Keepaway are examples of chaotic soccer practice games that involve a great deal of traffic. They help train players to be comfortable with chaos, lots of traffic and not get rattled.
7. Cones vs. Traffic. Competing with other players is best, even if cones are involved. Try to avoid cones. Real matches involve players, not cones. In a few cases it might be beneficial to use cones to demonstrate an idea, but even then you should have players compete and keep score so there is pressure. An example is the Inside/Outside Figure 8 Dribbling Race soccer practice game which teaches how to use the inside and outside of the foot to turn. However, if you have limited practice time, it is probably better to use the Dribble Across a Square practice game to teach this. You can do that by telling players that they can only use one foot (choose their "strong" or their "weak" foot). The reason is because they will be practicing in "traffic" and that is much more game-realistic than dribbling around cones.
Soccer Practice - Training Players to Play Fast While Under PressureSoccer is an exciting team game. And for children who are new to the sport, it is not surprising that they swarm around the ball trying to get a kick at it. This is what coaches refer to as the "beehive" formation. While children are stationed in their respective positions, they are likely to forget all their assignments once the whistle is blown and chase the ball all over the field.
It is entertaining to watch for spectators, but definitely frustrating for youth coaches. It is a common sight that coaches would yell to their players to get into their proper places. To make matters worse, parents would join in the yelling fray. But still, kids just don't listen. The good thing is that the swarming phase will just pass and the players will get the idea of team effort. For coaches, it is important to view bunching up as a natural reaction for kids who are still new to soccer.
Is Swarming Just What Kids Do?
By viewing swarming a natural response from novice youth players, coaches can easily keep their sanity. Children do not learn the sport's aspects and adapt to its principles overnight. The concept of being part of the team is something children can't easily process.
At this stage, it is natural for children to be selfish in their game and be the popular individual. Alien to the team concept, most children won't even practice with other children's ball. Coaches should expect this and prepare a program where children can slowly and progressively digest the principles of teamwork.
Bunching Actually Helps Build Soccer Skills
Novice youth players are magnetized to the ball and would swarm over it once the game starts. Coaches should let them be since such kind of play would help them develop soccer instincts that they can use as they advance and become team-oriented. It is not new that game itself will educate children, some concepts no coaches can. Eventually, as a youth player progresses, they will learn more about the game and would later put these lessons into practice.
Swarming definitely helps children become better in terms of playing in tight spaces and abandon their fear of getting physical with other players. As they mature, these soccer training skills will become second nature and may prove to be invaluable in the future. If you ask any child development expert, they would say that children will not be able to grasp the principles of teamwork and team effort. Children will eventually progress on their own and soon realize that there are certain designs to the game and would submit themselves to the learning process.
Soccer Coaching Tips - How to Teach Soccer Players Not to Bunch Up