This post provided by World Class Coaching

By Matthew Carroll

Description:
The Killer Pass Game is used to enhance a player’s ability to utilize pockets of space between lines to create scoring opportunities. In addition to this the passing players must be creative and find a rapport with the receiving players. Defenders must work as a unit, and the tight space of the drill bring in a conditioning element.

Setup:
Create a grid as wide as the 18 and 5 yards out from it. Place all balls beyond the grid. Split the 18 with a single cone. Place two “Sweepers” in the two 18 grids. Place one “10” with the balls. Take every other player and split them evenly into attackers and defenders within the grid.

Execution:
The passer must play a ball either to one of the attackers or into the 18 for the attackers to run onto.

The defenders must try to stop the attacker from receiving a ball but cannot enter the 18. Once the ball is into the grid the sweepers (who must stay in their grid) must defend the attacker.

If the attacker scores he then becomes an additional passer, if he does not score he must go back into the grid outside the 18. Only one ball can be in each 18 grid at a time (so two attackers can technically be in the 18 at the same time).

Variations:
The numbers of the attackers and defenders can vary, as well as sweepers and passers.

Players that score can be removed, or rotate in for the passer

 

In the video clip below Tom Mura from World Class Coaching diagrams and explains a great 1v1 drill that transitions to a 3v3 drill.

The setup is fairly simple. Begin by creating three lanes approximately 12 yards wide using flat markers that allow balls to roll over easily. Place a goal and the end of each lane and some sort of obstacle in the middle (flag, cone, mannequin etc..)

In the first part of this exercise, place players in each lane with players at each goal. The players will begin dribbling towards the obstacle. When the reach the obstacle the will make a move around the obstacle and continue dribbling to the other end. You may allow the players to make any move the want or you may dictate the move that you want them to practice. Be sure to make sure that the players headed in opposite directions in each lane both make their move either to the right or left.

In the second part of the exercise, you will remove the obstacle. The balls will all be moved to the one end. The player with the ball in each lane will pass to the player at the other end and then follow their pass. The two will now play 1v1 in their lane.

Next, you can transition to 3v3. Here all of the players must stay in their lanes. A player at one end will pass the ball to one of the three players at the other end. The players will then try to score in any one of the goals at the other end. Each team is attacking three goals and defending three goals.

In the next progression, two attackers are allowed to move into the same lane. This should become easier for the attacking team to score.

Next, you can allow two defenders to also enter the same lane.

This is a great drill to get a lot of reps and work on different moves.

This is just one of many great dills and other resources available at World Class Coaching.

The YouTube video below has audio, so please make sure that your speakers are turned on. Note that some school block access to YouTube.

This post was provided by World Class Coaching

By Matthew Carroll

Description:
The Triangle Shooting Game is designed to create a competitive shooting environment where elements of short rhythmic passing, pass and move, as well as finishing are integrating into a short effective drill. Can be used in practice or as a pre-game warm-up

Setup:
Place three cones in a triangle about 5-10 feet apart just outside of the 18. Players line up behind furthest cone

Execution:
The first player in line passes to the player at the cone to the right. That player passes the ball to the player standing at the cone diagonal himself. The ball is then laid off for the original passer who runs through the middle of the triangle and shoots the ball on net.

After the shot the shooter then returns to the left cone, the passer from the left cone moves to the right cone, and the passer from the right cone goes to the back of the line. The process repeats for 2 minutes.

Variations:
Players can be split into two teams and the drill can become a competition
Stipulations can be added such as left foot only

Recommended Coaching Resource: Modern Shooting and Finishing (Free eBook)

Post provided by Changing the Game Project

By John O’Sullivan

Imagine you went to your child’s algebra class and got to be a fly on the wall. Imagine the teacher was being assessed on your child’s test results in two days. Now imagine that instead of teaching your child how to problem solve, and the concepts behind doing algebra problems, she just took out the answer key and said “here are all the answers. I will put these up on the board during the test so if you can’t do the problems, just put down what I write on the board.”

This is a farcical situation, right? It would never be OK for our child’s math teacher to do this, as we can all agree that no learning would take place. By the same token, if we do our child’s math homework for him every night, we can all agree that he is not learning math, right?

The children are getting the answers and solving the problems, but they are not the ones doing the reps. Yet how often does this happen in sports?

I was listening to a fantastic conversation the other day on my new favorite podcast, Train Ugly’s “The Learner Lab” (you can get all ten episodes of season one here). It is 10 episodes of pure awesomeness if you are interested in how to cultivate a growth mindset, how to learn better and faster, and how to build great cultures and teams. In episode 6 on neuroplasticity, the hosts raise a great point:

In any learning environment, be it sports or school or work, if we want learning to take place, parents and coaches need to be aware of stealing the reps from our children.

They gave a great analogy that bears repeating. Imagine you are in the weight room and doing squats. You put some added weight on the bar, and your goal is to do 10 reps. After three you are really struggling, and your spotter, instead of helping or guiding you, takes the bar from you and does the last 7 on your behalf. It seems like a ludicrous scenario. You needed a spot, perhaps you wanted a bit of assistance, but you didn’t want your spotter to take the bar and complete the task. We can all agree that scenario will not make you stronger or any better at doing squats. Stealing the reps does not help in the weight room.

So why do we think stealing reps helps on the sports field?

In my experience, I think many coaches and parents think they are being the metaphorical spotter. They think they are guiding the young athlete toward improvement, and by fixing her positioning or yelling the correct decision to make they are promoting development. In reality, in many cases, they have stepped in and taken over the bar. They are doing the heavy lifting, and the athlete has his autonomy and decision making stolen from him.

Joystick coaching and sideline coaching from parents are basically stealing reps from your athletes, and when we steal the reps, it is only an illusion that learning is taking place. We are stealing opportunities to get stronger, smarter, creative, aware, and make decisions. How do we know this? Let’s go back to the podcast, and outline four things that research says are necessary components of a great learning environment:

1. The brain is like a muscle, we need some struggle to grow: You will not get stronger if all you do is do five-pound dumbbell curls day after day. You need to add weight. You need stretch. You need desirable difficulties (check out this great podcast we did on this with Jessica Leahy, author of The Gift of Failure). Some resistance and struggle are necessary to grow, so when we see it, embrace it. It means our athletes are in the learning zone. If we always intervene and solve problems, we will get short term improvement, but miss out on long term learning.
2. Growth takes time and patience: We don’t just do one set of push-ups and expect big results. We don’t eat healthy for one meal or one day and realistically expect to lose 10 lbs.  It takes time, reps and patience to build a new skill. Progress is slow and steady, and sometimes there are regressions, but if we stick with it long enough, growth happens. We must not let our expectations surpass our patience when we are coaching or parenting young athletes, and when we see them struggling, we cannot just assume that since we taught it they have learned it.
3. We don’t learn by watching someone else do it: To see the results, the athlete needs to do the work, not simply watch others get all the playing time or practice reps. Our belief is “if you pick them, you play them.” This is 100% true for youth sports in middle school and younger, perhaps starts to phase out in high school varsity scenarios, and yes, in college and professional sports you must earn your time. But back to youth sports. Skills are developed by actually doing them, getting the reps in, making mistakes, assessing, and trying again. They are developed in interleaved, game-like practices where they are deployed in their environment, and not blocked training or standing in lines. Every young athlete needs practice reps and every player needs game time, and if you cannot make that happen as a coach, you should either quit coaching or never pick the kids in the first place.
4. We can improve any skill if we do the work: Of course, we all cannot master every skill or be the best athlete in our given sport, but everyone is capable of improving. People learn at different rates and at different times, but given enough time and an optimal learning environment, people will eventually learn. It takes focus, effort, time, but any skill can be learned and improved upon as long as we create an environment that keeps our athletes engaged and with a growth mindset.

I am not saying that there is never time for coaching or teaching. Of course there is. But how we coach and when we coach are huge factors in determining whether learning takes place, or whether we have created the illusion of learning taking place. And this illusion of learning can be addictive for parents and for coaches, because we see our kids doing better at something, or making the right run, or hitting the right pass, and it is intoxicating.  But in reality, all we have done is steal the bar and done the last seven squats ourselves. So how can we overcome our tendency to steal the reps?

Here is some helpful advice for coaches:

Turn technique into skill: Skill is best defined as the ability to deploy a technical, physical task in a game-like environment. If we block our practices and repeat the same exact technique over and over (think hit 100 x 7 irons in a row, or pass a soccer ball with a partner) the science tells us that in the short term those athletes will perform that task better. Practice will look good, but the transfer of that technique to the competition will not take place, and the learning is not sticky. Research shows that skill developed in a randomized practice is stickier and transfers better.

Ask questions instead of giving answers: Instead of telling your right defender to pinch inside or step up, ask her “where should you be right now?” Instead of yelling “shoot” or “pass” say nothing and allow your athlete to make the decision and assess his choice. Then maybe you ask “What problem were you trying to solve? What did you see there that made you play that pass? Were there any other options? Do you think one of the other options was a better choice?” Help them discover the answer by guiding them through the process, rather than giving them the answer. If you help them start to see the why they will eventually pick the right how!

Using the competition as a quiz: Competition should exist to measure progress and see what your athletes have learned. If you do not give them the space to explore and make mistakes, how will you ever know if they have learned something? This does not mean no coaching is allowed, but keep it to a minimum, and recognize if your coaching during competition is of the “promoting learning” or the “problem solving” kind.

By the same token, here is some helpful advice for parents:

Be their #1 fan: start by remembering your kids already have a coach or two, so do they need another one. During games, never coach your child and tell her where to run or what technique to choose. Some parents tell me “well the coach never helps!” Maybe after reading this, you will understand why. The coach is leaving space for your child to learn, and so too must you. If your coach just doesn’t know, and you do, then please volunteer and coach yourself. The world needs more good coaches.

Ask them 3 great learning questions: Post-practice or competition, when your child asks you “how did I do?” the door has been opened for you to take them down a path of self-discovery and ask these magic questions:

• What went well?
• What needs work?
• What did you learn from today that you can work on in practice in order to improve?

If you help your children see the good and the bad of their performance, and help them formulate a plan moving forward, good things happen.

Embrace the desirable difficulties: I think this is much harder to do as a parent than as a coach (trust me on that one as I have a lot easier time watching my athletes struggle than I do my own kids!) If your child is in a good learning environment, or even if she is in a poor one and this is an opportunity to learn about what it means to have a lousy coach, if we can keep the focus on “what did we learn from this” it is an opportunity for growth.

When you are invited in, step through the door: If you have knowledge of the sport, and your child does not know what to do, it is a great opportunity to go out in the yard or the park and demonstrate. Play catch with them. Engage with them in the sport. Research shows that when parents are able to play with their kids and do so without taking away their child’s ownership or enjoyment, those kids are more likely to continue playing.

Finally, for both coaches and parents, the best thing we can do is see the big picture and be patient. (I have called patience the missing ingredient in talent development in this article). Recognize that anything worth achieving will take time, and be focused on the right finish line in terms of sport development. Winning all your games at 9 or 12 is not necessarily the best preparation for being successful as a high school or collegiate athlete.

Next time you head out to the field, pretend you are in the weight room, and your young athletes are at the squat rack, attempting to lift more weight or do more reps than ever before. Be a guide. Be an encourager and supporter. Be a spotter. And be a shoulder to lean on when things go sideways.

But never, ever, steal the reps

 

Recommended Coaching Resource: Coaching Mastery

Coach John O’Sullivan is a former college and professional player as well as a high school, club team and college coach. He is offering a FREE video series that is part of his Coaching Mastery program. For more information about gaining access to that program click the link above or in the image below. The video series includes a wealth of coaching education including some motivational and team building ideas used by some of the most successful coaches.