Welcome to the Soccer Newsletter. Today's issue will deal with takeovers.
It is common the see a player dribbling a ball under pressure and the next thing you know
one of her team mates seems to have stolen the ball from her and now she is dribbling the
ball. How does this happen without them running into each other or both leaving the ball
behind?
The key to a successful takeover is communication. It is vital when the situation arises
when a takeover can happen that the person who first starts with the ball must be the one
who makes the decision as to whether to keep the ball or release it. This
communication will be both verbal and non verbal as will be explained shortly.
A takeover is very similar to an overlap except that it can happen in any direction and
occurs in a much closer area. The run starts when the person with the ball is under
pressure and a second player decides to run toward her in order to help out. By running
right past the player with the ball (in the opposite direction) this should force the
defender to make a decision whether to stay with the player who starts with the ball or to
go with the other runner. If this defender stays, then the takeover should occur and
the player who started the run can go with the ball uncontested. If the defender
goes with the runner, the person who starts with the ball should keep it and now she is
uncontested.
The verbal communication is done by the runner and she should be calling
"takeover" to let the player with the ball know the option is available (also to
give the defender something to worry about). Upon hearing this call, the player with the
ball should attempt to make eye contact which will be an acknowledgment to the teammate
that the takeover is a possibility. Neither
the verbal calling of "takeover" nor the eye contact will be the deciding factor
as to whether the takeover will occur or not. The last communication will be the
opening or the closing of the body by the player with the ball. If she opens her hips to
the runner, this is the visual cue that the takeover will take place. By opening her
hips (this simply means she shifts her body so that her body is between the defender and
the ball and she is facing the runner),it makes it easy for the runner to take the ball
over. If she keeps her hips closed (not facing the runner as she runs by) this means she
will keep the ball and use the runner as a
decoy.
As you can tell,teams that don't communicate well will not be successful with executing a
takeover (for that matter, teams that don't communicate well will not be successful in
anything). Communication can be done in many ways both verbally and non verbally.
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