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FineSoccer Drill 42 This series of drills works on the first defender, second defender, first attacker, second attacker, communication, conditioning and much more. I would recommend that it be coached from a defensive perspective but the rest should be kept in consideration as well. Start with a grid 10 yards wide by 20 yards long with two groups of players and a server (see diagram below):
The first part of the drill has the server playing the ball to player A who then tries to beat player B off of the dribble (if your players aren't good at beating a player off of the dribble, click here for help on moves). The defenders primary responsibilities are too stop the attacker from crossing over the end line she is defending by simply slowing down the attacker (click here for a review of 1 v 1 play). If the defender can simply slow down the attacker, THE DEFENDER WINS!. As you probably noticed, I am capitalizing this because we as coaches don't emphasize this enough. THE DEFENDER WINS BY SLOWING DOWN THE ATTACK. There is no need to win the ball or stab or anything like that, simply slow the attack down. One of the things you will notice about this drill is that unlike many coaches, I don't have the defender initiate the drill by passing the ball to the attacker but rather have the server start it with a pass. The reason for this is it's not realistic for a play to start with a pass from a a player to an opponent (I hope this is true at least). Let's try to make this at least somewhat realistic! Players can rotate from A to B to server. Next, we will add a second defender. Here the key is that the second defender starts 5 yards behind the first attacker. When the ball is played from the server to the attacker (player A), the first defender will come out and slow the attack down to give time for the second defender (player C) to have time to get behind the first defender and provide support or coverage. The keys here defensively are to get the first defender out quickly because we would rather defend in the offensive half of the field rather then the defensive part, also, communication becomes huge here. The first defender should start right off by saying she has ball, then the second defender encourages her to delay and then lets the first defender know when she is in proper position to provide support. Next the second defender tells the first defender which direction to push the attacker and supports to that side. If the attacker beats the first defender, the second defender steps up and becomes the first defender and the beaten player steps back to become the second defender (this is where communication becomes vital). One of the things I emphasize when the second defender is communicating to the first defender is that directions must be specific. Too often you hear a second defender yell "push her right" and their is confusion regarding whose right. Should it be the attackers right or the defenders right? I would like the defenders to talk in terms of "your right or your left" or "push them wide or to the middle". The more specific the less confusing. See the diagram below for the setup of this phase of the drill
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