Little Hatters

      it's a girl thing . . .  

Coaches: here is where you will find games/drills. These drills will help turn these girls into real soccer players. Click on the blue links below for practice drills.

*Reminder that try-outs are at the end of May.




This year the girls are playing 7v7.  These are small sided official soccer games.  Please familiarize yourself with the official rules. (i.e. throw ins, goalie box, off sides, penalty kicks, play advantage, kick off, indirect kick, drop ball, yellow/red card...) The referees will use these terms during the game.




Tophat Fundamental Principles of Play 


There are certain fundamental principles that all soccer players should continue to focus their attention.


1. Dribbling – This one is easy. The players need to be encouraged to dribble as much as possible. Keep the ball close to the feet and under control, but now you must learn to dribble while looking up so you can see where to pass.


2. Number one tactical principle – do not pass (kick) the ball across the front of your own goal. This tactic needs to be second nature in all soccer players. Our opportunity to teach this tactic at the 7v7 level is with the goal kick. Players should be instructed to always kick to the side of the field and never into the center (across the goal). The best way to encourage this is to teach the receiving players to go to the side so that the player taking the goal kick will have proper targets. There will always be exceptions, but a player must have the awareness that breaking this rule is likely to be trouble. Coaches must remember that this is not a skill that you can explain to a young player. It must be emphasized in every game with encouragement and positive reinforcement. In time, the receiving players will know where they need to be on goal kicks and the kicker will not be tempted to pass across the goal. Good luck.


3. Number two tactical principle - quick restarts, specifically with the throw in. There is a huge tactical advantage when you restart quickly before your opponent is ready. Coaches should emphasize the race to get the ball and get it quickly back into play. If there is any doubt, always assume that it is your throw. The optimum throw-in is down the line over everyone’s head. Again, there will be exceptions, but the player should realize that there may be a loss of momentum if the ball is not thrown down the line. The players must learn that most throw-ins are not made to another player, but to an open space where a teammate can run onto the ball. In time, the coordination between the runner and thrower will become a secret weapon. Ask your players this question, “How long must you wait to restart after a referee blows the whistle?” Answer – zero time! The quicker the better. Try to restart while your opponent is still wondering what happened.


PS: All coaches need to remember that these girls were not born with a soccer vocabulary. If you want to use soccer terms like mark up, get wide or goal side, you must insure that they fully understand the meaning of the terms. Best results come when you instruct a player that is not actively on the ball. Encouraging individual creativity is much preferred to teaching them to only do what the coach says.





OFFSIDE

An offensive player standing behind the last defender on the defenders half.

You can never be offside on your half of the field.


Please go over this with the girls.  Have them go home and watch the video.

Remember you cannot be offside on a throw-in, so encourage your players to get open down the line to receive the throw. If the ball in not thrown to them they must get back on side.


Corner kick

The video to the right will show you two corner kick examples.  The first one shows the player taking the corner kick and doing an overlap run after passing the ball to a teammate. The overlap run will throw the other team off.

The second example is simpler and shows the players finding an open teammate.

Observe the defense too. Explain to the girls that they should always stand GOAL SIDE to the opposing team on corner kicks.  That is between the goal they are defending and the player they are marking.




Charging:

Today have the girl's practice charging. They should lean their shoulder into their opponent and try to push their opponent off the ball.  They may not stick out their elbow, that is a foul.

First have them partner up and practice leaning their entire weight into each other.  Then while they are leaning have them walk and then run forward.