U-8 boys and girls Practice #4

U-8 Boys and Girls
Focus skill:  shooting

Please remind players of Super Soccer Saturday this upcoming Saturday. 
U-6-8 coaching clinic 12:30 to 3:30 on Saturday. 

Wonderful seeing the great soccer being played by this age group. 
Kendra is away this week so I (Rory Luxmoore)  will get the pleasure of working with both groups this week.

I will set up two agility stations for you to use (set of ladders and hurdles).
I will run an activity on shooting that the teams can rotate through.
Feel free to include your favourite shooting activity.
By the end of the session we hope the players have a good understanding of the mechanics of shooting a moving ball and have had many opportunities to practice the skill. 
Skill focus shooting mechanics
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ac8r9XlSWo0&feature=relmfu
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3wi0tehvIw&feature=relmfu


Coaching points:
-planting foot pointing at the target
-planting foot next to ball if too far back, ball will go up because you will be forced to lean
-striking ball with inside laces, toe pointed down ankle locked
-knee over ball (of striking foot)
-shoulder over the ball (head down as striking)
-quick snap and follow through
-always strike a moving  ball


Warm up/Agility - no balls
Play a game of donkey tails
Half have pinnies as tales in shorts, other half try and get as many pinnies as possible or some variation of this.

Warm up- with balls
Dribble Grid and then play shark. A good opportunity for them to get some touches on the ball. 

**Agility Relays - ladders & cones, share around ladders

skill focus:  shooting
simple activity of two lines, each kid with a ball facing coach/team mate.  Pass to coach or team mate who lays off the ball to side for a shot
http://expertfootball.com/coaching/shooting.php
(first drill on page) - worry less about if they are shooting in or out of penalty area.
Can adapt this drill slightly and add a defender, where the coach/player who was initially receiving for layoff, now this player is the attacker (back to net), defender behind them, attacker receives pass and needs to turn and play a shot on goal (have defender play dummy to start and play tight...then move to live defender)

Shoot and Keep:  Coach passes ball to player positioned 10 meters outside the goalie area.
Player takes one touch of ball then shoots to score on net. Player must shoot before the penalty area. The player then goes in net. Keep players moving by having them quickly receive and shoot ball then become goalkeeper. 
Progression: if you get scored on sit out. Play until you have a winner.
Focus on players properly kicking a moving ball and goalkeepers practicing the skills they worked on last week.
Kids love this activity!

Four corners shooting drill
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuz6JGaEYtY&feature=related
A good activity to work on accurate passing and shooting.
Keep players moving. You will want to introduce a second ball as last player is taking a shot.

Skill- numbers game
Set up a small grid with goal at one end/use penalty area.  Separate players into 2 teams lined up on each side of goal.  Place two cones just a bit further than shooting distance even with corners of goal, and place yourself between with a stash of balls.  Number players 1,2,3,4,5 etc. Call out a number. That numbered player on each team must race around the cones into the field where a ball is played. Players are trying to both defend and score on the same net. Encourage celebrations after a goal! Progress to 2 or 3 players. Add a goalkeeper

Scrimmage - try to reduce the field size so players get lots of opportunities to shoot on net. You can also use this time for them to work on any game skills such as throw ins, corner kicks...