After the Christmas holidays, Futsal at Manor Academy was back with a bang! We started the girls’ session with some running drills to get the excesses of Christmas out of their system. And boy, they were all motoring! We did several different types of shuttle runs in teams and every single person ran their heart out, as coaches we were so impressed. Of course we had the usual cheats – Lucy!

We then moved on to a couple of passing drills with two offset squares. The girls had to be careful when passing as at times they were passing across each other’s squares. This progressed onto following your own pass around the square, and we finished with some challenges, for example Chris’s team challenged Mr Foster’s team that they could do 15 passes before they could do 10!

In the match at the end we placed 4 cones near each corner and if the ball or a player with the ball went round the cone and you scored, the goal was worth two! The match started with Mr Foster’s team gaining a healthy lead with Chris’s team suffering from no defenders. But as the game progressed Zoe was unfortunate to score not one but two own goals. A quick thinking Beth then got a great ‘two goaler’ to give Chris’s team the lead. In the final seconds Ruby got their side’s only ‘two goaler’ from a corner and the match finished a draw.

There was some excellent passing and movement on show tonight, and if you think that the girls haven’t kicked a ball since before Christmas, it makes it even more impressive. Top marks to all!

Hate the rain, so why not come and try futsal inside in the dry? Only £4.50 to have a go!

To see more pictures from the night please click here.

Below is a time-lapse video shot by Melody of the final match at the girl’s session!  We really moved tonight!  Thank you Melody, it is great!

 

The boys had the usual seven all back and raring to go. We did the same running drills as the girls and the surprise package was Sam, he was like lightning, no one could catch him! Again, same as the girls, all the boys put in a superb effort, even Noah managed to break sweat, just!

We did a finishing drill with the boys where after passing the ball to a receiver, they ran through a set of cones and tried to finish with one or two touches. This gets them used to shooting from all angles and also trying to get their shots away as early as possible. This progressed onto finishing with the ball coming back at the player from a setback. In Futsal we call this playing to the pivot and the boys really got the hang of this and scored some superb goals.

In the match at the end we had zone marked off at either end of the court, and each team had to keep at least two players in the oppositions end zone at all times. As soon as a goal was scored the two players had to be rotated. It took a short while for the boys to get to grips with the rotation but in the end the passing and movement was brilliant. Some of the off the ball running was a pleasure to watch.

The boys really worked hard tonight and it was impressive to watch and see how much they have changed and learnt since that very first futsal session back in September. The future looks really good!

Player of the Week for the Girls was Zoe – it had to be really after her amazing hat trick, two own goals and then one in the right end. She kept trying all night and never lost the smile on her face, great team player!

Player of the Week for the Boys was Kaan – in the match he was trying little flicks, back heals, wall passes and never stopped running and tackling all night, best player on the pitch by far! Great performance tonight.