In Week 10 of the Academy we worked on playing off a front man.  We had 3v2 attacking one goal with a 5 metre zone in front of the goal.  A target player was alone in this area and to score the attackers must play the ball into them and then shoot first time from the set back.  If they don’t take the shot they must play off the target player again.

The target player has to work across the zone to allow the ball to be played quickly to them and then they must set up a strike on goal.  At the start the target player stayed in the centre of the goal, making the defending really easy.  So we worked on the target player playing along the whole width of the pitch and especially into the corners.

Next we worked on the players arriving when the ball was played back, not standing waiting for the ball.  This took some patience as the girls wanted to get quickly into the box and didn’t delay their runs.  After a while we got there and finishing was excellent.

Special mention goes to Alexia who played the front man role brilliantly and her lay backs were perfect for some great finishing.

Great session with some fantastic outcomes and great learning for all involved, especially the coaches.  People think as coaches we know everything!  We have session plans but we are constantly assessing, changing, adapting and revisiting what we are doing to get the most out of each session.  We get, if we are lucky 1 or 2 hours per weeks with our grassroots players, so every minute has to count.