Week 13, doesn’t time fly when you’re having fun!  Ruby, a regular for York RI U12s and at Manor Academy Futsal sessions joined us for the night, welcome Ruby!

After a warm up we set up a drill that concentrated on keeping possession of the ball.  We had two 15 metre squares side by side and the girls were split into two teams of 4, with Denva being a floating player who played for whichever side was in possession.

The red team started with the ball and all four of their players  started in one square, two blues tried to win the ball back as quick as possible, and the other two blues stayed in their square.  When the blues won the ball, or put the ball out of play, their two players retreated into their square to make a four, and the reds sent two players to try to win the ball back.  This continued from square to square with different players leaving their allocated square each time.

Click here for more images from the night.

We worked with the girls on movement when in possession, finding space and passing the ball quickly and accurately.  When defending, we challenged the girls to work hard in closing down the players quickly and trying to get the ball back as soon as possible.  This was hard work, but all did brilliant at it.

Further progressions limited the touches to as few as the players were comfortable with, defenders not putting the ball in touch but trying to pinch it, and finally when the ball was won, could the defender run it out of one square into the other.  Special mentions to Chloe J who managed this last bit on a couple of occasions, top work!

After a quick recap we started the second drill which involved players attacking a goal with a recovering defender retreating from the side of the pitch.  The attackers couldn’t score until they had got into the area in front of the goal.

Defenders were shown how to get across the pitch quickly but arrive in control, to then be patient and not worry about tackling the player until they tried to or got into the area.  Forwards were shown how pace and being direct was their biggest help in getting a goal.  We let the attackers go as soon as the pitch was clear, making the defenders stay alert all the time and not wait to be told when to defend.

The girls showed some excellent defending and attacking, with some very quick thinking on both.  Special mention goes to Lucy, she never stopped running all night, fantastic effort!

Afterwards the coaches agreed it was the best session we have had so far, the girls learning, commitment and effort was superb, thank you to you all!