YOUTH FOOTBALL COACH REQUEST - BALL MOVEMENT DRILL/S

Yesterday I received this message from a youth football coach:
"...do you have anything to simulate pushing back hard after a mark/play on at all costs scenario with players ahead of the ball being able to read the play developing in front of them?..."

The more I think about it the more loaded this question becomes for me but in a good way.

The 2 main points I want to present will be:

• Breaking down the individual skill/s required in this action/s
• The easiest way to build cohesivness all over the ground

Then of course some scenario drills to put this into action.

From the request above, there is a specific skill, an underrated skill, that is required before the kick has even occurred - do you know what it is?

I'll wait....

Time's up!

Pushing back hard off the mark.

Most coaches will say this over and over without actually explaining and/or demonstrating what it is and for far to long coaches have assumed every single player knows exactly what they mean when they say something, and that could not be any further from reality.

On top of that, most times at training there won't even be anyone on the mark to push back from so what you're potentially left with is a cue you use constantly that some players don't even know what it is, peformed in scenario's and situations with absolutely zero context.

And you wonder why all your coaching goodness doesn't translate to games...well unfortunately you need to look in the mirror.

So before even trying to whip up a full ground-fast break play from full back to full forward, let your players self explore different ways of simply pushing back off the mark by actually having a man on the mark.

Give them the opportunity in a self perceived "simple" and psychological safe enviroment to actually practice pushing back of the mark and hitting a variety of targets coming at them from different angles.

A couple of weeks ago I posted a training drill for this exact purpose.

The second part of this is once again, a Game Model.

A Game Model is designed to align all area's of a club or team, in this specific case, the players.

All players are drilled on the Game Model above all else, and definitely above nailing 2km time trials.

All players will have their specific position starting position and movement patterns based on where the ball is on the feild.

So if there is a stoppage on the right half back flank then a portion of the Gem Model will have in detail, where each player is to get to with the restart of play (when the ball gets thrown up).

In accordance with the Game Model each player will know:

• Their very own starting position
• 1 - 2 play patterns if we win the ball
• 1 - 2 play patterns if we donlt win the ball

On top of individual Game Modelling, each player will also be fully informed on every other player's starting position and play patterns at the same time, to build total cohesivness.

This is how your players will be able to read the play developing in front of them and the player options will be plentiful because the player with the ball already has a fair idea of whare to go, what to do and who do go to at any given time.

Ultimately this will speed up their decsion making dramatically thus giving them more time and space to execute the skill effectively and efficiently.

What happens if you don't have a Game Model?

Well we see it all the time at local/amateur footy level and that's when 1 player has the ball then everyone is trying to become the very next option right there and then.

So if you're kicking into the forward 50 from a mark on the wing and you have 6 forwards in front of you and they are all trying to be the next option in the forward 50, all leading to different spaces and/or the same space.

All this does is confuse the kicker who is trying to see what all 6 players are doing, who's the best option and then he has to execute the skill all before the defense can set up and defend - near impossible.

And if the ball player can't find a suitable option then all those 6 leading forwards are all out of position and you end up kicking to a pack of 8 - 12 players, nothing happens and it's a wasted scoring opportunity.

If you had a Game Model then you might have some play patterns in place for players who find themselves in certain positions who work "off the ball" to create space for someone else.

So they might find themsleves manned up but sitting on the fat side that you want to open up for leads away from the defensive congestion.

That player will hopefully identify that quickly and lead to a perceived dangerous spot (at the ball carrier for example) that will force their defender to go with them.

A player from the opposite side of the ground knowing that we don't kick to congested area's in the forward line can then make a run through the congestion to the open fat side for a pretty easy and usually uncontested mark in the forward 50, and a pretty decent scoring opportunity to go with it.

That's just 1 of many, many options you can create via Game Model.

This series of videos lays out scenario's aimed at developing possession football and cohesiveness within your team and is exactly what I'll be teaching at the Gameday Tactics Introduction for Youth Footballers school holiday program.

So coaches/parents, if your players/child could benefit from this program in their footy for 2020 and beyond then please let me know.

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