Coaching News:

Norwich City Academy Coaching Session

Posted: 2/2/2011

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Norwich City's Academy recently ran a coaching demonstration on behalf of the Norfolk County Coaches Association.

I was fortunate enough to be able to attend the session, and even more fortunate to gain Ricky Martin's permission to publish the session plan on our website. I therefore wish to pass on my thanks to Ricky, Dale and Gary.

The first exercise is aimed to get players communicating with each other, and it works by the player making the pass telling the player receiving it which pass to make next - either a pass along the line ("line"), a switching pass to the side ("change"), or diagonally ("angle"), or a 1-2 followed by a line pass ("twos"). If no instruction is given, the receiving player just stops the ball. The session will frequently break down as people forget to call as they pass (as tehy focus on the task they were given rather than the next move), but over a bit of repetition you should see an improvement.

The remaining exercises focused on re-creating match-like situations were possession is changed - known as the 'transitional' phase of play. It's really about how quickly you adapt when the ball is either won or lost by your side. Key points were that 'you (the player) don't have time to sulk' (especially when missing a shot), and the need to use the three T's when you lose the ball.

These being: Tight - press the ball immediately to stop your opponent from playing whilst you team-mates adjust from attack to defence. Tackle - try to win the ball back again at the earliest opportunity, before your opponent has reacted to having possession. Track - follow your man if he beats you or passes the ball before you can tackle.

The one observation I have from what I saw is that with the younger age players, you can run these practices as fun games and they will probably, with a little guidence, naturally start to pick up on the pyschological change needed during transition phase.

Graeme Davies
Coaching Development Officer - TFC