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Always looking to pass, never dribbling or clearing

Philip Bennett

Hello

I am assistant coach at an under 11s girls team.

The majority of the girls love dribbling and we spend a lot of time helping them to know when to pass.

We have one player who is completley the opposite, she can really pick a pass and is always looking for that killer pass but sometimes there is nothing on, so she gets caught in posession because it's almost like she thinks that there's a rule that says that you have to receive the ball and instantly look to pass it.

If she receives the ball in a position where she knows that there won't be a pass on, she often miscontrols it as she already knows that (in her mind) she's not got an option.

Often, if she just kept the ball moving by dribbling or sometimes clearing the ball, she'd be out of trouble.

Easier said than done, I know!

Any tips to help encourage her to dribble / keep the ball moving rather than staying static and getting caught would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Phil

  • 0

    Hey Phil, thanks for your question. Check out this session plan on the bootroom -https://thebootroom.thefa.com/resources/coaching/in-possession-1v1-dribbling

    Also, if you search for in possession in the sessions search section there is a lot of information there which may help.

    Hope that helps.

    Tim

  • 0

    Phil, thanks for taking the time to engage with this resource. It is much appreciated and you raise a great question. More often than not in the Foundation phase it is the other way around; players wanting to solve all the problems the game throws up in an individual way so having a player who looks to pass as the first option is a little unusual. If you see each player as an individual with their own personality, strengths and areas for development it can help you see things more clearly than just thinking there are gaps in this player's ability that need to be rectified. It is great that this player is already looking to combine with a teammate because as your team develop and grow towards the adult game this will become more and more important so please praise and celebrate this. However, from your description, she appears to want to pass the ball early and if she can't she then doesn't possess the individual ability to stay on the ball for a short time whilst the situation changes. One practice is with 4 players (two on each side in the same colour bib and in an area about 10x10 but just see what size suits your girls as it could be slightly smaller or bigger.

    There is a resting player from both sides at each end and one of them has a ball ready to pass in to the player on their side. This player is marked 1v1 but the first pass is allowed to go in. Once the player in the middle receives the ball the scoring system starts. If the player on the ball in the middle just passes the ball back to the player who passed it in and they are in the same position this scores 1 point. If the player in the middle can stay on the ball until the player on the outside can receive the ball on either of the sides of the square then that scores 3 points. 5points are scored if the player in the middle can stay on the ball until they can pass it to their partner who is now on the opposite side of the square and really this is the one we want the players to try for BUT retaining possession is also important so any score is good. If they can pass it out to their partner in any position the game repeats as the ball goes in again.

    If the defending player wins possession (not kicking it out) then they start the scoring system and it is these players who must move around the square looking to score the most points from the player in the middle staying on the ball for longer.

    Good luck and I hope my explanation is clear.

    Pete