Doug Lemov's field notes

After my previous post, I got kind of intrigued with the idea of a Desert Island Drill.  I think it’s important as a coach or teacher to invest heavily in your best exercises and to leverage the benefit of re-using and adapting things your students have learned to do efficiently. The only problem was that the guy giving the guidance on which drill to use (i.e. me) wasn’t so smart.

 

So… I decided to ask some really good coaches about their “Desert Island Drill.”  Here’s the first of several responses. It’s from Chris Apple, who’s the head men’s coach at University of Rochester and Director of Coaching at Empire United, a great club here in Upstate New Tork that’s a feeder for the New England Revolution.

 

Here’s Chris’ Desert Island Drill:

 

I would definitely choose 6v6 attacking big goals with GKs.  The versatility of this simple, small-sided game is its greatest strength.  Whether you are focused on a technical, tactical, physical or psychological objective, you can adjust the exercise to fit your needs.  The numbers of this game are big enough that you can have 3 “lines” of players to more closely resemble the real game, and yet the numbers are small enough that each player still gets plenty of touches and reps to work on the topic of the day.  You can also change the alignment of your players in this game to suit your needs.  A 3-2-1, 2-3-1 or 2-1-3 will each have their place depending on your focus.  That the exercise is directional and includes GKs are added bonuses that ensure attacking and defensive principles as well as transition.  The game is economical as well.  So, for example, even if you are focused on attacking runs in the box, your GK and defensive players are going to naturally be getting reps on marking, defending service, communication, concentration, etc.  Without taking your coaching focus away from the attacking team and their runs in the box, the game itself will teach the defensive team to call out their marks.  Getting burned a few times by a wide open opponent will be all the incentive they need to organize better in front of their goal.   

 

Your own creativity is your only limitation when it comes to adjusting this exercise to meet your objective.

 

• Focused on first touch, passing, speed of play/decisions?  Shrink the field down to a nice tight space that encourages quick/accurate passing, a clean first touch, movement to support and lightning quick decisions. 

 

• Still want to work on passing, but you coach younger players or the field is too tight for your group in the beginning and they are not having enough success?  Open up the space, add a neutral attacking player or two or have the team on defense drop one or two players to his/her knee till they win the ball back.  Gradually increase the challenge of space/time. 

 

• Want to work on dribbling and one v one play?  Open up the field a bit so there is space to take people on, add a rule that you cannot pass or shoot until you have beaten one player.  Or try this rule out: forced marking (each player marks only one direct opponent who in turn marks his/her counterpart) and if you beat your direct marker, no one else can defend you and you can dribble to goal unchallenged.

 

• Interested in flank play, crossing, runs in the box?  Try a short and wide field.  To increase reps, add a flank zone that players can operate in uncontested or with the pressure of only 1 defender.  For older, more experience players try a wide field with only one restriction: goals must be scored off of first-time shots. 

 

Regardless of the objective/topic – pressing, changing fields, finishing, recovery to defense, counter-attacking, heading, fitness, competitiveness, etc. – you can coach it and your players can develop the “skill” through this one small sided game. 

 

Chris Apple, Desert Island Drills, Soccer