Hit ‘Through the Line’ for Better Accuracy

Question: When a ball is kicked, hit, bowled or thrown to you, where is the easiest place to hit or kick it back to?

Answer: Straight back to where the ball came from (Diagram 1).

NB: The following advice applies to tennis, soccer, hockey, cricket, baseball, softball and volleyball (and maybe more).

The reason why this is the easiest option when redistributing a moving ball to another player (or ‘first time’ to use football parlance), is that by sending it back to where it came from means that the surface contacting the ball is flat (Diagram 1).

With no ‘slice’ or ‘hook’ (to now borrow from the golfers) action needing to be placed on the ball to achieve the desired direction (Diagram 2), it is clearly easier to hit back through the line the ball draws as it comes towards you.

Diagram 1)

Diagram 2)

However, we do not always want to send the ball back to where it came from. Let’s therefore talk about how to ensure the movement of the ball is spot on, when performing an accurately angled pass, hit or shot on the ball.

The most important way to ensure a clean strike, even when trying to create an angled pass, hit or stroke, is to visualise the imaginary line that the ball creates as it travels towards you and hit back through this line.

By attempting to hit the ball slightly earlier, flatter or slightly later, you will be able to adequately influence the direction of the ball whilst still hitting through the line, ensuring the best chance of a clean strike.

Hitting ‘across the line’ or cutting through the imaginary line the ball draws, means you have the least possible chance of clean contact (it can be done, it’s just WAY harder to time correctly and the margin for error is much smaller).

Some other good tips for creating accurate and angled shots include:

1. Timing before power – Whenever we are trying to perform a more difficult action it is best to reduce swing, kick or hit speed in order to focus on timing. If good timing is consistently achieved, power can then be added.
2. Underestimate how much ‘slice’ or ‘hook’ you will get on the ball – This will stop the ball ‘skewing’ off target.
3. Position your body a little more front on to receive and then immediately distribute the ball.

Finally, a drill to reinforce this concept.

Try this with any sport that requires the striking of a ball and watch it improve accuracy during training and the game!

Small Sided Sport

A combination of two factors lead me to choosing the topic of ‘Small Sided Sport’ for this week. The first was while I was a fill-in coach for a Senior B’s (10-12 year olds) Soccer Team last Friday. The second is an advertisement on high rotation at the moment, featuring Lucas Neill (Australian Soccer Captain), spruiking the ‘Optus Small Sided Football Awards’.

So as the Senior B’s worked towards a win last Friday, the following was very obvious:

• The field was too big (the players looked like legomen on a billiard table).
• There were too many players. (I think the backs from the winning team would have honestly been lucky to touch the ball twice in 40 minutes – the ‘keeper didn’t touch the ball once!)
• The ball was too large and heavy (the best striker of the ball from both sides couldn’t kick it more than 10m, making for very slow progress up and down the field).

Are You Using the Right Sized Equipment?

Pavel Sedlacek, our UEFA (European Football Association) qualified trainer does not conduct ANY drills or games for under 12s (and sometime even older) with more than 6 players per side. He is constantly baffled when he sees us here in Australia insist that juniors play sport with adult parameters and equipment. Pavel recommends the following:

1. No more than 6 a side.
2. Size 3 or 4 balls only until high school (unless it is rep standard that is being played)
3. Roughly multiply the players age by 5 (up to Under 14s) to determine length of the field in metres.
4. Rotate positions (especially Goalkeeper) as one sided games mean only half the team sees the ball.
5. Use 4 short quarters (good excuse to change positions) rather than two long halves.

Small kids playing grown up soccer just doesn't work.

The bottom line? Your players are smaller, so make the field, equipment and length of match smaller! More touches on the ball means faster improvement, more engagement and therefore more player enjoyment!

Good luck!

PS – We realise that it is not easy to alter the fundamental ways that an association, zone or state plays a sport. At least practice and train with the above in mind and the improvement of your players will translate regardless of what playing format they are competing under.

Agree? Disagree? Why not leave a comment here or on our Facebook page here

Get Speedier with these Sprinting Drills

Too often a child’s speed and endurance or potential for it, is written off as being ‘genetic’. While there is some truth to this assumption, it is also rare that a student fronting up for their yearly athletics carnival has explored many (or any) of the ways in which they can defy their bodily composition in order to become a faster runner.

Below you will find a great mix of drills that won’t just quicken your chargers in their 100m dash at the Athletics carnival, but will also assist them in chasing down a loose soccer ball or sprinting down the touch line to score a try! Enjoy!

Drills to improve the running speed of your little (and not so little) athletes:

These sprinting technique drills can be performed in this order or alternatively focus on just 3-4 drills. There is no need to perform multiple sets and repetitions.

Raise Knees: 10 metres – jog – 10 metres – rest
Sprint 10 metres concentrating on raising knees as higher than normal. Jog for 10 metres and then sprint for 10 metres and rest.

Fast Knee Pick Ups: 10 metres – jog – 10 metres – rest
Jogging on the spot raise your knees to waist height while emphasising the arm action. Move forward 10 metres with this action concentrating on the number of ground contacts rather than how fast you cover the distance. Try to get as many ground contacts as possible.

Flicks: 10 metres – jog – 10 metres – rest
While sprinting over 10 metres concentrate on flicking your heels up to touch your bottom.

Leg Speed: 60 metres
This is a normal sprint over 60 metres except all of your focus should be on your legs. Try to gauge your optimum leg speed by taking different stride lengths to see which yields the best results.

Skipping: 40 metres

High Hops: 3 x 40 metres
Bound from one foot to the other. The action is similar to skipping except your are trying to gain as much height as possible and stay in the air for as long as possible on each hop. Remember to allow for a full recovery between attempts.

Elbow Drive: 40 metres
Sprint for 40 metres concentrating on driving your elbow in a straight line. Keep your elbows flexed at right angles while keeping your arms relaxed.

Team Sport Drill – ‘Adjacent Circles’

A PE teacher or coach must always strike a delicate balance when it comes to teaching technique and shaping a player to be competitively competent.

If we spend too much time doing drills with no defensive element, then players have the potential to become slow with their decision making and instinctive play. Alternatively, if too much training is against defense, then technique can suffer greatly, as the time pressure due to a rushing defensive line causes hasty and poorly executed technique.

This drill allows a ‘drip fed’ approach to defense. We love it and it works well for, amongst others – Soccer, Hockey, Netball, Basketball and more.

Adjacent Circles

1. Split your class into two teams of 5 (or as many groups of 4-6 as you need). Nominate 1 person per circle as a defender.
2. Have each team form a circle of approximately 7-10 meters in diameter.
3. Each team begins to pass the ball around their circle (can be in one direction or can be random).
4. When the teacher / coach blows the whistle the nominated defender switches to the adjacent circle of players and tries their best to dispossess the remaining 4 players of the ball. The first defender to succeed wins a point for their team.
5. Play first to 5, 10 etc.

Progressions

1. When the teacher / coach blows their whistle, 2 players (previously nominated) become defenders in an adjacent circle.
2. Add a second ball that has to be kept from the ‘visiting’ defender.

Any questions? Need ideas for your upcoming winter sports team sessions? Why not get in touch about booking a ‘better coaching’ course for you school, zone or club. Email info@teachersinsport.com