U13 Tryout - Jan 17 - penetrating passes

Last night we had our third tryout.  The boys all came and worked hard again.  We are picking up the pace of what we are doing and it shows in the games afterwards.

Last night, after a short passing warm-up, we ran another drill working on getting he ball or yourself forward.  It was a simple drill.  One player dribbles forward, his teammate trails by 15 yds and 15 yds to the side.  the dribbler plays the ball to a waiting player who lays the ball back to the trailing teammate.  The dribbler then makes a penetrating type run to meet a penetrating pass made by that trailing player.  The ball was to be played directly forward while the run was made on an angle.  We had the drill running in both directions.  One coach stood a few yards behind the player laying the ball back, acting as a member of the defending team.  If the ball was played too close to the coach it was deflected.  Getting the ball between and behind defenders was the objective.

Coaching points were simple:

Running with the ball

• Have ball keep pace with runner
• Do not let the ball get away from you

Penetrating run

• Timing of run
• Communication
• Approach ball at right speed to take control and attack

Penetrating pass

• Quick, early, accurate
• Get ball behind and between defenders and into space on first touch
• Ball on the ground, with speed

We had to keep it simple because our time on the floor was limited, there were a lot of players out (34) and it's tryouts, so the players want to show what they can.  Most drills can be kept simple and still be effective.

I was looking to see who could apply what we were working on into a game situation and a lot of them did.

All I watch for during the games were instances where a pass was attempted to the players current position when a penetrating pass situation was available.  It's also known as a "through ball".

You always second guess yourself during tryouts.  Do we drill them to death to watch pure technical abilities and limit their chances to show us their intangibles during games?  Do we make it a pure game situation and not let the new players learn some of what the others know?  We had 34 players playing indoor, including 2 keepers.  Do we make 7v7 in 2 shifts or 5v5 in three shifts?  Does the crowded field show us who can solve the problem presented?  Is it right to do smaller teams and less shifts, balancing the extra space with less playing time?  So many questions at this stage with never the right answer.

After this Thursday we shrink our list a bit.  Always painful.