Mannequin passing

Immediately following warm-up, the team engages in a series of pattern movements with the use of mannequins. The structure is to recreate passing patterns that may appear in games, and to get players be comfortable and clinical when there passing and movement. The object is to improve tempo by driving the ball at each other with clean touches and accelerated movement following each pass. An example of how a passing pattern is set up is as followed:

1= Ball

= Player

= Mannequin

325

4

An example of a pattern would go as follows: Players standing at Station 1 start with the ball. They pass to Station 2, who use 2 touch and pass to Station 3. The player at Station 3 will one touch it back to the player at Station 1, and then immediately turn and curl around the mannequin and make a run toward Station 4. The player at Station 1 receives the ball, and with 2 touch rhythm, pass the ball to the player at Station 4. The player at Station 4 will lay it off to the player making the run from Station 3, who will then pass it to the player at Station 5. While this is happening, the player at Station 4 will swing around the mannequin, and provide and option for the player at Station 5. Once the player at Station 5 receives the ball from Station 3, the player will drop it to the player from Station 4, who is checking. The player at Station 4 will receive the ball, and then play it all the way back to Station 1. The player at Station 1 receives the ball, and then drops it back to Station 5, who had made a curling run around the mannequin, identical to the run made earlier by Station 3, but in the opposite direction. The player at Station 5 will receive and one touch back to Station 1, who is making a curling run around the mannequin. When Station 1 receives, then the pattern will be completely repeated.

Possession Grid Passing

The next drill that will be demonstrated is a possession drill. A grid with the dimensions of 18x25 are used. The players are then divided into groups of 5 or 6. On each grid there will only be two teams. While there are 5 or 6 players on each grid, it will only be a 3v3 or 4v4 game, in a sense. The other two players will be on either end line. The set-up is as follows:

18 yards

25 yards Coach

Once the teams are set, the coach, who has all the balls, will send a ball into a player. The objective of the team is to get it from one end line player to the other without turning the ball over. If they do that, it will be a point. Once a player passes it to the end line player, they will go replace that player once he/she passes it off, and they will be the end line player until they receive a pass. This game reviews the critical elements of risk/reward and trains it. The player on the ball is certainly allowed to go back to their own end line player, but all this does is maintain possession and no points are awarded. The points are only given once the ball successfully goes into the opposite end line player, and is only validated when they make another successful pass. The cycle continues like that so every player has a chance to be a part of the game.

Also, to prevent the other team from guarding the end line players, and hence preventing a team from getting a point, a coach can implement a “5 passes equals a point” rule. This will make it so that the other team presses and not puppy guard the other team’s end line players.

Damon’s Three Zone Game

Instructions

  • Players are divided into groups of 4; There will be 3 team of 4 in each grid
  • Grids are divided into 3 zones
  • The two outer zones are 10 yards long by 15 yards wide; each outer zone has two goals on their end line
  • There is a middle zone that is in between the two outer grids, and it is 5 yards long by 15 yards wide
  • The balls are distributed by a coach standing outside the middle of the grid
  • In the all grids, there is a group of four players
  • The group in the middle will send two players to the grid that receives the ball from the coach. They will be defending and trying to prevent the team in the grid to send the ball to the far grid; the other two players stay in the middle grid, but they are also trying to prevent the ball from getting to the other grid
  • If the defense wins the ball, they can try and score on the goal in the grid they are defending; otherwise, the play is dead and the coach will send the ball to the other grid
  • The objective is to play from one end zone into the other end zone without losing possession
  • The offense must get at least two passes in their grid before they can send it to the far grid
  • If the offensive grid is able to send the ball to the far grid, then the two defenders in the middle grid will go to the far grid (that now has the ball), while the two players who were defending will now be in the middle grid
  • The game is played for a minute and a half
  • Each group will be defense one time

Girls are divided into groups of 4. Once this occurs, they play either three or six games. Following the completion of this drill, the video of this drill is reviewed in order to collect the stats and determine who is promoted and relegated. The following categories are looked at when determining overall score:

  • Completion
  • Incompletion
  • Good Penetrative Pass
  • Bad Penetrative Pass
  • Good Reception of Penetrative Pass
  • Bad Reception of Penetrative Pass
  • Lost of Possession
  • Disruption (Defensive)
  • Interception (Defensive)

Each of these categories has a multiplier attached to them. The positive categories (such as completion, good penetrative pass, etc) have a positive multiplier that will add to your score. Negative categories (incompletion, bad penetrative pass, etc) have a negative multiplier that will subtract from your score. In other words, you are rewarded for The first seven categories on the list above are scored when you are on offense, while the bottom two are scored when you are on defense. You cannot be penalized when playing defense, but it can determine if you are promoted or relegated. If you have an average offensive day, but a fantastic defensive day, you might have a higher overall score than someone who has a great offensive day and an uneventful defensive day.

Once all the games have been reviewed, the stats are entered into a spreadsheet where they are then multiplied by the specific multiplier. The scores are then added up and totaled. The person with the highest overall score is promoted, while the one with the lowest score is relegated. If there is a tie, the person with the higher offensive score will advance.

Also, it is to be noted that teams are also affected by injuries. This may cause some players to be moved around in order to fit these players coming back from injury.

Complete / Incomplete / Pen (comp) / Pen (inc) / Bad Pen / Rec good / Rec bad / Disrupt / Intercept / Def Goal
Multiplier / 0.5 / -1 / 2 / 2 / -1 / 0.25 / -1 / 2 / 2 / 1
Div / Player / Complete / Incomplete / Pen (comp) / Pen (inc) / Bad Pen / Rec good / Rec bad / Disrupt / Intercept / Def Goal / Off Score / Off Rank / Def Score / Def Rank / Game Score / Rank
1 / Buckingham / 12 / 2 / 3 / 0 / 1 / 1 / 0 / 2 / 0 / 0 / 9.25 / 1 / 4 / 1 / 13.25 / 1
1 / Boyles / 18 / 2 / 1 / 0 / 0 / 1 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 9.25 / 1 / 0 / 4 / 9.25 / 2
1 / Bailey / 8 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 2 / 0 / 2 / 0 / 0 / 4.5 / 4 / 4 / 1 / 8.5 / 3
1 / Elinsky / 11 / 1 / 1 / 0 / 0 / 2 / 0 / 0 / 1 / 0 / 6 / 3 / 2 / 3 / 8 / 4
1 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 5 / 0 / 4 / 0 / --
2 / Ashley / 7 / 1 / 2 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 1 / 2 / 1 / 6.5 / 2 / 7 / 1 / 13.5 / 1
2 / Schultz / 8 / 1 / 2 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 1 / 1 / 0 / 7 / 1 / 4 / 2 / 11 / 2
2 / Otto / 12 / 1 / 0 / 0 / 1 / 1 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 4.25 / 3 / 0 / 3 / 4.25 / 3
2 / Hyatt / 3 / 2 / 0 / 0 / 1 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / -1.5 / 5 / 0 / 3 / -1.5 / 5
2 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 4 / 0 / 3 / 0 / --
3 / Wubben-Moy / 18 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 1 / 1 / 0 / 3 / 0 / 0 / 8.25 / 2 / 6 / 1 / 14.25 / 1
3 / Russo / 12 / 0 / 3 / 0 / 2 / 2 / 0 / 1 / 0 / 0 / 10.5 / 1 / 2 / 3 / 12.5 / 2
3 / Staker / 14 / 1 / 0 / 0 / 1 / 0 / 0 / 2 / 0 / 0 / 4 / 3 / 4 / 2 / 8 / 3
3 / Spruill / 9 / 2 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 2 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 3 / 4 / 0 / 4 / 3 / 4
3 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 5 / 0 / 4 / 0 / --