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Introduction

Welcome to the 2012 and 2013 Chestnut Hills Sports Club Academy team page. Here you will find information we share about how we play and soccer in general. Each week during the season the News Update section will be updated with what has changed on the page. The Weekly Training section will be updated each week. And, randomly through the season other parts of the site will be updated and then the News Update section will reflect that. The page is maintained by Coach Sam with input from the entire coaching staff. 

News Update

No homework for week 5. 

Team Overview

2012 and 2013 Academy teams are basically one big team that plays two separate game schedules. The team is made up of a mix of 6th and 7th grade players. The 6th grade players all play on their travel teams under the leadership of coaches Sam and Dave. The 7th graders play under different coaches and therefore have a different set of experiences and training focuses. In many ways, this team is a like a national team made up of many different players from many different teams and styles. As such, each week we are going to take on a bite-size tactical learning objective that some of the players may already be familiar with and for some it will be new. We will work together as a team to master this tactical learning objective. For the 6th graders the biggest new part of this season will be playing 11v11 with a size 5 ball. This will bring a new set of challenges that we will work through together. 

Based on the RSVP's for each game it is very likely we will ask a player or two from the 2013 team to play on the 2012 team. There may be some times when we ask players from the 2012 team to play on the 2013. This is all done to get players the most playing time possible and the best developmental experience possible. The coaching staff sees this as one big team with players moving from game to game to create the best developmental environment possible for all the players.

Our Vision

Provide a challenging and rewarding developmental soccer experience for 6th and 7th grade boys that progresses them towards their soccer goals whether that ranges from playing at Brookline High School or creating a life-long love of the Beautiful Game.

Game Model

Our season is going to be driven by our Game Model which will evolve over the season as we evolve. It lays out our vision and road map for how we want to play soccer. 

We will share the most current version of our Game Model here. It lays out everything from our vision, culture, style, and more. As part of this I want to highlight the culture we have built and will maintain. 

Insert Game Model here.

Culture

We are a team that plays with intensity, intelligence, teamwork, and discipline. To achieve that end we live these values in practice, games, and off the field.

Warriors NXT Values

  • Respectful – we treat everyone with dignity
  • Focused – when we are at practice or a game we are talking and thinking about soccer
  • Supportive – we support each other as players and people
  • Growth Mindset – we strive to get better
  • Warrior Spirit – we play with intensity and we always strive to win and never give up

Sub-Phases

In our Game Model we break the game down into four major phases; attack in the flow, attack set-piece, defend in the flow, and defend set-piece. A sub-phase is a shared style of play within a phase of the game. Our expectation is every player should be familiar with all of the subphases.

Attacking in the flow of play sub-phases:

Build up out of the back

In this sub-phase we safely pass the ball around our defensive half of the field away from the opponent building out of our back. The purpose is to safely and consistently cross the midfield line to start our attack into our attacking half of the field.  

Score by team ball movement

In this style of play, we combine dribbling and passing and a lot of smart off the ball movement to create shots in the scoring zone. The scoring zone is the area of the field in front of the opponent's goal which is the width of the 6 yard box up to the 18. This part of the field leads to the highest chances to score when we take a shot. 

Team counter-attack

Often when we play a low-block we are doing so in order to enable our midfield to regain possession of the ball so we can rapidly launch a counter-attack with 1-2 midfielders and 2 forwards to get into the scoring zone and create a scoring opportunity before the opponent's midfield get get back on defense. 

Defending in the flow of play sub-phases:

Low-Block

In this sub-phase our midfield and defensive lines play a zonal pressure, cover, balance defense.  Our defensive line sets itself along our 18. Our midfield line sets itself about 5-7 yards on top of the defensive line. Each line plays compact pressure, cover, balance. The forwards allow the opponent to cross the midfield and then force them into a smaller and smaller space on the field on either the left of the right side. Normally we like to turn the opponent to our right side. We will likely low-block for two reasons. The first one is to prevent the opponent from getting shots inside our scoring zone. The second, and often more important reason, is for us to create counter-attacking opportunities. 

Mid-Block

The mid-block is very similar to the low-block except the midfield line sets itself just on our defensive side of the midfield line. The defensive line forms up about 7-10 yards behind our midfield line while the forwards try and turn the other team to our right and make the field smaller and smaller for them. The purpose of this is typically regain possession of the ball around the middle of the field and then attack by probing or attack by targeting depending on the style we are playing at the moment. 

High-Block

A high-block is run the same way we run low and mid-blocks except that the defensive line is set at the center line of the field. Additionally, the pressure line for the forwards is about the opponent's 18. Our intent is to regain possession of the ball between the opponents 18 and the center line. We will do this by the forwards making the field smaller and smaller as the opponents advance done the field until our forwards and midfielders can double team the opponent with the ball and regain possession. 

High-Press

When we high press we are switching to a man marking system centered around the opponent who has the ball. We are trying to gain possession of the ball on the opponent's side of the field. We try to gain possession of the ball and immediately attack towards goal. We frequently do this when the opponent has a goal kick. Our forwards try and turn our opponent to our right. Our midfield line positions itself to contain the ball in our attacking third. And our defenders position themselves to prevent an opponent's deep attack on our goal.

Gegenpress

Gegenpressing is when a team, immediately after losing possession, aggressively presses the opposing team to win back the ball as quickly as possible, ideally in the opponent's half. This aims to disrupt the opponent's attack before it can develop and create opportunities for a quick counter-attack. There are different ways to gegenpress which include pressing with numbers to isolate the opponent with the ball and quickly regain possession of the ball. A team can also gegenpress by isolating the player with the ball and cutting off passes and through individual pressure get the ball back. We will gegenpress by massing 2-3 players on the opponent with the ball. 

Weekly Training

We expect each player to read through and watch the training material by week. This will help them better understand our training and training focus for the week. 

Pre-Season

Over this season we are going to learn the following styles of defenses; low-block, mid-block, high-press, and gegenpress. At the start of the season we will focus on low-block and mid-block. The videos below cover low-block and mid-block.  

Low-block

This video on low-block will provide you a basis for us to train at practice. 

Mid-Block

This video on mid-block will provide you a basis for us to train at practice. 

Week 1 Game on 7 September

During week 1 we focused on low-block and mid-block using the videos above to explain those. We then worked on those pretty well during our game.

Week 2 Game on 14 September

This week we are adding high-block and high-press. 

High-Block

Sorry for the quality of the virtual coaching video. Still, it does not nice job of showing and explaining how we run a high-block. 

High-Press

Week 3 Game on 21 September

This week we are focusing on High-Press since we did not get to it last week. Please rewatch our high-press video. Additionally, we are going to add the following vocabulary:

  • Target (rabbit) - the opponent we want the opponent to pass to see we can pressure and double team
  • Marked - an opponent we mark man to man to prevent him from receiving the ball
  • Free/unmarked - the opponent(s) we are leaving unmarked and assuming risk that the opponent cannot pass to him. These are typically the opponents furthest away from the ball.

High-Press vs High-Block Overview

A low-block, mid-block, and high-block are all defensive formations where the majority of the team is playing a zonal defense. We have learned these forms of defense create excellent opportunities for our midfielders to intercept the ball and start the attack. The high-press is very different. Only the defensive line is playing zonal defense. The rest of the team is playing man-to-man. We identify the opponent we want the other team to pass to (the target or "rabbit") and then we man mark all the players closest to him. Once the ball is played to him our nearest player sprints to pressure the ball.  Other players shift to ensure all the opponent's nearest the ball are marked up so the player with the ball cannot pass away. 

Virtual Coaching High-Press

Week 4 Game on 28 September

Now that we have a solid understanding of how we defend with a low-block, mid-block, high-block, and high-press we are now going to start looking at building up out of the back. This week we are going to explore when we want to build up out of the back and when we want to go long instead. And when we decide to build-up out of the back how it is that we want to do that. 

This week's practice we are going to take a lot of goal kicks and build-up out of the back. We are going to explore what works best for us. This week is going to be a lot of thinking. As such, I have picked two videos for you to watch. The first shows good analysis and thinking about the modern day issue surrounding build-up in the Premier League. The second is an example of a good build-up. 

Have We Been Lied to About Build-up Play?

 

A Man City Example

In this video we see an example of how Man City conducts a build-up and maintains possession of the ball. Notice the way they spread out and find passing lanes. 

Week 5 Game on 5 October

No homework this week. 

Week 6 Game on 12 October

To be published

Week 7 Game on 13 October

To be published

Week 8 Game on 26 October

To be published

Week 9 Game on 2 November

To be published

 

General Soccer Stuff

This section is full of interesting soccer videos and articles to enhance the players' learning. Nothing here is "required", but it has some cool information and learning.