Palm Beach Atlantic University Head Coach;
2015 NCAA Elite Eight and NCAA South Region Champions, 2014 NCCAA Final Four and NCCAA South Region Champions, 2012 NAIA National Champions, 2012 NSCAA and the NAIA National Coach of the Year, over 300 wins at the collegiate coaching level
One of the biggest tactical dilemmas is creating numerical superiority when attacking. One of the best ways of doing this is to switch the point of attack.
Through a series of exercises, Brian McMahon demonstrates how he teaches his players to switch play and create a numbers up advantage through multi-gate switching games. He shows a clear progression that will help your team switch the point of attack quickly to gain numbers up throughout the pitch.
Coach McMahon provides in-depth illustrations, both on a white board and on the field, to show how to use the switch, starting from unopposed to full-sided games. You will learn how to properly warm up your team and how to teach your players the correct body position to switch. He also discusses when to attack with pace and when to slow it down and be patient.
Warm-Up
The emphasis in Coach McMahon's United Warm Up is to prepare players for the physical load of the session. Some of the areas he covers include dynamic movements, static stretching, speed ladder and SAQ (speed, agility and quickness).
Channel Game
The Channel Game is a 5v5v5 small sided game that forces the team in possession to move the ball quickly and switch the play by manipulating the field. This is an excellent exercise to start right after a warm-up to get your players focused on switching the ball quickly.
Four Gates Game
The Four Gates Game is a dynamic drill that keeps your players sharp and focused. It starts out as a 4v4 game, but can increase into a 7v4 based on how quickly your team can keep possession and switch the point of attack. This small sided game creates many opportunities for players to train on switching and on-field awareness.
Six Gates Game
Coach McMahon puts everything together in a 6v6 small sided game. He demonstrates different progressions that incorporate all aspects of switching in a functional way.
Coach McMahon creates a fun, competitive environment that allows his players to have repeated success at switching the point of attack. Throughout the video, he stresses quick play, movement off the ball, and the importance of keeping the ball on the ground. Above all, he does a good job encouraging quick play without forcing the ball, allowing the ball to be switched with greater success.
58 minutes. 2016.
RD-05023B: with Brian McMahon,
Palm Beach Atlantic University Head Coach;
2015 NCAA Elite Eight and NCAA South Region Champions, 2014 NCCAA Final Four and NCCAA South Region Champions, 2012 NAIA National Champions, 2012 NSCAA and the NAIA National Coach of the Year, over 300 wins at the collegiate coaching level
The best teams in the world are dangerous in the attack and well-organized defensively, but they also have the ability to make quick transitions. Top level teams like Atletico Madrid, Dortmund, and Chelsea under Jose Mourinho were known for the way they used transition.
Teaching a team to instinctively transition and react positively to moments of change can be challenging. Brian McMahon introduces the concept of a holistic team approach to executing transitions through innovative, progressive training exercises. Coach McMahon differentiates his training approach by incorporating an attacking, up-tempo style that has made his team an attacking threat in Division II with over 80 goals in 2015.
Coach McMahon demonstrates five transition exercises that will help your team not only attack with lightning pace, but also transition quickly and get organized behind the ball. Coach McMahon provides in-depth illustrations, both on a white board and on the field, where techniques and tips are shared before the exercise is introduced. The exercises are simplified, which allows you to teach main points of the drill as variations are added in order to gain technical teaching opportunities.
The teaching points emphasized during the exercises include:
- Quick speed of play and ball circulation to break teams down
- How to quickly organize your teams for transitional play
- The technical aspects to keep possession of the ball both as an individual and as a team
- How to defend to quickly start a counter attack
The progressive nature of Coach McMahon's training exercises enable players to pick up the principles of transition piece by piece. The activities build in a sophisticated package of concepts. Team and individual competition is expertly weaved into Coach McMahon's training approach. The activities inject an element of competition, which raises the standard of play.
Exercises include:
- 5v2 Rondo (keep away) Drill - Incorporating the entire team in a competitive, yet dynamic environment, the Rondo Drill trains players to develop a sense of rhythm in possession and maintain a high level of speed of play to move to the next grid.
- Bayern Munich Drill - An unopposed passing pattern that teaches players to prepare their body to receive the ball and improve one- and two-touch passing. Coach McMahon shows four progressions to this passing pattern, which leads to a nine-pass combination for players to work on quick ball circulation, through balls and the timing of supporting runs.
- Transition Possessions - This small sided game keeps your players on their feet and alert to transition at a moment's notice. Coach McMahon separates his players into three teams with one team ready to quickly transition on the field from the outside. Players try to keep possession for a certain amount of passes before the defending team has to transition.
- Transition to Goal - Game situation drill where each team must think about which goal to defend when transitioning onto the field. This drill uses elements of previous drills to demonstrate game-like play. Coach McMahan shows variations and restrictions that can be included in this game.
On average, there are over 200 transitional moments during a game, and it's important to master and take advantage of those moments to be successful. This video will teach you how important it is to attack with pace and how quick your team needs to be to get in good defensive positions when they lose possession of the ball.
64 minutes. 2016.
RD-05023C: with Brian McMahon,
Palm Beach Atlantic University Head Coach;
2015 NCAA Elite Eight and NCAA South Region Champions, 2014 NCCAA Final Four and NCCAA South Region Champions, 2012 NAIA National Champions, 2012 NSCAA and the NAIA National Coach of the Year, over 300 wins at the collegiate coaching level
One of the hardest skills in the game of soccer is finishing. Brian McMahon shows you how to teach finishing and how he's turned his team into an attacking threat. In 2015, Palm Beach Atlantic scored 84 goals and led the NCAA D-II in goals per game.
You'll learn how to teach finishing using games that incorporate the whole team in functional examples. The teaching points Coach McMahon emphasizes during the games include:
- Movement off the ball to create the spaces needed to be dangerous in the attacking 3rd
- Placement vs Power in certain areas of the field
- The technical aspects of finishing in and around the 18 yard box
- How the use of 1-2 touch, combination play and speed of play can be vital when going to the goal to finish
Coach McMahon goes beyond simply showing you how to finish. He also shows you how to build up to goal scoring opportunities. You'll learn the technique for finishing in terms of placement vs power and the proper runs that need to be made in the box when attacking the goal. Coach McMahon's drills incorporate the whole team - not just forwards/strikers. He teaches how combination play and speed of play can help you gain an extra advantage when finishing. Drills include:
- Wine Glass - The emphasis in this particular drill is to help players develop a sense of rhythm in quick combination play. Within the exercise, Coach McMahon shows five progressions and demonstrates how to use quick combination play to release players to finish on goal.
- Progressions - Coach McMahon demonstrates various patterns to use in a functional/positional setting and using third man combinations to go to goal. This passing pattern drill creates opportunities for field players to finish and train different combinations to break down compact defenses in the final third.
- Forward Check Game - Coach McMahon puts everything together in this small-sided game. He shows four progressions that incorporate all the areas he covered earlier in the video. He shows 3v1, 4v2, 5v3 and other variations to play off your high target player and how to attack going forward in the final third.
Coach McMahon provides in-depth illustrations, both on a white board and on the field, that will help you create an attack that will strike fear into your opponents!
"What I like most about this video from Coach McMahon is that he shows how he builds from passing pattern combinations to finishing to goal using the WHOLE team instead of just a few forwards on your team." - Customer Review
61 minutes. 2016.