Centre College Head Women's Coach; 2015 NCAA DIII Final Four;
4x SAA Conference Champions (2012-15)
No matter how good your team is at keeping possession and ball circulation through the thirds of the field, if you can't finish, your team will suffer. With teams becoming more solid defensively in front of the goal, it's important that you teach your team to play in wide areas and finish from these areas as well.
Using in-depth illustrations - both on a white board and on the field - Jay Hoffman shows you several small-sided games to train your team to create and finish from both central and wide areas. This DVD explains the teaching points he emphasizes during the games:
- Placement vs. Power
- Framing the goal from the supporting attacker and third man runners
- The attitude needed to finish
- Types of service from wide areas and the finishing needed for those balls
Six Exercises for Crossing and Finishing
Coach Hoffman provides a step-by-step guide to the main activities he uses at Centre College to improve the tactical and technical nuances of scoring.
He begins with a two man unopposed finishing pattern that lays the foundation to his team's ability to finish and frame the goal - while incorporating conditioning as well. The emphasis is on players developing a quick combination before going to goal, and the importance of framing the goal from the supporting player. After the combination, it's important to make the proper decision based on the type of ball received and the angle of the goalkeeper.
The second segment progresses to a two player horizontal finishing exercise with pressure. Here, Coach Hoffman puts his players in a more realistic game scenario, going to goal in a 1v1 with the goalkeeper. After the 1v1, he takes away the pressure and adds a supporting player, who must overlap and make it 2v0 going to goal with the goalkeeper. It's during this game that Coach Hoffman forces his players to have a shot or slot it across the goal for the supporting player, based on the quality of ball.
Next comes four line shooting with a target player. This is an excellent unopposed technical game working on a player's first touch through various types of balls, finishing, through balls, and also forces players to frame the goal.
The fourth exercise is the 4v4 Take Back Soccer drill. This 3v3 game in the middle forces teams to find their fourth player, who is a target player, and then quickly attack the goal with pace. This small sided game does a great job of incorporating attacking, defending, finishing, transition, possession with a purpose, and counter attacking all in one.
The fifth small sided game shown is an 8 vs goalkeeper and defenders drill. Coach Hoffman puts an immediate restriction on how attacking players keep possession and finish against one defender and another goalkeeper acting as the second defender. Based on the restrictions given, this should create lots of interchanging, overlapping, and creative play from the 8 attacking players.
The sixth and final segment of the training exercises is an unopposed passing finishing pattern. During this pattern, Coach Hoffman teaches the importance of framing the goal and the types of services needed to be effective in front of goal. He progresses the pattern by adding an overlap as the winger cuts in, giving the option of a third man run combination. The final progression adds an attacking midfield player, leading to 5 players crossing and finishing.
This video from Coach Hoffman is sure to help your team improve their finishing and crossing!
"I rank this video as a 5 or one of the best I have seen addressing this important topic.ÿ I took some of activities and used them with my High School team the night after I viewed the tape and found the players had a lot of fun (every player LOVES shooting exercises) and made improvement in their crossing and finishing. The activities are easy to set up, move fast and create many opportunities for the coach to address individual and team problems that can be fixed to improve the opportunities to score goals." - Customer Review
57 minutes. 2016
RD-05055B: with Jay Hoffman,
Centre College Head Women's Coach; 2015 NCAA DIII Final Four;
4x SAA Conference Champions (2012-15)
One of the top tactical trends in Europe is breaking the last line of defense and the different ways a team can achieve this. In this video, Jay Hoffman demonstrates how he teaches his team to break the lines and the techniques that have made his team an attacking threat. These tactics have given his team back to back NCAA Final Four and Elite Eight appearances.
Coach Hoffman shows you how important it is to have the correct team shape, timing of runs, proper decision-making and the right attitude toward breaking the lines. He provides in-depth illustrations, both on a white board and on the field, to show these different ideas on how to break the lines. He explains the teaching points he emphasizes during the games:
- Good communication before you pass the ball
- Vertical, lateral & "C" cup runs by the high target player
- Runs that trigger other runs going into the final third
- Getting players to the correct foot, which will lay the foundation to break the lines
Mastering the Tactic of Breaking Lines
Hoffman has specific instructions to apply to your training sessions. All five of these training instructions can be applied in different aspects of the game.
- Three Step Rule - This rule encourages getting away after making a pass to create space
- Leave and Replace - Leave a space to create space
- Play Faster but Keep Possession - One touch is the fastest way, but, it's not always the best way to play
- Pass the Ball Where the Defender is Not - Look for the open foot or side away from the defender to help retain possession
- Play the Player that is Moving - Don't go for the "home run" ball when it isn't on
Practice Segments
Hoffman develops a fluid session that encourages players to constantly think about how to get behind the line of defense. One of the things he does well is create exercises that reflect the true speed of the game. His progressions within each exercise are meaningful and his restrictions challenge players to try different ways to break in behind the last line of defense.
He begins with a three-man unopposed passing pattern that lays the foundation to his team's ability to break the line. The emphasis in this drill is that the players develop a good sense of rhythm when passing, the decision-making based on which foot the player receives with, and how to play based on the type of pressure the player has on their back.
The second progression is a 4v1 small sided game. This is where he trains his players to play using the correct shape, runs and decision-making to be able to break the line. Hoffman demonstrates two progressions within the 4v1 that help drive the point home with the type of runs needed to be dangerous. After the 4v1, he adds more pressure to make it 4v2, 4v3 and 4v4. During these games, the focus changes more to the decision-making based on the defender's positioning and implementing Hoffman's five training principles.
The third segment features a 4v4 game using all three thirds of the field. It's here the players try and keep possession in the middle third to be able to find that entry ball in the opponent's final third. This small-sided game does a great job of getting your players to make the correct runs off the ball to be dangerous. After players grasp playing in the thirds, they play a normal game to find the solutions within the game.
Every coach must teach their team how to break down opposition lines - Coach Hoffman does that, and more, in this innovative video!
57 minutes. 2016
RD-05055C: with Jay Hoffman,
Centre College Head Women's Coach; 2015 NCAA DIII Final Four;
4x SAA Conference Champions (2012-15)
To be successful in the attack, you need more than just your forwards making attacking runs. You also need your midfield players to expose the space from the opposition's back line as well.
Ask Jay Hoffman for the key to his team's success and he will say the midfield. "If you win the midfield, you're going to win games," says Hoffman. This DVD will show you how Coach Hoffman trains his midfield - and how you can train yours - to break through an opponent's defense in this complete practice session.
Five Instructions for Player Development
Coach Hoffman preaches five principles to each player in his program to get them to play his desired style. Besides helping his players develop on the field, Coach Hoffman sees these instructions as vital to helping his midfield play more dangerously and be able to make passes behind the defense.
Throughout the training session, Hoffman references moving after the pass and creating space for dangerous runs. He reminds his players to play quickly, but not at the expense of losing possession. He also encourages passing to the player that is making a run and to the foot of the player away from the defender. With these principles implemented, your midfield will be more dangerous when attacking.
Teach Attacking Movements
Coach Hoffman doesn't expect his players to move effectively on a full field without first teaching them to attack in numbers in small groups. The Centre College warm-up focuses on player movement while incorporating the five instructions: the players work on splitting defenders with the pass and making overlapping runs while passing to the correct foot and moving to create space for the runs. The warm-up transitions to a 4v2 possession game, where players must maintain possession while playing as quickly as possible.
Attacking from the Midfield on the Full Field
When play transitions to the full field, Coach Hoffman shows how his three-player midfield and two outside backs must combine and connect to his three forwards to attack successfully. With the field separated into zones, the drill starts off as 5v2 in the midfield zone and 3v1 in the attacking zone. Once his players start having success, he progresses this to 5v4, 3v2 with the same concepts.
The final drill Coach Hoffman demonstrates is an 8v8 game using two-thirds of the field going to two big goals. It's here that he wants players to apply what has been taught from the small sided games into the match itself.
Coach Hoffman pushes his players to attack the goal, and he finds perfect times to stop the games to coach his players. With such a numbers advantage, the attacking team is meant to experience success; Coach Hoffman adds defenders and encourages movements between zones to make drills more challenging for his players.
Coach Hoffman is right when he says that the team that controls the midfield has the best chance of winning the game. If you want to help your midfield control the game, learn from a coach who has experienced success at the collegiate level doing just that. With this video, your midfield will soon be breaking down all opposing defenses.
63 minutes. 2016