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0:01 hello again everyone coach KW here and today we're going to take a look at a big picture topic we're going to look at how you divide up the field uh both in a
0:09 horizontal and a vertical manner help you think about how the game is played to help your players navigate where they are on the field and in your session
0:19 design when you're training your players and you're teaching techniques and you're teaching skills you can also start to think about where will these skills be applied what part of the Fe
0:30 how will they be able to know when to use these in the right place and the right time so that you can connect the technical details that are alsoo
0:38 important at this age because technical details are far more important we said it in the first episode and maybe I don't say it enough technical is the
0:45 first thing we really want to be working on with these kids but we do need to marry it to the Tactical situation on the game because these kids don't have a
0:54 framework to connect those two things unless we explicitly say to them this is a good place to try this this is a place where this skill that we're working on
1:04 will go forward so it can be helpful to think of the field as being divided up in two different ways vertically in thirds and horizontally in thirds Andor
1:14 fifths and we're going to take a look at that we're going to focus first on this and this is a pretty common way of looking at the field and thinking about
1:22 the three zones of the field when you're playing when you have the ball and you're building up you're in your buildup Zone you're usually in your defensive third you're closest to your
1:30 net as you break out and you want to maintain that ball we're usually looking in the middle third and that also could be that transition zone whether you win
1:38 the ball back or you lose the ball and then of course we have the final third or the attacking third where we're focused on finding good score goal
1:46 scoring opportunities but also if we lose the ball can we win the ball high up the field that counter pressing idea so that we can get right back on the
1:56 attack so here you can see we're pack we're in a defensive shape we've seen this shape before in one of the other videos we see we're in our defensive
2:05 third we're trying to protect the center of the field we're trying to keep the opposition from the dangerous area which is in front of our net we're nice
2:13 compact but our nine is up in that middle third as a relief valve if we win that ball we want to be able to have someplace to put it while we get
2:20 ourselves up and away from our net right then here you can see we're progressing up the field we've now moved into that middle third we're playing through the lines as they say we've now
2:32 made the field big from right to left we've spread out but we've got good balance between the front with the striker and our Center back's pushing up
2:40 and our keeper starting to push up but now we're in the middle third now we're in that transition zone where we're trying to make the field as big as
2:46 possible make the Defenders try and cover as big a space as possible that we know is hard to do and then finally we're in the attacking third here now
2:55 we're looking to create goal scoring opportunities we're looking to come back in closer to the net so almost if you can think of drawing a line from the
3:05 center of our net to the very far edge of the center line down back to the other net and you do it the other side it almost makes a diamond um it almost
3:14 kind of describes the motion that your team has as they go from back to front and vice versa so now we're in the attacking third so it's helpful to think
3:22 about these pieces of the field as you go from one side to the other where you might do things in terms of shape exercises skills moves combinations when
3:36 to do something and you know when not to do something taking on a player 1 V one when you're last Defender and your defensive third probably is not the best
3:45 decision if there's a better option taking on a Defender 1 V one when you're in the middle attacking third because you have a chance at goal lower risk
3:54 better chance of success maybe that's the place to do it but again it's giving your team kind of touch points as to where it goes as you go
4:04 forward so helpful use these thirds when thinking about actions and tendencies a team should make when you're playing through again you're in the defensive third you want to be compact you're
4:15 trying to protect the front of the goal in the middle third when you're attacking you're starting to get big and spread out and make that field be an
4:22 option in every direction forward backwards left and right really make giving yourself width and depth of the field and then in that attacking third you're focusing that attention on trying
4:32 to make goal scoring opportunities trying to get the ball into those dangerous areas in the middle of the field from perhaps the wide areas pulling the opposition out wide and then
4:43 finding space in behind or across to the other F side with a switch again you can also think of those lines of thirds in defensive terms when you're in your
4:53 defensive half you're really tight and compact maybe you're playing a team that you feel like you can press high up the field so maybe you're going to meet that
5:02 team as high up the field in the attacking third with the hope that you're going to win the ball back close to their net so you can turn it right
5:09 around on a transition maybe you're playing a team that's a little bit more skilled and you feel like you need to drop the halfway and you're going to let
5:17 them have their half of the field and then you're going to engage them when they hit the halfway line where you're a little bit more compact you're making
5:26 them have to deal with a little bit more tightness and is because your bodies are packed in Tighter and that's the way or maybe you're up against it you're
5:34 against a team that you realize is just Superior in terms of skill and ability and your best option might be is to stay compact in your third block the
5:44 attacking opportunities for that team and hope that you can win the ball and on a Counterattack quickly spring forward taking a look at the field from left to right or from goal to goal you
5:55 can see here that we've broken up the field into five channels really there's three channels there's the left the right and the center depending on which way you're facing
6:05 then we take that Center Channel and we split it up into What's called the half spaces and we'll talk about that in a moment but just for concept here you can
6:14 see how these spaces and these channels are defined by lines that are already on the field and this is one of these areas where I can say to my players take out
6:24 your GPS if you're on the wide seven or 11 and you keep finding them standing in the middle of the field then you're referring back to the GPS
6:32 where are you supposed to be where is your channel where is your roadway and it's easy to Define when you can look at the edge of the 18s and see that roadway
6:40 that you're like oh this is where I'm supposed to be I've moved too far conversely with your center backs you want them to stay Central when they've
6:48 pulled way out left or right again you can say to them where are you on your GPS help help them figure out where they're supposed to be those half spaces
6:57 come into play because they are a strategic area and we're going to take a look at that so here we're attacking we've got a couple of Defenders and
7:06 we're using our wide channels and our Center channels to good effect right now and where these half spaces come into play is now in this instance you can see
7:17 the eight has moved from the center channel to the left half space and what they've just done now is with the seven maintaining their width in the full
7:25 Channel you've created a 2V1 against that Defender that's over there you J Mal making those Defenders make a choice do both of them vacate the middle of the
7:34 field to deal with the 2V1 situation or does one of them get pulled out wide and head to the seven leaving the eight alone or vice versa so what
7:44 we're creating here is overloads by using those half spaces you can see here we've reset the ball back our nine is a little flat on our eight but when you
7:53 take a look at this now the 11 has moved through the half right half space and the nine has moved into the left half space so now that eight has a lot of
8:03 options they can play the ball the three different ways but those two center backs have to make choices who do I go with and that's the beauty of the half
8:10 space is playing balls through the half space or making runs into the half space naturally creates angled passes and angled approaches for the ball and anytime there's a diagonal on the field
8:23 it makes it difficult for Defenders because they have to choose do they go towards the player who has it they go towards the person who could potentially
8:32 receive it and when that ball moves diagonally it's cutting off both depth and width as it moves creating complicating factors for those Defenders so we can use the existing lines on the
8:43 six and the 18 yard boxes to divide the field up in the fifth you've seen that those outside channels become the zones for your s and 11 and they provide the
8:50 width again obviously the center channel is a valuable area to defend because it's Central to your goal and just as importantly you're trying to unlock that area when you move forward to score
9:02 goals for yourself and again those half spaces can be vital errors that become those no man lands that let players make other players have to make difficult
9:11 choices and again when we're attacking in the final third the whole idea is to make Defenders make choices to decide where to cover and what to leave open
9:21 and hope that somebody makes a mistake so that you can find that free space and as we said before many times either passes or runs into those half
9:30 spaces turn into diagonal runs which are what we're looking our players to do we would rather them not make Square runs where they're going straight up and down
9:38 the field but going diagonally so that they go from one SP side to the other taking either a Defender with them or running away from a Defender who's gets
9:50 behind now we can combine it all together and this is where it really gets interesting because now we've got defensive thirds middle thirds plus now we have our channels going up and down
9:59 on the field there are some pro teams that paint all these lines on the practice field I would kill for a practice field that's painted like this
10:07 actually there are numbers assigned to all these zones and there's a couple other zones if you continue the top of the 18s and just divided everything up
10:14 they all have different Zone numbers and the statistics behind them but we're not going to get crazy but again using this you can now give your players a guide
10:23 book a map to be where they should be when you're offensive third here offensive third were big we're wide we've got players in all the different spaces we've got options Here There and
10:34 Everywhere the five is still covering the center channel but the four has gone out wide to support the seven now you can see again we've moved that ball the
10:42 eight has moved into that space and now we've had some other Movement we even had a reversal here where the 11 and the nine switched more advanced topics talk
10:51 about having only one player in each Zone in each Channel at any one time so the four and the Seven could be in that wide Channel but they're not in the same
11:01 Zone ones in the middle third ones in the attacking third and really highle teams can manage that rotation where they recognize if one player is moving I
11:10 can go into the space that they vacated and it's all about that off the- ball movement um that's the dream of any soccer coach to see their players do
11:17 that but that takes some time definitely to learn again one with defending we're in a good tight Zone we've got players guarding the front but if that ball
11:28 moves out to the fire wide Left Channel it's important that our wide Midfield of the seven is the one that puts immediate pressure on and you can see that
11:35 everybody has shifted over a little bit but the four and the five one of them maintains that Center Channel while the other one moves to the left half space
11:44 both of them don't go there's always somebody that's maintaining that balance and the eight has slid over and the 11 has slid over now because the danger is
11:52 not that wide player on the 11 side on the right side cuz it's very rare that a 77 player is going to play a cross field ball accurately
11:59 all the way across the field but now the 11 is ready that if there is a switch or a bouncing ball comes in towards the back post they're there to pick up the
12:09 pieces so again at the highest levels combining those channels with the thirds divides the fields up in those many zones it's Advanced but you can use this
12:17 in simple ways to help your players understand where they should be as they go forward and backwards what's their Tendencies how do they maintain their shape and change their shape as they go
12:28 forward and backwards uh as I said one of the ways is I'll do a condition game where I'll make the wide players the S and 11 stay in the outside channel so
12:36 they have to play One V one and then the two players in the center channels the two uh the eight and the nine I make them stay in the center areas make them
12:45 play 2v2 and then I allow the Defenders to slide through the half spaces in center but it forces everybody into a Zone and it forces them to work within
12:55 those zones without having the freedom to move around just to in force that structure then we take those conditions away and we try to let them move around
13:04 and hope that they start to find their balance as they go through the game without having those restrictions so I hope this is useful to you to think in
13:13 the big picture I know it's an advanced topic you're not going to get your players to understand the whole concept of this it's very theoretical at first
13:21 for them but you can turn this into concrete action whether it's through your training games or whether it's through as you work with your shape which we'll do later on all those things
13:32 you can use these zones and channels as guide posts for your players so that they can take out their GPS and figure out where they are on the field when
13:41 they start to get lost it's a great code word if you will to be able to yell out to your players take out your GPS where are you you lost and they will figure it
13:51 out and that's what you want you want your players to become self-aware of where they are on the field with their team in the game so that they can be
14:00 better and more independent players which is in the end is what we're looking to do so I hope you found this useful please share like comment uh
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14:15 all here to help each other so until next time thank you so much and have a
