Jog and high knees remain the same throughout warm up. Coach provides and demonstrates a dynamic flex and the players run the sequence 3 times with that stretch before moving onto the next stretch. Use lunge, high kicks, open gate, close gate, back pedal, side step etc. When all appropriate stretches have been completed, use the same cone setup but switch to different combinations of jog, sprint, walk, again running each sequence 3 times. Always finish with sprint, sprint, sprint to ensure the players' heart rates are elevated.

1v1 defending: Defender starts with ball and passes across to attacker, once attacker receives the ball they try to dribble across the defender's cone line. Defender tries to force attacker out of bounds or dispossess them and dribble across their cone line.

Coaching Points

- Ultimate goal is to force attacker backwards or sideways

- Quick pressure - Approach fast, arrive slow.

- Make opponent predictable - position your body to show them one way

- Bend your approach run to cut off one side of the area - now you know which way they HAVE to go since you've cut their options from 2 to 1.

Progress to competition with winners moving up one area and losers moving down. Attackers goals are worth 1, defenders goals are worth 2.

2v2 defending: Same game as before but now the first defender has a cover defender.

Coaching points

-Introduce pressure and cover defence

-2nd defender positioning to the side and slightly behind first defender (demonstrate the pass between 2 flat defenders)

-2nd defender must position body so that they can see both the ball and the 2nd attacker

-show transition in relation to ball movement, for example if x were to pass to y, then B would become the pressuring (1st) defender and A would become the cover (2nd) defender.

-1st defender should use the principles from the 1v1 game (bending approach run, body position) to force attacker towards the 2nd defender

Defending as a unit of 3: The blue team score points by making 3 passes in their zone and then successfully passing from one zone to the other, the reds must work as a unit of 3 to prevent those passes from happening. Players cannot leave their zones.

Coaching Points

-1st defender will change depending on position of the ball

-Quick pressure, bend run, position body

-2nd defender must provide cover and narrow the passing lane between themself and the first defender

-Beside and slightly behind 1st defender

-3rd defender must narrow the passing lane between themself and the 2nd defender and provide BALANCE for the unit

-Explain that this means they must be ready to swing around and become either a 1st or 2nd defender depending on what the blue team does with the ball.

Coach calls out 1,2,3, or 4. That player then carries the ball forward, the defenders cannot actively defend until the attackers cross the blue cone line.

Freeze the first few runs to demonstrate the shape that the defence should adopt in relation to which player has the ball. First defender should apply quick pressure, second defender should provide cover, third and fourth should give the unit balance.

Attackers score by scoring a goal, defence scores by getting the ball out of bounds.

Emphasise the importance of only ONE defender applying the pressure, show that if more get attracted to the ball then they are leaving attackers open for a pass.

Progression: Attackers still score by scoring a goal but defence must score by completing a pass to their midfielders beyond the blue cone line. Midfielders must check out wide to provide passing angles for defenders.