Hi everyone! With the new junior season on us I'm planning sessions with an U16s boys team (mainly 15 year olds) and need some advice on football conditioning.

I'm surrounded by a lot of old fashioned coaches, so the boys are used to just doing suicides, laps and sprints. However I would like to move away from some of this and incorporate a ball into conditioning drills or small games. It's going to raise some eyebrows with the traditionalists but I don't have time to waste on laps!!! However at the same time I realise that fitness is important and I don't want the boys to fade half way through a game or the season. I've got some ideas from my Youth Certificate but would like to explore more options.

Would welcome any advice and experiences from those who have faced something similar.

I have coached U8, U9 and now doing U10 so this is not relevant for me as it is not something we focus on but last night as part of the Gombau coaches training sessions he gave Part 1 of Physical Training all with the ball.

The main drills involved about half a pitch (they were Adelaide United youth team) possession drills with 2 teams and 3 teams all with variations such as 2 players marking each other, running with ball, squares in each corners for players to play passes into and so forth. It involved all the boys moving, passing and running with ball.

Also involved a lot of say 4 v 2 in one square 5 touches or lose the ball and the ball is played to the other square and those 2 players who lost the ball or were defending but could not intercept the 5 passes would sprint to the other box to play 4 v 2 and so on.

They did some other drills which is difficult to explain but they all had ball involved for example line on 1 side had poles spread apart to run through and the other side with cones closer together and ball in front of the cones. Each player had to make a different move between the cones sidestep, toes, and so forth and run or pass the ball to the other side and they went back and forth. They also ran this in 2 lines and 4 groups on each line and 2 of the opposite groups had to do the same run between the cones - communication - prior to doing the drill.

They apparently have done this with Adelaide United when he first arrived and then they started to incorporate tactics and style into the drills. As he said physical by itself is dead, no professional clubs in Europe do this. It is all about physical with the ball.

Not sure if this helps or not and maybe some covered in the courses people have done. Not relevant for my year levels but great to see how they incorporated style, ball and physical all in one especially as I move up the coaching year levels.

Part 2 is next week working on power, all with the ball.

Not sure what I am going to do with my Monday nights when Gombau has completed his coaching training sessions :cry:

Edited by justafan: 4/3/2014 05:43:19 PM

Coaches in Adelaide are so lucky to have Gombau.

Justafan...thanks for the feedback. The 4v2 and possession drills are similar to what I've used before so it's good to hear that I'm on the right track. Not sure I quite understand the poles/cones one but it sounds good :)

Sounds like those sessions are pretty good.

I usually redo all my rough notes from each session during the week so once I get a chance I will see if I can scan and e-mail you the drill via 442, it is difficult one to explain but a diagram will be easier to understand.

I will try to post a summary after next Tuesday's session as well if that might help.

The sessions are great and his explanation and the way he deals with the kids is first class. He talks to you not down at you and wants to share information and ensure you understand and are learning. He is very passionate about this.

There was some really good stuff in the Academy Sessions in the sticky on top of this page.

I 've used them and can remember them, but now they've disappeared from the Academy Sessions thread it is hard to explain them compared to the succinct PDF diagrams.

The diagrams save about 2000 words and better explain the exercises.

The 3v1, 4v2 and 5v3 rondos are good for conditioning. They are good for a lot of other things too.

If you don't what they are, you can PM, send me your email address and I can send them via email. I have permission form the former state TD to do this, but not to post them on the internet.