Attacking the standing leg

By David Clarke

When you are coaching young players you need to continually advance their coaching sessions so they develop as a player. One way to do this is teach them techniques, and show them how to make their game better.

What you are doing with this coaching session is to show your team how to look at the player they are attacking and make a decision about where to run at them to take advantage of having possession of the ball.

Some of your players will pick the idea up straight away, some won't, but if you keep practising this session, eventually all of your players will understand how to beat a player. Then, as they get older, they will use this knowledge to advance the way they play.

Watching a player run at and beat the opposition is great for coaches.

I want to see my players take the initiative and run with the ball.

You will often hear the parents of your players shouting "get rid of it" or "pass the ball" but they soon shut up when they see your players regularly going past opponents and setting up goal scoring chances.

What to tell your players to look out for

Tell your players they have to watch which leg the opponent is using and where his balance is to take advantage of the situation.

Tacklers often jump straight in and make it easy to go around them but the clever ones wait and jockey until they can make the tackle.

How to do it

• The defender starts out with balanced footing.
  
• When the defender makes their move towards the player running with the ball, his balance will be on one side or the other - usually leaning towards the direction of the attacker's run.
• So you tell your attacker to change direction to the opposite side of the defender to upset his balance as he tries to make a tackle.