How Do You Train Your Outfield Players...To Be You?
It was just one of those weekends in The Premiership that left ones head spinning with the ousting of many of the best teams in England. One match that stood out was Manchester United's mighty fall against Portsmouth, where Van de Saar, then Kuszczak were booted from the field, and none other than England defender Rio Ferdinand stepped into the formidable number one spot. Who else can you use when you have no other choice?
Sometimes, not always, you will face the inevitable sending off, and during this time, an outfield player will need to shake off his short sleeve jersey, don some gloves and get dirty in between the sticks. But how do you train an outfielder to take up your position where you have been bounced to the benches? There are many ways about it, but here are some insights into how to prepare for these uncanny situations:
- Training Drills: At your regular team sessions, pull some drills together where each individual in the team rotates in between the sticks. This can be a great way for you to enhance your kicking, heading or other skills (depending on the drill) that you may not use when out on the field. You never know when you might need it?
- Small Sided Games: At training, get some of your outfield players to try their luck in-between the small goals. This helps you to differentiate your skill out on the park and get a feeling for the ball, that you would otherwise not have the chance to utilize. It also allows your outfield players to get a feeling for how to attack in one to one situations and help enhance their reflexes.
- Penalty Drills: Being an outfield player and having another opposing outfield player run up against you in a penalty situation can be extremely nerve racking. Playing penalty shoot out games, where each outfield player has the chance to hit it out between the sticks gives them a feeling of what it would be like to have to defend a goal in a similar situation. Penalty drill games will also allow you to hone your own penalty taking skills to prepare yourself in case of a critical penalty shoot out situation where you would have to give it a go against your opposing goalkeeper to keep your team in the game.
In the following video you will see that Rio Ferdinand did really well to read the penalty takers shot, but unfortunately did not get there in time to keep Manchester United in the game, courage under fire none the less. It was quite funny to see Wayne Rooney try to give Ferdinand some advice before the penalty shot.
Rooney's advice may have panned out well if Ferdinand had the necessary skill to get to the ball, but the words of wisdom would have been great from the likes of van de Saar if he were around to dish it out. Kuszczak's face showed the tale of defeat, and manager Sir Alex Ferguson threw the dummy after the game with some scowling remarks against match officials.
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John Stevanja
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Reader Comments (1)
Roberto Baggio had an interesting quote about this situation:
"Only those who have the courage to take a penalty miss them."