Friday 1st April was my third day volunteering to coach soccer to the girls at Eastside Elementary School. I did the usual signing myself in and talking to the teacher first. We then walked outside to the field with all the students. There was a lot not of girls this week who wanted to play soccer. We split everyone into four groups like we did the first week. All the girls seemed happy to see me and happy to see what we are doing this week.

                We started off my playing a fun warm-up game called Tag. Everyone was running around getting their muscles moving and warm to get the heart rate higher than usual. It is important for the kids to have a good warm-up so they don’t get injured. After everyone had warmed up we moved onto stretching the muscles which also helps reduce the risk of an injury. When everyone was stretching I set up the first drill. I explained to everyone that we are practicing on shooting today so when we play a soccer game we can score loads of goals to win the game overall. We started off with a drill where I would pass it the player and they would have to take a shot using the inside of the foot. I made sure they understood how important it was to make sure they aimed for the target. If the ball did not go through the target they had to go fetch the ball and bring it to the next person in line. They started off when they would miss the target but when they practiced for a while they would get it in the target every time. After this drill I moved the cone back a bit so it was harder for them to place it into the target with the inside of the foot. When it is further away they need to use the laces of the show to give the shot more powerful. They got better and better the more they practiced. The next drill was tricky for them. This drill involved them to start behind the goal and I would pass a ball towards the goal and the first two girls would have to sprint to get the ball, play 1v1 and shoot to try score in the goal. This made them dribble as well as shooting. After this drill they played a game but the goals were made smaller than before. This would be harder for them to score in. The aim of this would be for them to practice on their aim of the shot.

Overall I think my third day was also very successful. These girls have now learned how to shoot with both inside and laces of both feet. I think they got better at shooting with the more drills they did. I saw improvement anyway.  

Friday 1st April 2016

2 hours

Eastside Elementary School