Using Ball Mastery this Pre-Season

Pre-Season Ball Mastery

Taking more touches on the ball will benefit all players, at youth or senior level. Ball mastery is used regularly within players' technical training, but it can be under-rated in its use during pre-season training.

Pre-season used to be the most gruelling time of the year. Players would be taken on long distance runs, to the point of physical exhaustion. But, with the development of sports science and improved coaching methods, we now see more relevant training to match-like situations. Gone are the days of running until you can't run anymore, instead replaced with short and sharp bursts of intense physical activity.

All players need a good base rate of fitness, possessing the ability to run for an extended period of time at a steady rate, but the most tiring aspects of football are the quick movements, changes of direction and pace.

If players aren't physically conditioned correctly then we will see fatigue set in at an earlier point of the game, tired legs, heavy touches, slow turns and a lack of pace. For a player, the harder aspects of physical fitness are the turning, change of pace, and strength on the ball. When you are tired you just feel like you aren't able to do any of this.

It is more common now, but it used to be that players didn't see the ball for the first few weeks of pre-season. Personally, I didn't enjoy this at all, I wanted to be on the ball as much as I could, and always hoped that I could develop my fitness with plenty of ball work.

I used to find that, if I didn't practise with the ball enough during pre-season, I would become sloppy with my touch and close control. I didn't have the strength, or speed in my legs to move the ball where I wanted it to go.

Pre-season is all about conditioning the player to be match ready. Are we match ready if we feel a lack of confidence and rusty on the ball?

More touches, improved confidence, speed of thought and manipulation of the ball.

Ball Mastery can take any player's game to the next

level.

Pre-season training's main goal is to prepare players to be

ready for matches and competition. Are players ready if

they don't feel confident on the ball, mentally and

physically?

Many players, after pre-season, can be physically fit, but are they conditioned to the point where they feel they can influence the game when they are on the ball?

Being ready for the start of the season is the main priority and we must place emphasis on ensuring that players are not only physically able, but also mentally able. If we have't had much contact time with the ball are we able to beat a player in a one v one, create the space for the pass, or change direction with a quick turn? Physically we need to be able to do this and practice on the ball will get the player there but mentally do they feel up to it?

It is an interesting thought, and something that I know I may have overlooked in the past, as a player and coach. We can fall into the habit of presuming that a player will be comfortable on the ball, just like they were the season before. But, that isn't always the case.

The star winger in the team may still feel a lack of confidence from a game at the end of the season, or your striker may not be feeling as good about their game. It can be anything, but can we start looking at not just the physical conditioning, but also mental conditioning? If we can help build the player's confidence on the ball through ball mastery and an increased amount of touches and contact time on the ball, then we are preparing players in a much greater way than through pure fitness training.

Why use Ball Mastery?

Getting players on the ball as much as possible is hugely important. But why use ball mastery instead of small sided games and other drills?

Really, we should use a whole range of different training on the ball during pre-season, and throughout the season. It should never be just one area of technical work that we focus on, but bringing ball mastery into the training will bring huge benefits for all of the players.

To develop players we need to increase their contact time on the ball, even during pre-season. If we can bring in ball mastery drills that lead to high intensity one v one, two v two scenarios, then this will create and develop match-like conditioning.

When players are tired, their decision-making can struggle. Instead of thinking about the next move, pass, or option, they are beginning to worry about how their legs feel, how tired they feel. Training players in ball mastery can help with this hugely.

Can we get our players to practise ball mastery while they are tired? The more that we do this, the more that we will see players keeping control of the ball and making the correct decisions in these later stages of the game.

Technical conditioning can take place in these early stages of pre-season as we should be looking for players to be comfortable on the ball at all stages of the game. Practising players' ball mastery will reduce the risk of heavy touches, slow movement and mis-control.

How can we bring Ball Masteryinto our pre-seasonconditioning?

Incorporating ball mastery into each session will help players improve their touch and control of the ball, while also having the physical benefits of improving leg strength, speed, co-ordination and balance.

But how can we bring it into our training as an individual, or as a coach of the team?

Firstly, I feel that ball mastery is an excellent reminder to players of why they have come to training - to play football. Giving each individual a ball and some ball mastery exercises/routines will, in many cases, build the player's confidence and enthusiasm about the training ahead of them.

We would therefore raise players' heart rates, either before, or after, dynamic stretching to get them ready for the activities ahead.

15 minutes of ball mastery prior to the beginning of each session can really help players with their touch and physical conditioning.

To really get the benefit we should make it as intense as we can (if we are making it intense then players should have a thorough warm up before this), through short, sharp bursts of 30 seconds per skill.

Short, intense, bursts of ball mastery will give players anaerobic work that will tire the legs, while also concentrating the mind by focusing on the ball with specific movements and ball co-ordinated skills.

As we move into the session we can use ball mastery in interval training, through circuit work. When having a more physical training session that is more focused on the aerobic aspect of fitness, then it can be very helpful to have a period of ball work involved. Rather than players taking a five minute break, or rest, we could potentially get them performing ball mastery skills.

Doing this will train players to become used to having the ball at their feet while tired. Receiving the ball, and keeping it, while you are tired is very difficult. Being put under pressure by opponents can be physically and mentally taxing. The more practice that players have while feeling tired and fatigued, the better they will become at retaining the ball and keeping possession.

In the past, this has been a major issue with the English national team during major tournaments. English players, typically, aren't used to playing in hot, humid conditions, which would cause fatigue and tiredness. We would see it quite often in these big knockout games at the World Cup or European Championships through our ball retention. As soon as we were put under pressure we would clear the ball long and look to defend again. What would be great is if players could realise they are tired, make the right decision and keep the ball, making the ball do the work.

Ball mastery can do exactly this, as long as we practise it enough, especially when we are becoming fatigued, conditioning our bodies for match-like scenarios.

As a progression, we can then bring ball mastery into one v one and two v two drills, making players work hard on the ball in intense scenarios against their opponents.

The more touches any player can get on the ball, the better they are going to be in a wide range of situations.

Another area where we can use the techniques within our training is the warm down. If we are using ball mastery in the warm down try not to encourage intensity, instead maybe challenge the players with some techniques that are more complicated and ones that involve higher levels of co-ordination.

Doing this will allow players to slow down and think about what they are doing, increasing their contact time and repetition of a skill but also slowly reducing their heart rate and keeping muscles loose and ready for the next session.

By doing this, we have also seen players learn a lot through their peers by watching and copying their techniques, bringing a social element into their training.

Ball mastery will prepare players for the season, improving technique, coordination and their physical conditioning. Bring it into your preseason training and watch the players become much more sharp, quick, and ready to go!