The drills in Perfect Defending are divided into 5 categories:

 

Individual Defending gives players a chance to practice the core defending skills. This forms an obvious starting point for young or inexperienced players but is also extremely valuable for older players who tend to lose focus on these vital skills over time.

 

Defending in Twos, Defending in Small Groups and Team Defending provide different challenges as your players learn to take the core skills into more competitive and match-like scenarios.

 

Fun Defending Games gives a few ideas for ways to challenge your players with a light-hearted edge. These games are perfect to introduce in your training session when your players show signs of fatigue or a loss of concentration.

 

Building from individual defending to team defending in this way, players are able to constantly refine their understanding of the roles and responsibilities in defensive positions.

 

Slide Tackle & Block Tackle Technique

The manual also includes a step-by-step guide to executing two of the defender’s most valuable moves, the block tackle and the slide tackle to print and distribute to your players.

 

Clever Design

 

Mike designed Perfect Defending with you, the coach, in mind.

 

Each page follows the same simple format:

 

Introduction – An explanation of the drill and the skills and techniques it focuses on.

 

The set up – Shows everything you’ll need to run the drill from the size of the area to the number of balls and cones.

 

The steps – All of the movements and components of the drill, explained in plain English. Large text makes everything easy to read, even in driving rain and wind.

 

What to call out – Three handy phrases per drill, never be short of something to say to encourage and educate your players.

 

Key – Makes sure you can differentiate between runs, dribbles and passes in the illustrations.

 

Category – Five groups: Individual defending, defending in twos, defending in groups, team defending, and fun defending games.

 

Illustrations – One for each of the steps means that you can easily visualize the sequence of movements that are involved in each drill.

 

Captions – Underline what’s happening in each illustration.

 

Just a few of the drills included:

“None Shall Pass”, “2v1 Recovery Run”, “Defend the Dribble”, “Defend the Cross”, “Penalty Area Battle”, “Sweeper Game”, “Multi-Ball”, “King of the Ring”, “Rugby Football”, “Coconut Shy”
…and 58 more!