Jeff Painter · PitchShape
Built by a Gaston County coach who has stood on the same touchline you will stand on this week. Not a wallpaper of dots. Each shape comes with jobs, when to use it, what works against the other team’s picture, and a session that makes it show up on Saturday.
Free preview: 4-3-3 (11v11) and 2-3-1 (7v7). The rest of the library, matchups, print, and the shift sheet are Coach access.
Choose a formation above. Attack is toward the top of the field. Each shape now has a 60-minute practice that starts on the picture.
Pick a formation to see jobs, strengths, and a training session.
Individual work first. Then a small-sided game that makes the job show up. Tap a player on the board, or pick a role here.
Pick a role to see individual drills and small-sided games.
These are not formation-specific. Use them any week. Then plug in the position work above.
4v1 / 4v2 rondo. 8 min. Four-pass minimum. Teaches the 6 and 8s to face forward.
2v1 to a line. 8 min. Wide channel. Teaches fullbacks, wingers, and the extra pass.
3v2 to goal. 10 min. Attack with a 9 and two supporters. Teaches stagger and a late 8.
5v3 build-out. 12 min. GK plus a back line vs a front press. No punting.
6v6 to two goals + two mini-goals wide. 12 min. Extra point for a switch. Teaches width.
4v4 + 3 neutrals. 12 min. Neutrals play with the ball. Teaches the 10 pocket and bounce passes.
Team drills you can drop into any Tuesday. Pick a skill. Each one has a set-up, the work, and what to freeze.
Pick first touch, shooting, passing, receiving, fitness, or fun.
Two pictures every team needs: how we hunt the ball (high press) and how we stay a team when we cannot (pressure, cover, balance).
Do not send the whole team to the ball. One hunts. One is ready if that hunter is beaten. The rest take away the next pass and the far side.
P — nearest player to the ball.
C — next player, inside and deeper.
B — everybody else slides toward the ball and takes away the far pass.
If two people yell “ball,” nobody has cover. If nobody yells “squeeze,” the weak-side winger is free.
First defender: “Ball.”
Second: “Cover.”
The line: “Squeeze.”
Youth teams learn the words before they learn the angles. Freeze practice when the words disappear.
Slide toward the ball as a team. Take away the easy switch and the runner in behind. Weak-side players tuck in. If everyone ball-watches, the far winger scores.
Cue: “Squeeze.” The back line and midfield move together, not as five private decisions.
Set. Grid 20x25. Three attackers, three defenders, two bumpers on the sides.
Do. Defending three must name it out loud: ball / cover / squeeze. Point if they win it after a clean picture. Freeze any time two players dive at the same attacker.
Watch. First defender curves. Cover is inside. Far player does not chase the ball.
Set. Four defenders across half a field. Coach walks the ball from left touchline to right. No tackling.
Do. Ball-side fullback pressures. Near CB covers. Far CB and fullback tuck. Repeat at game speed with a pass.
Watch. Gaps between the four stay the size of a short pass. Nobody stands flat when the ball is on the line.
A high press is not “everybody chase.” It is a trap. You pick a trigger, you pick a side, and you leave the opponent one bad option.
Front three (or front two) start on their back line. Midfield steps up so the gap behind the press is not a highway. The back line holds a high line only if they can recover.
Do not press a clean center back facing forward. Jump on: a back-pass to the GK, a heavy first touch, a pass into a fullback on the line, or a square ball across the back.
Curve the 9 so the GK or CB has to play to your strong side. Ball-side winger jumps the fullback. Weak-side winger tucks in and hunts the switch. The 6 screens the pass into their 10. Fullbacks are ready for the ball over the top.
Jobs in a 4-3-3 press: 9 curves the GK. Ball-side winger locks the fullback. Weak-side winger is the mouse trap on the switch. 6 does not chase the CB. Back four steps up as a unit — or you do not press high.
Do not keep sprinting the same press. Drop into a mid-block. Recover behind the ball. The press dies the moment two players get taken out by one pass.
Tired legs. A fast front three against your high back line. Wind in your face. Protecting a lead. Then defend with PCB in a mid-block instead.
Set. Cones on your 4-3-3 or 4-1-2-3 front three and the opponent’s back four.
Do. Coach plays a back-pass into a CB. 9 curves. Ball-side winger jumps. Weak-side winger tucks. 6 does not chase the CB.
Watch. If all three forwards run to the same man, the press is a mob. Reset the picture.
Set. Defending seven in a 3-2-2 or 3-3-1. Attacking six try to play out from a GK past a build-out line.
Do. Pressing team scores by winning it in the attacking half. Playing-out team scores by crossing the line under control.
Watch. Name the trigger before each restart. “Back-pass” or “fullback on the line.”
Mid-block: defend from halfway to the top of your box. Same PCB. Let them have the GK. Hunt the first pass into midfield.
Low block: last 30 yards. Distances stay short. The 6 is the lid. Play forward after you win it — do not just clear into their next attack.
One rule. Pick a height for the day. Do not press high for ten seconds and sit on the six-yard box the next ten. That gap is where goals are born.
A whiteboard is a starting picture. The game is the teacher. Use this same four-step sequence every time you introduce a new shape.
Cones on every spot. Players stand on them. Name the lines: back, mid, front. 90 seconds. No speech.
No opponent. Pass the ball from GK to a target cone. Players move as a team. Freeze and fix spacing.
Play 5v5 or 7v7 in a grid that looks like your real shape. Award a point for a switch or a recovery run.
Do not yell the whole formation. Pick one phrase: “Stay plus one,” “Hold the 6,” or “Wingers stay high.”
Answer three questions. Get a starting formation and a backup, not a debate.
Pick what they line up in. Get a first choice, a backup, and the reason. This is a starting picture, not a promise.
Tap an opponent formation.
25+ years coaching. State championship coach. Worked every level from U6 rec through U23 club, men and women.
Stanley / Mount Holly. The point of PitchShape is not a pretty diagram. It is a picture a Tuesday-night coach can teach, and a Saturday cue the players can still hear.
Put the roster in. Get a shift sheet so minutes stay even and parents can see the plan. Saved on this phone.
Add names, then build the sheet. The generator gives extra minutes to whoever sat the last shift.
Put your club on the header, the printouts, and the handout you leave with parent-coaches. Saved on this device only.
How to white-label a club: type their name, save, then print the board or send them this page on a tablet at coaches’ night. Change it back when you present to the next club.
The free shapes show the method. Pay when you need the rest of the weekend — matchups, printouts, the full library, and a shift sheet parents can see.
$0
4-3-3, 2-3-1, how to teach, and the shape picker.
$79 / year
Every shape, jobs, sessions, defending, matchups, print, and the playing-time sheet.
$249 / year
Everything in Coach, plus your club name on the header and the printouts you hand parent-coaches.
Enter the code from your receipt email. This phone will remember it.
The free preview is 4-3-3 and 2-3-1. Unlock the full library, matchups, print, and the shift sheet for $79 a year.