Soccer Drills – Page 21

Fast Feet

This game was sent in by George Quinn.

Objective: To improve dribbling and passing skills.

Age group: U5s to U10s.

Number of players: Whole squad.

Equipment required: Flat cones, balls.

Set-up: Create a cone circle big enough for four or five players to dribble around in comfortably. For U5s, a circle 10 yards across should be sufficient.

Divide your players into an even number of small groups. Three or four players per group is ideal.

One ball per group.

Spread the groups evenly around the circumference of the circle facing each other

How to play: On the command ‘Go’, the first player in each group dribbles their ball across the circle to the group opposite.

When they get there, they allow the first player in the waiting group to take their ball and dribble back across the circle in the opposite direction.

Coaching note: Clearly there will be considerable player “traffic” for each dribbler in the circle to avoid and this encourages them to maintain close control and play with their heads up. Don’t be surprised to see collisions between balls and/or players to begin with. As your players improve, they will avoid them.

Progression:

1. Reduce the size of the circle to increase traffic density and make more demands on your players’ ability to dribble. Ask for “faster feet!”

Tip: The reduction in circle size can be quickly achieved by telling the players to pick up the nearest cone and take one step towards the centre before putting it back down.

2. Tell your players to pass immediately to their opposite number the moment they spot a possible route through the traffic. They then follow the pass to take up the receiver’s place as before. This encourages “heads up” and the same type of pass that they will need to execute in an opponent’s penalty area.

For more soccer coaching tips and products visit Soccer Coach Weekly.

Rapid fire

This soccer game is a very simple but very effective way for your players to practise their shooting and goalkeeping skills.

You can play the game with as few as six and as many as 16 players. All you need is a supply of balls (one for each player) and a couple of goals to shoot at.

Objective: Teams try to score as many goals as they can in two minutes.

Age range: Six to 16.

Set-up: Place a goal at both ends of a playing area 40 yards long by 20 yards wide.

Mark the centre of the playing area with a cone.
Place another cone 10 yards away from the centre of each goal.
Split your players into two teams and allocate them a goal each.
One player from team A goes in team B’s goal and a player from team B goes in team A’s goal.
Each outfield player has a ball.

How to play

On your command “Go!”, the first player from each team dribbles to the centre cone, turns and runs back towards their goal.
They must take a shot no closer than the 10-yard cone.
As soon as the first player shoots, the next player goes.
If the goalkeeper saves, he returns the ball to the player who shot. If the player misses or scores, he retrieves his ball and goes back to his team.
At the end of two minutes, the team that scored the most goals wins.

Coaching points

Encourage players to aim for the corners of the goals rather than just blasting the ball straight at the goalkeeper.

Progression

Players shoot with their “wrong” foot.

Move the 10-yard cone to the side of the goal to practise shooting/saving angled shots.

Teams leave their balls by the goal and move to the centre cone except one player who stays next to the goal and passes a ball out to each shooter.

For more soccer coaching tips and products visit Soccer Coaching Club.

Musical chairs

This is a good warm-up or you can use as part of a soccer session that focuses on dribbling the ball. It’s fast, fun, competitive, easy to explain and easy to play.

Number of children: Six to 16.

Equipment required: Twenty or so flat cones and a ball for each soccer player.

Set-up: Create two concentric circles with your flat cones. The inner circle should be big enough for all your players to dribble around comfortably. The outer circle should be between 10 yards away from the inner circle (for six-year-olds) and 20 yards (for 11-year-olds).

Players have a ball each.

How to play: All the players dribble inside the inner circle.

On your command of “cone!” they leave their ball, run round one of the cones in the outer circle, go back to their ball and start dribbling again.
Repeat two or three times.
Then remove one of the balls while they are running to the outer circle of cones.
The player who doesn’t get a ball on his return has to complete a small forfeit (such as running around the inner circle) before being given his ball back.
Repeat several times.

Coaching points:Encourage young players to dribble with their heads up and try not to bump into each other.Include commands such as “turn left/right”, “stop” and “go” before calling “cone!” Older players can be asked to perform a move such as a stepover.

For more soccer coaching tips and products visit Soccer Coaching Club.

Tikka Takka

Age range: U7s and upwards.

Set-up: Create an 18×12 yards playing area with two-yard-wide goals made with cones or flags at both ends.

Divide your players into two teams of five.

How to play: Three players from each team play inside the area. The fourth and fifth players on each team work as a support player on the sidelines.

The object of the game is to score by stopping the ball between the cones or flags on your opponent’s goal line.

Players are encouraged to include at least one pass to a supporting player in every move.

A supporting player on the sideline, who receives a pass, dribbles the ball onto the playing area (or passes to a team mate) and the player who passed to the supporting player swaps places with him.

Rules

Passes to supporting players must be successful (i.e., controlled). If not, the other team gains possession.
Supporting players cannot interfere with each other or try to intercept passes.

Coaching Points:

Pass and move, pass and move!

Look for and highlight: a good first touch, effective communication, speed of movement, playing a penetrating pass.

Note: The supporting players should be encouraged to move up and down the line, calling for the ball.

Progressions:

1) Have a third team ready to come on as soon as a goal is scored.

2) When a team scores, it retains possession but is now going in opposite direction.

3) Use two goals (each two paces wide) near the corners on each goal line.

Tips: If less than 10 players are available, use neutral supporting players. Inside players can hold bibs/pinnies that they pass to the supporting player as he comes into the game.

For more soccer coaching tips and products visit Soccer Coach Weekly.

End to end

This game encourages attacking play using dribbling, passing, forward runs off the ball plus teamwork and communication.

Age group: U8s to U14s.

Set-up: Create a 40×20 yards playing area with a goal at each end. Mark the pitch into horizontal thirds.

Divide your players into teams of five or six, including goalkeepers.

How to play:

Each team nominates one player (a striker) to go into their opponent’s end zone. The rest of the team plays in the central zone. Strikers have to stay in the end zones.

Players in the central zone try to make a pass to their striker. When they do so, a second player can run into the end zone to receive a pass back from the striker and shoot at goal.

The striker then changes places with the player who ran into the end zone.

Rules

The game is played for 15 minutes. The striker is changed every three minutes, regardless of whether a goal is scored or not.

No central zone player is allowed in the end zone until a pass has been made to the striker.

Only one central zone player can run into the end zone to receive a pass from the striker.

For more soccer coaching tips and products visit Soccer Coach Weekly.

1v1 shoot out

Objectives: To give goalkeepers practice in dealing with one-on-one situations.

Set up: create a 20 yards by 30 yards playing area with a goal on one of the narrow ends and a cone in the middle of the opposite end line.

One player goes in goal and the rest of the players are split into two teams. One team stands next to the left-hand post, the other by the right-hand post.

How to play: on your command, the first player in each team runs along the outside of the playing area to the turning cone. As they run, you roll a ball into the playing area.

The first player to get to the ball is the attacker and tries to score a goal as quickly as possible. The second player to the ball is the defender. He is awarded a “goal” if he can either hold the attacker up for 30 seconds or win the ball and kick it out of the playing area.

The first team to score X number of goals is the winner.

Coaching points: this game teaches your players that defending is not necessarily about winning the ball. It is about stopping attackers from shooting. So encourage the defending player to direct the attacker towards the side and keep them there.

Encourage the attacking player to take a shot as quickly as possible.

Progression: give your players numbers. Call two numbers at a time so they are playing 2v2 in the grid.

How many goals??

Objective: to improve short passing, communication and “vision”.

Experience: U10 upwards.

Set-up: play 4v4 in a playing area 30 yards long by 25 yards wide. Place five small cone or pole goals randomly within the area.

How to play: Teams score a point by passing through a goal to a team mate. First team to score 10 points wins the game.

Soccer coaching points:

The ball carrier should lift their head up to see where the open goals and their team mates are.
When the ball is passed, the receiver should take a quick “picture” of the playing area so they know who they are going to pass to before the ball arrives.
The ball should be struck firmly and halfway up so that it stays on the ground.
The non-kicking foot should be pointing to where you want the pass to go.
A player’s head and shoulders should be over the ball when it is struck.

Three games that improve defending skills

Improving your players’ defensive skills is probably the quickest and most “cost effective” way to boost their confidence and improve the performance of the team as a whole.

And it doesn’t have to be boring! The games I’ve described below are simple, effective and fun ways to help your players stop opponents from scoring.

What to say to your players about defending

“You are all defenders”

Older players often have an “I’m an attacker so I don’t have to defend” mentality. You need to counter that by emphasising that every one of your players is a defender when the other team has the ball and encourage your attackers to try to win the ball quickly if they lose possession near to the opponent’s goal.

Tip: Practise “high pressure defending” by playing a small-sided game in which goals count double if they are scored immediately after winning the ball in the attacking half of the pitch.

Your main job is to stop attackers shooting – you don’t have to win the ball.
If you’re not the closest defender to the ball, make sure you back up the defender who is closest.
Stay alert, try to guess what is going to happen next.
Direct attackers towards places where they can’t shoot – the touchline is your friend.
When you are closing down an attacker, keep your eyes on the ball. Wait for him or her to lose control before you tackle.
Be brave! If you have to put your body in the way of a shot, do it.
When you have the ball, get your head up and look for a quick pass to a midfield player or forward.
Stay on your feet – sliding tackles are a last resort.
Don’t hoof the ball upfield all the time, hoping that one of your players will get on the end of it. That’s another last resort!

How to practise defending

1v1 battles

Age range: U6s and upwards.

Set-up: Divide your players into pairs, one ball per pair.

Each pair plays in a seven-yard square playing area with a cone goal in the centre.

How to play: Players start by standing at opposite ends of the playing area.

One player is the defender, the other is an attacker.
The defender passes the ball to the attacker through the cone goal.
As soon as the attacker touches the ball, the defender closes her down as quickly as possible and tries to stop her from scoring a goal.
If she can succeed for 20 seconds, she earns a point.

After three rounds, players switch roles.

After three more rounds, players face a new opponent.

Coaching points for the defender: Try to steer attacker away from the goal, only tackle when you are sure to win it, stay between the attacker and the goal.

Hit the Target

Age range: U9s and upwards.

Set-up: Create a circle 50 yards in diameter. Inside this circle there is another circle of cones 10 yards across.

Split your players into a team of six attackers, a team of three defenders plus one target player.
The target player goes into the centre circle and the two teams play 6v3 in the outer circle.
Attackers earn a point if they can get a pass to the target player.
Defenders earn a point if they win the ball or for every 30 seconds the attackers fail to score.

Note: The defending team can run across the inner circle but can only intercept passes in the outer circle. The attacking team must stay in the outer circle.

To play this game with younger players: Instead of having one target player in a centre circle, you, or an assistant, is the target and moves freely among the players.

Snatch

Age range: U7s and upwards.

Set-up: Create two adjacent 20-yard square playing areas.

Divide your players into two teams of four or five.

All players are allocated a number (1-4 or 1-5).

One team per playing area.

One ball per team.

How to play

Each team moves around its playing area, passing and dribbling the ball.
You shout a number and players with that number run into the other team’s playing area and try to win the ball.
If either player can win the ball and knock it out of the playing area within 20 seconds, they win a point for their team.
If they can win the ball and dribble it back to their own playing area, their team gets three points.

For more soccer coaching tips and products visit Soccer Coaching Club.