Soccer Drills – Page 26

Follow that pass!

Objective: To show young players that passing accurately can move the ball around the pitch much quicker than running with it.

Set up: Two squares of cones, one inside the other to create a pathway for a player on each corner to accurately pass the ball to the next corner.

For eight to 10-year-olds, I would create a 15-yard square.

Divide your players into teams of five. One team per playing area.

How to play:

The players’ challenge is to pass the ball accurately around the square pathway quicker than one of the other players who runs around the outside.

The game has P1 passing to P2, who passes to P3, etc. When the first pass is struck, the runner sets off.

Each player takes it turn to be the runner.

Coaching tips:

Make the game competitive by setting up two games (10 players) and seeing which team can complete a set of plays (four sets of passes around the square, four different runners) the quickest.

If the runners beat the ball, ask the players why. Can they pass the ball quicker? What is slowing down their passes? Is it important to decide which foot they receive the ball with and which way their body is facing when they receive it?Â

If the runners continue to beat the ball, slow them down by getting them to run backwards (this can be quite funny!) or tell them to run with a ball at their feet.

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

Mini World Cup

A mini world cup is great fun but it also gives young players many opportunities to develop their team-working skills and practice all the skills they’ve been working on during the season.

It’s also a good way to prepare for a tournament and get used to any special rules you’re going to encounter.

Experience: any.

Set-up: divide your players into teams of three, four or five.

Ask them to choose a captain and a team name.

Team names can be a country but they could be the name of a favourite animal, their school class or anything else. Encourage originality!

You could also invite one or two neighbouring clubs to send some teams along. If you choose to do that, make sure they understand the games are small-sided, everyone plays (no substitutes) and you’re playing for fun; all the players will be winners.

Don’t coach from the touchlines and don’t have referees – the players can ref their own games.

How to play:

Set up an area 30 yards long by 20 yards wide for every two teams.
Every team plays every other team.
Matches can be between five and 15 minutes long, depending on how old your players are, the weather conditions and how many teams you have.
Give teams a few minutes between each round of matches to have a rest.

At the end of the day, congratulate everyone and give each team a small prize to share. A bag of sweets is always popular!

Let’s go!

Let’s Go! is an example of a classic warm-up activity that is used by many professional clubs.

It will help your players prepare mentally and physically for matches. If you play it for about 10 minutes, just before kick-off, your team will start matches at top speed!

Set up: Divide all your players into two teams, wearing vests.

In a 30×40 yards area (or half a pitch), they play a possession game: Team A keeps the ball from team B.

Rules

No tackling allowed – avoids needless injuries in the warm-up.

If ball goes out of bounds, the opposite team kick it in.

Award a point for five consecutive passes. The first team to get three points wins.

Variations

Play one-touch, two-touch, etc.

Every second pass should be played long.

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

The Maradona game

Objective: To encourage flair and dribbling ability.

Age group: U7s and upwards.

Set up: Create a 40×30 yards area with a goal at each end. Divide your players into teams of four, wearing bibs.

How to play: Normal football rules apply. Games last 10 or 15 minutes.

Pick a player from each team to be “Maradona”.

When Maradona gets the ball, he must try to score a goal by beating the players in front of him. He is not allowed to pass.

If he loses possession or the ball goes out of play, the game restarts.

Coaching notes: Encourage players to express themselves and to use speed and skills.

Change the players who are Maradona every two or three minutes.

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

1,2,3…pass!

Objective: To improve passing and receiving skills.

Age group: U7s to U10s.

Set up: Use a 10-yard square for every three players in your squad.

One ball to each group.

Two of the three players (players 1 and 2) are positioned on one side of the square. Player 1 has a ball.

The third player (player 3) is on the opposite side of the square.

How to play: Player 1 passes to player 3 who receives the ball with the inside of the foot, takes the ball a couple of yards to the side and passes the ball to player 2.

After two or three minutes, change player 3.

Coaching points

Ask your players: What is a good pass? Answer: One that is directed towards the receiver, not hit so hard that they can’t control it or hit so softly that it doesn’t get there.

Remind the receiving player to move towards the ball.

Make this drill competitive by seeing how many passes each group of three can make in a minute or how long they can go without making a mistake.

Progression:

Player 1 (the player with the ball) passes to the opposite player (player 3) and sprints around him.

Player 3 taps the ball to the side, with his first touch, as the sprinting player 1 comes around him.

The sprinting player passes with his first or second touch to the player facing him (player 2) who repeats the action.

After a couple of minutes, change player 3.

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

Spot the space

Objective: Spot the Space helps young players get into the habit of moving after they pass the ball. It’s also a good warm-up before a coaching session or a match.

Set up: Create a square playing area about 30 yards across. Split it into four with flat cones so you end up with four squares.

Divide your players into three teams of three wearing different coloured training vests.

If you have spare players set up another game of Spot the Space or adjust the size of the playing area and/or the number of ‘spaces’. If you have 12 players, for example, use four teams of three and divide the playing area into five spaces instead of four.

Each team has one ball.

How to play: Each player occupies a square but only one player from each team is allowed in any one square – you can’t have two players in the same team in the same square at any point in the game.

On your command, the players with a ball pass to a team mate and run to the square that doesn’t have one of their team mates in it.

Coaching points:

Make the game competitive by challenging teams to perform the exercise at pace and without making a mistake for two minutes.

Look for players calling for the ball, passing accurately and moving quickly. No walking!

Progression:

Restrict the number of touches to two or, for advanced players, one touch.

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

World Cup

Objective: To encourage communication and taking scoring chances quickly.

Age group: U8s and upward.

Set up: Play this game in half a small-sided pitch (about 30 yards square) with a regular-sized goal at one end.

Split your squad into pairs and let each pair choose the name of a country.

Use bibs to differentiate the pairs of players.

How to play: All the teams of two play against each other in the playing area.

If you don’t have a spare player, you go in goal.

The first team to score is awarded five points, the second team to score get four points, the third get three points and so on.

When the fifth team has scored, the sequence begins again.

Play for a set time or until one team reaches a set number of points.

The winners lift the World Cup!

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

Compound

Objective: To improve ball dribbling skills.

Age group: U7s to U10s.

This is how to set the game up:

Set out quite a large area. To save using too many cones, use a full-size pitch penalty area (44×18 yards) using the lines as the boundary.

Split the players into three teams of five or six.

Place 18 cones, of three different colours, EG. six red, six yellow and six blue randomly in the playing area.

Three of each colour face upwards (normal position) and three of each colour face down.

Each team is assigned a colour and players are lined up down one side of the penalty area. They each have a ball.

How to play:

On command all the players dribble into the area and go to the cones.

They either turn their own colour the right way up and/or turn the other two colours upside down.

This helps them learn how to dribble in a congested space, dribble at speed and keep the ball under close control.

Then shout “Stop. Compound.”

The players pick up their own ball and run back into a compound, which is a coned-off area alongside the main playing area.

The cones are then counted.

Each team is given two points for every one of their own cones that is the right way up. Then deduct one point from the team whose final player is last to get back to the compound.

Play first to X number of points wins the game or for a set time.

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