Soccer Drills – Page 27

Keepers keepaway

Objective: To improve short passing/receiving, communication, shielding the ball, teamwork, goalkeeping.

Age range: U7s and upwards.

Difficulty: Easy.

Set up: Divide your players into groups of five to seven. Create a 20-yard square for each group.

How to play:

One player in each group is a keeper.

The rest are numbered 1 to 4, 5 or 6 depending on how many you have in each group.

The numbered players pass to each other in sequence.

The keeper tries to intercept the passes using his/her hands or feet.

Note: Players in possession of the ball cannot be tackled by the keeper.

Give the passing players a relatively easy target to begin with. With U7s, this might be to make three passes before the keeper touches the ball. With U12s, you could start with 10.
Once your players have experienced success, gradually increase the target.
Make the game competitive by challenging groups to make more passes than the other(s).

Progression:

Make the groups smaller. This makes it harder for the passing players to keep the ball away from the keeper.
Reduce the number of touches passing players are allowed.
Add a second keeper.
Coaching notes: If your players find this game difficult, make the playing area bigger or give the passing group an extra player.
Encourage good communication. Players should shout their number or “I’m here!” when it’s their turn to receive the ball.

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

Keepaway wars

I like keepaway games. They are great for improving ball control, shielding the ball, supporting play and communication.

But straightforward keepaway quickly bores young players – there’s not much fun and no end result.

Keepaway Wars, however, is fun to play and it can get very competitive. My players love it!

Age group: U7s to U12s.

How to play:

Divide your squad into teams of four and assign them an area.
The players in each team choose a number and begin to pass the ball around in sequence, 1 to 2 to 3 etc.

Tip: Encourage your players to move into spaces and use all of their area.

Call a number. The players with that number “invades” the adjacent area and tries to win the ball.
The three players who keep their ball the longest win a point.
Once all four players have defended, the team with the most points wins the game.

Variation: To make the game more realistic,’ place a goal or two just outside the playing area.

When invading players win the ball they can score a goal.

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

Inside out

Objective: To encourage your players to use the whole width of the pitch.

Age range: U9s and older.

Number of players: Nine (but can be easily adapted for a different number of players)

Equipment required: Flat cones, training vests, six small goals (or traffic cones/poles as goal posts), one ball.

Set up: Place three goals at each end of 30×20 yards playing area.

Divide your players into two teams of four, plus one neutral player.

How to play: Both teams defend and attack three goals.

They score one point for scoring in the centre goal and three points for scoring in one of the outside goals.
The neutral player plays for the team in possession.
Play for 10 minutes or until a set score is reached.
When the ball goes out of play, the game is restarted with a kick-in from the line.

Progression:

1. Points are scored by dribbling the ball through a goal instead of shooting.

2. The neutral player is restricted to two or three touches.

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

In the bag

Objective: To improve weight and direction of passes.

Age group: U7s and upwards.

Set up: Divide your players into teams of four or five.

Create two sets of open-ended “bags” for each team using semi-circles of cones that are six yards wide and 10 yards apart.
One of each team’s bags is empty. The other contains six balls.
Teams stand behind their empty bag.

How to play: On your command, the first player in each team runs to his bag of six balls, collects one and tries to pass it into the empty bag.

If the ball misses the bag, it is out of the game.

Once the first player has tried to pass all six balls into the bag, the second player in the team repeats the exercise in the opposite direction, but only using the balls that the first player managed to get into the bag.

When every player has had a turn, the team with the most balls in its bag wins.

Progressions

1. If a player misses, they must collect the ball, bring it back and try again.

2. Pass with alternate feet: Left/right.

Tip: Make the game easier for younger players by making the bags bigger and deeper.

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

In and out

Objectives: To improve passing, receiving and movement off the ball.

Age group: U8s to U14s.

Set-up: Create a 40×30 yards playing area with a five-yard box marked out in each corner.

Divide your players into two teams of five or six.

How to play: Teams score a point by passing to a team mate who is in one of the corner boxes.

To begin with, allow players to wait inside the boxes for a pass.
Once they have got the hang of the game tell them that waiting in the boxes is no longer allowed. They must retain possession in the area and only make a run to one of the boxes when a pass is on.
Passes only count if they are controlled inside the box by the receiving player.

Progression: Points are only scored if the receiving player can pass the ball out of the box to a team mate.

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

Everyone’s a striker!

All small-sided games (football “matches” usually with four to six players on a team) help improve teamwork but Everyone’s a Striker! is particularly useful for coaches who are trying to mould their players into a team.

Age group: U8s to U14s.

Set-up: 4v4 plus goalkeepers on a 30×20 yards pitch with a goal at each end.

How to play: Normal rules apply and the first team to score four goals wins the game. But no player can score more than once.

This condition encourages the “star” players to focus on helping their team mates and helps every player, no matter how new or inexperienced, to enjoy success.

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

Shoot, save, shoot

This game may look a bit dull and it even has players standing in lines.

But young football players just love playing it!

I’ve used it with U6s to U14s and they’ve all enjoyed it. My U12 girls ask to play just about every week.

So give Shoot, Save, Shoot a try. I’m sure it will become one of your players’ favourite games too.

Objective: To improve shooting technique.

Age range: U6s and upwards.

Difficulty: Easy.

Set-up: Use a playing area with a standard-size goal at one end. Place a cone about 10 yards out from the left-hand post for very young players and about 20 yards away for older players.

Divide your players into two teams.

Team 1 stands about six yards from the left-hand post. Team 2 stands about six yards from the right-hand post.

You stand near the goal with five or six balls.

How to play:

On your command, the first player in team 1 runs round the cone.
At the same time, the first player in team 2 runs round the back of the goal to become the goalkeeper.
As the player from team 1 rounds the cone, roll a ball in front of the goal.
The team 1 player shoots with her first touch.
If the shot is saved, the goalkeeper returns the ball to you. If the shot goes in or misses, the shooter retrieves the ball and returns it to you.
As soon as the first player shoots, the second player in each team sets off to become the next shooter and goalkeeper.
Play until you run out of balls to serve. This encourages the shooters to be accurate because if they miss, they have to run after the ball and get it back to you quickly, especially if you’re down to the last ball.
The team that scores most goals wins.

Progression: Switch sides so that players have to run to the left and right of the goal.

Ask your players to shoot with their weaker foot only.

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

Throw in races

Age range: U7s to U10s.

Equipment required: Flat cones, a ball for each player.

Set-up: Use the sideline of an existing pitch or make a line with flat cones.

Place a number of cones three yards away and parallel to the line.

Make a second line of cones three yards further back and a third line three yards way from the second line.

Divide your players into teams of three or four.

How to play: The first player in each team takes a throw-in from the sideline and tries to hit the first cone.

If they miss, the next player in line has a go.

If a player hits the cone they aimed for, they retrieve their ball and place the cone they hit on top of the next one. The next player in the team now tries to hit the new target.

The first team to hit all three cones wins.

Progression: Add more cones or space the cones further apart.

Coaching note: Throw-ins must be taken correctly. See: how to take a throw-in

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