Soccer Drills – Page 30

Improve your players’ kicking power

Four to six-year-olds won’t get a lot of power into their shots no matter what you do and I suggest these coaching notes should be used with players aged from seven years up.

More effort doesn’t equal more power

If your players try to kick the ball harder by going at it more violently, they won’t kick it any harder, they’ll just get frustrated as their accuracy drops off and the power in their shot stays the same or becomes weaker.

This is because too much effort tends to make the kicking leg go stiff and the stiffer their leg, the less power is transmitted from foot to ball.

Accuracy drops off because too violent execution of the instep drive usually results in a deterioration in technique.

In that sense, the instep drive is a bit like a golf swing. The way to get distance and accuracy is to use the right technique in a smooth and relaxed manner.

When I’m working on increasing power with my players this is what I look for:

In the last stride before the ball is struck, the player should hop on to the non-kicking leg. This gives the kicking leg extra flex and springloads the shot.

Hopping on to the non-kicking foot in the final stride also results in the kicking foot coming down from a greater height – a high backlift is essential for maximum power.

The ankle of the kicking foot must be locked. The easiest way to do this is to scrunch the toes up real hard.

The kicking leg should whip through the shot in a smooth and controlled manner.

How to use imaginary glass and a video camera!

A good follow-through is essential. I tell my players to imagine that there is a big pane of glass about a foot in front of the ball and their kicking leg should break the glass after they have taken the shot.

Talking to players and demonstrating how to increase the power in their shot is only part of the answer. Taking video of them in action on the training pitch is a very useful way of showing them the flaws in their technique

I use a still camera that also takes video and I play it back to my players on a laptop. Seeing any flaws in the way they kick the ball for themselves really does help them to improve quickly.

Hold up

Objective: To improve passing, movement off the ball, support play, teamwork and attacking/defending skills.

Age group: U10s to U15s.

Set up: Divide a playing area into thirds with the middle third (15×15 yards) being slightly bigger than the two end thirds (10×15 yards). One mini goal or a target is placed at each end of the area.

Divide your players into two teams of four or five players.

How to play:

Play begins with a 4v4 or 5v5 contest in the middle third.

A team must play at least three consecutive passes between them before a player can break out and into the end zone he is attacking.

The player who receives the ball in the attacking third must then hold it up and wait for another team-mate to join him in that zone.

Simultaneously, one defender can join in to try and prevent a goal being scored.

The first team to score X number of goals wins the game.

Coaching note: If your players are struggling to put three passes together, make the central area bigger or reduce the passing requirement to two.

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

Hit the teddy

Objective: To improve shooting accuracy.

Age group: U8s to U13s.

Set up: Split your players into three small teams plus three goalkeepers.

Create a rectangular or circular pitch about 20 yards long/across.
Place three small goals, equally spaced, around the perimeter of the pitch.
Place a triangular cone or other small target in the bottom and top corners of each goal.

Tip: I use teddy bears (tied onto the goals with string) as the targets with my U12s. Not sure what it says about them but they seem to enjoy hitting teddies a lot more more than hitting cones!

Put all the balls in the middle of the playing area.

How to play: On your command, all the players run to balls, collect one and try to score a goal.

If a shot hits one of the cones or teddy targets as it enters the net, it counts double.

Play three rounds.

The team with the most points wins.

Progression: Players to dribble and shoot with their weaker foot only.

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

Hit the goal!

Objective: To improve passing and shooting skills.

Age range: U5s to U9s.

Number of players: Whole squad divided into teams of four or five.

Set up: Mark out a 20-yard square with flat cones.

Place five or six balls on top of the cones on two sides of the playing area. These are the targets.

How to play:

Roll a ball into the playing area.
The players compete for possession of the ball and try to hit the target balls off the cones.
When all the balls are knocked off, the team that hit the most is the winner.

Tip: Keep the game going by having several spare balls handy and putting another ball when the first ball leaves the playing area.

Coaching points:

Don’t have too many players in one playing area, they won’t get enough touches on the ball. So if you have enough players to make four teams, mark out two playing areas and play two games.

Encourage accuracy.

Praise players who take careful, side-foot ‘shots’.

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

Keeper’s Colours

This game helps young goalkeepers learn how to move in line with the ball and be in the best position to save shots.

Age group: U9s and upwards.

Number of players: Four to six players plus a goalkeeper.

Set-up: Divide your squad into groups of four or five. Set up a goal on one end line of a 20-yard square and mark a semi-circle 10 yards from the goal.

Put one player in goal and the rest take a ball and stand next to different coloured cones (or bibs) positioned around the arc of the semi-circle.

How to play:

To begin, have the cones fairly close together.

You call out a colour and the player standing at that cone shoots.

Make sure the keeper moves to the right position (on a line between the ball and centre of the goal) before making the save.

If the keeper is out of position, stop the game and show them where they should have been.

Go through all the colours then change the keeper.

Progression 1: Move the cones further apart.

Progression 2: Remove the cones. Now the players standing around the semi-circle pass a ball to each other.

The goalkeeper has to move quickly to stay in the right position. The player with the ball shoots on your command.

Each goalkeeper saves four or five shots.

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

Castle Keep

Objectives: To improve defending skills, especially in numbers up situations.

Age group: U7s to U11s.

Set up: Split your players into teams of four and create a 12-yard square for each team.

Put a ball on top of a flat cone in the middle of each grid. This is the ‘castle’.

One of the four players should wear an different coloured top or training vest. She is the designated defender (the guardian of the castle).

How to play: The three attackers pass the ball around the guardian of the castle and try to knock the ball off the cone with a pass.

The guardian gets a point if they can stop the attackers hitting the castle for 20 seconds.

Change the guardian when the castle is hit or when the guardian wins a point.

Each player has five turns as the guardian. The player with the most points wins.

Tips:

Make the area smaller for older or skilful players.
If players stand next to the castle, mark out a three-yard exclusion zone around it.

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

Grab some points

Objective: Quick dribbling, teamwork, good ball control, decision making plus some fun and competition.

Age group: U6s to U10s.

Set up: Place an equal number of bibs, markers and balls in four squares as shown below.

Teams of players, of any number, line up in their Team Camp.

How to play: On your command, the first player in each team (chosen by the teams, not you) dribble their ball to any of the four squares to collect one item.

They score the allotted number of points when they bring it back to the Team Camp.

When they get back, another player – again, chosen by the team – dribbles a ball to a square of his choice and collects another item.

When all the items have been collected the points are totalled up to decide a winner.

Progression: Players to dribble with weaker foot.

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

How to save a penalty

Here are some tips and tricks that give your goalkeeper a good chance of saving at least some of the penalties in a shoot-out… and help her to get through the whole experience without being emotionally scarred!

What to tell your goalkeeper

Make yourself big – standing tall and stretching your arms out wide will make the goal look a lot smaller to a nervous penalty taker.
Look confident – try to make eye contact with the kicker as she prepares to take her run up. Show her that you confident. Smile at her!
Stay mobile – bouncing on the balls of your feet as the penalty taker runs up allows you to move quickly to the left or right.
Sidestep – make a small, quick step to one side and back to the middle of the goal as the penalty taker is approaching the ball. This is often enough to make her take her eye off the ball and lose focus.
Don’t dive before the ball is kicked – in junior football a lot of penalties are directed straight at the goalkeeper. You might just have to stand still and wait for the ball to be kicked into your hands.
Dive forwards – if you have to dive, try to dive forwards. This cuts down the angle and makes it easier to reach the ball.

Visual cues

Keeping a careful eye on the penalty taker will often give a keeper some useful clues as to which way they are going to shoot.
Do they keep glancing in one direction?
Are they left or right footed? Most right-footed players shoot to the goalkeeper’s right and left-footed players shoot to the keeper’s left.
Watch the plant foot. In youth football, the ball will nearly always go where the plant foot is pointing.

Positioning

The law relating to penalty kicks states that the goalkeeper must be on the goal line and may not forwards until the shot is struck.

But the keeper does not have to stand in the middle of the goal.

In fact, it has been shown that by standing slightly off centre, the keeper will encourage the kicker to shoot at the wider half of the goal.

Standing just a few inches to the left or right often does the trick – even if the shooter hasn’t consciously noticed that the keeper is not standing in the middle of the goal, they will usually aim for the wider side.

To catch or not to catch?

The pressure of trying to save a penalty in a shoot-out is enough, don’t make it worse by trying to catch the ball.

Remember that the penalty taker in a shoot-out can’t touch the ball again after she’s kicked it. So if the shot is saved, that’s it.

Practising penalties

If you’re about to play a cup match that could end in a penalty shoot-out or you’re entering a tournament, devote one coaching session to penalty taking and saving.

Discuss a few of the key points with your players then play a small-sided game (SSG) where all restarts, even throw-ins, are penalty kicks.

But don’t get overly concerned with penalties. Try to win the game in normal time instead!