Soccer Drills – Page 52

Marking game

Duration: 15 mins

Grid Size: 60×40

Procedure:

The teams play in an area approximately 60×40 yards, with the condition that each player in each team is responsible for marking and tackling his own particular opponent.

If any player marks or tackles somebody other than the man he is delegated to watch, then a free-kick will be awarded against him.

Each team has a ‘free-man’ or ‘sweeper’ who is restricted to playing in his own half of the field and to two- or one-touch soccer.

He can also cover his team-mates and intercept or tackle in his own half any attackers who have broken free from their markers.

Development
(a) Restrict the sweeper to one-touch play only. (b) Allow the sweeper to ‘break’ over the half-way line and into the opponents’ half: the man-markers can leave their own opponents to challenge him if they feel it necessary.

Long tunnel

This is a very common drill but with an interesting twist that adds a great deal of conditioning to a sometimes slow moving drill. The most commonly used name for this drill is the tunnel drill.

Normally, you would have a group of players (anywhere from 4-8) in each of two lines facing each other (see diagram below).

The first player in line A passes the football to the first player in line B and then sprints to the back of line B. The first player in line B then passes to the first person in line A and then sprints to the back of line A. Very simple drill and somewhat boring.

To increase the number of touches per player and to increase both the intensity and conditioning part of the drill, do the exact same thing in groups of 3. Have two players together and then the third player is 15 yards away. The first person in the group of 2 passes the ball to the third player and then sprints behind her. It ends up being just like a bigger tunnel (and in fact can be done utilizing the same space) but now each player gets every third touch. By keeping the players 15 yards apart, the players will have to really sprint to get to the spot to receive the ball next. Do this drill at full speed for one minute periods and you will find that this conditioning is very relevant to soccer fitness.

Other variations on this drill include, playing two touches with the first touch away from pressure (the sprinter runs right at the receiver). This touch can be done first with the inside of the foot and then with the outside of the foot. Also, you can move the players back to 30 yards apart and have them play 2 touch chips to each other. This requires both a great deal of conditioning as well as working on chipping and receiving high balls. Do 5 different variations of this and it takes a mere 10 minutes of the training session (one minute of intense work and one minute of rest per variation) and you will find this is a great example of economical training.

Long shot

This is my U9s favourite game to play at end of football practice. It is definitely a “warm down” type of activity but the kids love it and whenever I announce we are going to do it they cheer. Strange because it is basically a line drill and uses elimination which are two things I try to avoid… but the kids love it so that is what matters most.

Set up

Work with a normal sized goal and penalty area (marked by lines or cones);

Two teams (X and Y) line up by cones, (shown as small triangles in the diagram above);

Two goalkeepers are chosen, one from each team.

Procedure

Player from team Y dribbles and has a shot on goal from beyond the penalty area (marked by cones);

The player then moves towards coach C1 who passes a ball for a one-time shot on goal;

The player then moves towards coach C2 who serves a ball for the player to head towards the goal.

Rules

If you…

score 0 goals, wait on the end of the line to be freed (see 3 and 4, below);
score 1 goal and stay in the game;
score two goals and free up a team mate who is waiting on the end line;
score two goals and free all of your team mates.

The team that last the longest wins!

Link tag

Focus: Turning, deception, using space off the ball.

Age: U6 and up.

Equipment: A couple of bibs.

Players: A full team works well. Minimum of about 10.

Space: Area about 40 x 40 yards. No need for marking.

Introduction: Turning, deception, and feint moves are undeniably useful in the game of soccer. These moves can be practiced individually and honed. But until the players actually experience success using these moves in a game-like situation, there will be little progress. It is kind of a chicken – egg dilemma: Won’t use the moves until they experience success with them – Can’t experience success with them until they actually use them. This warm up activity works on such movement WITHOUT a ball at feet, which makes it much easier to experience success.

By the way, I cannot take credit for this activity. But I cannot remember where I first saw it used, so I am not sure who to credit for this great warm up activity.

Setup: Have the players partner up. Have partners link arms. Have pairs of players form a large circle, about 25 yards in diameter. Spread the paired players out evenly around the circle. Pull out several of the pairs. Give two player you have pulled out bibs (they hold them, tell them not to put them on). They are “it”. Have about 4-6 “runners” (players who are not paired up with linked arms).

Execution: Simple. You play tag. The “it” players (with bibs in hand) try to tag the “runners”. They must tag them with their hand, not whip them with the bib! As soon as an “it” player tags a “runner”, they exchange roles. The old “it” player throws down the bib and becomes a “runner”. The old “runner” picks up the bib and becomes “it”. None of the linked players can be tagged. Let the players run outside the circle, but keep them from getting too faraway.

Now for the interesting part. A runner can escape being tagged (or simply take a breather) by linking up with any linked player in the circle. The instant that they link arms, the player opposite them must release his or her link and become a runner. This makes for some interesting strategies for the “it” players, and also for the “runners”.

Coaching Points: Watch them. Learn from them. See what moves they are using to avoid being tagged. watch how they use the momentum of the defender. See who uses space wisely. These will give you some insight into what level they are thinking at. When they have a ball, you are seeing a combination of what level they are thinking at, as well as what level technically they are able to operate.

Line soccer

Set-up

Can be played by two equal groups (i.e. 8v8, 7v7, 6v6, 5v5, 4v4) on a large rectangular or square area with one soccer ball. Use half a field (approximately 60 yards x 65 yards) for 8v8, 7v7 and 6v6. For smaller groups decrease field size accordingly.

Boundaries of field should be touch-lines, goal-line and mid-line. In absence of marked lines (and for smaller size fields) use cones placed about 10 yards apart. Each team should be in a different colour bib.

Play

Teams spread out on field and one team begins play with a pass (first pass is free – cannot be stolen or defended). Line soccer is played similar to keep-away games except that points can be scored by receiving a pass with the sole of the foot on the line. Ball cannot be dribbled to the line and stopped – it must be passed. And to get a point it must be stopped right on the line (or within a few inches). Once a team scores the opposite team takes over and tries to score.

Variation: Once a team scores they retain possession and can immediately try to score again.

Coaching Points

Unlike most keep-away type games, Line Soccer encourages teams to spread the field and switch play quickly. Our teams play a lot of keep-away games to work on holding possession. Line Soccer works in a similar manner to encourage possession but it also provides a goal.

Progressions/Options

To provide direction, designate only two end lines as lines where points can be scored. Or award two points for balls stopped on the end-lines and only one point for each ball stopped on the touchlines.

Line game

The Game

Two teams of equal numbers. Coach calls out a number and that number of players go out into the field. The remaining players stay on the goal line, hold hands, and try to prevent goals. After a goal, or a period of play, coach calls out another number.

Coaching Points:

Call out different numbers, so players learn to interact with different subsets..

Give advantages to certain teams so players can learn to deal with numbers of up and down situations (for example, red team 3 players, blue team 4 players).

After players understand the game, have them switch quickly. it is important that players control who comes out and how. This helps develop organizational skills and team dynamics.

Try These Variations:

Three touch: each player can use up to three touches.

Double points if scored off a headed ball.

Double points if scored off combination (i.e.. give and go, take over, etc.).

Setup: Only one player from each team is allowed to score.

Lay off and shoot

Purpose: To develop varied shooting techniques while on the run

Procedure: The squad is organised into two small groups, one of which act as ball retrievers, while the other group practice. The drill takes place in the penalty box area where a goalkeeper defends the goal. One player stands in the ‘D’; the other players, each with a ball, stand in a file facing him, approximately 20 yards away. The first player in line passes the ball to the feet of the player in the ‘D’, who proceeds to ‘lay’ it off for the former to shoot at goal. The ‘lay off’ player then goes to either cone A or cone B to collect a ball from the retrievers before returning down the side to join the file and await his turn. The player who has just shot at goal becomes the next lay-off’ player and faces the second oncoming player. In this way, each player shoots, and acts as the wall-player.

Development: (a) Each group is timed for a set period and the scores tallied up. (b) The coach can impose certain conditions, such as shooting with the weaker foot, or volleys from the ‘lay0off’ player flicking the ball up for another player to hit at goal, or long range shots. Record the number of goals scored in a given time period.

Lane soccer

Set up: Use a lined practice pitch or two rows of cones to divide the field vertically into three equal size rectangles. Play 3v3 (one player in each zone) or 4v4 (two players in the centre zone). Goalkeepers are optional.

The basic game: Each team must have at least one player in each of the three zones. They can receive, pass and dribble but can’t go out of their zone. They run, get open and mark defensively inside their zone. If they leave their zone (even if it is just by stepping over the line), they concede a free kick wherever the infringement took place.

After a few scores, swap the players to a new zone.

This taught my players to immediately get wide the minute that their team stole the ball and to space properly.

Variations:

1. After playing 3v3 widen the centre lane and play 4v4 (2v2 in the centre lane) as in the illustration.

When playing 4v4 allow two players of each team to be in any lane at one time. If a third player from that team wants to enter that same lane, one of the two players from his team must leave the lane before he can enter it. This requires lots of communication and ingenuity to get numbers up quickly on your opponents. It also teaches players to make “ball side” runs within their lanes to receive the ball.3. Set up three teams of 4 players and two teams play on the field and winning team stays on. Winning can be one, two or three goals. We play just one goal wins a game. When playing “winners stay on” we add these conditions for balls played out of bounds: Balls kicked over the end line outside of goal result in corner kick or goal kicks, BUT balls kicked across the touch-line mean an automatic loss for team that last touched the ball. The team sitting out must be ready to immediately defend their goal (or attack) when the ball goes out of touch.
Do not assign players to a specific zone and allow movement between zones provided at least one player from each team is in each zone.

Offensively, this activity will encourage teams to switch balls quickly (looking for 1 v 1 situations or numbers up situations before the other team can switch quickly) and defensively this is working on constant communication. If, at any time, a team doesn’t have a player in each section, it’s a point for the other team.

Additional helpful ideas from Coach Orlay Johnson:

I love Ken’s lane games and have used them almost every practice in some shape, manner, or form. Yes, you can use four lanes, but three is a little easier to deal with and forces more team play (see below). One of the best adaptations of lanes is to help the defence understand the complexities and advantages of zonal play, or flat back four, or whatever you want to call it.

I am really into running practices where players are forced to make various decisions on how they will play. So i used something similar to Ken’s 1 and 2 options (above), but focus on defence and give them restrictions on how they play – one would be you must stay in your lanes, but one player can move lanes and be a stopper or sweeper, then after a few minutes tell them to switch to straight zonal defence. Then a combination. Another day you might tell them that the defence has to protect one of your defenders who is slow or hurt (tell her she can only walk, not run). Another is to switch from 2 defenders in centre lane, to 2 in left lane, and see how long it takes the offence to figure it out (longer than you’d think).