Category: Passing

Pressure passing

Set up a circle of cones about 10m in diameter (you can use the centre circle).

One player stands in the middle, the rest space themselves out equally around the edge of the circle. The player in the middle receives the football from a player on the edge, controls it, turns and passes to another player. As soon as he or she passes the ball out, a second ball is played in from the edge of the circle. As soon as this ball is passed out to a player on the edge of the circle the first ball is played in again and so on.

The central player has to run quickly backwards and forwards to provide passes to the rest of the circle.

Swap players after one minute.

Stress the importance of good, crisp and accurate passing. Insist the central player gets their head up and looks at the target.

Vary the game by only allowing two touches, then one touch.

Played properly, this is an intensive and fun workout.

Keep Away ring

Players pair up and stand across from each other around a circle of cones. One player or coach stands inside the circle and tries to intercept passes made between the players. Passes made between the players count as goals. Change the players in the circle after a pass is intercepted or after a short time.

Cone Game

Players pair up and stand across from each other around a circle. Set up 6 or 8 cones in the middle of the circle as targets. Players try to knock over the cones in the middle with accurate passes.

Triangle Pass

Set up a three player triangle. Each group has one ball. Players try to pass around the triangle shape. Make sure they reverse the direction of the passes from time to time.

After a certain level of proficiency is reached, add a defender to try and intercept the passes.

Four Corner Pass

Set up a 10 yd. x 10 yd grid with cones at each of the corners. Four players work with one ball, one on each side of the grid. A fifth player defends inside the grid.

Players may only run on their sides of the grid between the cones. They then attempt to pass the ball across the grid. Change the middle defender frequently.

Star Wars

This classic game is very exciting for younger players. Set up a 10 yd. x 20 yd. grid. Have all players’ line up at one end prepared to run to the other end. The coach or player stands just outside the grid with several balls at the ready.

On command the players attempt to run to the endline while evading balls kicked at them by the coach. All shots should be kept below waist level. Players hit by shooting balls become additional shooters until only one player is left.

Basic passing

Split the team up into partners, giving each pair a ball. Have the players pass and trap the ball, while you evaluate their skill. Later, introduce one touch control passing

Circle passing

Many of the basic circle games can be used to practice passing. Try using a circle with two players in the middle trying to intercept passes made by the girls on the outside. The player whose pass is intercepted goes into the middle.

Triangles

This is a good way to reinforce basic passing skills with the added bonus of introducing vision and awareness.

Make some triangles on the field using small cones about ten yards apart.

To start the game, each cone has a player standing next to it. Player 1 passes to player 2 then immediately runs between player 2 and 3. Player 2 passes to player 3 and runs through the gap between player 3 and player 1. And so on.

Done properly, this is a fast game that reinforces the pass/move combination, makes players look carefully to find their next target and requires good passing technique. Just be careful the players don’t all disappear out of sight!

Relays

You can use a passing and moving relay race with a set up like this:

F E D		F E D
A B C		A B C

The basic practice is A passing to D and running to the back of the line, D passing to B and so on. Practice this for a few minutes (watching for and praising correct technique) then add the requirement that players must shout out the name of the person they are passing to. If they don’t, send them back and make them do it again.

Adding this rule has the following benefits.

• It makes the players talk,
• It makes them look up to see who they are passing to,
• If done at the start of a season, it helps introduce the new girls to each other and breaks down inhibitions.

This game can be made competitive by making the first team to do 30 passes the winner.

Many variations are possible – go from two touch to one touch, for example.

Three ball keepaway

Start with two teams of equal numbers and three soccer balls. On your signal, players try to possess as many balls as possible.

On your second signal the play stops and the team in possession of two or more balls wins that round. Repeat several times.

In this game, players must be good passers of the ball to keep possession. They must also make decisions on where to run when they don’t have the ball, when to pass or dribble, and whom to pass to.

Two players stand either side of a small goal made with flat cones or poles.

Each player has one touch and must touch the ball once. The ball must pass through the small goal on the ground. Once the ball goes through the goal the opponents must play the ball back through the goal on the ground.

Each player gets one touch and must touch the ball. A team scores when their opponent misses the goal, they play the ball back directly, a player uses two touches or the ball stops in their opponents half of the field. Both teams must stay in their own half.

There are several soccer problems that the players have to solve.

• What angle and distance should the second player be at to receive the first pass?
• Where should the defending team play in anticipating the ball?
• What is the best through pass when the opponents are deep? Close?

The soccer problems are elementary, passing, receiving, communicating and reading simple situations.

Set up a circle of cones about 10m in diameter (you can use the centre circle).

One player stands in the middle, the rest space themselves out equally around the edge of the circle. The player in the middle receives the ball from a player on the edge, controls it, turns and passes to another player. As soon as he or she passes the ball out, a second ball is played in from the edge of the circle. As soon as this ball is passed out to a player on the edge of the circle the first ball is played in again and so on.

The central player has to run quickly backwards and forwards to provide passes to the rest of the circle.

Swap players after one minute.

Stress the importance of good, crisp and accurate passing. Insist the central player gets their head up and looks at the target.

Vary the game by only allowing two touches, then one touch.

Played properly, this is an intensive and fun football workout.

Focus: Smart off ball movement in a passing environment, but I have found that it has many other benefits as well.

Age: U10 through U16

Time: 10 to 30 minutes, depending on the variations used.

Equipment: Flat cones to establish the grid. Half as many balls as players.

Players: 6-20 players. This exercise is very flexible, numbers-wise.

Space: 20×20 to 30×30 area.

Set up: Grid of flat cones. I like them about 5-10 yards apart, depending on the age and skill of  the players. If I want to work 1st touch, I make them about 5 yards. Make the grid at least 3 squares wide and 4 squares deep. 4×4 or 4×5 is perfect.

 

c              c             c             c             c

c              c             c             c             c

c              c             c             c             c

c              c             c             c             c

 

Pair up the players, each pair with a ball. If you have an extra player, make one group of 3.

Basic Pass & Move:

Explain that you want them to pass the ball to their mate in another square, and then sprint to receive it in a different square. Look for instant movement after a pass.

Variations:

You can vary this basic exercise enormously by putting certain restrictions on the play, such as 2- touch, ball cannot stop, passes must be to an adjacent square, passes cannot be to an adjacent square, 1-touch, player cannot enter a square that has another player exits it, player must run through the square that the pass came from, and into a new square to receive, receive and dribble into an adjacent square, etc.

If the players become too crowded in the central portion of the field (or any other portion), occasionally freeze play and have them look around at where available space is. If it still doesn’t help, restrict runs into unoccupied squares. If it still doesn’t help, freeze play occasionally and have any players who are co-occupying squares do push-up, sit-ups, or some other consequence.

Each of these variations work on a different aspect of the game.

Coaching points: Communicate. Anticipate. Make a predictable run. Find room to work.

Touch:

This is a great exercise to work on smart 1st touch. Explain that you want the players to receive the ball and with their first touch, play the ball into another square. Then pass it to their mate who must do the same thing. Once again, I like to have the players move after passing to a different (preferably unpopulated) square.

Variations:

Many of the same variations described above can be used with the touch exercise as well. Just make sure that you focus on the touch and not the other aspects, since this is a demanding exercises. It can be made very difficult by restricting touches to 2, with the 1st touch required to go to a different square.

Coaching points: Anticipate. Plan. Open body to the pass and prepare receiving surface before the ball gets there. Get in line with the trajectory of the ball. Communicate to your mate.

Variations provided by Gary Rue:

– all passes must be to grids at angles to the passing grid. In other words, no square or vertical passes.

– all passes must be to grids that do not touch the passing grid.

– one touch passes can be made to grids that touch; if the passer takes a second touch the receiver must move to a grid that doesn’t touch.

– first pass is to touching square, next pass is touching square, third pass is to non-touching square (i.e., short-short-long)

– 3 man passing, alternating touching square pass with non-touching square passes.

This is a physically demanding exercise and I use it as a strong warm up for passing-focused training sessions. If you do not see the work rate, they are either not making their runs properly, or are dribbling too much.