Setup

• Each player has a ball
• Set down cones to make a 40×30 steps field for 10 players – larger if more players
  • Anything can be a cone (an article of clothing, a water bottle, any marker)
  • Set cones every ten steps
• Do not set up any goals
  • If there are goals, players will shoot on them and not listen to you
• Demonstrate each drill / game before starting it

Game 1 – “Lights” – 5 minutes

Objective: Follow directions to get to the opposite side of the field

• Players line up on one of the long (40 steps) sidelines
• You are on the opposite sideline
• Game: Call out a color light
  •  Green light: they run and dribble towards you
  •   Yellow light: they walk and dribble towards you
  •   Red light: they stop the ball with the bottom of their foot – the sooner the better (Remember the HINT from the previous drill: keep the ball close to you)
  •   Disco light: they stop and give you their best dance moves
• If players advance too fast because they are not under control, send them back to their last spot
  • There are no winners for reaching the opposite sideline first, everyone goes at their own pace

Game 2 – “Lights + Part of foot” – 5 minutes

Same as “Lights” except:

• Every time you call “Green Light” or “Yellow Light” also call out either “Inside” or “Bottom” of the foot for players to dribble using only that part of the foot

Game 3 – Sharks and Minnows – 5 Minutes

Setup

• The minnows (the players) start with the balls at one end of the field
• The shark (the coach) starts in the middle of the field without a ball
• When you say “Go!” the minnows have to cross the water (the field) to the other side without the shark taking the ball away from them
  • If the players manage to get to the other side, they go again and try to cross the water again, etc.
• If the shark takes the ball away from a minnow, there are two variations of what happens next – we prefer the first option because the young players continue to dribble the ball
  • Either the caught minnow just rejoins the others at next try
  • Or, the caught minnow also becomes a shark (fun, but no dribbling involved for the sharks)
    • You may play both variations, do the first option for the first half of the game and the second option for the rest of it
• COACHING POINT: Encourage players not to lose composure when a shark comes near
  • They can either dribble by the shark
  • Or they can shield the ball from the shark

Game 4 – “Spiderman” Coach – 5 minutes

Setup

• Each player has a ball
• The coach holds a training vest

Game

• Players dribble anywhere within the field of play
• Spiderman (the coach) chases the players with a training vest

• Spiderman throws the training vest at players’ balls
  • Players evade the vest by dribbling or shielding the ball from it

• If a vest touches the ball then the players have to:
  • Pick up the ball and hold it in their hands
  • Stand with their feet spread wide apart in one spot, as if they caught by the spider web (kind of like freeze tag)
  • Players remain in the  web until another player passes a ball through the caught player’s legs, which untangles them from the spider web
  • The player can then drop the ball onto the ground and continue to play
• In the meantime, spiderman picks up the vest again and looks for the players to entangle into the web

 

Game 5 – “Spiderman” Players – 10 minutes

Same as “‘Spiderman’ coach,” except:

• One of the players becomes spiderman while the coach helps players with their dribbling and shielding techniques
• Change the player who is spiderman often so that many players get a chance to be spiderman
  • Even though being spiderman is fun for the kids, the soccer value of the drill is in being one of the players being chased, so minimize the time players spend as spiderman

Drill 1 – Trap and Dribble – 5 minutes

REITARATE TRAPPING THE BALL WITH INSIDE OF FOOT

• Stay on your toes so you can move to the ball
  • Don’t watch the ball roll by you
• Move side-to-side to where the ball is going
• Use the inside of your foot to stop the ball in front of you
• Lift your foot just slightly off the ground
  • This way the ball does not roll over your foot
• But, do not lift the foot too much
  • This way the ball does not go under your foot

Setup

• Coach takes all of the balls to one end of the tunnel (between the two lines of cones)
• Players line up on the other end of the tunnel

Drill

• Coach passes a ball to a player on the ground
• The player traps the ball in front
• The player dribbles the ball back to the coach
• The player runs back to the end of the line

Drill 2 – Trap and Pass – 5 minutes

The same as Drill 1 above, except:

• After players trap the ball, they pass it to the coach and then join the back of the line

Drill 3 – Trap a bouncing ball and Dribble – 5 minutes

The same as Drill 1, except:

• The coach now tosses the ball towards the players
  • Start with underhand tosses so that the momentum is not too hard to handle for the players
• The players are using any part of the body other than their hands to trap the bouncing ball in front of them
  • Tell players to move their whole body behind the ball rather than sticking out a foot or a knee to trap the ball
    • This minimizes the chance that the ball will end up behind them

Drill 4 – Trap a bouncing ball and Pass – 5 minutes

The same as Drill 3, except:

• The players are now passing the ball back to the coach

Game 6 – Trap the Ball and Score – 5 minutes

Setup

The same as for Drills 1-4, except:

• Put a small goal about 7 steps behind the coach

Game

• The players trap a ball that is either passed on the ground or thrown to them by the coach
• The players dribble up to the coach
• The players pass the ball into the goal once they get to the coach
• The players retrieve the ball, leave it with the coach, and run back to the end of the line

 

Game 7 – Trap the Ball, Slalom, and Score – 5 minutes

Setup

The same as for Game 6, except:

• Place down 5-6 cones, about 3 steps apart from each other, in the middle of the tunnel

Game

Same as Game 6, except:

• Players will dribble through the cones in the middle by slaloming through them
• When they get to the coach they will pass the ball into the goal

 

End Practice

• Team cheer
  • 1,2,3 Go “team name”!