Dribbling, control, and shooting

 

Setup

 

• Each player should have a ball
• Set cones down to make a 60×50 steps field for 18 players
  • If you have more players, make the field larger
  • Anything can be a cone (an article of clothing, a water bottle, any marker)
• Set cones every 10 steps on the perimeter to allow players to see where the boundaries are
• Do not set up any goals
• Demonstrate each drill / game before starting it

Coaching Points

 

• Use only your feet
  • Show the players all areas of the foot
    • Top, bottom, outside, inside, heel
• Do not use your hands
• Keep the ball in bounds
• Keep the ball close to you

 

Drill 1 – 5 minutes

 

• Dribble the ball anywhere within the field of play
• Use the entire space
  • Do not let players bunch up
• Keep the ball close to you while running
  • Can the players run and keep the ball under control
  • Players who are walking should be urged to run
  • Players who are running too fast should be urged to slow down in order to stay under control
• Have the players perform some moves on your command
  • Stepover, Inside-out, Outside-in, Stop-and-go, Cruyff, Inside-inside (go here to find videos showing these moves)

Drill 2 – 5 minutes

 

• Juggle the ball for 5 minutes
  • The objective is to keep the ball from falling to the ground using your feet, thighs, shoulders, or head. Give the players 5 minutes to see how many touches they can get without the ball falling to the ground.
    • Players should remember their high score
    • Keep the high score to themselves. In future practices they will try to improve on this high score

 

Drill 3 – 10 minutes

Drill 3 involves 5 mini drills, all using the same setup described below.

• Split the players into two equal teams
  • Hand out pennies to one of the teams
• Have the players wearing the pennies stand on the outside of the cones with the balls 
• Have the players wearing regular shirts be inside of the cones without the balls 
• For each drill, a team will go for 1 minute on the inside and then 1 minute on the outside, or vice-versa if they started on the outside, they will switch to the inside after a minute.

Drill 3 – 1st mini drill – 1+1 minute

 

• Players on the outside will put the balls at their feet
• Players on the inside will look for a pass from an outside player by running towards the outside player
  • Outside player should not pass the ball unless an inside player asks for it
• Players on the outside pass the ball once an inside player asks for it
• Players on the inside control the ball with one touch, and pass it back with the second touch
• Once the ball is passed back, players on the inside look for another player on the outside to exchange passes with
  • Encourage players not to go around in a circle looking for a pass from an outside player that is always the closest to them. Instead go to another area of the field for every pass

Drill 3 – 2nd mini drill – 1+1 minute

Same as the 1st mini drill, except: Outside players have balls at their feet

• Inside player passes the ball back with the first touch to the outside player

Drill 3 – 3rd mini drill – 1+1 minute

 

• Outside players have balls in their hands
• Inside players run to an outside player
  • Outside player should not toss the ball unless an inside player asks for it
• Outside player underhand tosses the ball once the inside player asks for it
• Inside player traps the ball on the ground and passes it back to the outside player
• Inside player runs to another player on the outside to get a ball tossed for a trap
  • Encourage players not to go around in a circle looking for a pass from an outside player that is always the closest to them. Instead go to another area of the field for every pass

Drill 3 – 4th mini drill – 1+1 minute

The same as the 3rd mini drill, except:

• Inside player traps the ball on a thigh with the first touch and passes it back to the outside player while it is still in the air with the second touch
  • If possible, the ball should never touch the ground
  • Use the inside of the foot to pass the ball back

Drill 3 – 5th mini drill – 1+1 minute

Same as the 4th mini drill, except:

• Inside player passes the ball back with the first touch while it is in the air
  • If possible, the ball should never touch the ground
  • Use the inside of the foot to pass the ball back

Game 1 – Keepaway – 10 minutes

 

• With the teams split up already into pennies and regular shirts, play keepaway in the field of play for 10 minutes
  • The objective is to keep possession of the ball
  • There are no directions involved as there are no goals set up
• Limit to only taking 3 touches – have to pass the ball on their 3rd touch
• Limit to 2 touches after 3 minutes
• Limit to 1 touch after another 3 minutes
• Take away all limits for the final 4 minutes
  • See if they continue to move the ball without taking too many touches

 

Game 2 – Scrimmage – 10 minutes

 

• Place goals on the endlines of your field and turn the keepaway game into a scrimmage
• Introduce touch limits if players start to hold on to the ball too long, or dominant players don’t pass the ball to the less dominant ones

 

Drill – Trap and Shoot – 10 minutes

• Demonstrate proper shooting technique
  • Trap the ball 2 to 3 steps in front of you
  • Run up to the ball, lock your ankle, lean forward so your chest is over the ball, and shoot using either:
    • The inside of your foot to place the ball into the goal (more accuracy less power)
    • The laces to shoot the ball harder (more power less accuracy)

• Put a goalkeeper in the big goal
  • If you don’t have a goal to work with, place two cones/bags/shirts about 8 big steps apart
• Split players into 4 lines
  • 2 lines about 20 yards away from the goal and in line with the goal posts (put cones down that players will stand behind)
  • 2 lines behind the endline in line with the 6 yard box
• Players on the endline pass the ball on the ground to the players standing in line 20 yards away
• Player 20 yards away traps the ball with the first touch and shoots it with the second touch
• Player who passed the ball joins the back of the shooting line, the player who shot the ball joins the back of the passing line
• The other side goes for their shot after goalkeeper is ready
  • Make sure the shooters, not the goalkeeper, retrieve their own shots so that the drill keeps moving along
• After 5 minutes make the lines switch so that the ones who were to the right of the goal are now to the left of it and vice versa

 

Team Talk – 5 minutes

 

• Select a team name
  • Suggestion: offer 3 choices and hold a blind vote to see which of the 3 choices is most popular
• Team cheer
  • 1,2,3 Go “team name”!