Drill 1 – Slalom and Finish the Run – 10 minutes

Drill 1 comprises 5 mini drills

Setup

• Set up 2 lines of cones
• The 2 lines are about 10 steps apart from each other
• The cones on the line are 3 to 5 steps apart
  • The last cone on line 1, as well as the first cone on line 2, are about 10 steps away from the previous cone
• Split the players into two groups
  • One group goes to the beginning of line 1 and the other group to the beginning of group 2
    • The two lines are facing each other, so the beginning of the line will actually be on the opposite side
  • Every player has a ball

Instruction

• Keep the ball close
• Keep your head up to see where you are dribble
• Do not slow down

Min Drill 1 – Regular Dribble – 2 minutes

• Players dribble through the line by slaloming through the cones
• After getting by the 2nd to last cone, the players accelerate to the last cone (10 steps away)
• After reaching the end of the line, the players join the back of the other line
• The next player in line goes when the player ahead passes the 3rd cone

Mini Drill 2 – Right foot only – 2 minutes

Same as Mini Drill 1, except:

• Players use the right foot only

Mini Drill 3 – Left foot only – 2 minutes

Same as Mini Drill 2, except:

• Players use the left foot only

Mini Drill 4 – Roll the ball across – 2 minutes

Same as Mini Drill 3, except:

• Players use the bottom of the foot to roll the ball across the line between the cones

Mini Drill 5 – Regular Dribble Again – 2 minutes

Same as Mini Drill 1, except:

• Encourage players to get through the line at a higher speed than usual, but keep the ball under control still

Drill 2 – Beginner Juggling – 5 minutes

Players stand in a big circle, holding the soccer balls in their hands

• From chest-high
  • Drop the ball and hit it back up into your hands using your thigh
    • Keep an eye on the ball and watch as your thigh hits it
      • HINT: Your thigh hits the ball, not the other way around. You control where the ball goes
    • Repeat several times, then,
  • Drop the ball and hit it with one thigh, then the other thigh, and then catch it with your hands
    • Keep an eye on the ball and watch your one thigh, and then the other thigh, hits the ball
    • Repeat several times, then,
  • Drop the ball and see how many times a player can hit the ball with the thighs without the ball hitting the ground, then,
  • Drop the ball and kick it with your foot back up into your hands
    • Again, keep an eye on the ball and watch as your foot kicks the ball back up
      • Do not drop the ball and try to kick at the same time (many players do this), but wait for it to drop close to your foot before kicking it back up
    • Repeat several times, then
  • Drop the ball and kick it with one foot, then the other foot, and then catch it with your hands
    • Watch the ball get kicked with one foot and then the other foot, then,
  • Drop the ball and see how many times a player can hit the ball with the feet without the ball hitting the ground, then,
  • Drop the ball and see how many times a player can hit the ball with either the thighs or the feet without the ball hitting the ground
• Give the players several tries and ask them to remember their high score
  • This is the score they will try to beat when they juggle from now on

Drill 3 – Pass and Move Around the Box – 10 minutes

Setup

• Setup at least 2 10×10 steps boxes
• Split the players into two teams (at least 5, but hopefully no more than 8 players per team)
  • If you have more than 16 players, create a 3rd box
• Send one team to one box, and the other team to the other box
  • Send at least 1 player to 3 of the 4 corners of the box, and at least 2 players to 1 of the 4 corners
• Only one ball is needed
  • The ball should be at a corner that has at least 2 players at it
• Remove the cones from the center of the boxes

Mini Drill 1 – Pass and Move Clockwise – 3 minutes

• Player passes the ball to the 1st player in line to the left
  • Player follows the ball by running to the back of the line the ball was just passed to
• That player traps the ball and passes it to the 1st player in line to the left
  • Player follows the ball by running to the back of the line the ball was just passed to
• Keep going for 2 minutes
  • See if the drill can go without breaking down (the ball keeps moving, the players move after the pass)
• HINT: Encourage players to trap the ball into the space they will be passing it into
  • Trap to the left rather than in the front to facilitate faster ball movement

Mini Drill 2 – Pass and Move Counter Clockwise – 3 minutes

Same as Mini Drill 1, except:

• Pass and move counter clockwise

Mini Drill 3 – Pass and Move Double-Pass – Remainder of 10 minutes

Same as Mini Drills 1 and 2, except:

• The player who passed the ball runs towards the player trapping the ball
• The player traps the ball and passes it back to the player who passed it in the first place
  • This should be a short pass as the player should have been moving towards the receiving player
• This player traps the ball and passes it back, but slightly in front of the receiving player who passes it to the next player
• The direction (clockwise or clockwise) does not matter
  • If the players are performing the double-pass correctly, then feel free to switch the direction as you see fit to challenge the players
• HINT: The first two passes (the initial pass and the pass back) are to the players’ feet, the 3rd pass is into the space the receiving player will run into to keep the drill going
• HINT: Make sure the players take the extra touch to trap the ball before passing it on
  • As they get more experience they will eliminate this extra touch and perform 1-touch passing, but for the sake of keeping the drill going, the extra touch is desired
  • Clockwise
  • Counter Clockwise
  • Double Pass Clockwise
  • Double Pass Counter Clockwise

Drill 4 – Move to the Empty Cone – 10 minutes

Setup

• Split the players into groups of 3
• Set up 10×10 boxes for each group of 3
  • You should already have 2 of the boxes set up’
• The 3 players stand on 3 different corners of the box
  • 1 corner of the box remains empty
• 1 ball per group
  • Player who starts with the ball should be on the corner of the box that is to the left of the empty corner of the box

Instruction

• The players move to the empty cone to receive the pass before the passer passes it to the empty cone
  • The run has to come before the pass
• Take 2 minutes to demonstrate the movement of the players and the balls

Drill

• For the 1st 4 minutes, the players will move to their left, the ball will move to the right
• The player that is on the corner across the box from where the ball is makes a run to the left to get to the empty corner of the box
• The player with the ball passes the ball to the right to that same empty corner of the box

• The player who made the run traps the ball, turns to the right
• The player across the box now makes the run to the cone to the left, which is now the empty cone

• The player with the ball passes the ball to the empty cone
• The runner traps the ball, turns to the right, etc.
• For the final 4 minutes switch direction
  • The players move to the right
  • The ball moves to the left

Game 1 – 3v1 Empty Cone – 10 minutes

Setup

Same as Drill 4, except:

• Split the players into groups of 4
  • The easiest way is to break up one of the previous groups of 3 and send each of the players to the other groups
• Place a defender in the middle of the box
  • 3 attackers around the box

Instruction

• The player with the ball should have 2 options for a pass
  • An attacker already standing on a cone
  • An attacker moving to the empty cone
• The ball should not be crossing the box diagonally through the middle
  • If the players are moving, the pass along the perimeter of the box (to either side) should be available

Game

• Keep the ball away from the defender
• Keep each of the 4 players in the middle for 2 minutes at a time
  • Do not switch the defender out every time the ball is intercepted

Game 2 – Scrimmage – 15 minutes

Setup

• Remove the boxes used in previous games and set up a small goal on each of the end lines of your field
  • Either use Pugg goals, or place two cones/bags/shirts about 3 steps apart from each other
• Split the players into 2 teams

Instruction

• For the first 10 minutes, demand that the team on offense makes at least 3 passes before it can score
• For the last 5 minutes remove the 3-pass minimum restriction

Game

• Players can either score on the opponents’ goal, or they can make 5 passes in a row without being intercepted to score a goal

End Practice

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