Drill 1 – 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 2 – Dribbling at a Cone – 20 minutes (comprises several mini drills and several demonstrations)

Setup

• Set up 2 20×20 boxes
  • Place a cone in the middle of the boxes
• Split the team up 4 ways, sending each set of players (2 to 4 players, depending on the size of the team) to one of the corners of a box
  • It is easier to use just one box for this drill, but you will need the other box in ensuing drills
• Each player has a ball

Mini Drill 1 – Turn Back Using Inside of the Foot – 2 minutes

• 1st player in line (each line goes at the same time) dribbles towards the middle cone, using only the right foot

 

• Just before reaching the middle cone, the players turn back towards the cone they came from using the inside of the right foot 

• Players dribble to the back of their own line using only the right foot, then the next player in line goes
• Keep going for 1 minute, then switch to left foot only for 1 minute

Mini Drill 2 – Turn Back Using Outside of the Foot – 2 minutes

Same as Mini Drill 1, except:

 

• Players use the outside of the foot to turn away from the cone
• 1 minute right foot only, then 1 minute left only

Mini Drill 3 – Turn Back Using Bottom of the Foot – 2 minutes

Same as Mini Drills 1 and 2, except:

• Players use the bottom of the foot to turn away from the cone
• 1 minute right foot only, then 1 minute left foot only

Mini Drill 4 – Beat the Cone with Inside-Out move – 2 minutes

• Players will go 2 at a time
  • Opposing lines go at the same time
  • The other two lines go after the first lines pass the center cone
• Instead of turning at the cone, the players will beat the cone using the inside-out move
  • Then dribble to the end of the opposite line
• Use right foot only for 1 minute, then use left foot only for another minute
  • When using the right foot, the players will beat the cone to the right
  • When using the left foot, the players will beat the cone to the left

Mini Drill 5 – Beat the Cone with Stepover move – 2 minutes

Same as Mini Drill 4, except:

• Players use the stepover move to beat the cone
• For 1 minute, use right foot only until you reach the cone, then perform the move beating the cone to the left, and use the left foot to dribble away from the cone
• Switch for 1 minute, using the left foot until you reach the cone, perform the move beating the cone to the right, and use the right foot to dribble away from the cone

Mini Drill 6 – Beat the Cone with Stop-and-Go move – 2 minutes

Same as Mini Drills 4 and 5, except:

• Players use the stop-and-go move to beat the cone
• For 1 minute use right foot only, beat the cone to the right, and continue to use the right foot to get to the end of the other line
• Switch to left foot for 1 minute after that

Mini Drill 6 – Beat the Cone with Inside-Inside move – 2 minutes

Same as Mini Drills 4, 5, and 6, except:

• Players use the inside-inside move to beat the cone
• For 1 minute use the right foot only, perform the move (right-left-right) and beat the cone to the right, and continue using the right foot to get to the end of the other line
• Switch to left foot for 1 minute after that

Mini Drill 7 – Beat the Cone with any move – Remainder of 20 minutes

Same as Mini Drills 4, 5, 6, and 7, except:

• Players are not limited in which foot they use to dribble or make a move
• Players are encouraged to make any move they want to
  • It can be a move learned in practice, or a move they saw in a game, or a move they just made up

Drill 3 – Pass and Move Around the Box – 5 minutes

Setup

• 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

Drill 

• 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
• Every minute or so switch the direction in which the players are going, to the left or to the right (clockwise or counterclockwise)
  • 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 when going to the left

Game 1 – Monkey in the Middle 1 Defender – 10 minutes

Setup

• Remove the cones that are in the center of the boxes
• One ball per box
• Send one defender (the monkey) from each team into the opposing box

Instruction

• Remind the players that they are going to be more successful if they move to “open up” an angle for a clear path between them and the passer as discussed in the Week 6 “Game 1 – 3v1 – Empty Cone” game

Game

• See how many consecutive passes the team can make without
  • the defender taking the ball away
  • the ball going out of bounds (out of the box)
• Every 2 minutes switch the defender

 

Game 2 – 2-on-1 – 10 minutes

Setup

• Place a goal on one end of each box
• 1 ball per box
  • Keep other balls around so the drill can go on if the ball gets cleared away far
• For a box that has 5 players
  • 2 sets of 2 attackers + 1 defender

Instruction

• The attackers should move to “open up” for their teammate who has the ball, set a clear path for a pass between them
  • If the one without the ball just stands there it will be easy for the defender to defend him
  • The attackers should use the entire width of the box to make it more difficult for the defender
  • The movement can be creative and can employ the “overlap” run taught in Week 4 Game 4
• The attacker with the ball should not force a pass to a teammate if the teammate is not open

Drill

• 2 attackers try to score a goal by beating 1 defender
  • Minimum of one pass has to happen before the attackers can shoot

• Defender scores by clearing the ball out of the box
• Keep one player as the defender for 2 minutes then switch
  • This will help the drill move along better
• Keep the sets of attackers switching after each attempt
  • Set 1 tries to score
  • Set 2 goes after them
• After 2 minutes, 1 of the 4 attackers becomes a defender, and the previous defender takes the vacated spot as an attacking partner in one of the 2 sets

 

Game 3 – Scrimmage – 10 minutes

• Get rid of the 2 boxes 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 into two teams
• For the first 5 minutes, demand a minimum of 3 passes before a team can score
• For the last 5 minutes, remove the passing restriction

End Practice

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