Drill 1 – Juggling – 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
  • Coach sets up the next set of drills while the players juggle

Drill 2 – Dribbling – 10 minutes (including setup and demonstrations)

Drill 2 comprises 4 mini-drills, each lasting about 2 minutes

Setup

• Place 3 pairs of cones (6 cones) about 15 steps apart from each other
  • Send 3 players behind each cone
• Each player should have a ball
• For each drill, the players from the opposing cones will go at the same time to keep the players moving
  • Tell the players to keep their heads up to avoid collisions
• The players will dribble to the back of the line at the opposing cone, and then go again when their turn is up to dribble back towards their original cone
  • They will always be dribbling towards the same 2 cones

Drill 2 – 1st mini drill – 2 minutes

• Regular dribble, but take lots of touches
• Come back when it is your turn and do the same around the cone you started from

Drill 2 – 2nd mini drill – 2 minutes

• Dribble: outside-outside of one foot outside-outside of the other foot’

Drill 2 – 3rd mini drill – 2 minutes

• Dribble: outside of one foot, roll-over with the bottom of that same foot towards the other foot, outside of the other foot, roll-over with the bottom of that same foot back towards the original foot

Drill 2 – 4th mini drill – 2 minutes

• Dribble: inside-inside of one foot and then outside-outside of that SAME FOOT
  • Use the right foot when going in one direction and the left foot when going back

Drill 3 – 10 minutes

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

Setup 

• Create a large rectangle with cones
  • About 60 x 50 steps
  • Place cones every 10 or so steps apart
• 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

Drill 4 – 10 minutes (with instruction)

Drill 4 comprises 3 mini drills

Setup

Drill 4 involves 3 mini drills. The first 2 mini drills use the setup described below. The only difference in the setup of the 3rd mini drill is that it switches where the soccer balls are at the beginning of it.

• Use the same rectangle and teams from the previous drill
• The players wearing the pennies stand on the outside of the cones without any soccer balls 
  • For the 3rd mini drill, the outside players have the soccer balls
• The players wearing regular shirts are inside of the cones with soccer balls at their feet
  • For the 3rd mini drill, the inside players are without the soccer balls
• HINT: For all of these drills, it is extremely important that players keep their head up in order:
  • Not to collide with other players (safety), and
  • To communicate with each other (for drill to work)
    • The communication has to be two-ways.
      • The player dribbling/passing the ball calls out the name of the teammate that ball is going to be dribbled/passed to
      • The player receiving the ball confirms with the dribbler/passer that they are about to exchange a dribble/pass.
  • Encourage players to go to a different side of the field to after they take over a dribble or receive a pass, rather than just going to their neighbor

Drill 4 – 1st mini drill – takeover – 2 minutes

• Inside players dribble the ball to an outside player
• Players perform a takeover
  • The inside player (the dribbler) calls out the name of the player on the outside where the ball is being dribbled
  • The outside player says “my ball”
  • The inside player stops dribbling the ball and the outside player takes it over
• Player that was outside is now inside, dribbling the ball into the middle, looking for another player on the outside to perform a takeover with
• Player that was inside is now outside waiting for another dribbler that will come to perform a takeover
• Go for 2 minutes

Drill 4 – 2nd mini drill – dribble+pass+move – 2 minutes

• The same as the 1st mini drill, except:
  • The inside players now pass the ball to the outside players
    • The inside player calls out the name of the outside player, the intended receiver
    • The outside player acknowledges that the pass from that passer will be received
    • The pass is made
      • The inside player runs to the spot where the pass went and waits for another pass to come
  • Outside players trap the ball, dribble into the middle, and pass it to another outside player
    • After making the pass, the player runs to that outside spot to await the next pass

Drill 4 – 3rd mini drill – trap+turn+pass – 1+1+1+1 minutes

• Outside players start with the ball

• Ball is passed to an inside player
  • Inside player traps the ball, turns with it, and finds another outside player (one without a ball) to pass the ball to
    • Remember the HINT about keeping the head up for safety/communication
• The players do not switch inside/outside in this drill
• After passing the ball, inside player looks for a pass from another outside player and performs the same: trap, turn, and pass to another player (one without a ball)
• Go for 1 minute then switch inside/outside players
• Go for another minute then switch inside/outside players again
• Go for 1+1 more minutes to give each group a 2nd try on the inside

Game 1 – Scrimmage – Switch the Field/Switch the Point of Attack – 15 minutes

Setup

• The players are already split into 2 teams
• Place goals on the endlines of your field
• Lay down a line of cones to designate a defender-free area, 7-8 steps wide
• Put 2 players, 1 from each team, into the defender-free zone
• These “wings” play for both teams, running up and down the line, wherever the ball is located
  • Every 2 or so minutes switch who the wings are to make sure everyone gets a turn

Game

• The teams cannot score a goal until both of the wings have touched the ball during a possession
  • Every time the team wins the ball it should look to…
    • Pass to one wing
      • Encourages going out wide early
    • Then pass to the other wing
      • Switching the field/point of attack
  • … before it shoots

Game 2 – Offense vs Defense – 10 minutes

Objective

• Attackers want to score on the big goal against a goalkeeper
• Defenders want to score on either of the small goals

Remember to reiterate all of the individual and team defending points covered previously

Setup

• Split players into two equal teams
• Put a goalkeeper in the big goal
  • Provide goalie with the same instructions as you would for a game
• Offense is attacking the big goal
• Set up two small goals, one on each side, a few steps short of the halfway line and a few steps to the inside of the sideline
• All of the balls are in the center circle
  • In another variation, the balls can be in the goal, and the drill can start with the goalie punting the ball or a defender/goalie taking a goal kick to the attackers to control and then play
    • This variation can be challenging for younger players as it is sometimes difficult for them to control a punt

Game

• Start with a pass from the center circle each time any of the following happens:
  • Offense scores
  • Offense takes a shot and the goalkeeper saves it
  • Ball goes out of bounds
  • Defense scores on one of the small goals
• After winning possession of the ball, the defense should look to as quickly as possible do the following:
  • Get the ball out of wide
  • Move it down the sideline to score
• Switch who is on offense/defense after 5 minutes

End Practice

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