Do you want your team to be better at possessing the ball? Do you want your team to be better transitioning from offense and defense? Do you want to improve your team’s fitness? The drill below by World Class Coaching can help with all three areas.

The drill is set up with two groups of seven players in a sixty yard long space from the midfield line to the 18 yard box line that is split up into two sections.  The first game involves both teams playing keep away and trying to make six consecutive passes in their attaching half of the grid.  For each six consecutive passes, teams get a point or goal and can keep going until the other team wins the ball or there is a change of possession.  The coach in this drill assigns each player on each team a number from one to seven.  If a ball does go out of bounds, a number is called out and the players with that number must sprint to an extra ball on the side of the grid.  The first player to a ball gets to restart the game and start a new possession for his or her team.

There are several coaching points to instruct your players on while doing this drill:

1.Importance of Possession

Everything about this drill focuses on possession.  There are no goals to score on and to win, your team must pass and keep the ball.  The possession game is extremely important in every soccer game as teams that control the ball normally have better opportunities to attack and ultimately score goals.  This doesn’t mean the team that has the most possession wins every game, buts it’s a good indicator of the strong and more technical team.

2. Quick transitions

 

Players should be instructed to make quick transitions from offense to defense, as well as defense to offense during this drill.  The focus on defense should always be to put pressure on the offensive team to win the ball back.  Once this happens, players must quickly transition to keeping the ball while spreading out and finding open space.  These transitions happen all the time during a game and are critical if your team wants to be successful.

3. Offensive Half Possession

 

The reason the consecutive passes must be done in each team’s offensive half is to encourage players to move the ball while attacking.  If a player makes a mistake or the ball is taken away, this normally does not hurt the team too much in their offensive half.  If this would occur in their defensive half, the result could be much more severe with possibly getting scored on by the other team.

World Class Coaching offers many great coaching tools. At the bottom of this post you will find links to three free e-Books that they are offering.

The YouTube video below has sound, so please make sure that your sound is turned on and that you have access to the site. Note that some schools block access to YouTube

 

 

Click on the images below to gain access to the FREE eBooks from World Class Coaching

 

In clip below from World Class Coaching you will see a great drill for conditioning. The drill is set up with two groups of seven players in a sixty yard long space from the midfield line to the 18 yard box line that is split up into two sections.  The first game involves both teams playing keep away and trying to make six consecutive passes in their attaching half of the grid.  For each six consecutive passes, teams get a point or goal and can keep going until the other team wins the ball or there is a change of possession.  The coach in this drill assigns each player on each team a number from one to seven.  If a ball does go out of bounds, a number is called out and the players with that number must sprint to an extra ball on the side of the grid.  The first player to a ball gets to restart the game and start a new possession for his or her team.

There are several coaching points to instruct your players on while doing this drill:

1. Importance of Possession

Everything about this drill focuses on possession.  There are no goals to score on and to win, your team must pass and keep the ball.  The possession game is extremely important in every soccer game as teams that control the ball normally have better opportunities to attack and ultimately score goals.  This doesn’t mean the team that has the most possession wins every game, buts it’s a good indicator of the strong and more technical team.

 

     2. Quick transitions

Players should be instructed to make quick transitions from offense to defense, as well as defense to offense during this drill.  The focus on defense should always be to put pressure on the offensive team to win the ball back.  Once this happens, players must quickly transition to keeping the ball while spreading out and finding open space.  These transitions happen all the time during a game and are critical if your team wants to be successful.

 

    3. Offensive Half Possession

The reason the consecutive passes must be done in each team’s offensive half is to encourage players to move the ball while attacking.  If a player makes a mistake or the ball is taken away, this normally does not hurt the team too much in their offensive half.  If this would occur in their defensive half, the result could be much more severe with possibly getting scored on by the other team.

World Class Coaching offers a variety of helpful coaching tools that you may purchase. However, the are offering the following resource absolutely free. Click on this link for your free copy of Soccer Conditioning Drills with a Ball

 

The YouTube video below has audio, so please make sure that your sound is turned on and that you have access to the site. Some schools block access to YouTube.

 

Click on the image below for your FREE copy of Soccer Conditioning Drills with Ball

Juggling is important for every player at every level in developing and improving technical skills.  The drill below is courtesy of World Class Coaching and shows an example of players performing a juggling drill during a practice session.  The coach instructs the players to perform several different juggling techniques while working with a partner.

The three juggling exercises performed are explained and listed below:

1. Juggle + Volley Pass

Each partner starts off by juggling their own ball that are located about 10 yards straight across from each other.  Once the coach blows the whistle, each player must volley the ball across to their partner while not letting the ball bounce and continuing to juggle the new ball.  This repeats each time the coach blows the whistle as players must focus on accurate volleys to their partner.

     2. Juggle + Volley in Air and Ground

This exercise is the same as the first with each partner juggling a ball across from one another, but once the whistle blows, one partner plays a volley pass in the air and one partner plays a volley pass on the ground.  This change adds a mental aspect where the players must now think not only the pass they must make, but also what type of pass they will be receiving.

3. Juggle + Turn & Volley

Both partners are now on the same side of the grid with one player going at a time.  One partner juggles on the move across the grid, then turns and volleys the ball in the air back to their partner once they reach the other side.  The second partner then follows and repeats the process once they receive the volley pass.  The goal is to keep the ball in the air the entire time and not let it hit the ground when juggling across or passing it back.

World Class Coaching is offering you a free eBook with 73 Drills.  Click the link Complete Soccer Coaching Guide for more information.

The YouTube video has audio, so please make sure that your sound is turned on and that you have access to the site. Some schools block access to YouTube

 

The WCC Complete Soccer Coaching Guide  FREE eBook contains 73 drills and exercises and is packed with a wide range of topics by soccer coaching expert, Lawrence Fine. This book has over 140 pages that covers topics, from technical drills to conditioning to formations and small-sided games, these drills have been used by 1,000s of coaches from over 70 countries across the world to improve their coaching knowledge and the quality of their training sessions. (Click the link or image for free download)

 

This post was provided by The Training Triangle

Training players to know how and when to play the final pass that breaks down defenses is an extremely important piece of training for your team’s attacking players.

These type of passes, that are executed so consistently by elite playmakers like David Silva and Andrés Iniesta, are exciting to watch and often result in quality chances on goal.  More importantly this pass is usually an across body pass where the players hips are facing one direction (perhaps facing the defender), but he passes the ball with his leg swinging across his body, in a different direction.  This is an important type of pass for players to train, and perfect their technique, as it is used all the time to successfully break the lines of the opponents defense.

Watch 21 David Silva cut passes used to play between the lines of the opponents defense:

 

In order for these “breaking the lines” passes to come off consistently with your team, the timing and type of pass needs to be properly trained, as well as the timing and type of run made by the receiving player.

This Final Pass Set Up is just one of the many mannequin training exercises Arsenal uses with their first team as well as youth teams to train players to consistently execute the final pass:

 

By Matt Settles

Coach Settles  is entering his 12th season as a high school coach in Indiana. The former collegiate player at the University of Southern Indiana is also a regular contributor to the Soccer Toolbox

Scoring goals is important for all teams at every level in order to be successful. Players need to practice shooting and get lots of repetition in training sessions so they are prepared in games. A challenge for every coach is to find shooting drills that help players improve their skills while keeping them engaged. One of the best ways to do this is to find shooting drills that are competitive and fun for the players. That’s right, some drills can be fun and should be fun if you want to get the most out of your players. If players are excited when a drill is set up or asking about doing a certain drill before practice even begins, this is a good sign and indicator that they enjoy and like it.
Here are several competitive (and fun) shooting drills/games to try with your team:

1.Shooting Knockout

This drill is set up with players in a line about 20 yards out from a regulation size goal. One player starts in goal playing goalkeeper and a coach is located on the side of goal passing the balls out to the players running in to take a one touch shot from 10 – 15 yards. The rotation begins with the player shooting moving to play goalkeeper after taking his or her shot. The goalkeeper rotates to the back of the shooting line if they are still in the game. In order to stay in the game, a player must either make their shot or save a shot (missed shot over the goal or off a post counts as miss). If a player does not make their shot and does not make a save, they are eliminated. The last player left wins the game.

2. PK Knockout

The PK (penalty kick) knockout is very similar to the shooting knockout game, but players are now shooting from twelve yards out where a penalty kick would be taken from during a game. The rotation is still the same with the player that shoots going to play goalie and the goalie rotating to the back of the shooting line if they are still in the game. Players must either make their PK or make a save to stay in the game. If they miss their shot and don’t make a save, they are eliminated. The last player left wins the game.

3. World Cup

This is a game where players partner up to make teams that compete against each other. A goalkeeper or coach throws a ball into the grid in front of the goal (space can be adjusted based on numbers) and all teams try to win the ball and score on goal. Once a player scores, their team steps out of the grid and moves on to the next round. The game continues until the last team left each round gets eliminated. All the teams that scored and advanced come back into the grid to start the next round and the game continues. The last two teams advancing play against each other with two goals needed to win the championship (World Cup champs). All kids love playing this game and there are lots of skills that can be worked on while letting the players have a little fun.

 

If you are looking for more shooting drills, check out the free gift below from  World Class Coaching. Just click the link 31 Favorite Shooting Drills to get your FREE download.

These 31 drills were submitted by soccer coaches from all over the world. They are available to you at absolutely no cost. Thanks to World Class Coaching for the generous offer.