Better than one direction

Being able to keep control of the ball while changing direction when dribbling is an important skill that players must use in matches, especially when trying to beat or avoid a defender.

What this session is about

1. Improving dribbling skills and close control.
2. Improving ball familiarity and touch.
3. Changing direction with the ball.

What to think about

Players must:

• Keep the ball within playing distance.
• Use the inside and outside of both feet, and use skills such as cuts, rollovers, etc. if confident.
• Take quick, small steps.
• Start to dribble with their head up as they improve.
• Get the technique right first, add speed later.

Set-up

Warm up	Session	Developments	Game Situation	Warm Down
7-10 minutes	20-25 minutes	15-20 minutes	10-15 minutes	7-10 minutes

What you get your players to do

Mark out a line with eight pyramid cones and use four players (two at each end), as shown in the top picture.

Player A dribbles the ball in and out of the cones without touching them, and finishes with a pass to player B at the opposite end, who repeats the drill in the opposite direction, passing to player C and so on.

To progress, vary the distances between each cone, to encourage tighter close control.

Players dribble a ball through cones to hone their close control.

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Development

Use four players and set up a diamond shape with disc cones, as shown in the middle picture.

One player starts in each corner. The drill starts with player A dribbling a ball to player C, changing direction to dribble to D then changing direction again and dribbling towards B and passing to him.

Every time a player is dribbled past, they must run to the unoccupied corner.

B then passes the ball across to C and runs to the unoccupied corner, while he is replaced by A. C then starts dribbling to repeat the drill.

This exercise teaches players how to change the path of their run while dribbling with the ball.

Players develop the ability to change direction while dribbling with the ball.

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Game situation

Play 4v4 in a 30-yard square with five cone gate goals placed in random parts of the area.

Teams score a point when one of their players dribbles through a gate goal.

Players take dribble-ins instead of throw-ins when the ball leaves the area.

The team that scores most points wins.

Teams win points by dribbling the ball through flag goals that are placed randomly in the area.

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What to call out