Staying on the ball – Warm-Up
in Soccer dribbling drills, Warm Ups
Allow your players to develop confidence and technique in this three-part session. By HANNAH DUNCAN MORE
Easter egg hunt
With the Easter holidays just around the corner, why not try this collection of Easter-inspired drills for your next session? These fun games will keep your players entertained and teach them vital skills.
What this session is about
- Improving players’ fitness and strength.
- Developing dribbling skills.
- Ensuring players can pass accurately.
What to think about
- Dribbling – keep the ball within playing distance while using the inside and outside of either foot. Use quick, small steps and keep the head up.
- Passing – a player’s belly button should be facing the target. Place the non-kicking foot alongside the ball and side-foot through horizontal mid-line. The weight, accuracy and follow-through should be adjusted to the length of pass needed.
Set-up
Bunny hop 1
Split players into four equal teams. Place five disc cones in a line, a yard apart, with a ball balanced on each cone, for each team. Various drills can be tried including hopping sideways to the left, over the first ball, hopping forward, then hopping sideways to the right, over the next ball, and so on. To progress, turn each drill into a race.
Bunny hop 2
Each player has a ball. They hop from one foot to the other, each time touching the top of the ball with the sole of the raised foot (toe-taps).
| Warm up | Session | Developments | Game Situation | Warm Down |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 minutes | 10 minutes | 15 minutes | 15 minutes | 10 minutes |
What you get your players to do
Tap the egg 1
One ball or “egg” is used between two players. Players stand 10 yards apart with a disc cone halfway between them and a ball is balanced on it. Each player attempts to knock the ball off by passing their ball at the disc cone.
Tap the egg 2
Split players into two equal teams. Team A lines up in two equal rows facing each other, with a channel between them. Each pair of facing players has a ball between them. The players in team B take it in turns to dribble a ball down the channel and back again. As they do so, team A’s players try to hit the dribbling player or their ball with a side-foot pass. The team with the most number of successful “strikes” wins. Passes should not be struck too hard.
Players from each team race to hop over their set of cones before their opponents.
Development
The Easter chase
Split players into four teams. Place all the balls in a central area, with the teams at the corners of a grid. One person from each team runs toward the centre, collects a ball and dribbles it back to their corner, then the next player goes. Once all the balls have been collected, players can then go to the other teams’ corners to steal a ball. Players are not allowed to take a ball that is being dribbled and can’t stop their own balls from being stolen. If they want, teams can leave one player “at home” that they can pass balls to. Play for two minutes and the team with most balls at their base is the winner.
One player at a time runs through the channel with a ball, trying to avoid being hit by the other team’s players.
Game situation
Once all the balls have been taken from the centre, each of the four teams can steal from each other.
