This season, never hunt around for a fresh soccer drill again. Get proven and easy to use drills for all groups and abilities with Soccer Coach Weekly. As a coach, it is your job to give your team the skills and technique to be great players.
The soccer drills in this section will help you coach your players in the core skills of the game. We’ll tell you what to look out for, how to get the ideas over to your players, and we’ll give you games and exercises to really power-up their skills.
in Goalkeeping, Practice plans
There are times when rather than just sending the ball upfield as far as possible following a back pass, a goalkeeper may have time and a team-mate available to retain possession. MORE
in Defending, Other, Small Sided Games
Anticipate the ball being played through the lines and intercept passes by blocking passing routes. Players will also need to be able to tackle and win the ball MORE
in Attacking, Small Sided Games
This tactical game is great for getting players thinking about who should be the attacker and how to make the most of points given to players MORE
in Ball Control and Footwork, Email newsletters
I was out walking on the local golf course where I live this week and in the distance I saw a child running from what seemed miles away at top speed. As the child got closer I realised that it was someone dribbling a ball. Of course on the fairways it was like being at Wembley on a well cared for football pitch! It was great to see a child enjoying dribbling a ball, chipping over the bunkers and swerving around the patches of heather that catch out an unwary golfer. MORE
Defenders must be able to cope in 1v1 battles against attackers. This session will help you teach your players how to keep the “goals against” column to a minimum. MORE
session aims to improve the attitude to shooting at goal by concentrating on having a good first touch or by combining with team mates in order to create space for a shot. MORE
in Crossing, Set pieces
Corners are a great way of putting pressure on the opposition and teams should press home their advantage with good routines. MORE
Use this session to train your players to hit a team-mate with pinpoint accuracy. Good long passing from side to side or to an advancing player is important to the development of young players. MORE
Passing to maintain possession is one thing; passing to hurt the opposition by moving them around and breaking through defensive lines is another and requires instilling a sense of purpose in players. MORE
Shooting from wide angles is all about accuracy, confidence and skill. Young players are often scared to try shooting from outside the box, but this session will give them the confidence to try outrageous shots. MORE
in Ball Control and Footwork, Email newsletters
Turning with the ball has always been a skill that draws names from the great players through the ages – think of the Cruff turn or Zidane spin turn. It used to make me wonder how players like Lionel Messi, Andrés Iniesta, Zinedine Zidane or Johan Cruyff could turn their opponents inside out, game after game – I now know it needs practice and from a young age. MORE
in Goalkeeping, Practice plans
A goalkeeper’s job is to make it as difficult as possible for an opposition striker to score in any situation. And when it’s just the goalkeeper against a striker in a 1 v 1, it is essential that the goalkeeper uses all the tools within his/her arsenal to make it as tough as possible for the striker to score. MORE
in Defending, Small Sided Games
Teams can turn up and launch long balls behind your defenders. This game will get players watching for, and reacting to, the danger of the long ball. MORE
in Attacking, Ball Control and Footwork
Use this game and it will develop the ability of your players to use dribbling skills to win one-on-one situations. Individual skills develop players so they can keep the ball when facing an opponent. MORE
in Attacking, Ball Control and Footwork
Train your players to run at opposition defenders with the ball, making it difficult for the defenders to either tackle or turn and chase. MORE
in Email newsletters, Small Sided Games
One of the ways to improve your team in 2021 is to get them communicating on the pitch. Players do this by verbal and non verbal actions, like pointing where they want a ball to be passed or calling for the ball when overlapping from behind like a fullback running outside a winger. MORE
Use this session to train your players to make darting runs behind the defence in order to pick up the ball and score goals. Rapid forward breaks put your team on the front foot when they are attacking. MORE
The playmaking midfielder is a player every team can benefit from. If you think of Andrea Pirlo, Andres Iniesta or Xavi Hernandez, you can see how influential their ability to play and receive passes is when it comes to launching attacks. MORE
in Goalkeeping, Practice plans
There are times when a goalkeeper can’t catch a flighted ball, such as when the penalty box is crowded, so the next best option is to clear the ball as far away as possible. The two-fisted punch is the most effective way to do this. MORE
Use this session to teach players to press opponents high up the pitch – so they can win the ball nearer to the goal. By pressing quickly and working together, attackers will win the ball back nearer the opponent’s goal and have a greater chance of scoring. MORE
in Goalkeeping, Tips and advice
This session is all about movement around the goal so keepers have the best chance of reacting to danger. It forces shot stoppers to think about how they stand and the positions they MORE
In matches, forwards often have to play with their backs to goal. This will allow defenders and midfielders to make positive forward passes into attacking areas of the pitch and support those passes with good runs. Then they can expect accurate set-ups by forwards to shoot. MORE
in Goalkeeping, Practice plans
Goalkeepers should be as comfortable with the ball at their feet as they are with it in their hands, particularly when they receive and clear back passes from their defenders. MORE
in Email newsletters, Fun soccer games
Sometimes the break can be annoying for teams that have been playing well - first the coronavirus has stopped the season then along comes the winter holiday. But to give the kids a break it is always a good idea to do things they love to play and have fun at the last training session of the year. MORE
