These soccer drills will give your players “Mastery of the Ball”. It is your first duty as a coach to give your players the soccer skills to be effective players. Ball control is the key to that. It’s about being comfortable on the ball, instant control, able to change feet, and move the ball where you want.
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I was talking to a coach this week about how to control balls in the air, especially when heading the ball in training is off the menu for most clubs. I imagine that there will be much more of a contest to win the ball with a volley once it has dropped from head height. So how do you coach controlling balls in the air? MORE
in Ball Control and Footwork, Shooting
When the route to goal is blocked players need to be able to turn into space and go a different way to find a route to goal. MORE
This session aims to bring an individual skill into a game context. Skills usually happen as players run with the ball and meet an opponent. Getting players to use the skill unopposed is key to the session. MORE
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At the weekend I witnessed one of the best goals in the Premier League this season. It came from midfield for Tottenham against fierce north London rivals Arsenal. An example of how individual skills in your midfield can create unexpected goals MORE
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Everyone finds it exciting when a player goes through 1 on 1 against the goalkeeper... if it's your attacker you are on the edge thinking this is it a goal, but if your team is defending you are looking for your goalkeeper to smother the shot. Attackers should score but often they will not due to a number of reasons like taking too long to shoot, missing the target, hitting the keeper with a shot and even slipping over. MORE
in Ball Control and Footwork, Shooting
An individual session to get young players to unleash shots at goal when they are on the run. Good for coordination and balance with some ball control and of course shooting. MORE
in Ball Control and Footwork, Elite Soccer, Fun soccer games
This session helps players brush up on their passing, their runs off the ball, dribbling and close range finishing... oh and they have to avoid the alligators in the river. MORE
in Ball Control and Footwork, Blog
This week during lockdown we’ve set up a league at our club where boys in age groups challenge each other to beat the keepy uppy record – keeping the ball in the air with different parts of the body but mainly the foot. It helps to get them to try to do as many as possible because they want to win the league. MORE
in Ball Control and Footwork, Crossing
Good crosses are a key weapon in any teams attacking armoury. Here players are encouraged to attack through wingers who cross the ball first time MORE
in Ball Control and Footwork, Shooting
One of the options your attacking players have when they approach the penalty area, be it a winger, wingback or number 10, is to go it alone into the box to get past the defenders. MORE
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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
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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 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 Attacking, Ball Control and Footwork
This session is all about making decisions in the penalty area, communicating with a team-mate and using both feet to score. It gives all players an understanding of winning 1v1s in important areas and helps them to learn where to run to receive the ball in dangerous areas. MORE
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I came back from a game on Saturday feeling a bit low – my Under 10s who were unbeaten this season lost a game 5-1. We played well but as the game wore on the opposition began to win the important challenges especially the 1v1s. So they will be part of my training session tonight MORE
in Attacking, Ball Control and Footwork
Help your attackers to develop their dribbling skills and encourage them to fool defenders by disguising the direction they are going to take to shoot at goal. MORE
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Chipping the ball is a difficult skill but one that reaps benefits if players can do it. I like to get my players to chip the ball at practice into the hands of their goalkeeper or teammates so they know how to chip over congested areas of the pitch or chip an advancing goalkeeper to score a goal. MORE
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That old joke about a player's second touch being a tackle to try to win the ball back is not always funny. Especially if it's your players losing the ball. Watching the Premier League over the last week it is clear that a player's first touch has never been more important with fast passing and receiving the key to the best teams I have watched. MORE
in Ball Control and Footwork, Passing
Filipe Ragel the Under 19 head coach of Marcet Academy in Barcelona shares a video of his team working on possession, pressing and creating an product by passing into one of the goals. MORE
in Ball Control and Footwork, Practice plans
In the previous Smart Sessions Core Skills, we looked at long passing. Today, we show you how to teach your players how to bring those long passes under control. MORE
in Ball Control and Footwork, Midfield
This is all about keeping hold of the ball using an overload and a triangle midfield shape. Great for getting midfielders to think about their shape and where to move to receive the ball. MORE
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The international break is coming up and all the national team managers are out and about. Whenever I see the Wales manager Ryan Giggs I always think of that magnificent dribble in the FA Cup to beat Arsenal. He was an outstanding dribbler. MORE
in Attacking, Ball Control and Footwork
In this session players learn to be confident on the ball through triangles, a shape at the heart of football – in both attack and defence – which is comprised of three players. MORE
