Bibs And Cones

Aim: Practice shooting after quick passes

In practising shooting, every player needs to get their fair share of shots, but the drill needs to have some element of a game environment. This drill gets players playing two quick one two’s with static players and then shooting at goal.

Line players up behind cone A. Have one player stand at cone C and one player at cone D. Player X starts off with the ball, plays a long pass to the player at cone C. Player at cone C plays a short pass ahead of Player X. Player X plays a short pass to player at cone D. Player at cone D plays a short pass ahead of Player X who goes on to shoot on goal. When all players have had their turn, get players to line up behind cone B and repeat the drill, this time working the left foot.

If this is done at speed it will really benefit the passing, movement and shooting of your players. It is also good practice for your goalkeeper who will have a lot of shots fired his / her direction.

Tags: Drills, Passing, shooting

Aim: teach players to use their body to shield the ball

One of the hardest things to teach young players is to hold onto the ball and use it wisely. A player can be a great passer but if they panic when the ball is coming to them they will typically just lump the ball away as quickly as possible.

This drill does not involve any passing. But it focuses on getting the players to use their body strength to shield the ball from another player, this giving them time to find a good pass.

Arrange a square,size dependant on age of players. I used 15 x 15 square initially but players tend to get sucked into a corner so smaller would have done. Arrange players into two teams, one player from each team enters the square for one minute. Player who winds the ball must shield the ball from the other. Encourage players to use their shoulders,hips and backs to protect the ball.

It is good practice for the opposing player also, they will have to work hard to win the ball. If they do win the ball, then they must shield it. This is the type of drill that you will see come into effect in the players games immediately. Over the course of a few weeks, you will see players improve immensely.

Tags: Drills, possession, strength

Cristiano Ronaldo this week won the Ballon d’Or in recognition of his extraordinary accomplishments over the last year. The Portuguese combines speed, skill and strength to devastating affect. So many young players are now wearing his jersey, practising his skills and also mimicking some of the lesser likened parts of his game. Heres a video of the best of his skills, good luck coaching it!

Tags: ronaldo, Skills, video

Getting notifications to your team is essential and over the cost of a season, costly. Teamer.net addresses both these issues. SIgn up, get your players to sign up. You can then send text messages and emails to your team, without charge. Players can confirm their attendance by reply to the text (cost of regular text) or replying to the email. Great service.

Tags: contact, teamer, text messages