The Receive and Turn Drill

This drill will work well with Under 8 and up players. Younger players should focus on ground balls, older players can mix it up with both ground and lofted balls.Organization -

• Balls start on the outside.
• Players on the inside move to receive a ball from a player on the outside, then give the ball back to a different player on the outside.

Technique -

• Proper receiving with the inside and outside of the foot. Use of the thigh or chest for lofted balls.
• Work on various turning techniques like shielding.

Coaching Points -

• Move with the head up
• Communication and awareness (visual and verbal)
• Change speed
• Find options early
• Timing of the run, so you are moving when you receive the ball
• Change of speed with and without the ball
• Keeping eye on the ball
• Relax the controlling surface

Variations -

• Players on the outside serve with their hands (like a goalkeeper)
  

Under 10 Drill - "Monkey In The Middle"

THE GAME:
Team A and B attempt to keep the ball away from team C by:

1. Possessing the ball using their own players, or
2. Passing the ball over or through the middle zone to the other team who are waiting in their own zone.
   

The defending teams are able to get out of the “middle” by:

1. Replacing the team that loses the ball out of bounds, or
2. Dispossessing a team and making a pass into the other grid to the waiting team (e.g. Stealing it from A and passing to B.
   

The defending team is only allowed to send three players into one of the grids at one time. The three remaining players must be back in the “middle” before the ball is sent into the other grid. They can not enter the grid until the ball does. If a ball is lost out of bounds, the coach immediately puts a ball into play in the other grid area, making the new defending team run to put immediate pressure on the ball. Make the grids bigger to allow the attacking team more success, smaller to challenge them more.

FIELD SIZE: coach’s discretion

COACHING POINTS:

• Transition
• Attacking principles: long passing, attacking shape, receiving long passes, support
• Defending principles: pressure, cover, balance, compactness, immediate chase
• Make sure: if teams are not eve, it is OK for a team to play one player down.
• Keep the game flowing, if a ball goes out of bounds, immediately call out who is in the middle and put the next ball into play.
• Defending team defends as a unit and keeps compact.
• If an attacking team loses possession of the ball, they try to win it back before the defending team plays it out of their grid.
  

Under 10 Lesson Plan - Receiving Low Balls

Objectives:
To improve the technique of receiving soccer balls played on the ground. To help players see different methods of receiving ground balls (inside of foot, outside of foot, across body, through legs, etc.).

Activity One: Dutch Circle (Warm-up)

Organization -
Half of the players create a 25-35 yd outer circle and have soccer balls at their feet. These players must always be alert and on their toes. The other half of the players are in the middle of this circle and do not have soccer balls. The inner players check to players on the outside to receive a pass from them. They receive the pass and then play to any player on the outer circle who does not have a ball (except player who passed to them). They then check to another person on the outside that has a ball and repeat this process for about 2-3 minutes until coach switches players on outside and inside. Focus on both front foot and back foot receptions and add in feints (i.e. ball runs through legs, ball runs across body, or take ball early). Work on receiving with both feet and receiving sideways-on.

Key Coaching Points -

• Get body behind the ball and be on toes
• Go to the ball, do not wait for it
• Keep ankle of receiving foot locked
• Cushion ball as it arrives (as you would catching an egg)
• Point of contact is the middle of the ball
• Keep feet moving before ball arrives
• Make your first touch active by pushing the ball in the direction in which you want to go (typically away from pressure)
• Get head up before and after receiving
• Always try to receive the ball facing the way you want to play
  

Activity Two: Numbers Passing

Organization -
Split the team into groups of 4-5 players. Give every player a number. Have them spread out and pass the ball from number 1 to 2, from 2 to 3, etc. through the whole group. The highest numbered player simply passes back to number 1 and the activity continues. Tell all the players that the ball cannot stop moving, and they cannot stop moving. As they become proficient at the activity, introduce another ball to the group; they now have to pay attention to where they are receiving the ball from as well as where they need to play the ball next. Version 2: Have the whole team as one group and follow the same information above (but can add more than one soccer ball to group).

Key Coaching Points -

• Reinforce the coaching points listed in activity #1
• Player receiving must have head up to know what they are going to do with the ball before they get it

Activity Three: Four Square Passing

Organization -
Form a grid 35yds x 35yds with squares roughly 4 yds across in each corner. Two teams of 4 to 6 players try to score by passing the ball to a teammate who makes a run into one of the four squares. Only players from the attacking team can enter a corner square. Once a player in the square receives a ball, they can pass to a teammate or dribble the ball out for a point. Balls out of play can be passed or dribbled back into play.


Key Coaching Points -

• Reinforce the coaching points listed in activity #1 and #2

Activity Four: Bread and Butter

Organization -
Typical 4 vs. 4 but with an additional 4 players who stand on outside of field and can be used by either team as outlets (can limit the touches of these players if they have the ability (ie: two touches)). If a team gets scored upon, they become the team on the outside and the outside team plays on the field. Use approximately a 20x25 yd area. May restrict the players to 2 or 3 touches to force quicker decisions, and better body position before the ball arrives. Keep score and make the game competitive.Key Coaching Points -

• Reinforce the coaching points listed in activity #1 and #2
• When receiving balls with back to goal or in midfield, try to receive sideways on (with body sideways to the length of the field) and look over shoulder before receiving the ball
  

Activity Five: Scrimmage

Organization -
Play a typical soccer game with goalies

Key Coaching Points -

• Reinforce the coaching points listed in activity #1 and #2
• Highlight the technique of receiving
• Reinforce positive decision making opportunities (how they receive the ball in relation to where they are on the field and the options they have)
  

Receiving Skill - Cushioning The Ball

When a hard ball is coming at a player and this player is trying to receive the ball, the key is to cushion the ball as it arrives. While this might seem quite obvious, the reality is many young players tense up as the ball approaches, which results in the ball hitting their foot (or other party part) and bouncing away. The more relaxed your body is when the ball arrives, the easier it will be to control the ball.

As an example, think of trying to catch an egg. When the egg makes contact with your hands, if you don't give, the egg will break in your hands. If, upon contact with the egg, you pull back to soften the contact, you will catch the egg and it will stay intact.

Receiving the ball uses the same concept, As the ball makes contact with your foot, relax and pull your foot back to soften the blow. This will allow you to maintain control of the ball, regardless of how hard it was hit.

It's the same concept with using other parts of the body to receive the ball. If the ball is coming in chest high, when the ball makes contact with your chest, bend your knees some and lean back. This movement will cushion the ball upon contact and allow for easy control of the ball.

If the ball comes in thigh high, when the ball makes contact with your thigh, pull your thigh back a bit to provide the cushion and the ball will drop down to your feet.

Just remember, relax and cushion the ball as it arrives and you will find you have much greater control of the ball.

Under 10 Drill - "Hit The Target Man"

Emphasis:
Laying balls off, passing, turning

Set-up:
4 flags are positioned approximately 4 yards apart in the center of a grid as shown. Players are split into 4 groups and are positioned 12-15 yards from each flag. 4 players are designated as target players and are positioned slightly in front of each flag. 2 cones are placed 4-5 yards (right and left) in front of the target player. 3-4 balls per group.

Objective:
The first player in line (A) passes a ball into the target player. The target player must lay the ball straight back approximately 4 yards to encourage the player to come forward to receive the return pass. The player then must spin around one of the cones before accelerating back to his group. The next player in line starts when the player in front is spinning around the cones. Play is continuous for a designated number of reps or time. Change the target player.

NOTE – The coach designates the direction he wants the players to spin around the cones.

Example –
#1 Inside of the right foot only, spin to your left.
#2 Outside of the right foot, spin to your right.

Progressions:

1. Drive balls in to target man with laces. Target man can use his hands to catch ball before tossing ball back to oncoming player.
2. This player must now use surfaces like thighs and chest to spin around cones.
   

Coaching Points:

• Firm passes in to target.
• Quality lay-offs from targets.
• Try to spin around cones with the first touch – cone acts as a defender.
  

Under 8 Drill - "Ball Retrieve in Pairs"

Organization:
Each pair has a ball which in turn they give to the coach. The coach tosses the ball away and each pair must retrieve the ball as quickly as possible and bring it back to the coach. The players must bring the ball back a different way each time, e.g. balanced between two backs, balanced between two heads, throwing the ball to each other, passing the ball to each other. The coach can also limit the number of touches a pair may have when returning the ball.

Variation:
The coach may move and change position which encourages players to look up.

Under 8 Drill - "Gates" with Video

One of the downfalls of the typical passing drill is that the players are always standing still. One player stands at one spot and the other player at another spot and they pass back and forth. The drill is static, which is not what happens in an actual game of soccer. In an actual game, players are in movement. If you coach passing with players standing still, they will either A) stand still in the game passing and/or B) will not move to receive the next pass. Players need to be in movement at all times.

"Gates" is the perfect game to teach passing and movement. Set up more gates than you have pairs. Don't have a ratio less than 3:2 - 3 gates for every 2 pairs. At the start, Player One starts with the ball, Player Two finds an open gate (if another pair is at the gate already, find another gate). Player One dribbles close to the gate and passes the ball through the gate to Player Two, Player One goes to find an open gate and so on and so on. Focus on proper passing technique, players getting their heads up looking for the next gate, and quick dribbling movements.

Pairs should see how many gates they can do in one minute. A good rule of thumb is the age of the player to gates. So a pair of 8 year-olds should be able to do 8 gates in one minute. I've seen some older players get up to 20 gates in one minute, but this was with highly accurate passing. Have players do this drill and see if they can always improve by one gate each one minute session.

The Offside Rule

In soccer, an offside foul is called when an offensive player, or attacking player, is passed the ball and there are not at least two opponents between him or her and the goal line. Usually, these are the goalkeeper and one other defender, but not necessarily. The penalty for an offside foul is that the other team is given possession of the ball.

The rule was created to prevent offensive players from "cherry picking" near the opponents' goal. Without the rule, offensive players could hover near their opponents' goal even when the play is on the other side of the field, with the hope of a long pass and an easy goal. The offside rule still allows for the chance to score.

It's also important to note that offside applies at the moment the ball is passed, not at the moment the ball is received. Therefore, if the offensive player that will receive the pass is "onside" at the time the ball is passed, but then runs behind the unsuspecting defender before receiving the pass, the receiving offensive player is not offsides.

For a video to help explain this further, click here.

The First Touch and How to Improve it

From John Ellinger, Technical Director for US Youth Soccer -

I will say it again and again, the first touch is everything. One of the core objectives of US Youth Soccer's player development plan is for players to become more comfortable with the ball under pressure. After observing several US Youth Soccer Olympic Development Program (US Youth Soccer ODP) Boys' and Girls' Inter-regional events, both domestic and international, and also every round of US Youth Soccer's National League, I can say without hesitation that improving the quality of the first touch is US Youth Soccer's number one technical objective.

The first touch can encompass a number of different elements. It is how the player receiving the ball deals with the pace of the pass; how does the player deal with spin or bend of the ball; how does the player handle the location of the incoming ball (is it on the ground or is it in the air) and which surface should the player use to control this ball; based on pressure from opponents, space, or time, which direction does the player move the ball with the first touch; does the player have the ability to "feel the pressure" and effectively make a correct angle back to the ball or the proper run into space; can the player receive the ball and turn with it in one fluid movement; because of the previously mentioned type of pressure, does the player make the decision to play it one touch to a teammate; and does the player elect to make a strike at goal on the first touch or take another touch to get a better look at goal or a better shooting angle?

Watching Landon Donovan develop into a young superstar would be extremely rewarding for any and all coaches to watch. He was simply incredible with his first touch. He knew when he could effectively take it away from pressure, and he knew when to lay it off to another player because of pressure. Coaches often talk to their players about when to take risks or not to take risks in the various thirds of the soccer field. Watch Landon sometime and see how many risks he takes in the defensive third or middle third of the field regarding his first touch-zero. As part of Freddy Adu's development, he and I sat and watched this feat while Bruce Arena and the Men's National Team were training and playing matches in Bradenton, Florida several years ago. Developing young players need to see these types of situations for themselves. They need to understand that mistakes involving the first touch can create scoring opportunities, counter attacks or create numbers up situations for the opponent.

There are many simple exercises that players can use to improve the quality of their first touch.

Let's start with just one player and a ball; something the player can do in their backyard. The player would simply toss the ball several feet above their head and then attempt to control it by using what we call the "drag" technique. This is where the player uses either the inside or outside of one foot and then turns the foot at a 45 degree angle in the direction they would like to move the ball.

The player will also then lean the body in that same direction and then attempt to control the ball just as it is leaving the ground (short hop as some like to call it). The player will get the sensation that they are trying to "drag the ball" in the direction they are moving. The player should practice this procedure many times using the inside and outside of both feet. Also, the player should gradually increase the height of the ball toss in order to increase the difficulty of this exercise.

If another player is available, then one player can toss the ball to their partner at various heights. Then after the receiving partner drags the ball away in one direction and passes it back to their partner, you then repeat this process several times and then switch roles.

The above exercise helps to improve our first touch when receiving balls out of the air. Next is an exercise that can help the player when receiving the ball on the ground.

Place two cones on the ground ten yards apart, with player A, in the red shirt, standing by one cone with the ball and player B, in the blue shirt, standing beside the other cone waiting to receive the ball. Imagine that there is a solid line between the two cones. As player A passes the ball to player B, player B attempts to move the ball across this imaginary line with on their first touch and then play it back to player A.

Player B can use either the inside or outside of the foot to receive the pass, but if the player uses the inside of the foot on their first touch, have the player pass it back with the opposite foot. If the player uses the outside of the foot on their first touch have them pass it back with the same foot.

This exercise is designed to help a player understand the principle of moving the ball away from pressure. After the player receives about ten balls, then have the players switch roles. The difficulty of this exercise can be increased with the passing player adding more pace to the pass or by adding a third player as a passive defender that tries to force the receiving player to move in a specific direction.