Practice Date: Saturday, April 1st, 2017
Notes:

Fun Warm Up Drills

10 min. Musical Soccer Balls
10 min. Dodgeball

Ball Control Drills

10 min. Dribbling through each other - Be sure all players can dribble with their head up before proceeding
10 min. Changing Direction - Place 3 or 4 players in the same sqaure area and use whistle to initiate change of direction.

Games

10 min. Leave the Ball - Use this drill as a relay race
10 min. Back and Forth Race

Musical Soccer Balls

Musical Soccer Balls - A fun soccer drill for young kids

It is important to add some fun soccer drills into your routine, especially drills for the younger kids. Here is a soccer drill that keeps things fun but also works on reaction, agility, quickness, and speed. This animation uses 6 players but you can use anywhere from 3 or more. Place the soccer balls in the middle of the circle and make sure you have one less soccer ball than you have players. The players start on the outside of the circle and they are not allowed to go into the circle until the whistle blows. On the whistle, the players can sprint to the soccer balls. Because there is one less soccer ball, one player will be left without a ball. The player without the ball is then removed from the game. Every round you will need to remove one soccer ball.

Dodgeball

Soccer Dodgeball

There will be a circle made of cones with players inside and players outside. Players on the outside will pass the ball to each other trying to hit the players in the middle (lightly). They will continue passing the ball until a player on the inside is hit. Once a player is hit they move to the outside and being passing the ball, as the player that hit them will go in the inside. Make sure players know to be careful when passing the ball, you don’t want them to injure their teammates!

Changing Direction

Changing Direction

This drill focuses on dribbling in tight spaces and quickly changing directions.  Setup 4 cones about 15 yards apart.  Each player will dribble around the space avoiding the other players.  Every 8-10 seconds the coach needs to blow his/her whistle and the players will change direction and accelerate for 2 touches.  Players need to keep their heads up and maintain control of the ball and avoid other players. 

***The video is shown with 1 player for clarity. 

Dribbling Through Each Other

Dribbling Through Each Other
This soccer drill focuses solely on dribbling. It is a very simple drill and requires only 7 players and 4 cones. You will have the cones set up in a rectangle and there will be a side with 4 players between the cones and a side with 3 players between the cones. All of the players will have a ball. At the whistle they will dribble to the other side, turn around and dribble back. Make sure they are practicing dribbling with their head up as they will be going between other players while dribbling and they do not want to bump into them.

Leave the Ball

Leave the Ball
For this soccer drill setup the cones with 6 going horizontally, 3 vertically, and 4 more horizontally. Have players between 2 cones at the line of 4 cones. Make sure each of the players have a ball. Another set of balls should be set up between 2 cones in the line of six. Players should dribble forward when they hear the whistle. When they reach the set of 6 cones they should leave their ball and pick up the other one. They should then dribble, weaving between cones until they reach the set of 4 cones. It is important the players focus on footwork and dribbling with their head up in this soccer drill.

Back and Forth Race

Back and Forth Race - Fun Soccer Game for Kids

For this soccer drill players will be able to work on speed shooting and some conditioning. There will be two sides with four players on each side. Coaches can put as many soccer balls as they would like on each side, this animation shows 15. Players will race to the balls, shoot them to the other side and run back to their original position. They will go back and forth between their position and balls until all the soccer balls are on the other side. Coaches can change up the game and make it so there is a time limit and at when time is up whoever has more balls on their side is the loser.

Figure Eights Ball Control

Figure Eights Ball Control Soccer Drill

This soccer drill is a simple dribbling drill where players will dribble around cones in a figure 8 path. Set up the cones as markers to where the players will dribble around. Once the whistle is blown prompt the players to focus on their footwork while they are dribble around the path. Focusing less on speed and more on technique is important in this soccer drill.