Football/Soccer Session (Beginner): Passing and Receiving Basic

dribbling color relay (10 mins)

Set up:  make a dribbling course consisting of three different color cones about 5 yards apart.

Exercise:  the exercise begins with a coach shouting out a color or combination of colors.  the players have dribble the course in the proper order. For example, if the coach shouts out red, blue, the players have to dribble around red then around blue and back to where they started.  first one to finish (ball and body across the line) gets a point for their team.

Coaching points: dribble with the proper foot shape,  toe down, heel up.  accurate touches, tight turns.

Pressure, cover warm up exercise (10 mins)

Set up:  Make a 10x20 grid with six players in it, one at each corner and two in the middle.

Exercise:  Players work together in pairs.  The exercise begins with A and B passing the ball back and forth with each other while C and D rotate their pressure and cover. After three or four passes, A and B will pass the ball long to E or F.  When this happens A and B sprint across the zone and take up pressure and cover positions.  The exercise runs continuously for a certain amount of time.

Coaching points:  angle and speed of players closing down and giving cover.  At first make sure the pair in possession play slow enough for the defensive pair to get to their spots.

3v3+2 breakout (20 mins)

3v3+2 breakout.

Set up: Make a 24x18 yard grid (adjust size according to ability or or desired difficulty). Make two teams of five. Each team plays 3v3 inside the grid with a target player at each end.

Game play: each team plays a 3v3 posession game inside the grid. The three players inside the grid can use their targets at each end. When a live player inside the grid uses a target player the target player comes in and the player who passed them the ball switches out and becomes the target. Have teams focus on consecutive passes, or lay from one end to the other without losing posession as objectives.

Variations: touch restrictions on all players. touch restrictions for targets entering the grid.

Details: Anticipate the ball being played to a target and provide appropriate options for support, usually left and right. Read the defensive pressure and play opposite from the pressure. Patience, when to posses and when to penetrate.