Football/Soccer Session (Academy Sessions): Ball Work Warm Up

Ball Mastery (10 mins)

Ball mastery is key in developing younger players. The more they feel comfortable and confident on the ball at a young age the better for their development as they get older and move from the foundation phase into the youth phase where the game is more tactically based. Ball rolling time is key in football, especially when developing the player's technical ability. 

Have the group of players with a ball each at their feet starting off with them just dribbling around the square making sure they use all areas of their feet and try to get them to keep their heads up when dribbling so when it comes to matches they are able to look for a pass. As time goes on stop and add skills that they may use in a game. I tend to use a number to signify a skill when doing this drill -

Number = Which Skill

• 1 = Side Step Push
• 2 = Left Foot Step Over
• 3 = Right Foot Step Over
• 4 = V Turn
• 5 = Cruyff Turn (alternative - Drag Back)
• 6 = Scissors
• 7 = Ronaldo Chop
• 8 = Maradona
• 9 = Tap Tap
• 10 = Taxi
• 11 = Half Maradona
• 12 = The Pozzer
• 13 = Any Skill
• 14 = Step Tap
• 15 = Step Tap Tap
• 16 = L Turn, V Turn
• 17 = Jay Jay Okocha
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