David Palmer-Lewis
| Name: | David Palmer-Lewis |
|---|---|
| City: | Cardiff |
| Country: | United Kingdom |
| Membership: | Adult Member |
| Sport: | Football/Soccer |
This is a control based session, given the age group it’s difficult to have a complete skills based element as the session would quickly deteriorate into a tackling session as the players don’t have the capability yet to evade a tackle and control the ball. Ultimately by forcing more passing into the session we should create more opportunities for players to pass the ball.

See the guidance at the top of this page to understand why you are not seeing interactive Football/Soccer images.
Set up a 20mx18m pitch with a goal in each corner, give each player the ball and tell them to start dribbling around the pitch, when the coach shouts numbers 1-7 they must do the following:
1. Foot on the ball
2. Sit on the ball
3. Toe taps
4. Score a goal
5. One two pass with a coach
6. Drag back
7. Penguin kicks
The aim of this exercise is basic skills development and dribbling at reasonable pace whilst avoiding contact with the other players.

See the guidance at the top of this page to understand why you are not seeing interactive Football/Soccer images.
Equipment and Overview
Use the same pitch size from the previous session. This is a really simple drill, players stand in line, the coach passes or throws the ball to the player, the player must then control the ball and return the pass, the player then jogs past the coach to the end of the pitch around the outside and to the back of the line. As this is a technical control practice we're looking for the following mechanics:
1. On their toes
2. Eye on the ball
3. Get in line with the ball
4. Decide and present surface/foot towards the ball
5. Relax on impact
The above is likely to be too complex for the age group so instead we’ll perform a demonstration showing good and bad. Bad will be allowing the ball to just hit the foot and bounce off. Good will be properly controlling the ball snd cushioning the ball on impact.
Area of focus
Given the age group the key thing we’re looking to get out of this session is for players to be able to recognise and demonstrate the difference between no control (just letting the ball hit their feet or legs) and some control whereby they are making a conscious effort to control the ball.

See the guidance at the top of this page to understand why you are not seeing interactive Football/Soccer images.
Set up a 20m x 18m pitch without goals, place a coach on each corner, each player has a ball and dribbles the ball towards a coach, they play a one two pass with a focus on controlling the returning pass, coaches should put a reasonable amount of power behind the return pass to challenge the control of the player. The player then dribbles to another coach and repeats the process.
Progression:
If the drill isn’t challenging enough then add in a defender to put the players under more time pressure when they receive the ball.
Challenges:
For stronger players challenge then to control the ball and turn with one touch or control the ball with the outside of the foot and go straight into running with the ball.
Area of focus:
As this is a control focussed drill the main thing we want the players to get out of this exercise is an ability to receive the ball at pace with a bit more time pressure to introduce more realism.

See the guidance at the top of this page to understand why you are not seeing interactive Football/Soccer images.
Overview and Equipment
Set up a 20m x 18m pitch with a goal at either end and 4 players on each team, as the focus of todays session has been control we will impose tight conditions initially to force an emphasis of control within the small sided game. We will then adapt this to create more realism then finally finish with free play where we will hopefully continue to see passing and control. This will be as follows:
0-5 minutes - Split the pitch into 4 zones as shown, players are able to run with the ball but can’t leave their zone and can only pass the ball from zone to zone.
5-10 minutes - Zones are now removed but the game is now 2 touch only, players are not allowed to run with the ball.
10-15 - minutes - Free play
Challenge - the team with the most consecutive passes gets an extra 2 points.
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Stuck in the Mud (5 mins)
Set up a 20mx18 m pitch and give one player a bib, they are "it".
The player that is "it" attempts to throw a bib at the other players as they run around trying to avoid it, if a player is caught with the bib they must stand on the spot making a T shape with their arms, in order to be un stuck another player must run under their arms to free them.