Football/Soccer Session (Beginner): U7-U8 Passing Options for Red Zone

Passing Option 2 (15 mins)

Organization

- Create two areas one that is 20 x 30 and a second smaller 10 x 20 on the inside

- Place 8 tall cones around the outside of the large area

- All the players will start on the inside of the small area with a ball each

Activity

-  The players will be given 60 seconds to knock as many cones down as possible 

- The only rule is that they must stay inside the smaller area to knock them down

- After every 60 second attempt take a look at how many cones are knocked down before challenging the players to beat their score in the next round of 60seconds

Progression

- Split the group in to 2 teams and see which team knocks down the most

 - Only side foot passes allowed

 - The best improvised pass gets extra points for knocking the cone down (example would be a heel pass)

 - Players must use a specific foot to knock down the cones

  The objective for the players is to think about how they will achieve accuracy while getting lots of opportunities to pass to develop their technique. Where possible can we ask the players to make the pass while moving to make the activity as game realistic as possible.

Passing Option 4

Organization

- Create a 5 yard goal 

- Place a 10 x 10 square 15 yards from the goal

- 1 player (Attacker) will start in the box without the ball 

- A 2nd player (Defender) will start at the top of the box furthest away from goal with a ball

Activity

 - The player in the box will move to create a space to receive the ball

- The player with the ball will pass to the player without and then run around the outside of the  box towards the goal attempting to stop the shot/pass

- The player with the box will attempt to receive and get the ball in to the goal before the defender can get back to prevent the goal

- Every time the pass gets the ball into the goal they get a point

- Each player in the pair will have 5 attempts at each role the player with the most points at the end of the game wins

Progressions

 - Adjust the distances to make success and challenges both possible

 - Give the attacker a limited number of touches

This exercise is designed to get the players thinking about how they receive the ball, what makes it easiest to pass the ball to the target and how they can do this quickly. The coaches job here is to ask questions, for example does it make it harder if when we receive the ball we cannot see the goal? Where would we want to take our touch to make it as easy as possible?

Passing Option 6

Organization

- Create a start line with cones where every player will have an individual starting point

- 5 yards out from the start line place a 2nd line of cones

- 10 yards out from the start line place a 3rd line of cones

- 15 yards out from the start line place a 4th line of cones

- 20 yards out from the start line place a 5th line of cones

- All players start at their own starting cone with a ball

Activity

 - The objective for the players is to pass their ball and get their ball to stop between the 2nd and 3rd line, then the 3rd and 4th line, then the 4th and 5th line.

 - The player must pass from the start line each time

 - The complete all stops first wins the game

Progression

- Adjust the lines to make it easier or harder

- Challenge players to get each stop in sequence first time or go back to the beginning and start again

The focus for the session is for players to get lots of opportunity to practice their passing technique. Due to the competitive nature of the session their will be a little bit of pressure added to the pass. As coaches can we try to focus on a few key points of the passing technique with the inside of the foot.

Passing option 8

Organization

 - Split the players in to pairs

 - Each pair gets their own set of cones tat has  cones 3-4 yards apart

 - Each pair gets a ball between 2  

 - One player starts either side of the cone line

Activity

 - Players will pass the ball between the cones as they move up the cone line and back to the start

 - The players can take as many touches s they would like to but the ball has to cross the cones at each gap

 - Make it competitive with the first team to get back to the start being the winning team

Progression

- Reduce the number of touches the players can take down to 2 so that we are asking them to take a good touch in order to set them up for the pass

- More than 2 touches could result in them having to start again

The focus for this session is based both on the players first touch and the quality of pass to their team mate. With the first touch we are looking for them to take it past the defender (cone) to be able get in to the passing lane and get the ball across. With the pass the idea is to put the ball in to your team mates path so they can step on to it. We again add the competitive edge so that we are adding a little pressure to the activity, replicating the game.

Passing option 10

Organization

- Setup 4 cones in a horizontal row all with balls on top of them 3 yards apart

- Create a line 5 yards in front of the balls and then another 2M in  front of that one

- The defender will start at the side of the area inline with the first line 

- The attacker will start centrally on the 2nd line

Activity

 - The defender will pass the ball to the attacker

 - The attacker will then attempt to control and pass the ball off one of the balls on the cones

 - The defender will work along their line attempting to stop the pass off the cone

Progression

- Limit the time the attacker has to hit the balls

- Give value to the balls to vary the choice the player has

The focus for this session is on quality of pass and the technique as well as the first touch that sets the player up to play the pass. Adding the values to the balls will then give the attacker the option to use fakes before playing the pass.