Football/Soccer Session (Academy Sessions): U11-U13 Div 2/3: Dribbling

Arrival Activity

Set Up: All players have a ball and dribble freely in the designated area. Encourage players to try different moves, use the following variations (focus on one at a time):

- Left foot dribbling only

- Right foot dribbling only

- Inside foot dribbling

- Toe taps dribbling

- Change directions while dribbling while using the sole of the foot to turn. 

- Change directions while dribbling while using the outside of the foot to turn (a chop)

- Different skill moves (i.e. scissors/stepovers) 

5-10 minutes 

Coaching Points:

- After performing a move or a turn, accelerate into space! 

- Head up while dribbling to look for open space to move into 

Progressions:

- Backwards dribbling (i.e. toe taps going backwards)

- Juggling (how many keep-ups can you get?)

- Competition against themselves: How many touches on the ball can you get while dribbling with your right foot in one minute? Then try the same thing with the left foot to see if they can beat their own score. 

- Knockout game. Players must dribble in the space and protect their own ball while trying to kick other player's balls out of the area. Last player wins! 

1v1 Practice

Set Up: Create two teams. Using your field set up, have one team on either side of each goal. The black team in this diagram starts with all the soccer balls as the attackers, and the blue team does not have any soccer balls and starts as the defenders.

Organisation: One attacker dribbles onto the field and one defender enters the field. Play 1v1 to goal. If the defender wins the ball, they try to score on the opposite side. After each player gets at least 4-5 opportunities to attack, swap roles.

Coaching Points:

- Acceleration to beat the defender

- Creativity to use skills to trick the defender

- "When should I use big touches vs. small touches?" (big space vs tight space)

- Must beat the defender before shooting

Progressions:

- 2v2

- Competition (keep track of goals)

Final Game

Set Up: Create even teams. Use the same field set up that was already used to play a regular match. 

Organisation: In this match, use all normal game rules. For example, if the ball goes out on the sideline, players can perform a throw-in. Or if the ball goes out on the goal line, perform a goal-kick. This will allow the players opportunity to practice game-realistic scenarios (i.e. throw-ins, corner kicks, freekicks, goal kicks) in a practice match. 

Play until the end of practice. Following the game, have a debrief with the players about what they worked on, what they enjoyed, etc! 

Coaching Points: 

- Small touches vs. Big touches 

- Dribbling forwards when there is space in front of you

- Change of speed (acceleration) to beat a defender