Coaching Drills

Below are some drills for all ages... These can be fun for all ages. Get creative! Have fun with it! When you have fun with a drill as a coach it translates to fun for the players! More movement and less standing in line!

Sharks and minnows is a soccer version of tag and great skill builder! Grab a handfull of pennies. Select a player to be the shark. Create a small box or circle with cones. The size will depend on the number of players and the skills of the players. Center circle and penalty boxes work great for this.

• Materials
• 4 to 6 cones (depening on size of box)
• 2 or so pennies
• Every minnow will need a ball
• Rules - Nothing in Stone
• The shark will start by circling the "water". Make sure the minnows are moving around. Start by shouting a command. "here comes the Shark!" or "Shark Attack!" again be creative.
• If the shark kicks the ball out of the box that player is frozen.
• Modifyers - After a few minutes you can asses the skills of the sharks and the minnows then add modifyers!
• If the shark is struggling randomly select additional sharks to hep out.
• As the video suggests you can make captured minnows become sharks.
• Pair stronger players with weaker ones to start out as sharks.
• For older players or players with better skills freeze captured minnows and allow uncaptured minnows to unfreeze by kicking the ball between thier legs.
• Age issues...
• Ok before you complain about your players being too old for this. I used this game with a U19 competitive team and they had a blast!

The below video has 10 sample drills for helping with dribbling skills...

• 10 great drills labeled for U6 - U10 but again can be used for all ages maybe with a slight name change

The below video has 10 sample drills for helping with passing skills...

• 10 great drills labeled for U8 - U12. Remember the skill level as well as age of your players. It is great for players to play with thier friends but look at pairing up weaker and stronger players!

As the players get older you will realize how vital a good first touch can be!

• The graphical video below at 3 great drills for working on improving first touch!
• The live video below has 7 great first touch drills!