FineSoccer Drill 51

Today’s drills are really just a progression of one big drill called THE MAZE.  Very simply, it’s a drill that will allow the players to get a large number of touches on the ball and also get a good deal of conditioning as a bonus.

The keys to this drill are that space can range from a full sized soccer field to a small gym (I have done this progression in some of the smallest spaces that you can imagine and it still works if you can keep the work rate up).  It does require one ball per player and a minimum of 6 players but the more the merrier (I have seen it done with up to 30 players at one time).  This drill can be done by players of all ages (while it’s wonderful for young players to get this amount of ball work, I have seen this done by a college team for a 45 minute period and the players looked like they were about to pass out from working that hard)

Start with all of the players in a line 5 yards apart near the outside of the area you have to work with.  Each player should have a ball and be spread out evenly.  Each player starts to get quick touches on the ball that is between their feet.  Just real simple touch-touch on the side of the ball.  The player in the back of the line starts by slalom dribbling through the line as fast as she can while maintaining control of the ball.  As soon as this dribbler gets three people in front, then the new player in back of the line begins.  When a dribbler gets to the front of the line, she goes 5 yards in front of the previous front person and starts with her touches on the side of the ball.  Obviously, the fewer people in line, the more times they will go through the line but when you consider that each player is getting touches on the ball throughout the entire progression you can see that the work has already begun.  Once you feel like they have done this enough (with 30 players you might want to do this one time through and with 6 you might want to do it 5 times through but just use your judgment).  The next step would be to do various moves while going through the line.  The last person would go straight at the player and then do a cut-catch to the right.  As soon as she goes past this player she goes directly at the NEXT player and does a cut-catch to the right.  You can go through the entire progression of moves I have described at http://finesoccer.com/soccer_edition_56.htm.

Other things that can be done in the maze is to have the players dribble around the players using the inside of the foot only, or even the left foot only (when I say dribble around the players, I mean a complete 360 degree circle around each player).  Have the players alternate the direction the circle with each player in front of them.  Other options are to do it one touch through each player (meaning slalom dribbling where you really have to push the ball through since it’s only one touch to go past each player).  This really forces the players to go fast through the lines. 

At any point you can make the change from touches on the side of the ball to touches on top of the ball or any other variation that you want.  Done properly, this can be a wonderful progression working on individual ball skills and conditioning.  I don’t think there is a player in the world that couldn’t benefit from some of this type of training so give it a try and let me know what you think.

Have a great day

Lawrence