FineSoccer Drill 86

On of the problems with teams intent on maintaining possession of the ball is that they end up playing in very tight spaces and are always looking for the player closest to them instead of looking a bit further away and getting the ball away from pressure.

This activity is designed to get players to look beyond the closest player on the field.

Take an area 40 x 40 (or a little but more or less depending upon what you have available), and break it into smaller 10 x 10 grids. See diagram below

With a team of 16 players break them into 2 teams of 7 and then have two neutral players who are always on offense.  The game is a simple game of keep away so that if the X's have the ball, they try to keep the ball away from the O's.  The rules are as follow:

• A pass can't be made to a person in the same grid as the passer
• A pass to a person in a bordering grid counts as one point
• A pass to a person in a grid two away is worth two points
• A pass to a person in a grid three away is worth three points
• A one touch pass doubles the passes value (which means a one touch pass to a person two grids away is worth 4 points)
• A loss of possession results in a loss of one point
• When a team loses possession, if they can win the ball back in the same grid, it's worth one point.
• First team to 100 points (or whatever you choose) wins.

This game encourages players to maintain possession of the ball, look further than the closest player and spread the field.  It also works on defensive transition (winning the ball back as soon as possible).

The hardest part of this game is keeping score.  It's MUCH easier if you have two scorekeepers (one for each team).  If you have a couple of injured players this is a great way to keep them involved.

There are a number of variations you can add in including points for combinations, having to play the ball in the direction the player is facing when they receive the ball and much, much more.

Give this a try and let me know what you think at the FineSoccer Forum

Have a great day!

Lawrence

 that a pass can't be made to a person in the same grid