Mark Williams
Name: | Mark Williams |
---|---|
City: | Swansea |
Country: | United Kingdom |
Membership: | Adult Member |
Sport: | Football/Soccer |
Some simple passing warm-up drills that I've used at the start of training sessions and games.
I would only use one drill per session -and would typically run them for a maximum of 10 minutes
See the guidance at the top of this page to understand why you are not seeing interactive Football/Soccer images.
2) The Barcelona Star
Key Factors
A deceptively simple but effective passing drill which has the added attraction for players of its association with Barcelona
Organisation
Mark out 5 cones in the star shape shown above.
The gap between the cones (i.e. the distance the pass has to travel) can be adjusted dependent upon age & ability of your players
The drill needs a minimum of 6 players; one on each cone and one extra on Cone 1 to start the drill.
It is a simple "pass & follow your pass" exercise and the ball flows from 1-5 in sequence.
Extra complexity is added by introducing a second ball (starting from Cone 3)
This requires communication and timing to ensure balls/players do not collide.
Supposedly, the maximum number of balls the Barcelona team can utilise in this exercise is three - so the challenge to our team is to match that.
(I usually introduce the third ball at either Cone 4 or 5)
See the guidance at the top of this page to understand why you are not seeing interactive Football/Soccer images.
3) Bayern Munich Drill
Key Factors
An exercise that looks more complicated than it really is but, because of that (and the fact that there are two balls in motion), requires a high level of concentration from the players
Organisation
Eight cones are laid out as shown in the diagram; essentially, an inner square and a larger, outer square.
The size of the squares is determined by the age and ability of your players.
You will require a minimum of 10 players to run the drill; one person on each cone plus an additional player at the "start" cones (1 & 6)
If we look at cones 1-4, we can see that the passing pattern is basically "up-back-through" i.e. the pattern is 1->2->3->4 (then carries on 4->5->2->6 etc.).
That is repeated as the drill progresses, with each player folowing their pass
Coaching Points
We are looking at:
- Accuracy weight of pass
- Awareness and correct body position to receive pass
- look for one or two touch and good tempo
See the guidance at the top of this page to understand why you are not seeing interactive Football/Soccer images.
4) Y-Drill or Wine Glass
Set Up
Every team I've coached in the last few years will have been expecting this one - the "Wine Glass" or "Y-Drill"
I usually mark out a distance of 15 yards from 1 to 2 and another 15 yards from 2 to 3 (and 2 to 4)
Organisation
The exercise starts with the player at 1 who passes to 2 and follows his pass.
The key stage is at 2; the player calls for the pass to be on say his left side; controls the ball with his left foot then plays a right foot pass to 3 (and follows his pass)
In the initial stage, 3 dribbles the ball in to 1
The player now at 1 passes to 2's right side; 2 controls the ball with his right foot and passes left-footed to 4 (and follows his pass)
We have now created a mechanism where passes from 2 alternate between passing to 3 or 4
NB Because players are always following their pass, the next player at 1 may not remember which side of 2 he is meant to pass to - who will know?
The answer of course is the player now at 2 - he needs to communicate.
So now the drill involves passing, movement and communication
Progression 1
- a one-two between 2 and 3/4 (i.e. depending which one we have passed to)
Progression 2
- a one-two between 2 and 3/4 is followed by
- a one-two between 3/4 and the player now moving from 1 to 2
Progression 3
- another progression is that Player 2 simply does a "bounce ball" back to 1 who then plays the ball to the "winger" (i.e. 3 or 4) and the sequence then follows Progression 2 above.
Coaching Points
The whole idea of this warm-up is to give the players plenty of touches and a mix of short and long passes.
- when we're looking at one-twos remember "Don't go past the ball"
We are looking for quality of pass, timing of pass, tempo and good communication.
If each stage is run for 2 minutes this will be a good warm-up for 6-8 minutes and give each player 30-40 touches
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Simple Passing Square (10 mins)
1) Simple Passing Square
Key Factors
A really simple, straight-line passing drill.
Organisation
Mark out a square - the distance between the cones dependent upon age/ability of your players.
The drill requires a minimum of 5 players; one at each cone with a second player at the "start" cone.
(If you have six players, you can put a second player at cone 3 and have two balls in motion. This is useful because it introduces some competitive pressure; you can add a condition; if one ball catches the other then the "slow" passer/receiver must perform a forfeit.)
The drill begins as a simple "pass and follow your pass" from 1-2-3-4. If you insist on the players only using the "outside" foot to pass, rememeber to reverse the direction in order to practice using both feet.
Progression
a) Introduce a one-two
i.e. (in the diagram) 3 passes to 4 who lays the ball back to the oncoming 3 who, in turn, passes into the path of the running 4
b) One-two plus diagonal
i.e. similar pattern to the progression above - 3 passes to 4 who passes back to 3 but this time 3 passes to 1, so the ball is moving round the square far quicker
Coaching Points
- quality/accuracy of passing
- Awareness & body shape to receive ball
- concentration to keep track of pattern