Football/Soccer Session (Beginner): Dribbling Exercises-FUN GAMES

Free Dribbling (MOJO) (5 mins)

Organization:

Cone out a grid of approximately 20m x 20m and give every player a ball. 

How to Play:

In this activity, the coach should aim to help players learn some basic ball mastery skills. 

Skills to demonstrate:

1.      Airplane (1 foot on the ball with hands out)

2.      Sole Taps

3.      Bells (dribbling with only the inside of the feet; can also be called penguins)

4.      Outside hook turn

5.      Inside hook turn

6.      Coach to decide or ask kids if they can show you a trick.

Coaching Tips:

Use time to make it more exciting. E.g., "I want to see how many sole taps you can do in 60 seconds!"

Help the kids be aware of their surroundings, Can you keep your head up?

Have your assistant coach support you with helping individual kids that may need some extra support. 

Don't stress if you can't get through all the above skills, the main focus is for the children to be comfortable with the ball at their feet. 

 Progressions:

Increase the challenge by adding cones to act as defenders or ”mines.” Players must dribble around the area with their head up while executing all the above skills and not crashing into the cones.

Sharks and Minnows (MOJO (10 mins)

Organization: 

This game is also known as Bull Rush. 

Mark out a grid of approximately 30m x 20m and give every player a ball. 

How to Play:

The aim of the game is for the attackers (red) to run or dribble from one side of the area to the other side of the area without getting tipped by the tippers.

If an attacker gets tipped, they join the defenders in the middle as tippers.

Defenders can tip attackers by stealing the ball and placing their foot on top of the attacker's ball (not just kicking it away).

Coaching Tips:

Coach should always start as the tipper. This way everyone will get a good chance to achieve success without getting tipped immediately.

With younger kids, you can play a couple of games without the ball to warm them up and allow them to understand the aim of the game before introducing the ball.

Can you keep your head up to see where the defenders are

Can you keep the ball close to you so you can change direction if the defender gets close

Can you use some of the skills we learned in the first game to get past the defender?

 Progressions:

Make the space smaller to make it harder for the attackers and easier for defenders.

Make space bigger to make it easier for the attackers and harder for defenders.

Add more or fewer defenders to change the starting difficulty level for the attackers.

Dog catcher

40x40 grid

3-4 sets of bibs and different dog names, 3-4 per group

2-3 dog catchers without a ball, switch roles and dog names after a while to stay fresh

dog catchers yell out a dog name (group them before)

that group will dribble across as fast as they can or evade the catcher and get into the other side

if they get tagged they must do a skill and sit out 1 dog name before they can come back in -touches, foundation, juggle bounce, toe taps, moves

coaching points- change of direction, long touches to get away, small for quick cuts, inside/outside foot, awareness, head up

Lions and tigers

Split up the team in half. name them Lions and tigers, one side lions, one side tigers

Coach will call Lions or tigers. They face away from each other.

Example shown - Lions were called so they dribble pass the pole/blue cones with the tigers turning around and chasing them WITHOUT a ball. everyone needs a ball with them though. change up who you call out.

Can add close or longer starting point , can add in ONLY right foot, left foot, etc.

Coaching points- control of the ball, longer dribbles, reactions, head up

End Final type Game (15 mins)

Organization: 

Roughly 30m x 20m field size or as required. 

How to Play: 

Have the end game look as much like the game on the weekend as possible, this means normal game rules.  

Coaching Tips:

Encourage running with the ball when the player has space in front of them; especially in wide areas. 

A good way to do this is by putting up poles or cones up about 5m away from the goal and setting the below rules:

- No goals can be scored before passing these gates. 

- If a player on your team dribbles past that imaginary line and a goal comes after, it's worth 2 points. 

 Progressions:

Want to see more goals? Play with 4 goals rather than 2. This can also help players spread out. 

Make the field wider if you want to see the players running into space more. 

You can also remove the goals and create an End Zone if you want to see even more running with the ball.