Part Two
- Pass and Move in Three’s
- Midfield/Forward Combination Play
- 3 v 1 Possession Small-Sided Game
- A Passing and Overlap Exercise
- Possession to Penetrate
Pass and Move in Three’s
This activity is a 3 person passing combination working on passing and movement.
Start with a 20 x 10 with two players in opposite corners and one in the middle. Player 1, on the outside starts with a ball.
Player 1 passes to player 2 and then sprints to the nearest corner and receives the ball back from player 2
Player 2 then sprints to where player 1 started and player 1 plays a longer ball to player 3
Player 1 then sprints to the middle and player 3 passes to player 1
Player 3 then sprints to the near corner and player 1 passes to player 3
Player 3 then passes to player 2 and player 1 goes where player 3 started
The players continue this pattern.
You can do this activity for 3-5 minutes and the players get a lot of touches in while doing a good deal of short sprints.
Midfield/Forward Combination Play
This activity works on a midfielder playing into a target player and then a quick combination.
A line of players with balls starts around 40 yards from goal. A target player started 25 yards from goal between two cones. A keeper is in goal.
The first player with the ball plays it into the target player.
The target player lays the ball back softly and then spins away
The initial passer plays the ball through to the target player for a first time shot
The initial passer then becomes the target player, the initial target player retrieves the ball and goes to the back of the line and the activity starts up again.
While this might seem like a slow moving activity with a lot of standing around, done properly, as soon as the shot is hit, the next pass is played and pretty soon, players are sprinting to get back to the line so they are there for their next turn.
There are many variations you can do with this but it’s a simple example of having a fast moving shooting activity in a warm up.
3v1 Possession Small-Sided Game
Todays featured activity is a 3v1 possession game with rotating defenders.
Start with a 10 x 10 grid and 3 players on offense inside the grid. Three defenders are just outside of one corner with balls.
The first player in the corner passes the ball out to an offensive player and then enters the field to defend
It’s 3 v 1 until either the ball goes out of play or the defender wins the ball. As soon as the defender wins the ball, he leaves the field and a new player plays the ball in and defends
When all three defenders have won the ball, they switch roles
The team that makes the most successful passes in their three possessions wins.
To make this easier you can make the grid bigger or to make it more difficult you can make the grid smaller.
You also can do this as a 4 v 2 activity.
A Passing and Overlap Exercise
This activity is a passing and overlap exercise.
Start with 4 players in a square approximately 20 x 20. One player starts with the ball.
The player in the opposite corner checks to and the pass is made to that player.
The passer follows his pass and overlaps the receiver while one of the other players positions himself to receive a short drop
The player who receives the short drop pass plays the ball through to the overlapping runner
The players reset to the nearest corner and the ball gets played to the 4th player who starts the rotation back up
Done in groups of 4’s this activity has a lot of movement, a lot of passing, a good deal of communication and requires some thought to make sure everyone does their roles.
Possession to Penetrate
This activity works on possession while looking to penetrate the defense.
Start with a circle with a 20 yard diameter and then have a circle inside with a 10 yard diameter.
This is a 5 v 2 possession game where no players are allowed inside of the center circle.
In many possession games, players tend to look toward the closest player to pass to and while this might be effective in terms of relieving responsibilities (I don’t want to lose the ball, here you lose it) it’s not effective when it comes to looking to penetrate.
With this game it encourages the players with possession of the ball to look to play the ball further since it makes it easier to split the defenders
5 consecutive passes would result in a point for the team with the ball. Any ball played through the center circle also counts as a point. Any time the defending team wins the ball it’s a point for them.
In the beginning, if you want to make it easier for the attacking team you can allow them to go into the middle circle
Encouraging the attacking players to look to penetrate with their passes will open up many opportunities when they get into a full sided game situation.
