By Daniel Severn
This week’s exercise can be used as a technical warm-up or as the main technical focus of the session. Ideally you will use 4-6 players for this exercise but could add more to a group if necessary. The exercise will be performed at a high tempo and help to develop dribbling, first touch, and sharp changes of direction.
Set Up and Directions
The exercise is set up as shown below, showing one player with a ball, one waiting behind him and two players at the opposite end.
The player with the ball begins the play by dribbling the ball across towards the player by the opposite cone.
As the player with the ball reaches the opposite player, he plays a short pass (under 1 yard). The player receiving player controls the ball quickly and accelerates as fast as possible towards the opposite end. The original player checks to the tall cone and then sprints back to put the player with the ball under pressure.
The players repeat this process.
Timing
To help keep a high intensity I like to run this exercise in short bursts between rotations and variations. Spells of 45-60 seconds should be suitable for most age groups.
Variations
1 – Dribble must stop the ball for the next player – this adds pressure to the closeness of control.
2 – Tag player – If the recovering player ‘tags’ the dribbler, then the dribbler pays a penalty (e.g. 5 push ups).
3 – Win the ball – same as above but with winning the ball instead of tagging.
I hope you enjoy the exercise!
Dan
Program Director
BRASA Brazilian Soccer Academy
@coach_danny
