By Daniel Severn
This week’s exercise can be used as a technical warm-up or as the main technical focus of the session. There are endless variables with this exercise; I will share some of my favorite ones at the end. This works best if the players can be paired up, but there is also a continuous rotation option if you’d prefer groups of 3.
Set Up and Directions
The exercise is set up as shown below, showing one player with a ball, one without a ball and three cones spaced apart as shown.
The player that begins with the ball will be the ‘feeder’ – his job will simply be to play a 5yard pass and receive a 20 yard pass throughout the duration of the exercise. Our ‘active’ player (shown in the yellow jersey) will be doing the majority of the work and is the player we’ll be focusing on for this exercise.
Play begins on the coach’s call with the feeder playing a pass into our active player. The active player tries to move forwards towards the ball to control it in front of the cone. With his second touch, the player performs an inside cut to change direction (now facing away from the feeder) and he dribbles quickly towards the far cone.
After the active player arrives at the far cone (to the right on the diagram) he performs another inside cut to change direction (no facing towards the feeder) and plays a firm 20 yard pass in to the feeders feet. As soon as the feeder receives the pass, the active player sprints forward to the middle cone to repeat the exercise.
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 per player should be suitable for most age groups.
Variations
1 – The Feeder – This player can deliver the ball to the active player at a number of heights. You can focus on aerial control, thigh control, chest etc.
2 – The Turn – Vary the turns (and the foot used to make the turn) each time. Drag-backs, Cruyff turns, Outside cuts etc.
3 – The Aerial Pass – When the active player has dribbled across to the far cone, he can now turn and play a weighted aerial pass in to the feeder player.
I hope you enjoy the exercise!
Dan
Program Director
BRASA Brazilian Soccer Academy
@coach_danny
