Bounce 1v1/2v2
By: Matt Carroll
One element my team found down the stretch was that when the game was open and clean, we could find some solid passing connections and execute our game plan. When things got “muddy” and the play was more sporadic we could not “clean up” the game and play or game against heavily physical or direct teams. To counter this, we worked on a lot of sessions where we tried to “clean up the mess” by making play start with bouncing balls or quick directional changes, with the ultimate goal of bringing the ball to the turf and playing to targets or open space. The Bounce 1v1/2v2 is one of the drills we utilized to accomplish this goal.
We used this as our first technical drill of a session and had it so we focused not only on first touch and control, but shielding, body position, and scoring/passing while being jostled. The drill starts with a 20x20 grid with pug goals on each end and a line of players to the side of each goal. One attacking player starts with their back to a partner and facing the opposite goal, about 3 feet away from the partner. The partner has a ball, and they throw a ball over the player on the field’s head. The player on the field then needs to control the ball by either timing the ball into the opposite net or bringing it down to control the ball and dribble towards that goal with the intention of finishing. The player that threw the ball immediately begins to try to win back the ballthey threw by back-pressing the player on the field and jostling them in a way that at least makes the player’s first touch difficult.
As soon as the attacking player scores, the ball leaves the field, or the defender wins the ball the attacking player leaves the field on the side of the goal they were trying to score on. The player that was defending now puts their back to the goal the attacker was trying to score on and the next player in that line then throws a ball over their head and the process repeats.
The drill can then expand to 2v2 with two lines, one on each side of the goal. Same rules apply as before, but now we are adding a passing option to the attack and working on players being able to support an attacking player that is engaged.
