By Jebreel Bubtana
This exercise will work on your player’s first touch into space and give and goes, which along with short sprints will work on your player’s aerobic endurance.
Set up and directions:
Set up the field as shown in figure 1 with a 15x15 yard square, 3 players and 1 ball.
The player with the ball passes to their teammate in front of them and follow their pass. The player receiving the ball now takes their first touch with the inside of their right foot towards the free disc and accelerates with the ball at their feet to that disc (figure 2).
Once this player gets to the disc, they now pass the ball to the next teammate in the square. The player who receives the ball will use the inside of their right foot to take their first touch into space towards the free disc and accelerate with the ball towards that disc (figure 3).
In order for this exercise to work on your player’s aerobic fitness, the ball must be passed quickly and accurately to the player’s feet and the first touches must be taken towards the next disc. When the ball is passed to a player and they follow their pass, they must do so with a sprint to the disc.
You can do this for 4 minutes before having the players pass the ball in the opposite direction to work on their first touch with their left foot.
Coaching Points:
- Ensure that passes are made with the correct technique.
- Body position is very important when receiving the ball. As the ball comes in, the player must turn their shoulders slightly towards the disc that they will be accelerating to. This will enable them to take their first touch towards that disc
Progression:
This progression now includes give and goes and must still be done at the same speed with sprinting between the discs. The player with the ball starts in the same way as the last exercise by passing the ball to their teammate in front of them. The player receiving the ball will pass the ball back slightly into the space in front of their teammate as shown by the arrow. As soon as the ball is passed back, that player must sprint towards the next disc (figure 4).
To complete the give and go, the player who received the ball back now passes to the player who has now made their run to the free disc. They then sprint to the disc that was vacated by their teammate as shown by the arrows (figure 5).
The players will now be in the following positions as shown below in figure 6.
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Make sure that you get your players to go in the reverse direction after 4 minutes.
To maximize the anaerobic fitness benefits, challenge your players to complete this drill with first time passes every time a player receives the ball. It is also important that the players sprint to the next cone once they have made their pass in order to get your players working hard.
Coaching Points:
- Make sure that your players are thinking about the speed of their pass. Too hard and it will be difficult to complete the exercise using first time passes.
- Ensure that correct passing technique is used throughout.
Jebreel Bubtana
Director of Marketing at BRASA – Brazilian Soccer Academy
NSCAA Advanced National Diploma
NSCAA Director of Coaching Diploma
Follow me on Twitter @jib1989
