By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.
Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activities work on receiving the ball with the outside of the foot.
There is a tendency to “kill” the ball when receiving it with the inside of the foot (to kill the ball simply means to stop the ball completely as opposed to receiving the ball and keeping it moving). While it’s certainly possible to keep the ball moving with the inside of the foot, it’s even easier to do with the outside of the foot so these two activities work on receiving the ball with the outside of the foot.
Start with two players 15 yards apart. One of them should have a ball.
The player passes to the other player who must receive the ball with the outside of the foot, push the ball to the side and then pass the ball back with the inside of the foot.
The other player then does the same with the outside of his foot.
This is a simple two touch passing activity where the ball never stops moving and the first touch is always made with the outside of the foot.
Do this for 3 straight minutes making sure to pass and receive with both the left and right feet.
[wpsharely id="1204"][/wpsharely]Next you can play a small sided (or full sided, depending upon the numbers) scrimmage with the only restriction being that the players must either play one touch soccer OR their first touch must be with the outside of the foot. In the beginning the players will find this very frustrating and there are certain situations where this is not optimal but with this game, we are trying to get them into the mind of keeping the ball moving and considering the option of the outside of the foot.
If you do these two activities enough times, you will see dramatic improvement in game situations.
Have a great day!
Lawrence
By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.
