By Alex Trukan
Passing and support exercise ‘Find a friend’ is an excellent method to develop aerobic power and capacity in a fun and engaging scenario. The main focus of the practice is to help players in developing an ability to sustain large volumes of physical effort due to faster recovery capacity. From the technical perspective, the presented game has various returns including: passing, receiving, support, creating space and movement. It is also highly adaptable to all abilities levels, numbers and age groups.
Set-Up and Directions
Organise a 25x25 yards box with four small boxes of 4x4 yards, one in each of the corners. Set one neutral player in each of the boxes, and divide the rest of the group into pairs. Two pairs are attackers and have one ball per two players. Minimum one pair is defending. Area size and number of players can be adjusted.
Two pairs are in possession of the ball are trying to make minimum of 3 passes before they can use a neutral player. Two defenders are trying to win the ball and stay in possession of the ball for as long as possible.
After the initial three passes are made, the attacking pairs try to score points by passing the ball to the neutral players. If a pair ‘visits’ all of the neutral players, they score a point and the game continues.
The player that has passed the ball outside, cannot receive it again from the neutral player (his partner has to adjust the position to receive). Defender cannot pressurize the players in the neutral boxes.
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Timing
Each round should last 1-3 minutes and be repeated 6-10 times in 2 series. There should be 1 minute break between repetitions (coaching & counting points) and 4 minutes between series.
Variations
- Three or more attacking pairs in the middle
- Two or more pairs defending
- Dribble into the box instead of passing it
By Alex Trukan, Development Coach, Nottingham Forest
