By Jebreel Bubtana
This exercise is a great way to work on your player’s first touch at different heights and making sure that technique does not suffer as they get tired.
This exercise starts with a 4x4 yard box and one ball between two players as shown below (figure 1). One player will start with the ball in their hands and the other player will do all of the work for 1 minute.
The player without the ball shuffles to the cone to their right (figure 2).
As soon as the player reaches the cone, their partner throws the ball to them to control with the inside of their foot and pass back (figure 3).
The player will now shuffle past the start cone and across to the next cone to their left as quickly as possible where they will again control the ball with the inside of their foot and pass back to their partner (figure 4). The working player will now shuffle their way past the start cone and back to the cone where they first controlled the ball. The player will continue to work between the two cones for 1 minute. When the 1 minute is up, the players can switch positions.
After they have both had a go at the exercise you can start working on different heights of the ball:
• Inside of the foot volleys
• Laces volleys
• Thigh control and pass back
• Chest control and pass back
• Headers
Once you have worked on all of the heights you can get the thrower to vary the throws to their partner to challenge them. The ball can be thrown to any height and so the partner must react to where the ball is thrown.
It is important that the player throwing the ball is not just throwing the ball lightly to their partner; the aim is that there is a challenge to control the ball and so as a coach, it is important to get your players to understand this.
The aim of the exercise is that it be fast paced with quick switch overs and quick shuffling between the cones. The player shuffling between the cones must work as hard as possible during the 1 minute and it is important that as time goes by, technique is not compromised due to tiredness. You can also increase the amount of time that the player is working between the cones.
Jebreel Bubtana
Director of Marketing – BRASA Brazilian Soccer Academy
NSCAA Advanced National Diploma
Follow me on Twitter @jib1989
