hi everyone thinking of starting a new topic page on coaching drills for whatever level you are coaching at might help to freshen up your sessions

Hi,

what do you do for team bonding, my lads are taking everything too serious and i would like something a bit lighthearted and different to improve team spirit.


thanks
Onalos

HI ONALOS

on the training pitch a session of fun shooting practices is a good way to get the team to have a laugh together every player loves having a shot so spend 30mins on this and let each player go in goals and make the drill fun but challenging by adding a condition like keeping ball up for 10 before shooting or throwing ball over their head for them to strike on volley or get players to stand beside goals and you throw ball out high to edge of box and get players to run out and get a strike on goal but the ball is only allowed to bounce once before they strike it that is a good challenge which they will enjoy trying,why not take them out for a night to crazy golf or bowling and let them relax together away from football another good way to bond as a team,hope this helps you out

STEVE 100

I will give your ideas ago, i will let you know the outcome.


onalos

as above

thanks

Does anyone know any good drills for keeping possession of the ball under pressure?

Make a small box/square ot of cones. Then make the players go in the box/square make two teams and keep the ball inside there.

I've actually used that in my training sessions a few times and find it pretty useful. But I could do with other possession drills to stop the lads from getting bored.

Cheers for that Jamesp, its much appreciated

make a pitch about 60x40 and play a game with a condition that whatever team scores first has to keep the ball until other team equalises this means one team is working hard on keeping possession so you have to coach on support play and the other team has to work on pressure on the ball to get it back in order to equalise then the game is even again,make it 2 touch.

ANOTHER GOOD DRILL IS 4V4V4 WITH A GRID ABOUT 40X40 PLAY 4V4 INSIDE GRID WITH OTHER 4 ACTING AS WALL PLAYERS,BOTH TEAMS INSIDE GRID PLAY POSSESSION FOOTBALL BUT TEAM IN POSSESSION CAN USE WALL PLAYERS TO HELP THEM AGAIN MAKE IT 2 TOUCH.HOPE THESE HELP LIVEN UP UR SESSIONS IF NOT LET ME KNOW

STEVE 100

thanks steve, will try them in training on wednesday

Tried them out wednesday, seemed to work pretty well. Defo gona be using thm agen. Cheers Steve

Play 5-a-side with goals that are roughly 30cm big with no goalie and the ball being substitued for a tennis ball that is fairly bouncy

CHEERS BUCKARD

GLAD THEY HELPED YOU OUT,NEED ANY MORE JUST ASK

Does anybody know how I could improve my Speed...Im already pretty fast, but Pre-Season is starting this week and I'd like to be ahead of the game when it comes to my speed/pace

thanks

Do sprinting trials, get a mate with u and do 100 metre sprints and time yourself and keep trying to better your best

Gun Runner

Make a grid 25yards long and and sprint from one end and back 4 times in 20secs and then take time of the faster you get'also build it up by putting an extra 5yds onto it and hopping thru it the 5yd box only;then change this to sideways on,backwards,knees up etc and you will find you will get sharper.

Also get yourself some hurdles and go over these as fast as you can but again use bunny hops,side on,shuffle thru,and knees up with arms pumping or even ladders if you want, this will improve quick feet which will make you faster and quicker of the mark,remember you dont sprint for 100 meters in games so you dont need to improve over that distance its all about closing down your opponent quickly or getting to the ball first so try this and see how you go.

STEVE 100

Here is an activity (we dont call them drills cause drills sound negative and un fun
a Scot taught me.
split the players into 4 groups and a goalie.
the two defender groups start either side of the goal (youth,on the intersection of the 6yard box and the goal line) OR ( senior, on the intersection of the 18yard box and goal line)
the two forwards groups are situated on the corners of the 18 yard box .
Defenders start with the ball and kick it out diagonally towards the forwards. The forward rushes to collect the ball, dribble past the defender and strikes, the defender sprints out to hold the fwd off.
We made a rule that the defender is not allowed to actually tackle the forward. This helps struggling forwards to find time and learn to keep possesion and dribble. And it helps defenders learn to not overcommit. We found that either it stalemates, or the forward gets around the defender and shoots or simply losses the ball. If the stalemate goes on the coach blows whistle and the defender is deemed the victor.
Defender continues on his diagonal path and joins the end of the forward cue, the forward continues and becomes a defender.
the opposite sides then have there go.

there are a number of variations we toss in or even make up on the day to keep them on their toes..
Like "now you can tackle" or the "opposing striker come and help" "opposing defender come n help" etc.

hope it helps.

has anyone got any drills that really increase players fitness?
any help would be much appreciated.

Buckard

Thats a really open Q can you give us some more details? age group, numbers etc.

However as a general idea I have found that small real game situations can be very well tailored to fitness areas. Games rather than drills utilise competitive features found in human nature

for eg. split the group into small teams as small as 2 v 2 up to 4v4~. Set up two 8m ish squares with cones, diagonaly opposite each other (say two squares in opposing corners of a half pitch) Youll need two balls. The idea is for team A to have both balls in Team Bs square at the same time. and Team b to have both balls in teams A square. this is extremely difficult

Your applying mental and physical exertion in this one, defense, attack, posession... theyll be nackerd in no time

Long distance and running endlessly around pitches dosent do it for me. Football is spurt stop spurt stop of 90 mins.. train the same way.
If your asking for a "what can i do on my own" I guess one I do use myself is : (after warm up of course)
start at a corner of a pitch and running around the outside. kick a ball down the line and sprint the first half of the pitch, collect the ball and jog dribble the next half, turn the corner and kick n sprint to the center of the goal, then jog dribble again.. round and round you go I often reverse direction too and of course you can tailor the sprint/jog ratio .. I also tend to mix things up with a kick to the halfway mark and sprint then collect and long pass the ball towards the goal mouth..you want it to pretty much stop on the goal line... I continue joggin around the outside and then collect the ball on the way past.

Sorry didnt see this post till now.
an important part of sprinting "in football" is the ability to adjust your stride length. youll notice that the real good fast players like Lennon for eg are generally shorter people. this is because with a shorter stride the ball can be adjusted quicker (cause it takes less time for the foot to get close to the ball again)

Thats what they are doing with the running between sticks/rope ladders and such and the hurdles force you to lift your knees higher shortening your stride.

So dont just go all out for pace

Its an open age team and i'm getting about 16 players coming to training every week. Basically, I want to get the lads as fit as possible because i think at sunday league level fitness can win you alot of games.

Hi, just new here. Looking to get some drills myself, but here's a couple i use....hard work but the lads seem to enjoy them.

1) I seen this one used by the late great Jock Stein with the Lisbon Lions, simple and I was delighted how it went!
You(the trainer) walks and the players follow you in a queue, the first player behind you lies on his face(opposite way you are walking ie you --> - | <--Player) and the next player jumps over him and lies on his face, this repeats until all the players are over and on their face, then the last player gets up and jumps over all players until he gets to you, then he goes down and it repeats until the you decide.
Variations are that the second player crouches down rather than lies, meaning players have to jump higher. Also you could make the players have to slap your hand.
The players are up and down as well as running.

2) Place 4 cones in a box shape, a fair amount of distance between them and get the players to run round the cones. Inside the box place bibs on the floor, about 2 less than the players you have. As they run round, shout out instructions ie left, right, head...then once you shout bib, they all try to get bibs. The players without bibs have to carry out a "punishment". My boys always have a laugh. Decrease the amount of bibs each time.

light hearted hey ok here is one.

We use alot of this type in our kids stuff but ocasionaly i whisk it away to the sniors too to just "bring em back to earth" or have some quick fun.
4 cones form a square (spread em out for seniors
dump lots of balls in the centre
players start in their homes, corners behind the cones. (you can also place cones along the sides to make more "homes".
the idea is simple. collect as many balls as possible to your home. you can take them from others homes, or from the centre. you cant tackle, you cant defend the balls at your home.
for the seniors I allow them to attempt the dribbling of as many balls as they like which always results in a fiasco but they still try it
I let em at it for a while then give them a count down and blow the whistle. the one with the most balls at his home wins.

works on dribbling skills, awareness, forces constant decision making and route planning , reflex thinking, aviodance of others, relieves the pressure of tackling and quick passing. heaps of fun