Whether you are a football coach or a football player, you will no doubt be searching for effective ways to bring on your skills or those of your players. These top five football training drills will help you go from offside to premier league in no time.
1. Dribbling Slalom
Dribbling is one of the most important skills that any aspiring footballer needs to learn. Effective dribbling is the foundation of great footballing.
Dribbling slalom involves placing ten dribbling footballers on the pitch at the same time. Each player has to pass a set number of markers, placed at random around the pitch, without making contact with any other players or balls.
2. Heads Up!
Heading the ball correctly is one of the most difficult skills to acquire. This simple but effective header training drill can be adapted with a softer ball so that younger players can learn how to head properly as soon as possible.
Two opposing teams are spread on the pitch; one defence, one attack. The defence team receive the ball from a server and must ‘head’ it all the way up the pitch back to the server, whilst the attack team must try and obtain ‘head’ control of the ball.
3. The Side Block Tackle
The side block tackle drill involves just two players at a time – the attacker and the defender. The attacker has the ball and runs with it, the defender must approach alongside, at speed. He crouches slightly and pivots on the foot closest to the attacker, hooks the opposing leg around the ball and scoops it away. They key is to get the ball away from the attacker, but in the early stages just completing the drill and remaining standing is a good show!
4. Pass The Ball
Passing the ball is one of the fastest ways to get from the danger zone to goal zone. In this drill, a number of attackers are placed at random down the pitch, with defenders spread in between them and two who must stay in the middle. The ball must make it all the way to one side of the pitch and back three times, before the teams are reversed. They key to this drill is choosing the correct recipient for the ball.
5. Goal!
We’ve focused on getting the ball to goal, but keeping the ball out of goal is just as important. This triangular goal defence drill is simple but effective. Three players place themselves in a triangle before the goal. One ball, three players and as many passes between them before one takes a shot. The goal keeper knows the ball will come from one of the three, but not which one until the final shot is taken. He must anticipate through observation.
There are many football drills out there suitable to all ages, but these top five football training drills are techniques that every player needs to perfect on the pitch.
