Don’t be deceived – this handling exercise looks simple but will quickly turn to chaos! It will get players thinking, talking and organising as they need to problem-solve whilst retaining the accuracy of their skills
This is about communication, leadership and organisation as much as handling. Speed of thought is critical.
Put teams of four at each end of the red box.
When you shout “red”, they move forward and pass the ball down the line.
The last player passes it to the first player of the next team of four coming from the opposite direction.
Repeat until you call the next colour and the teams move and operate in that coloured box.
If you call “green”, the teams work in the smallest box but in teams of three.
If you call “blue”, they work in the biggest box but in teams of five.
The groups will have to constantly change to match up the numbers.
Develop so that when you shout “change”, teams swing 90 degrees and go through the box in a different direction.
TECHNIQUE
Simple catch-and-pass basics (hands out to passer, follow through to target)
Players should look for potential gaps in the next line and be ready to fill them
Use parent stations to allow you to run lots of activities with a parent overseeing each activity.
It requires one parent, minimal setup and minimal instructions. Each station runs for two to three minutes before the players move to another station. MORE
One player goads another, then touches the line and races to the other end to avoid being touched by the chaser. It’s a like smaller version of the Bangladeshi game of Kabadd MORE
Create attacking shape, where forwards understand where they are supposed to run to support the next phase of play. The groups of forwards are called pods and need to work together. MORE
Should an attack be successful at a 2 v 1 every time? At the top level, most of the time you would have thought, yet you would be surprised how often they fail.
Add in another attacker and defender, or even two attackers and one defender, and that ratio of success drops very quickly.
But it is still a golden opportunity to make ground and even score. So, you need to increase the success rate, and you do this by creating as many scenarios as you can. MORE
Dropped balls or loose kicks mean that the ball is on the ground and needs recovering. Use this session to work on the skills and decision-making around this situation.
It’s not a natural action to fall on the ball. Help the players understand how to develop this technique as smoothly as they can. MORE