Long pass to victory

Players often lose accuracy when making longer passes, especially at young ages. This game progresses passing at pace, building confidence in long passing and finding the receiver.

Set-up

Start with four cones 1m apart with a player on each, an end player holding a ball. At 10m intervals ahead, place four cones 2m, 3m and 5m apart (picture 1).

These distances are only suggestions and you can have your cones further apart if desired.

The rules

On your call of “Go! I’m timing you”, players pass the ball laterally from cone to cone without moving (picture 2).

Once the ball has reached the far end, they run to the next set of cones and pass down the line again. They repeat this until they reach the end cones then they turn and sprint back (picture 3).

Race teams against each other on other squares.

Scoring

• First team to cross the line wins.
• Race against the clock to find the fastest team.

Tell them

“Ball across the body, arms pointing at the target after release.”

“Hands towards the ball while waiting for a pass.”

Coaching tips

There are times when a longer pass is needed, especially when running a miss move or looking for a player in space out wide.