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.
“The defender keeps themselves light on their feet, head up and marking a potential break, coming forward to close down an attacker when they move forward” MORE
Players must win the race to the best space when attacking. In defence, players must work early, scan early and look to close space to force errors.
Attackers seek space, defenders take it away. This is also true over the ball.
Run this game over a series of sessions to gain the most benefit as the players develop their understanding of the tactical implications. MORE
Here’s a series of super-quick activities to set up and use to mix up your training to keep all your players occupied. Ideal to hand out to your co-coaches and aimed at a range of core skills in game-like contexts.
Here. is a series of what I’ve called Quick Coach. They are mini-activities aimed at four to six players. The aim is to provide you with a bank of breakout exercises you can run during your session. They should only last around five minutes, but the key is that they are very quick to set up and can be run by any coach in your group. They can even be run by one of the players if appropriate. MORE
