Often, the simplest and most basic soccer footwork drills are the ones that really enable the player develop better movement and dexterity. Any practice session must include a footwork soccer drill that is fast, fun and enjoyable.
Here are some fun footwork drills that you can use along with your regular regimen, to help your players become more nimble.
Improving Deftness
- Make three lines on the field, approximately ten meters apart. This could be done with cones to make it more interesting. Let your players line up on the middle line. Begin the drill by having each player, run to the line on the left and then touch the line with his or her left hand.
Next, they run to the line on the right, and touch the line with the right hand. They finish at the line at the center. You have to keep watching to ensure that the left line is touched with the left hand and the right with the right hand. You can keep this soccer training drill on, getting your players to repeat it a few times, which you can decide, based on their current soccer fitness level.
You can vary the above drill, by starting your players off with two lines instead of three. Depending on which line they start at, they can touch the other line with the relevant hand. So, if they start at the line on the left, they would run to the line on the right and touch it with their right hand.
- Arrange the cones like the rungs of a ladder, spaced apart about five meters, which means you begin with a start line, then space the line 5 meters from it. The next line would be 10 meters from the start line and then 15, 20, 25, and so on.
You run the soccer drill by having your player start at the start line and run out to the first line, touch it with the right hand and back. Then, to the next line, touch it and back, till they finish the ladder. You can have your players also move sideways or backwards to each rung from the starting line and back.
Soccer footwork drills help the players develop the speed, with which they move. It is necessary for your players to be really agile on the field during a match and this only comes with regular planned practice.
