There are quite a number of soccer skills and drills to develop the basic moves and techniques in your players. Let us look at some drills that provide good practice in dribbling.
These soccer drills & soccer moves will also encourage the feeling of team spirit and competition so that players attempt more rigorously to get better at what they are doing.
Dribbling Practice For Better Ball Control
- Set up an area of 20 square meters bordered with cones. Get your players into this square, and instruct them to dribble their own ball within the square. They must use both footwork soccer skills and dribbling even as they stay out of the way of the other players. This means they must play in a controlled manner, using both outer and inner sides of the feet at different speeds and in different directions.
- Use the 20 square meter area set up as above. Have individual players dribble their ball within the square using footwork and dribbling skills. The variation here is to kick the other players’ ball sending it outside the square, while continuing to maintain possession of their own ball.
- In the 20 square meter area, instruct your players to dribble their own balls. Now designate a player to try to kick the other players’ balls sending them outside the square. The players who are dribbling must take care to protect their ball from the player who is trying to kick it out.
The player who gets his ball kicked out is the next player who tries to kick the other players’ ball. So whoever has their ball kicked out becomes the next one to try to kick the remaining players’ ball out of the area.
In this exercise, instruct your players to form pairs. Each player has a ball. While one leads, using dribbling skills to move the ball, the other player must follow him like a shadow, dribbling along with him.
Now watch to see if the players have their heads up as they control the ball. They must use their creativity in working out how to control the soccer ball even as they dribble it with the help of the inner and outer side of the feet.
Also, encourage them to switch directions swiftly and move as fast as they can. Once this happens for about two minutes, let the players switch places and continue the drill. Also try to teach fun soccer skills and drills that motivate your players.
Active soccer skill drills can keep your players enthusiastic about coming to practice as they see themselves improving each time.