Why You Need To Do This Soccer Drill To Improve Your Passing, Dribbling & Fitness

Their are an unlimited amount of drills you can perform in soccer! What many coaches find hard is incorporating drills that will improve many attributes of a player.

If you're coaching a practice and want to run an effective soccer drill with your entire group of players, then this is the drill for you. It will improve player passing, dribbling and fitness.

How to Set Up?

The amount of players you have doesn't matter. All you need to do is split the players in two groups, half with the ball and the other half without the ball. Then have the players with the balls set up slightly ahead of one another on a diagonal. After this have the players without any soccer balls, line up in a straight line behind a cone. This will be the starting  point for the drill.

Instructions

The first player in line with out a ball should sprint to the first player with a ball. Once this player is within 2 metres of the person with the ball, they should receive a pass. Once received the pass they should pass the ball back within one touch and go to the next player. This process should be repeated for the players without the ball, until they reach the last player with the ball. Once they have reached the last player, they should sprint back to the end of the line. Players in line should be going before the player in front of them finishes their sequence.

Coaching Tips

• Players with a ball should always be on their toes.
• Players with and without a ball should be focusing on delivering a good pass.
• If players cannot do one touch, playing the ball back within two touches is fine.
• This drill should always be running in a constant flow of players, that way players feel the fitness aspect.

You're probably wondering, how does this drill improve dribbling? Well, you have to have the groups switch soccer balls, so lets take a look!

Variation

The players in line should now have a ball, and the players lined up on a diagonal shouldn't. The players in line should now dribble as fast as they can to the player without the ball. They should then past the ball to the players without a soccer ball. The players without a ball should give a one touch pass back to the players, so they can repeat the sequence.

Note: Players in this variation WITHOUT a soccer ball should always be on their toes.

As you can see this drill incorporates, dribbling, passing and fitness. You don't need to do 3 different drills to improve players. You can use this all in one drill and save time! With the extra time, you can focus on weaker areas of your team that need improvement. 

The Best Soccer Drill to Improve Your Passing and Defending

Passing and moving are the most important qualities when playing soccer. If you're not good at either then you're in real trouble. So let's do a quick run down of one of the most effective soccer drills to improve your passing and defending.

The Setup

• You're going to need 4 cones to create a square grid, which can be made to your desired size.
• You need six or more players depending on how big you want to make the drill.
• Have four players standing at each side of the square, while two players are in the middle.

Instructions

• The players on the outside should start passing the ball around the square.
• The two defenders in the middle should then try to get the ball from the outside players.
• Ten completed passes is a point and when done players should switch positions

Coaching Focus

• Make sure players on the outside are thinking fast and always on their toes.
• Players on the outside should be taking no more then two touches on the ball.
• Players should be constantly moving to support each other.
• The two defenders should be moving as a unit & constantly communicating with one another.
• The main focus should be to retain the ball as quickly and cleanly as possible. 
• Defenders should also make sure they don't get split, as pointed out on the dotted line in the image. 
• The ball SHOULD NEVER be able to pass between the two defenders.

How Will This Improve Passing ?

In terms of passing, limiting the players to two touches makes them focus harder on the pass and making it really count. Since they don't have that much time to think, they have to make sure they give a quality pass. This will improve players passing for high pressure situations in games. When other teams are defending you tight you'll have the ability to beat them.

How Will This Improve Defending?

For defending, the movement and communication will increase team chemistry. This will ultimately improve players defending in the long term. The reason defenders shouldn't get split is because that ONE pass beats TWO defenders, opposed to the defenders not getting split and keeping their shape. In games this improves your teams defending as a unit and helps players understand the concept of defending as a team.

How to Improve your Fitness and Conditioning in Soccer

Soccer is the one of the most demanding sports in the world. Keeping up with the pace of the game can become a major key to high quality performances on the field. Most people don't do the right fitness and conditioning to have the right amount of stamina to keep up with the game. Unless you're paying someone to train you, most people don't know how to improve their fitness in soccer.

So lets talk about something called HIIT cardio and some drills related to it. These drills combined with this type of cardio will bring you the most optimal way to improve your fitness on the field.

What is HIIT Cardio?
HIIT stands for high intensity interval training. To perform HIIT cardio you have to alternate between  a level of high intensity in an exercise, followed by low intensity. So you can sprint for 30 seconds and then jog or walk for 1 minute.

How Will HIIT Cardio Improve your Fitness and Conditioning in Soccer?
HIIT cardio allows you to train your fitness, as if you were in a real soccer game. This realistic approach leads to improvement and better results on the field. Just think about it, in soccer, one minute you can be sprinting with or without the ball, then the next minute your walking. Games speed up and slow down. So training your body to high intensity sessions, followed by low intensity will help you mirror your fitness to what it would be like in a game.

With HIIT Cardio you're not only getting in more high intensity training, but the cardio sessions are much shorter. These sessions should be no longer than 10-15 minutes.

What is the Best HIIT Soccer Drill to Improve your Fitness?
This drill is very simple. To set it up, all you need is half or a full soccer field. On the long sides of the field you're going to do a very light jog, almost at a walking pace. Once you reach the goal line by the net you're now going to sprint at 100% until you reach the long side. After this you repeat the process, and you should do this no longer then 10 minutes!

Conditions

• This type of conditioning should start with a really good warm up and followed by a cool down stretching out all muscles.
• If you're a beginner to soccer, I recommend trying a more slow steady state routine to improve your fitness.
• Always be drinking water to stay hydrated before and after the game. Getting muscle cramps is the worst when you're playing soccer!
• When you don't have a practice or soccer game, rest and let your body recover from the intense drills/games you play on a weekly basis.

thesoccergeektips.blogspot.com assumes no responsibility related to or associated with any injury caused by use of the soccer drills, skills, tips, or advise provided on this site.

2 Simple Ways to Become a Better Soccer Player

Soccer is one of the largest sports in the world, that anyone can play. In order to improve and become better you have to be willing to put in the work. This means pushing your self to the limit and stepping outside your comfort zone. You need to be different from others and have unique attributes that will set you apart you from other players.

1. Learning How to Play a Different Position

In soccer everyone wants to play, no one wants to sit on the bench for large periods of the game. Sometimes their's someone better then you in the position you play, but more often then not theirs 3 to 4 people who want to play one position. Learning to play another position is very simple, it's just like any other real world problem. You first seek the knowledge and then gain the experience. First pick a mentor that plays the position you're trying to learn, it can be a friend or a professional soccer player. I recommend a friend because you can pick their brain on what's expected and how to properly play the position.  In terms of gaining the experience you need to continuously play the position you're trying to learn, over and over! Whether your playing a pickup game with your friends or you're playing a scrimmage in practice, just do it! It'll make you better in the long run and help you grow as a soccer player.

Learning how to play a different position will benefit you in two ways:

•You will get way more playing time because you can play more positions than others.

•You will improve other areas of your game because when you play in a different position you have to think differently, as well as react to different situations.
If you're a striker trying to learn how to play right wing, you're going to have to learn when to tuck in and when to stay wide.

2. Perfecting Your Weaker Foot

As a predominantly right-footed person, It used to be a struggle for me to use my left foot when playing. So one day I decided to take action and change that. When I was young, for about a month, I used my left foot for everything excluding when I was playing competitive games for my team. I would shoot, pass, dribble and even try skills with my left foot. Over time I became so comfortable with my left foot. The consistent repetition of doing things with my weaker foot, made me feel more confident and become a better player.

The benefit of perfecting your weaker foot will:

•Make you extremely unpredictable to opponents because they won't know whether to cut-off your right or left foot when defending you.

•Allow you to thrive in multiple positions on the field. For example, if you play right mid-field it won't matter if your coach tells you to play on the left side because you're so strong with your weaker foot.

Overall, focusing on improving and stepping outside of your comfort zone is always beneficial when playing soccer. You should always be focusing on being unique and what can give you an advantage over your opponent.