If you are like me, you probably know that in performing free soccer drills, dribbling a soccer ball is one of the most thrilling aspects of any soccer game. One of the basic faults that players make when dribbling a soccer ball is that they focus more on the ball and don’t know what is happening around them.
Let me share with you one drill that has been used over and over again in soccer practice to teach young players how to dribble a soccer ball because it is a lot of fun. The players are taught how to seek out for space and utilize it to the maximum.
The biggest hurdle faced by the coach is to make the young soccer player aware of his environment while having control of the ball under his feet.
Apart from teaching the valuable skill of making the players to raise their head up while dribbling the soccer ball, the drill is also a lot of fun.
This drill makes the player to get a feel of the ball and the space around it so that they can use the space rather mundane soccer exercises which makes the player go around the cones.
1.Start by marking a square of say 20 yards by 20 yards (the size is directly proportional to the number and age of players).
2.Hand over the balls to the one half positioned on the opposite side of the square. This half of the players is identified by the name attackers.
3.To ensure all the places in the square are covered, the other half of the players are asked to spread out. These players are named as crabs.
4. The crabs would sit down and support themselves with their hands. These players can walk around using their hands and feet only.
In free soccer drills we can have good fun and yet teach a lot of important points of dribbling the ball.
The players dribble the ball across the field and stop the ball when the coach gives the whistle. The Crabs are renamed as attackers when they attack the attackers. The game comes to a conclusion only when one Attacker is left and he is declared as the winner.
In soccer coaching, the best part is that the Crabs will also learn the importance of teamwork to refuse attackers any space, and take the ball away from them, so it really becomes a win-win situation!
This is the simple and yet effective way of teaching the young players to dribble the ball with their heads up, to cross the defenders and avoid bumping into each other.
In summary, every player has the ability to be more alert, to react quickly and to run faster. These free soccer drills help achieve better acceleration and decision making speed.
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About the author
Andre Botelho is known online as “The Expert Youth Soccer Coach” and his free ebooks and reports have been downloaded more than 100,000 times. Learn how to skyrocket your players’ skills and make practice sessions fun in record time. Download your free ebook at: Soccer Drills.
