Dribbling and awareness

Organisation

• Create four teams – one on each corner of a square
• Each team has a colour and gates with the same colour inside the square
• Each player has to dribble through their coloured gate and return to the next player in a relay race
• Each team has to complete its own colour and then another colour, etc.
• Players can also go in pairs and dribble then pass the ball through gates before they return

Ways to make the exercise easier:

• You could start with a simple race and no balls
• You could also introduce different physical movements such as hopping, skipping, jumping, etc.

Ways to make the exercise harder:

• Increase the number of coloured gates in the square
• Make the gates smaller

Great questions to ask the children:

• Can you show me how quickly you can dribble with the ball under control?
• Can you show me a trick where you turn on the ball when you return to your corner?
• Can you keep your head up when dribbling so that you avoid others?

Safety tips:

• Only one player or pair to go at a time from each team

Organisation

• Create four teams – one on each corner of a square
• Each team has a colour and the same coloured cones inside the square
• Each player has to dribble round their coloured cone and return to next player in a relay race
• Each player/team must then dribble round the whole square
• Each team nominates one defender to delay the dribblers

Ways to make the exercise easier:

• You could start with a simple race and no balls
• You could also introduce different physical movements such as hopping, skipping, jumping, etc.

Ways to make the exercise harder:

• Increase the number of coloured cones in the square so that players have to dribble round two or three before they return
• Add a defender from each team who can act as a blocker when players dribble through the square and so have to go around them as well

Great questions to ask the children:

• Can you show me how quickly you can dribble with the ball under control?
• Can you show me a trick where you go past the blocker when you return to your corner?
• Can you keep your head up when dribbling so that you avoid others?

Safety tips:

• Only one player or pair to go at a time from each team

Organisation

• Organise mini-pitches for 4v4 with two goals at each end in wide areas
• Teams play normal football with the focus on dribbling
• Can they try to dribble past a player when 1v1?
• If they can’t, can they pass to a team-mate in space to try and dribble and score?

 Ways to make the exercise easier:

• You could play 5v3 so that one team has more space to dribble

 Ways to make the exercise harder:

• One team plays with fewer players
• Impose conditions on ways to score

 Great questions to ask the children:

• In which areas of the pitch should you take risks and dribble with the ball?
• Can you show me different ways of tricking your opponents?

 Safety tips:

• Create safe zones between pitches