#8 to 12

Dribbling and awareness

FIFA, 04 Jan 2022

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The session focuses on one of football’s fundamental skills, dribbling. In the first two exercises, teams compete against each other in different variations of dribbling relay races. To finish, players participate in a small-sided 4v4 that encourages dribbling past opposition players.

Warm-up: Shooting circuit

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

Skill development: 3v3 with different number of goals

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

 

Game application: 6v6 Game

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

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