Drill Digest: Training Technical Skill, Speed, and Footwork

Recapping Coach's One on One Session

This week I kicked off personal training with a youth player wanting to work on technical skills, agility/footwork, and speed. Yesterday was our second session, and we wanted to provide an outline for a highly productive session. Take some of the session, take all of the session! 

In every session, I try to do as much as we can with the ball. From warmup to conditioning/fitness, I want to maximize the number of touches the player is getting across a wide variety of exercises. 

Consider how your sessions evolve when you’re working with individuals or small groups. Take a pillar of the game (passing, dribbling, shooting, etc.) and build on it by increasing the technical and physical difficulty throughout the session, reaching a peak of intensity. This session’s intensity peaked in the middle of the session with on-the-ball conditioning, then the intensity tapered back down to refocus on developing skill without the physical intensity. 

Let’s get into it:  

Warmup — Gentle Running & Dynamic stretching (10 min)

Followed by: 

Play with the ball, show me your moves! (no structure, just mess with the ball, have fun with it, knock it around)

Pass with coach: passing, moving, checking in on the player 

Dribbling: Cone Line (20 min)

• Touch Every Single Step: touch every step alternating feet through the whole line of cones. We’re coaching to 2-3 touches each cone, cones spaced about a foot and a half apart (should be a very tight space). You’re looking for their body over the ball (knees bent, lowering their center of gravity), under control, gentle tight touches, and you’re not worried about speed here. 

  • 2-3 repetitions each foot, 10-15 cones 

• One Cut Each Cone, Single Foot: Either inside of the foot to outside or outside of the foot to inside, guide your athlete to use one cut to navigate the line. In this exercise we’re transitioning from the softest touches imaginable to one touch to move past the target (cone) and the next touch past the next target in the opposite direction. 

  • 2-3 repetitions each foot, 10-15 cones. 

• Both Feet — Inside to Outside: Now we want to see some rhythm and balance. You’re looking for a touch with the inside of the foot followed by a touch with the outside of the foot. Then, with the opposite foot, do the same in the opposite direction through the line of cones. 

Break — Water and Rest — At the beginning of the session, I inform the player(s) where the hard work is. Take this moment to remind them that it’s time to work and we’re moving into the meat of the session. We are expecting a strong effort with a focus on conditioning with the ball at your feet. 

• Slalom (3-4 yards between cones) alternating feet (tight touches under control).

  • Looking for lateral/diagonal speed then control and tight touches around the cone and explosive transitions away from the cone. This is hard work. The space between the cones should be covered as fast as possible with the ball on their feet then slowing down enough to be able to make clean turns around the cone.

• Gate dribbling: aka sprinting with the ball

  • Using the same setup as the slaloms, ask your player(s) to picture a breakaway moment or a moment with lots of space and push the ball forward and cover the distance, under control as fast as possible.

  • I demand a walk/very light jog back with the ball on the return. The recovery should be the recovery.

• Gate dribbling: touching every step alternating feet each rep (80-90% effort).

  • If the perceived effort from the last drill was a 10 or all out, this should be 80% to 90% of their maximum effort.

Here’s a good example of the setup and drill flow:

Wall Work: High Volume of Touches, Dial Back the Intensity

• Starting close to the wall:

  • 2 x 20 touches inside of the foot on the left, then on the right

  • 2 x 20 touches outside of the foot on the left, then on the right

  • 2 x 20 touches with the laces

• Backing up a few feet but staying on the wall: passing accuracy

  • Directional wall/put three cones together: receive and pass the ball off the wall behind the cones and receive the ball on the opposite side of the cone wall receive anyway you like and play it back any way you like and repeat. Stay in this for 5-10 minutes

  • Evolving the First Drill — Turn & pass: convert the cone wall to a cone gate. Now we are playing into the wall, ball back through the gate, receive it on turn & pass with two touches

    • Shift the pass from a pass on the ground, short, to a longer pass in the air where the player follows the ball and checks in to receive back on the ground to turn and accelerate to the wall and play into the wall back through the cone gate and repeating

In supplement, here is a good reference for what this work can look like and the basic cone wall setup when using a wall:

Have a great week everyone! Please reach out with any questions or suggestions!