Passing

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Around the Horn:

A simple 1 or 2 touch passing drill. The key here is to keep the ball moving. In this example there a 8 players in the circle: this can be modified to suit your needs. Starting at 1, the ball is then passed to 2 in a "square" position, who then passes to 3 and so on. Once 8 gets the pass, it goes to 2 to 4 to 4 and back to 1 who can chose to change direction of the passing following the same pattern in reverse or pass across the circle; e.g. ( 1 -> 6 -> 4-> 5 -> 3 -> 8 -> 2 -> 7 -> 1 ) 

 

Alternatives:
  After the first pass, player 1 runs around the circle in the opposite direction of the pass, in this example player 1 would run counter-clockwise followed by player 2, etc...
*NOTE - remind them to run in the same direction to avoid collisions

 

Simple Passing:

This is a nice and simple passing drill to get everyone warmed up. The circle can be as small as 5 yards and as big as 20 yards. (I wouldn't suggest going any bigger than 20 yards. Because realistically, at the U8 - U12 age, you don't really want them pushing the 10 - 15 yard mark for passes on the ground. After the 15 yard mark you're getting into lofting the passes, and I would save that for U14 - U18.)

The coach or assistant coach stands in the middle of the circle, the first player passes the ball to the coach in the center, who then passes to the next player in the circle who passes the ball back to the center and so on until the ball goes around the circle to everyone.

Focus on: One touch - 2 touch passing, quick passes

Alternatives:

~ This drill can also serve as a heading drill - heading back to the coach or the next person in the circle, then back to the coach.

~ This drill can also serve as a throw-in, trapping drill  

~ Combine stretching with a round of passing

 

* On a side note: I have used this to warm up a team before a game when they're particularly chatty to get their focus on the game. I also use it to give pre-game instructions because there is more of a one-on-one feel when it's the next player's turn for a pass.

 

 

 

 

 

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