Position yourself with the ball three metres from a wall. Use the inside of foot pass to rebound the ball off the wall. Receive the rebounds and pass again. Try to pass and receive the ball 20 of 25 times without error. Use either inside or outside of foot passing and receiving techniques.
Long Distance Passing and Receiving
Stand 20 to 25 metres apart with a partner. Use the instep or long chip technique to pass the ball back and forth. Receive the ball using the various techniques. Try to accurately pass and receive the ball 10 of 15 times.
Shooting Drills
Dead-ball shooting
Set up an outline of a goal on a wall. Use the instep drive technique to shoot a stationary ball at the goal from about 15 metres out. Collect the rebound and pick a different spot to shoot from.
Take 20 shots with each foot. A point is awarded for each shot on target (in the goal) and the aim is to get 32 out of 40 points.
You need at least 3 people for this activity. One of your teammates plays as goalkeeper. You position yourself 25 metres from goal, and the third player will be 15 metres away from goal, directly in front of you.
Pass to the third player. He will push pass it lightly to the side (either side will do). Sprint forward and shoot the ball first-time (meaning without stopping the ball beforehand). Take rebounds, if any.
Rotate players after each shot, and repeat the drill. Play until each player has completed 30 shots at goal. Award 1 point for a shot on target -- forcing the goalkeeper to make a save -- and 2 points for a goal. Your aim is to get at least 40 out of 60 points.
Toss and Volley
Position yourself 25 metres away from goal. Get someone to be the goalkeeper. Toss a ball upwards so that it will drop in front of you. Allow the ball to bounce once, then volley it. Use all three different types of volleys -- the full volley, half volley and side volley. Do not practice the overhead volley with this drill. Try each volley 10 times.
Award yourself a point for a shot on target, and 2 for a goal. The aim here is to get 14 points out of 20 for the full volleys, 12/20 for the half volleys and 10/20 for the side volleys.
Goalkeeping Drills
Distributing by hand
Distribute the ball to a partner using:
Hold the ball at chest level. Bounce it off the ground and catch it with your hands in the the W position before it goes above the waist. Do it 40 times, aiming to catch and hold 36 out of 40.
Saving the ball
Three servers position themselves an equal distance apart, along the 6-yard line in front of goal. Go [in goal]. Server 1 at the corner of the [6-yard box] will roll a ball which you receive, and return. Move to server 2, who will toss the ball at chest level to you. Receive and return. The third server will toss a high ball to you, which you will catch and return. You should continue until 30 balls have been thrown at you, 26 of which you should have caught.
Forward-vault saves
Your partner standing about 5 metres away from you will bounce you a ball. Vault forward to receive the ball, and bounce it back to your partner to allow him to practice as well. Try it 20 times, and see if you can catch and hold at least 15.
Standing dive saves
A team-mate about 5 metres away serves you a rolling ball or waist high ball a few metres off to either side. Dive to save the ball. Try ten saves for each side, aiming to catch and hold seven of those.
Setpieces Drills
Free kicks outside of scoring distance should be played as quickly as possible before the defense can organize. Free kicks closer to the goal often have sophisticated plays associated with them. The options are to shoot directly at goal, play the ball over the defensive wall or pass around the wall.
The player or players who are designated to take the free kicks should practise kicking long hard balls for far kicks and chip shots for balls kicked over a defensive wall. For the remainder of the team,drills consist of practicing over and over where they should go and what they should do in each situation. Each team and each coach will have different plays for their team and so it is important to keep practicing them.
Practice makes perfect and each play should be rehearsed thoroughly during practice so that play selection, signaling and execution are precise in game play. Plays can start being practiced with only the offensive players and goalie involved and can intensify with more and more defensive players being added.
There is no special defensive tactic for free kicks when the ball is far from the goal and cannot be played directly into the goal area. The defending team moves quickly to get between the ball and goal. When a kick is taken close to the scoring area, the defense usually forms a wall to block the path to the goal. The purpose of the wall at closer distances is to protect the near half of the goal. The goalie covers the far half of the goal. The number of people in the wall depends on the distance of the kick from goal and the angle. Usually the goalie positions the wall, telling them to move right or left.
There are many different free kick plays and so it is important to assign different roles and responsibilities to individual players. There are no specific drills one can use to learn how to defend against free kicks. Usually teams start with only offensive players practicing free kick plays and then they add defensive players to the practice. The most important thing players must learn in practicing defense against free kicks is who will have what role.
As with free kicks the only drill for a team to practice is a repetition of the plays they have set up for corner kicks. Plays can be make nearly perfect through practicing proper technique, communication, movement and timing. It is important for the person taking the corner kicks to be able to place the ball exactly where each play demands and it is important for all the other players to know exactly what role they assume for each of their teams plays. Once again, as with free kicks, most teams start practicing their corner kick plays with only offensive players and an opposing goalie and then gradually add defensive players to make the drill more like a real game situation.
When the opposing team is awarded a corner kick, you are already in your defensive third of the field. Although how the offensive team sets up determines a lot of how the defense sets up, there is usually a partially prearranged defensive setup that the players must be able to quickly move to.
Often, two defensive players will position themselves near the far post- one to protect the space behind the goalkeeper and the other to move out to cover an attacker who has occupied or is attempting to occupy vulnerable space. The goalkeeper will typically be close enough to the far post to be able to intercept a long cross to the far post or to move along the goal line or forward away from the goal line to catch balls that swing in toward the goal. A defender will probably be at the near post to clear a short kick from the goal area or to pass the ball to a teammate. Usually, another defender will be 10 yards from the player taking the corner kick to provide distraction and to be in position to intercept an errant cross or a pass to a nearby attacker.
Other defensive players usually mark attacking players who have moved or may move to scoring positions. Defenders will try to create depth by positioning players from the goal line out to the middle third of the field so that a defender can clear or pass the ball immediately upfield to a teammate.
It is important for the team to practice their defensive strategy over and over so that in a game situation, each players knows exactly where to go and what to do. Players must also be able to read each situation and adapt their behaviour accordingly. Communication is a key so that each defender knows what the others are doing.