Last Updated on: 14th July 2021, 10:41 am
Object Of The Training Session – Given the the right game situation, encourage your players to take on and dribble past players.
Practising The Skill – Player 1 runs at the cone with the ball and attempts a trick to dribble round the cone, as if it was an opposing defender. He passes the ball to player 2 who also dribbles round the cone, passing it to player 3 to repeat the exercise. Each Player should always keep their head up and a burst of pace is required once the player has taken the ball past the cone. They all follow their pass and the sequence continues as shown in the diagram below.
Developing The Drill – This drill is the same as the one above, however the cone in the middle is replaced with a defending player. The defender swaps with one of the attacking players once he has stopped them from dribbling the ball to the other side. This sequence is repeated as shown in the diagram below.
Moving The Drill Into A More Realistic Game Situation – Player 3 passes the ball to player 1 who is positioned about 20 meters away and moves into the centre of the marked out area to become the defender, as shown in the diagram below. Player 1 receives the pass and runs at the third player, attempting to go past him and score. Player 3 moves to where the first player was and the fourth person repeats the exercise as shown in the diagram below.
Game Situation – Finish with a normal game on a full size pitch if possible, encouraging your players to take on and dribble past players when appropriate. Encourage the players to dribble, but only in the right places.
PENDLE VERDICT – Just be careful when you finish off with a normal game that players are not running around “blind”, trying to dribble past players in positions that do not require them to do so. Encourage your team to make correct choices, most importantly, whether or not they should play an easy pass or be possitive and have a go at going around a player. Focus needs to be on keeping your head when running with the ball and a quick change of pace when going past a player.
YOUR VERDICT – What do you think?