Agility training for better ball control

Organisation

• Organise the players into teams and create a slalom course with cones and an end cone
• The players take turns to race in pairs, moving the ball through the slalom cones, and one player returns to the start to collect the next player
• Ask the players to think of ways of carrying/moving the ball together
• If teams have uneven numbers, then they can also move in a group of three, or you could make a rule that one player has to go again in teams with fewer players

Ways to make the exercise easier

• Use a smaller number of slalom cones
• The players can run by themselves

Ways to make the exercise harder

• Increase the number of slalom cones
• Increase the distance

Great questions to ask the players

• Can you show me how you communicate with your partner/team-mates?
• Can you try to help each other as much as possible?

Safety tips

• Create a safe space to play

Organisation

• Organise the players into groups of four or five
• Challenge the players to work as a team to throw and catch ten times in a small circle, without dropping the ball. They should pretend the ball is very HOT and can only touch it for one second before moving it to the next player
• The first team to ten passes or more without dropping the ball wins
• Then create a course for each team to move through, repeating the above but now also moving as a team. Make it a race between teams
• You can move on to having the ball on the ground and the players having to pass it one-touch between them

Ways to make the exercise easier

• Change it to a “warm potato” – players can hold the ball for two seconds
• Change it to a “cold potato” – they catch the ball and hug it before moving it on

Ways to make the exercise harder

• The players stand further apart
• No catching: the players have to flick the ball straight to the next person

Great questions to ask the players

• Can you show me how you move the ball quickly between you?
• How can you help each other to keep the ball in the air?
• Can you try to make sure the ball does not hit the ground?

Safety tips

• Create a safe space to play

Organisation

• Organise the players into even teams and create mini-pitches for games of no more than 4v4 (have three teams per pitch and rotate or two teams per pitch and rotate teams between pitches, so winners play against losers each time you rotate)
• If a team is waiting, it can also play 2v2 or complete a mini skills challenge to stay active
• Just let your players play
• Give the players the chance to learn through playing and the different challenges posed by new opposition
• Let the players referee their own games

Ways to make the exercise easier

• A team can have one or more extra players if you have uneven numbers or a weaker team

Ways to make the exercise harder

• Limit the number of touches
• You can place conditions on the game – e.g. ways to score or number of touches

Great questions to ask the children

• Can you try to support your team-mates when they have the ball?
• When your team does not have the ball, can you get between the ball and your own goal as quickly as possible?
• Can goalkeepers roll the ball out to restart play instead of kicking it?

Safety tips

• Create a safe space to play