Football Coaching Drills

Football is well and truly in the air this summer, kicking off quite literally with the UEFA final at the end of May. It’s not all about the boys though; the Fifa Women’s World Cup occurs every four years in June and with organisations such as She Can Play getting girls into the sport, it’s any person’s game.

Another great event happening in June is Coaching Week. Running in early June, celebrations of great coaching will take place across the UK, also raising awareness of the benefits of being coached. We thought we’d do our bit to bring you some football training drills to improve your game:

Agility Tests

Agility is important in football for many reasons. Top players in the game will be very agile, and will be able to move off in different directions when they’ve got the football or even when they haven’t. They’ll also use their agility to deceive their opponents on the pitch. It’s all about doing drills to make sure your feet can move at a substantial pace.

T-Test (Without Ball) / T-Test (With Ball)

Position four cones in a T shape on the ground. Start at the base of the T, running up the centre to the top, then run down one arm, to the other arm, then to the centre and back down the the base again. Repeat this with the football, making sure to move it around the cones as you go. It’s important to work your feet quickly in tight areas, both with and without the ball.

Ladders

If you haven’t got a ladder at home, use cones or any other piece of equipment that you can work your feet around or step through. The quicker you move your feet, the quicker you can get out of tight areas. Complete different ladder exercises without the ball, such as moving in a zig-zag formation through the cones or running over the cones, aligning each foot with the cones as you go.

Pop-Ups

Run a 10 yard distance, starting from a kneeling position. Jump up to standing then sprint. Repeat this at the other end.

Speed Tests

Explosive movements are of paramount importance in football. You might need to move fast forwards, backwards or sideways.

5 & 10 Yard Dashes

Position the four cones at 5-yard distances. Run forwards from cone 1 to 2, then backwards to cone 1. Run forwards to cone 3, then backwards to cone 2. Repeat this until you reach the end of the cones.

The Hop

With this exercise, we’re working our feet to isolate our muscle groups; quads, thighs and hamstrings. Position two barriers of cones running parallel to each other. Start in the middle and squat, jumping over the cones to the left, holding the squat there, jumping back to the centre, then repeating on the right side. After this, sprint off from the middle.

Aerobic Tests

Anyone can do an exercise once or twice but in football, it’s about doing it for the whole 90 minutes. Aerobic tests include jogging, walking and sprinting, as you’ll need to keep your legs moving at different speeds during a game.

Jog Sprints

Position twelve cones in a large square. Start by jogging around each side of the square, then increase one of these sides to a sprint each time you’re going round until you complete a full square of sprinting.

6-Yard Close Control

In this exercise, you choose the speed you’re moving at at any time. The key is to keep working until you can’t work anymore. Remember, you get out of it what you put in. Move up and down straight lines of four cones, marked out at 6 yard distances, and use the ball as well.

Whether you’re practicing speed, aerobic or agility tests, make sure you’re not cheating yourself and giving it 100 per cent. You can practice them as many times as you want; the more times you do drills at a good standard, the more you’ll improve.

Check out our video below where football coach Tom demonstrates some useful drills to help get you match fit!