Academy - Summer Session 1
Ball Mastery - Clear The Space Dribbling (12 mins)
Overview:
Setup a 20 x 20 area with two teams of three / four players with all players having a ball each. Players are not allowed in the same box as a team-mate, if a team-mate dribbles / runs with the ball into your box you must leave the box and move into a new one. Players can also use the Football DNA 1v1 moves of ‘Stepover Scissor, Slide Stepover’ to leave / enter a new box as well as create space for themselves too.
Coaching Points:
Eyes Up: In order for players to look for the best space for them to travel into, players are encouraged to keep their eyes up when travelling the ball to help them to identify this space. In order to help players with this, a coach may hold up numbers on their hands for the players to call out or alternatively, the players must perform a 1v1 skill against another player before they can move into another box.
Use of Both Feet: Players need to use both feet when travelling with the ball and performing their 1v1 skills. To support this, you may enforce that players must perform the skill on both feet before they can move into the next box. This will also help them travel into the different boxes quickly, whilst evading being in the same bas as their teammates.
Disguise: An emphasis should be placed on how players use their arms, body and head to add to disguise for their 1v1 moves by exaggerating their 1v1 skills on both sides. This will help to add a disguise, pretending to go one way and instead moving in another direction.
Speed: By adding speed in their touches when dribbling this will help players to move into a new space / beat an opponent at speed. In addition, players should be encouraged to also use their 1v1 skills at speed too. To ensure this can be maintained, consider the work to rest time needed for players to do perform skills at speed. Larger touches will enable players to move into space quickly, smaller quick touches may be needed to change direction quickly.
Progressions:
- To progress this further, players have one football between them, and they must try and stay on the ball / keep it in the team but also are not allowed to have a ball in the same box as the opposition.
Regression:
- To simplify this each player should hold a ball in their hand rather than dribbling with their feet.