Passing Drills that will get your kids playing.
Passing Drills are key to getting your team playing.
These 10 Passing Drills are a mixture of warm ups and full drills.
The kids will love them as they keep them engaged and focused and they will learn a whole range of skills.
Best of all, they are easy to set up and only require some Cones, Flat Circles / Discs, a ball and some enthusiastic kids !!
Passing Drills #1 – Zig Zag Passing against the Clock.
This Passing Drill is a race against the clock.
Set your Flat Circles / Discs out between 10 and 15 yards apart with a player stood on each one.
The idea is that the ball must be passed down the line and back within a certain time scale.
Set a time to start, say 30 seconds for 8-10 players, or something that you think is achievable, but won’t be done first go.
Ideally you want the players to be taking no more that 2 touches, one to control and set up the pass, and then the pass.
This will teach them to focus on the ball and also where to position their body.
After a few goes, its amazing how quickly they pick this up.
Offer them a reward if they beat the target within 5 goes ( ie Coaches all do 10 press ups – so they can have a laugh )
Once the beat it, drop it 5 seconds and up the reward.
The kids love nothing more than getting revenge on the coaches and it really engages them.
As they progress, you can add Risk into it. For example, if they miscontrol and it goes through the legs, or the pass is wild, then they all have to do 5 press-ups.
Passing Drill #2 – Diagonal & Sideways – Follow the Pass
This is the perfect warm up / arrival passing drill.
Mark out a square with your Flat Circles / Discs, 1 Player on each corner, with 2 on the starting corner.
Player 1 passes diagonally to Player 2 and follows the pass.
Player 2 takes one touch to control, and can then only pass sideways to their left or right. Again, they follow the pass.
Player 3 takes one touch to control, and then must pass diagonally again.
Encourage the players to communicate and name the player they are passing too.
To start with this may be quite slow, but as the drill progresses the speed should pick up.
Focus has to be on the body position to receive the pass and the first touch setting them up for the pass.
A good drill that can set the up the preceding session as will get the Players engaged from the start.
Passing Drills #3 – Pass & Move Square
This is a great drill, especially for the younger ages.
Mark out a square with Cones.
Inside the square, drop 3-5 more Flat Circles / Discs than there are players.
Every time a player passes to another player, all the players apart from the one receiving the ball need to move to a new circle.
Ideally movement will be sidestep or backwards so they can still see the ball
Levelling Up
Once the have got the hang of it, you can add a defender to the mix.
Start off with a target of 3 – 5 passes. If they make the target the defender & coaches do 5 press-ups.
If not, they rest do.
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Passing Drill #4 – Long Pass, Short Pass, Switch
This is another great arrival or pre match warm up drill to get the players focused and moving.
You need 3 Cones or Flat Circles / Discs. About a 10 yard gap between Cones 1 & 2 and a 5 yard gap between Cones 2 & 3.
4 to 5 Players per team.
Player 1 stands on Cone 3, the rest line up at Cone 1.
Player 2 passes to Player 1 and then runs to Cone 2.
Player 1 Passes back to player 2, who controls and passes back to player 1, following the ball to cone 3.
Player 1 then dribbles down the side and take their place in the back of the queue.
Player 2 turns and stands on Cone 3 to receive Player 3’s pass and the process then repeats.
This can start of slowly as players get the touch / control and passing sorted and then as they get comfortable, can increase in Tempo
Passing Drills #5 – Beat the Clock
The Kids will LOVE this one.
Make a circle of Cones or Flat Circles / Discs around the Coach for all the players, if you have more than 10 then split the group into 2.
Coach passes the ball to Player 1, who controls and passes back to the Coach.
Player 1 then has to complete 2 laps around the circle before the Coach can complete one lap of passing.
If the runner wins, the rest do 5 press-ups / star jumps etc
If the Circle wins, the runner does them.
Passing Drill #6 – The Rondo
The Rondo – The King of passing drills.
Everyone Loves a Rondo and this needs no introduction.
Players make a circle.
One player goes in the middle and must chase the ball down and intercept of force a pass out of the circle.
Which ever player he intercepts or passes out of the circle then goes into the middle.
Target is 10 passes.
Levelling Up
Passing Drills #7 – Double Rondo – Head to Head
Split the teams equally, use some Coaches if you need to up the numbers.
Number the players in each team.
Both Teams start passing the ball around their circle, with no one in the middle.
Coach will shout out a number.
That player will break into the opposite Rondo and try and win the ball.
First player to win the ball gets the point for their team.
First team to 10 points.
Losing team does a lap of the pitch
Passing Drill #8 – Through the Gates.
This passing drill can be used for any age group and scaled up or down accordingly.
Make a square in the goal mouth with your Flat Circles / Discs.
This is the Control Box, size determined by the level of players you have.
Now about 20 – 25 yards out set up 6 gates with different coloured Cones
Yellow Cones | Just off Centre | Widest Gate | Value: 1 Point |
Blue Cones | Middle Gate | Half size of Yellow Gate | Value: 3 Points |
Red Cones | Out Wide | Half size of Blue Gate | Value: 5 Points |
The reason the widest gates are the smallest and most value, is because you want to encourage the players to pass the ball out wide, rather than just kicking down the middle.
Split players into 2 teams
Coach passes the ball from the halfway line along the floor to the player
Player must control the ball and keep it within the Control Box. If the ball comes out of the Control Box then no pass can be played and 0 points scored.
Player has 3 seconds to play a pass through gates of their choice.
Each player gets 2 turns.
Levelling Up
To increase the pressure on the player controlling and passing, and opposing team player stands with the coach. 2 or 3 seconds after the coach passes, the player sprints to close down the player passing and put pressure on them to misplace their pass.
Another way to level up is to change the pass type to the player. Add in a bouncer etc.
Passing Drills #9 – One Two Race
The old “One-Two” The most famous of passing movements.
Split players into 3 teams. Lay out 4 to 5 Cones.
Players must race to the end Cone, turn and come back again.
Winner is team to finish first.
Mix things up by stating that players on left side going out must use Left foot, and right foot on the return.
And the other way round for players on the right.
Passing Drill #10 – Splitting the Defence
This is a great drill, as it encourages movement and communication.
Divide the pitch into 3 sections using Cones or Flat Circles / Discs
Split the Players into 3 equal teams.
The idea is the two teams on the outside, have to pass the ball to each other through the team in the middle.
Players on the outside are allowed to dribble or pass the ball around their section to create space for the pass by moving the players in middle around.
When a pass is intercepted, the team whose pass was incomplete goes into the middle.
Levelling Up
Put a time limit on the team with the ball to play the pass.
Or
Allow one player from central team to invade passing teams section and force them to move the ball quicker
Summary
Some great drills here and most can be used for all abilities.
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