Warm Up:

• Set up a square about 15m x 15m using markers.
• Without a ball, have children running around in it, changing direction.
• Run around bringing knees up to chest.
• Run around bringing feet up behind.
• Side steps within the square.
• Dribble with the ball, changing direction and keep head up.
• Give children a chance to do some tricks with the ball whilst dribbling.
• Encourage them to use their imagination.

Ball Mastery Skills:

• Use the 15m x 15m square set up above for the following three activities.

Drop, kick, catch

• Aim to have the kids master this skill by doing one drop, kick, catch at a time. Then aim for two, then three etc.
• When they can do it 5 times in a row, do the same process, but use the knee rather than their foot.

Toe Taps

• Start kids doing toe taps in one spot. Coach then walks around and team follows.
• This teaches the kids to not look at the ball, but rather to keep their head up and control the ball.

Dribbling

• Start kids dribbling with a ball in any direction. Then the coach yells out a body part (head, knee, foot, chest) and the kids need to stop the ball with that part of the body.

Passing

• Set up two lines of markers 5m apart. Put kids into pairs.
• Put 1 child on each marker and give each pair a ball.
• They pass the ball to each other. Encourage them to use inside of foot, not toe.
• One of the partners then stands with their lags apart, and the other partner aims to pass the ball through their legs.
• Set markers 10m apart and repeat.

Games

Game 1:

• Set up a 7m x 7m square, then an internal square of 5m x 5m using different coloured markers. Put a ball at each internal marker and in the centre of the smaller square.
  
• Split the group into 4, and put each group on a corner of the outer square.
• The first child of each group moves to the inner square to start the game.
• They all run around the square, without the ball.
• When they get back to their corner they try to kick the ball out of the middle of the square, using the ball at their marker.
• After each child has had a turn, try running in the opposite direction.

Game 2:

• 1v1 (1 attacker and 1 defender). Down the track it can be used as a 2v1.
  
• Set up a 20m x 20m square and put a ball on 2 of the markers on opposite sides to each other.
• Split kids into 2 groups and put them on opposite sides of the square.
• The coach rolls a ball into the middle, and the first child on each side runs in to try and win the ball.
• That child then attempts a ball mastery skill to try and hit the ball off the marker with the ball that they have just won.
• Continue till all kids have had a couple of turns.