June 6, 2023

An Ultimate Guide to Youth Soccer Drills

The Importance of Fun Soccer Drills

Research shows that soccer drills that mix skill development and repetition of skilled touches that also have fun elements are key to developing youth soccer players. As a soccer coach, you need to create a balance that maximizes the enjoyment of the players. Drills and specifically the development of the touch on the ball are absolutely critical for players to learn and repeat when they are young. It’s these basics that can allow players to master more advanced moves and techniques later on in their soccer development.

Soccer drills that help players learn these core skills and also are wildly fun for kids create a perfect mix. Kids learn better when they are intrinsically engaged, and it’s easy to get both into your next practice with a little planning.

With that in mind, here are some of the most fun youth soccer drills that will also develop their skills, teamwork, and give them loads of touches on the ball.

Different Types of Youth Soccer Drills

There are tons of different youth soccer drills, but the best ones marry skill development and natural sports enjoyment. These are some of the best ones for you to use when planning your practice.

Soccer Warm-Up Drills

Warm-up drills have a very specific purpose. They engage the children’s cardiovascular system and get the blood pumping through the muscles. Properly preparing the body is important for reducing the risk of injury, even in children. If you are a youth soccer coach, here are some of the best soccer warm up drills you can use in your next soccer practice.

Wolf Tail

Wolf Tail is a soccer drill that is great for warming up the body. Players chase each other and try to pull the “wolf tail” out from the other players which are tucked in behind their soccer shorts. The game works on athleticism and positional awareness because players have to react quickly and think about both attacking and defending at the same time. This kind of drill is easy to get started and fortunately, it doesn’t even require a lot of space.


How To Set Up The Drill


Wolf Tails requires a greater number than four players.

Use cones to mark out a square area appropriate to the number of players. You can make it larger if you have many players, although keeping the space small creates better results and more interactions.
All the players tuck a soccer pinney into the back of their shorts—which is their wolf tail.


Objective

The objective of the game is to grab as many “wolf tails” while preventing other players from grabbing your wolf tail.


How to Play

Players can run anywhere inside the marked area, and they try to snatch each other’s tails while protecting their own wolf tail.

If their tails are captured, players can perform a pre-agreed activity, as an example, sprinting around the field of play once or twice. Alternatively, older players can do jumping jacks or pushups, for example. Once completed, they can return to the field and continue to capture another tail from the other active players.

The winner is the player who has captured all the tails—or the drill can be completed after a certain amount of time, like 3-5 minutes.

Hospital Tag

Hospital tag is an alternative to the Wolf Tails drill listed above. It’s a fun and active warmup drill for a minimum of 4 soccer players.


How To Set Up The Drill

Mark a field of appropriate size with some soccer cones.

Each player starts with their ball set just outside the marked cone area. All players who accidentally go outside of the marked cones will be disqualified.

Objective

The drill objective is to tag other players and to avoid being tagged, similar to Wolf Tails.

How to Play

When it begins, players run around and try to tag other players. Once tagged, players scream “ouch.” Once a player is tagged a second time they are at risk of being eliminated. 


When they get tagged the third time, they are deemed to have been “injured” and the player gets sent to the hospital. To do this, they leave the marked area and must dribble the ball with seven controlled touches, keeping the ball close to the body. By doing these controlled touches, the players are “healed” and can return to the field of play and start again.

Soccer Dribbling Drills

Dribbling is another core skill in soccer. Being able to dribble and control the ball with both feet is a skill that should be developed at a young age. Dribbling is important not only with being able to control the ball at low speeds, but also when going full-tilt. These drills work on being able to keep the ball close when dribbling and working on the player’s first touch. It’s important to work on your dribbling if you want to develop into a great soccer player.

Here are a couple of drills that are fun and help players develop better dribbling abilities.

Poison Snakes

Poison snakes is a simple soccer drill that will help to improve general foot dexterity and control. This drill is not only fun, but also helps players improve their coordination and body movements.

How To Set It Up

  • Place four cones in a square grid spaced out an appropriate amount.
  • All the players start inside the grid.
  • The coach chooses two players who will be the snakes.
  • The snakes lay down. 

Objective

How this fun soccer drill works is that the snakes slither around their bellies inside the coned off area and try to tag all the other players participating in the drill.

How to play

To get started, the non-snake players put one of their hands on any of the snakes. When the coach calls out, “poison snakes,” each of the non-snake players should start dribbling the ball within the field of play while also being mindful of avoiding being tagged by dribbling in any way they can. Encourage players to use both feet and to use different types of touches like rolls, pull backs, hook turns and more. The snakes slither around on their bellies trying to reach out and tag the non-snake players. Every player who is touched becomes a snake (making the game harder and the space tighter) The drill is over once all the players have been tagged by the snakes.

Red Light Green Light

This common youth soccer game is one that can be easily played with 6-year-olds or younger, however, it can also be played with older players as long as they are challenging themselves to perform good touches. This drill focuses on reaction time and provides an introduction to tight ball control and quick turning.

How To Set up The Drill

  • All the players stand on one sideline with a ball at their feet.
  • The goal is to dribble to the other sideline while keeping close control.
  • The coach should always be at least 15 yards away from the closest player.

Objective

The players attempt to win by being the first to dribble to the opposite sideline.

How to play

The players advance based on what the coach calls out. When the coach shouts ‘yellow,’ the players should slowly dribble the ball towards the coach. When the coach calls ‘green,’ the players should dribble faster. Lastly, the coach shouts ‘red’ and the players need to freeze. After shouting red, the coach should turn around and try to catch any players who are still moving.

Any player who is caught is to go back to the initial sideline. The drill ends when the majority of the players have dribbled the opposite sideline successfully.

Soccer Passing Drills

Passing is one of the most important skills in soccer. Great players are great passers. In order to succeed at a high level in soccer, you need to be able to pass with the correct weight and placement—for example, not too far ahead or behind a player and to the correct foot in certain situations.

Passing is a skill that needs to be honed consistently. So for a soccer coach, working on passing drills is essential.

As a youth soccer coach, keep an eye out for lazy passes. If players are doing lazy passes, it won’t help them improve. They should be engaged with the passing drill. These youth soccer passing drills are some of the best for any age group.

Triangle Combination Soccer Passing Drill

This is a great drill that forces players to play combination passes when under pressure. You can focus on different elements of passes such as the weight, angle, pace, and even timing of the pass.

How To Set Up The Drill

  • Put the players in groups of 4.
  • Create a triangle with three cones 20 feet away from each other.
  • Have three players standing a couple of feet outside of the cone and the fourth player behind player one.
  • You will need only one soccer ball (but it’s a good idea to have a backup soccer ball for quick restarts).

Objective

This is one of the best passing drills because it forces players to control the ball and pass it to the next player before sprinting to the next cone.

How to play

To start this soccer training drill, player 1 will hard pass the ball toward player 2. After passing the ball, the player immediately leaves the cone and runs towards player 2. Player 4 steps in to fill the space left by player 1. Player 2 receives the ball with one foot (it’s important to have a good first touch) and passes with the other foot towards player 3. Player 2 also leaves their initial starting position and starts sprinting towards player 3. The game continues in a clockwise motion.

High-Pressure Passing Drill

How To Set Up The Drill

Set up cones to create a circle about 10-12 yards in diameter. Alternatively, you can use the center circle on your soccer pitch for ease.

One player stands on the dot in the middle. The other players stand around the edge of the circle spread out from each other.

Objectives

The Pressure Passing is a great soccer drill for stressing the need for quick but accurate passing (and for older players, using the correct foot to play their teammate out of danger). The speed of the drill also encourages players to keep their heads up when taking touches and playing passes.

How to Play

To begin, one player on the edge of the circle passes the ball to the player in the middle.

The player in the central area receives the ball with a good first touch. As a coach, it’s important that you instruct the player to control the ball, and then pass it to another player on the outside edge of the circle. Make sure your players are using hard, game-level passes. If players are allowed to give soft passes in practice, it does not help them develop and improve their passing and receiving skills.

Right away, a second ball from outside the circle is passed to the central player in the middle of the circle again. This is done precisely so the player in the center has little time. This stimulates a more realistic game-passing situation.

The game continues for one minute or two before the middle player switches with one of the other players.

The central player will need to practice and react by displaying quick forward, backward and lateral movements to receive, control, and then pass the balls in quick succession.

Soccer Shooting Drills

All young players love shooting and the thrill that comes with scoring. So training sessions that have shooting drills are always very popular with the kids. But there are techniques to master with shooting that do not come intuitively, like the tendency to lean back and hit the ball too high over the crossbar, for example.

These drills allow players to improve their shots and give them better results in the next game.

Penalty Box Soccer

This fun game is set up in the penalty area right next to the goalposts. It’s fantastic for younger players and can be played from U6 up to U12.

How To Set Up The Drill

  • To prepare for this game, you’ll need a pinney for each of the keepers, one goal, two corner flags, and six balls.
  • Make a goal directly on the penalty box line, which is set up opposite to the main goal.
  • Divide the players on the team into groups of a maximum 4 players each. These two teams compete against each other with one player on the goalpost.

Objective

The main purpose of this soccer drill is to see which team score the most goals within 5 minutes.

How to play

The drill commences when one of the GKs passes the ball to one of their teammate. Each team tries to score the most goals within the 3-minute time limit. The team that scores the most goals wins and stays on the field, while the losing team is replaced by the next team of 4. If no goals are scored in the first 3 minutes, the two teams are both replaced by new ones.

Expect some loud fun with this one!

Open Goal Shooting

This is a fun soccer drill for kids that also works great for older players and even adults.

How To Set Up The Drill

You’ll need to have a ball in front of a net. You can use actual goalposts, portable Pugg nets, or even create makeshift nets using cones.

As the coach, consider the age and skill level of the players, and from this decision, start the ball at an appropriate spot in front of the net.

Objective

The goal of this soccer drill is to help teach younger players how to select a spot inside the goal and work on actually hitting that specific spot. This makes players more adaptable to shooting on both sides of the net from different angles.

How to Play

The player starts by standing two steps behind the ball facing the goal.

The player looks at the goal and picks a spot inside the net.

At the whistle, the player takes a step forward using their non-dominant foot before striking the ball towards the target spot with their dominant foot.

Allow each player to have 5 attempts on goal. Place the ball in a slightly different position each time, as you won’t have shooting opportunities at the same spot each time and the angle on the goal is important to consider. Coaches can also encourage the player to select a different target for every round. Repeat with the opposite foot for older youth players.

Defensive Soccer Drills

Defending is important for any soccer team. Being able to prevent your opponent from scoring or taking high-quality shots is a skill to work on with beginners and experts alike.

When defending, try to impress on the players that they want to get low and jockey rather than diving in recklessly. Making a great tackle can feel just as fantastic as making that perfect pass that leads to a goal. These drills work on defensive soccer skills.

1v1 Defending Drill

This is a simple drill requiring little setup. Players can also perform it anywhere with just a few cones and a soccer ball.

How To Set Up The Drill

Use eight cones to set up a small grid 2 yards by 8 yards. Two players start in the grid, and the attacker has the ball at his cleats.

Objective

The purpose of this drill is to get defenders to practice how to lead attackers into tight areas with the least amount of space, for instance, along the sidelines or towards another teammate. The drill also focuses on staying with the attacker by jockeying instead of losing body position to chase the attacker.

How to Play

Start with the attacker and defender facing each other inside the grid. The attacker can use all their skills to protect the ball from the defender. Coaching moment: instruct the defender not to try and strip the ball from the attacker. The purpose is for the defender to stay close to the attacker and to force them into tight spaces. The goal is to choke the attacker out of space. As the attacker changes direction, the defender should stay with them by shuffling their feet to minimize available space. As a coach, watch for diving in as an action to instruct.

Defensive Run Down Drill

This one tests offensive ball control, defense, and also conditioning. When playing defense, this game emphasizes accurate ball clearances and recoveries, while offensive players get to practice dribbling at speed to evade defenders.

How to Set Up The Drill

This drill will require a goal or cone post, and optionally a keeper. Have two players, an attacker with a ball, and a defender standing on the midfield line facing the goal post.

Objective

The objective is to have the defenders attempt legal slide tackling and clear the ball before the attacker can take a shot.

How to Play

On the first whistle, the offensive player dribbles quickly towards the goal post. When the offensive player is several steps ahead, the coach blows the whistle again. This signals the defender to run towards the offensive player and attempt to clear the ball.

The offensive player should attempt to protect the ball from the defender while keeping the ball close. After avoiding the defender, the attacking player can score a goal when they are inside the penalty box.

The drill ends when the attacking player has attempted to score, or when the defensive player has successfully cleared the ball.

U8 Soccer Drills

U8 is a key age in soccer development. Extra practice and good coaching in this age group can pay huge dividends later on. At the U8 level, players should be developing the basic movements and skill sets that will help them later on.

Many parents consider private coaching if they feel that their child does not have a coach who has the proper background experience.

Best Soccer Drills for 4- to 5-year-olds

Soccer drills for 4-5-year-olds may require some modification. Some great ones for younger players include Cone Chase and Pac Man.

Cone Chase

How to Set Up The Drill

Cone Chase is a basic warm up drill. Players line up behind cones in two rows, facing each other.

How to Play

Players on one side are given even numbers, and those on the opposite side are given odd numbers.

The youth coach calls out one even number and one odd number.

The selected players sprint to collect the cone that has been vacated by the opposing player. They pick up the cone and return to their home base.

The first player to place the cone back on their home base is the winner.

Pac Man

How to Set Up The Drill

Mark out a suitable size grid based on the number of players.

How to Play

2 to 3 players start with a ball, and these are the Pac Man. The rest of the balls are placed outside the grid around the perimeter line.

The players without a ball are the “ghosts.”

The Pac Man players try to tag ghosts or hit ghosts with their ball below the ghost’s knee. The ghosts move around the grid trying to avoid the Pacman players. When a ghost is tagged or hit, they become a Pac Man.

The drill continues until no ghosts are left. Repeat with a new set of Pacman starters.

Best Soccer Drills for 6- to 7-year-olds

Keeping younger kids engaged and also practicing their skills can be challenging for a soccer coach, but these kid-tested games are perfect for accomplishing just that.

Sharks and Minnows

How To Setup the Drill

Build a grid of approximately 15x20 yards, depending on the number of players and their skill level.

Assign two players to be the “sharks” and have them start in the middle of the field without a ball. The rest of the players start with a ball on the end line.

How to Play

The players with the ball are the “minnows.” Their goal is to “swim” (dribble) from one end line to the other while keeping their ball away from the sharks.

The sharks try to win balls or knock the minnows’ ball out of the area. When this happens, the minnow now becomes a shark.

The last minnow standing wins the competition.

Soccer coaching is available for all ages at TOCA Football

These were some of the top soccer drills for developing skills in young players that will also have the kids howling in fun. Soccer is such a fun game, but the development of certain skills and movements at a young age is very helpful for building on more advanced drills later on.

TOCA Football has elite soccer coaching for all ages in different locations across the United States and in Western Canada. They can help kids not only master skills that can assist them in getting in elite soccer clubs in your area, but they can also supplement coaching with professional coaches who understand the nuances of soccer.

The TOCA methodology uses tech-enhanced soccer training which kids really love. If you are looking for a fun, engaged community with a leaning toward developing elite-level soccer players, get in touch. We have plans to open more soccer facilities across North America in the coming months.

Check out TOCA Football to see which location is nearest to you.

And above all, have fun. Soccer is a game.

The Importance of Fun Soccer Drills

Research shows that soccer drills that mix skill development and repetition of skilled touches that also have fun elements are key to developing youth soccer players. As a soccer coach, you need to create a balance that maximizes the enjoyment of the players. Drills and specifically the development of the touch on the ball are absolutely critical for players to learn and repeat when they are young. It’s these basics that can allow players to master more advanced moves and techniques later on in their soccer development.

Soccer drills that help players learn these core skills and also are wildly fun for kids create a perfect mix. Kids learn better when they are intrinsically engaged, and it’s easy to get both into your next practice with a little planning.

With that in mind, here are some of the most fun youth soccer drills that will also develop their skills, teamwork, and give them loads of touches on the ball.

Different Types of Youth Soccer Drills

There are tons of different youth soccer drills, but the best ones marry skill development and natural sports enjoyment. These are some of the best ones for you to use when planning your practice.

Soccer Warm-Up Drills

Warm-up drills have a very specific purpose. They engage the children’s cardiovascular system and get the blood pumping through the muscles. Properly preparing the body is important for reducing the risk of injury, even in children. If you are a youth soccer coach, here are some of the best soccer warm up drills you can use in your next soccer practice.

Wolf Tail

Wolf Tail is a soccer drill that is great for warming up the body. Players chase each other and try to pull the “wolf tail” out from the other players which are tucked in behind their soccer shorts. The game works on athleticism and positional awareness because players have to react quickly and think about both attacking and defending at the same time. This kind of drill is easy to get started and fortunately, it doesn’t even require a lot of space.


How To Set Up The Drill


Wolf Tails requires a greater number than four players.

Use cones to mark out a square area appropriate to the number of players. You can make it larger if you have many players, although keeping the space small creates better results and more interactions.
All the players tuck a soccer pinney into the back of their shorts—which is their wolf tail.


Objective

The objective of the game is to grab as many “wolf tails” while preventing other players from grabbing your wolf tail.


How to Play

Players can run anywhere inside the marked area, and they try to snatch each other’s tails while protecting their own wolf tail.

If their tails are captured, players can perform a pre-agreed activity, as an example, sprinting around the field of play once or twice. Alternatively, older players can do jumping jacks or pushups, for example. Once completed, they can return to the field and continue to capture another tail from the other active players.

The winner is the player who has captured all the tails—or the drill can be completed after a certain amount of time, like 3-5 minutes.

Hospital Tag

Hospital tag is an alternative to the Wolf Tails drill listed above. It’s a fun and active warmup drill for a minimum of 4 soccer players.


How To Set Up The Drill

Mark a field of appropriate size with some soccer cones.

Each player starts with their ball set just outside the marked cone area. All players who accidentally go outside of the marked cones will be disqualified.

Objective

The drill objective is to tag other players and to avoid being tagged, similar to Wolf Tails.

How to Play

When it begins, players run around and try to tag other players. Once tagged, players scream “ouch.” Once a player is tagged a second time they are at risk of being eliminated. 


When they get tagged the third time, they are deemed to have been “injured” and the player gets sent to the hospital. To do this, they leave the marked area and must dribble the ball with seven controlled touches, keeping the ball close to the body. By doing these controlled touches, the players are “healed” and can return to the field of play and start again.

Soccer Dribbling Drills

Dribbling is another core skill in soccer. Being able to dribble and control the ball with both feet is a skill that should be developed at a young age. Dribbling is important not only with being able to control the ball at low speeds, but also when going full-tilt. These drills work on being able to keep the ball close when dribbling and working on the player’s first touch. It’s important to work on your dribbling if you want to develop into a great soccer player.

Here are a couple of drills that are fun and help players develop better dribbling abilities.

Poison Snakes

Poison snakes is a simple soccer drill that will help to improve general foot dexterity and control. This drill is not only fun, but also helps players improve their coordination and body movements.

How To Set It Up

  • Place four cones in a square grid spaced out an appropriate amount.
  • All the players start inside the grid.
  • The coach chooses two players who will be the snakes.
  • The snakes lay down. 

Objective

How this fun soccer drill works is that the snakes slither around their bellies inside the coned off area and try to tag all the other players participating in the drill.

How to play

To get started, the non-snake players put one of their hands on any of the snakes. When the coach calls out, “poison snakes,” each of the non-snake players should start dribbling the ball within the field of play while also being mindful of avoiding being tagged by dribbling in any way they can. Encourage players to use both feet and to use different types of touches like rolls, pull backs, hook turns and more. The snakes slither around on their bellies trying to reach out and tag the non-snake players. Every player who is touched becomes a snake (making the game harder and the space tighter) The drill is over once all the players have been tagged by the snakes.

Red Light Green Light

This common youth soccer game is one that can be easily played with 6-year-olds or younger, however, it can also be played with older players as long as they are challenging themselves to perform good touches. This drill focuses on reaction time and provides an introduction to tight ball control and quick turning.

How To Set up The Drill

  • All the players stand on one sideline with a ball at their feet.
  • The goal is to dribble to the other sideline while keeping close control.
  • The coach should always be at least 15 yards away from the closest player.

Objective

The players attempt to win by being the first to dribble to the opposite sideline.

How to play

The players advance based on what the coach calls out. When the coach shouts ‘yellow,’ the players should slowly dribble the ball towards the coach. When the coach calls ‘green,’ the players should dribble faster. Lastly, the coach shouts ‘red’ and the players need to freeze. After shouting red, the coach should turn around and try to catch any players who are still moving.

Any player who is caught is to go back to the initial sideline. The drill ends when the majority of the players have dribbled the opposite sideline successfully.

Soccer Passing Drills

Passing is one of the most important skills in soccer. Great players are great passers. In order to succeed at a high level in soccer, you need to be able to pass with the correct weight and placement—for example, not too far ahead or behind a player and to the correct foot in certain situations.

Passing is a skill that needs to be honed consistently. So for a soccer coach, working on passing drills is essential.

As a youth soccer coach, keep an eye out for lazy passes. If players are doing lazy passes, it won’t help them improve. They should be engaged with the passing drill. These youth soccer passing drills are some of the best for any age group.

Triangle Combination Soccer Passing Drill

This is a great drill that forces players to play combination passes when under pressure. You can focus on different elements of passes such as the weight, angle, pace, and even timing of the pass.

How To Set Up The Drill

  • Put the players in groups of 4.
  • Create a triangle with three cones 20 feet away from each other.
  • Have three players standing a couple of feet outside of the cone and the fourth player behind player one.
  • You will need only one soccer ball (but it’s a good idea to have a backup soccer ball for quick restarts).

Objective

This is one of the best passing drills because it forces players to control the ball and pass it to the next player before sprinting to the next cone.

How to play

To start this soccer training drill, player 1 will hard pass the ball toward player 2. After passing the ball, the player immediately leaves the cone and runs towards player 2. Player 4 steps in to fill the space left by player 1. Player 2 receives the ball with one foot (it’s important to have a good first touch) and passes with the other foot towards player 3. Player 2 also leaves their initial starting position and starts sprinting towards player 3. The game continues in a clockwise motion.

High-Pressure Passing Drill

How To Set Up The Drill

Set up cones to create a circle about 10-12 yards in diameter. Alternatively, you can use the center circle on your soccer pitch for ease.

One player stands on the dot in the middle. The other players stand around the edge of the circle spread out from each other.

Objectives

The Pressure Passing is a great soccer drill for stressing the need for quick but accurate passing (and for older players, using the correct foot to play their teammate out of danger). The speed of the drill also encourages players to keep their heads up when taking touches and playing passes.

How to Play

To begin, one player on the edge of the circle passes the ball to the player in the middle.

The player in the central area receives the ball with a good first touch. As a coach, it’s important that you instruct the player to control the ball, and then pass it to another player on the outside edge of the circle. Make sure your players are using hard, game-level passes. If players are allowed to give soft passes in practice, it does not help them develop and improve their passing and receiving skills.

Right away, a second ball from outside the circle is passed to the central player in the middle of the circle again. This is done precisely so the player in the center has little time. This stimulates a more realistic game-passing situation.

The game continues for one minute or two before the middle player switches with one of the other players.

The central player will need to practice and react by displaying quick forward, backward and lateral movements to receive, control, and then pass the balls in quick succession.

Soccer Shooting Drills

All young players love shooting and the thrill that comes with scoring. So training sessions that have shooting drills are always very popular with the kids. But there are techniques to master with shooting that do not come intuitively, like the tendency to lean back and hit the ball too high over the crossbar, for example.

These drills allow players to improve their shots and give them better results in the next game.

Penalty Box Soccer

This fun game is set up in the penalty area right next to the goalposts. It’s fantastic for younger players and can be played from U6 up to U12.

How To Set Up The Drill

  • To prepare for this game, you’ll need a pinney for each of the keepers, one goal, two corner flags, and six balls.
  • Make a goal directly on the penalty box line, which is set up opposite to the main goal.
  • Divide the players on the team into groups of a maximum 4 players each. These two teams compete against each other with one player on the goalpost.

Objective

The main purpose of this soccer drill is to see which team score the most goals within 5 minutes.

How to play

The drill commences when one of the GKs passes the ball to one of their teammate. Each team tries to score the most goals within the 3-minute time limit. The team that scores the most goals wins and stays on the field, while the losing team is replaced by the next team of 4. If no goals are scored in the first 3 minutes, the two teams are both replaced by new ones.

Expect some loud fun with this one!

Open Goal Shooting

This is a fun soccer drill for kids that also works great for older players and even adults.

How To Set Up The Drill

You’ll need to have a ball in front of a net. You can use actual goalposts, portable Pugg nets, or even create makeshift nets using cones.

As the coach, consider the age and skill level of the players, and from this decision, start the ball at an appropriate spot in front of the net.

Objective

The goal of this soccer drill is to help teach younger players how to select a spot inside the goal and work on actually hitting that specific spot. This makes players more adaptable to shooting on both sides of the net from different angles.

How to Play

The player starts by standing two steps behind the ball facing the goal.

The player looks at the goal and picks a spot inside the net.

At the whistle, the player takes a step forward using their non-dominant foot before striking the ball towards the target spot with their dominant foot.

Allow each player to have 5 attempts on goal. Place the ball in a slightly different position each time, as you won’t have shooting opportunities at the same spot each time and the angle on the goal is important to consider. Coaches can also encourage the player to select a different target for every round. Repeat with the opposite foot for older youth players.

Defensive Soccer Drills

Defending is important for any soccer team. Being able to prevent your opponent from scoring or taking high-quality shots is a skill to work on with beginners and experts alike.

When defending, try to impress on the players that they want to get low and jockey rather than diving in recklessly. Making a great tackle can feel just as fantastic as making that perfect pass that leads to a goal. These drills work on defensive soccer skills.

1v1 Defending Drill

This is a simple drill requiring little setup. Players can also perform it anywhere with just a few cones and a soccer ball.

How To Set Up The Drill

Use eight cones to set up a small grid 2 yards by 8 yards. Two players start in the grid, and the attacker has the ball at his cleats.

Objective

The purpose of this drill is to get defenders to practice how to lead attackers into tight areas with the least amount of space, for instance, along the sidelines or towards another teammate. The drill also focuses on staying with the attacker by jockeying instead of losing body position to chase the attacker.

How to Play

Start with the attacker and defender facing each other inside the grid. The attacker can use all their skills to protect the ball from the defender. Coaching moment: instruct the defender not to try and strip the ball from the attacker. The purpose is for the defender to stay close to the attacker and to force them into tight spaces. The goal is to choke the attacker out of space. As the attacker changes direction, the defender should stay with them by shuffling their feet to minimize available space. As a coach, watch for diving in as an action to instruct.

Defensive Run Down Drill

This one tests offensive ball control, defense, and also conditioning. When playing defense, this game emphasizes accurate ball clearances and recoveries, while offensive players get to practice dribbling at speed to evade defenders.

How to Set Up The Drill

This drill will require a goal or cone post, and optionally a keeper. Have two players, an attacker with a ball, and a defender standing on the midfield line facing the goal post.

Objective

The objective is to have the defenders attempt legal slide tackling and clear the ball before the attacker can take a shot.

How to Play

On the first whistle, the offensive player dribbles quickly towards the goal post. When the offensive player is several steps ahead, the coach blows the whistle again. This signals the defender to run towards the offensive player and attempt to clear the ball.

The offensive player should attempt to protect the ball from the defender while keeping the ball close. After avoiding the defender, the attacking player can score a goal when they are inside the penalty box.

The drill ends when the attacking player has attempted to score, or when the defensive player has successfully cleared the ball.

U8 Soccer Drills

U8 is a key age in soccer development. Extra practice and good coaching in this age group can pay huge dividends later on. At the U8 level, players should be developing the basic movements and skill sets that will help them later on.

Many parents consider private coaching if they feel that their child does not have a coach who has the proper background experience.

Best Soccer Drills for 4- to 5-year-olds

Soccer drills for 4-5-year-olds may require some modification. Some great ones for younger players include Cone Chase and Pac Man.

Cone Chase

How to Set Up The Drill

Cone Chase is a basic warm up drill. Players line up behind cones in two rows, facing each other.

How to Play

Players on one side are given even numbers, and those on the opposite side are given odd numbers.

The youth coach calls out one even number and one odd number.

The selected players sprint to collect the cone that has been vacated by the opposing player. They pick up the cone and return to their home base.

The first player to place the cone back on their home base is the winner.

Pac Man

How to Set Up The Drill

Mark out a suitable size grid based on the number of players.

How to Play

2 to 3 players start with a ball, and these are the Pac Man. The rest of the balls are placed outside the grid around the perimeter line.

The players without a ball are the “ghosts.”

The Pac Man players try to tag ghosts or hit ghosts with their ball below the ghost’s knee. The ghosts move around the grid trying to avoid the Pacman players. When a ghost is tagged or hit, they become a Pac Man.

The drill continues until no ghosts are left. Repeat with a new set of Pacman starters.

Best Soccer Drills for 6- to 7-year-olds

Keeping younger kids engaged and also practicing their skills can be challenging for a soccer coach, but these kid-tested games are perfect for accomplishing just that.

Sharks and Minnows

How To Setup the Drill

Build a grid of approximately 15x20 yards, depending on the number of players and their skill level.

Assign two players to be the “sharks” and have them start in the middle of the field without a ball. The rest of the players start with a ball on the end line.

How to Play

The players with the ball are the “minnows.” Their goal is to “swim” (dribble) from one end line to the other while keeping their ball away from the sharks.

The sharks try to win balls or knock the minnows’ ball out of the area. When this happens, the minnow now becomes a shark.

The last minnow standing wins the competition.

Soccer coaching is available for all ages at TOCA Football

These were some of the top soccer drills for developing skills in young players that will also have the kids howling in fun. Soccer is such a fun game, but the development of certain skills and movements at a young age is very helpful for building on more advanced drills later on.

TOCA Football has elite soccer coaching for all ages in different locations across the United States and in Western Canada. They can help kids not only master skills that can assist them in getting in elite soccer clubs in your area, but they can also supplement coaching with professional coaches who understand the nuances of soccer.

The TOCA methodology uses tech-enhanced soccer training which kids really love. If you are looking for a fun, engaged community with a leaning toward developing elite-level soccer players, get in touch. We have plans to open more soccer facilities across North America in the coming months.

Check out TOCA Football to see which location is nearest to you.

And above all, have fun. Soccer is a game.

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