Soccer Drills - Juniors
Get your youngsters ready for the big leagues
Often coaches watch videos on the internet of professionals doing drills and try to apply them to their own practice. However, we shouldn't always directly transfer everything we see. Pros have a certain level of physical and technical skills that junior players lack. Making young players run complex soccer drills can quite often overwhelm them and could end up being detrimental to their development. Therefore, it is crucial that you have a good repertoire of age-appropriate drills for your teams.
We, at planet.training, got you covered if you want to improve those skills. We have thousands of soccer drills for any skill! You can directly start coaching with these four exercises or try hundreds of Premium Exercises and public drills in our soccer database.
Team Dribbling Competition - For youth players
Set Up:
For this exercise, you need three pole goals that serve as a team station. In front of the stations you build a course of 5-7 cone goals (width: 4m). The group is divided into three teams (more Teams = more cone goals). Each player gets a ball.
Execution:
The team starts at the coach's signal from their own team station. Each group must dribble through all cone goals and then return to their own team station. The path is given by the foremost player of the respective team and can be chosen freely. Contact with the body and ball of the opponent is prohibited. As variations, the course can be changed and different forms of dribbling can be given.
Which team scored the most points after 7 rounds? Who will win this training exercise?
Cross Pass Drill – Above the rope
Set Up:
Set up 3 x 3 fields – use cones or big hoops. Set up two starting stations approx. 10m in front of field. Build two teams of 1-4 players per set up – Each team lines up at one of the stations. Provide 3 matching colored markers – (bib, cones, balls, etc.)
Execution:
This exercise follows almost the same rules as the classic Tic Tac Toe: To win the game a team must place their 3 markers in a row – Diagonal, horizontal or vertical.
On the Coach’s signal the first player of each team starts running towards the field and places his first marker in one of the 9 areas. After marking the first area the player runs back to tab the next waiting player, which then starts running towards the field – Same execution for third player. After all 3 markers have been placed in the field, one marker at a time can now be replaced by each following player, until one team wins – 3 markers in a row. Play several rounds as a competition – Best of 5 or 7.
ELEVATE YOUR GAME
Shooting Drill – Precision from distance
Set Up:
Place two big goals next to eachother, with a distance of at least 15m in between. Two poles on each goal line divide the goal in thirds. Put another pole 25m in front of the two goals. 3 cones, behind the pole, mark the shooting area (see drawing). The players will then line up at station 1 and 2.
Execution:
The first player of each station starts dribbling towards the pole at the same time, after the coach has given the start signal. Both players try to get around the pole as tight as possible (Consider the player coming from the other side). As soon as the players have passed the pole, the coach will give a signal on where to shoot the ball. The goal shot must take place inside the shooting area. S1 will use the right foot and S2 the left.
Count the goals – Who has the highest score after 5 rounds at each station?
Defense: Double team in a 3 vs 2
Set Up:
Set up a field of approx. 15m x 20m. Put two cone goals (3m width) at each of the two goal lines. Have offensive players (blue) line up in 2 rows on one goalline - Balls to the left attacking player.
Defenders line up in 3 rows on the other side of the field. The field is divided into two halves.
Execution:
Two attacking players try to get the ball across one of the two cone goals in a 2 v 3 situation. Offensive players can't leave their respective half.
The three defenders try to intercept the ball by efficiently double teaming and pressuring the ball possessing player. If defenders can gain possession of the ball, they can run a counter attack on the other cone goals. Attacking players remain attacking players, Defenders stay defenders - Switch roles after 8-12 min, Use breaks to coach players.
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Register nowWithout passing and dribbling there is no scoring
Scoring and winning is the ultimate goal of any football game. Whether a volley shot, bicycle kick, header or instep drive. Any technique can be improved by practicing it during your soccer training sessions. However, without an effective passing game or a perfect dribbling, there would not even be a chance to score. Therefore, coaches should always combine several skills in their session plans. Shots on the goal are perfect for engaging in small-field games or passing drills. To make sure that your next session plan is created even faster, there are a lot of other drill examples and variations on our other exercise pages.
