Fig. A Soccer dribbling and faking exercise
Warm-up 1: Obstacle course
Setup
Mark out two fields.
Field 1: Lay out four poles on the field.
Field 2: Using cones, mark out a starting line in front of a square and one station on each side
Divide players into two equal groups and assign one to each field.
Fig. B Sequence: Field 1
Divide players into two teams, A and B.
Team A’s players pass to each other.
Two of Team B’s players dribble around; the other two move around the field without a ball.
Groups switch roles after one minute.
Fig. C Sequence: Field 2
Two goalkeepers stand inside the square; the other players line up at the starting line and at one of the side cones.
Player A starts by dribbling onto the field and executing a fake of his choice between the cones.
Next, he passes on the ground or in the air to the goalkeeper.
The goalkeeper passes or throws the ball to Player B, who checks away before showing for the ball. After controlling it, he passes back to the starting line.
Each player moves to the other station. The goalkeepers switch positions as well.
Groups switch fields after a few repetitions.
Tips and corrections
Players are not allowed to touch or jump over the poles.
Team A’s players are limited to three touches. Make sure all players are constantly moving.
Players should try to incorporate the poles in a creative way.
Fig. D Soccer tag game and passing exercises
Warm-up 2: Obstacle tag
Setup
Setup is the same as for Warm-up 1.
Fig. E Sequence: Field 1
Divide players into two teams, taggers and runners.
One of the taggers holds a ball in his hands and tries to tag the runners with it.
He may pass the ball to a teammate at any time. As soon as he tags a runner, he must pass. Whichever player he passes to becomes the next tagger.
Which team can tag more players within 90 seconds?
Fig. F
Sequence: Field 2
Divide players into two teams; each team has a goalkeeper who stands inside the square.
On the coach’s command, Player A passes to Player B, who drops the ball back; A passes in the air to the goalkeeper.
Next, A moves to B’s position and B runs back to the starting line.
If the goalkeeper fails to catch the ball, B has to run around the cone on the side.
Tips and corrections
The exercise on Field 2 allows you to integrate your goalkeeper warm-up with your field player warm-up.
Before you start, however, you should give your goalkeepers a chance to warm up without the ball.
You can also do this warm-up without goalkeepers: Two field players stand inside the square and use their thigh or chest to control the ball.
