Drills for Soccer

Age specific soccer drills are important to the advancement of a young soccer player. When a child is first introduced to the game of soccer, they should only be given drills that they can have fun with. Toddler soccer drills can be something simple like follow the leader or simon says. These drills are fun but can teach ball handling drills. As the players advance, the drills should advance too!

Older player drills should focus on not only individual skills, but also team skills. Passing! Learning how to pass and when to pass and the best type of kick to use for a particular pass. Shooting, the proper way to kick a soccer ball! Seeing the field, a young player will see the ball and the goal. An older player should see the field as well, they should see their teammates and the defense, the open field and the goal.

For the older players, my favorite drill is called world cup. Its a drill that you can use to teach offense, defense as well as goalie work. Here it is:
You start this drill by picking 4 three man teams, each team gets different color vest. You also have a goalie. All 4 teams play at the same time, and the game is played inside the 18. The goal of the game is to score a goal before any of the other teams. When you score, you sit out the rest of the round until 2 more teams score. Then you start round two, the first to score sits out until there are 2 teams left and one of them score. Continue this pattern for 2 more rounds and in the final round, first one to score is the world cup champ.
World cup teaches ball movement, passing, teamwork, shooting and good field presence.