What Are The Best Football Coaching Drills?

Crucial to developing a young player into an exciting future talent, the importance of coaching and coaching drills is always underestimated. They shape the way a footballer plays, and both their strengths and weaknesses can be revealed if the coach uses the right drills.

But what are the best drills all round? Obviously, players in different positions do not require the exact same skill set, and so their training exercises will differ, but they are still required to run, kick accurately, and communicate effectively - three vital assets of the game.

Ball Control - Do Daily to Improve Dribbling

Ball control is a crucial talent that will benefit any out-field player. However, like anything, you need to do it every day to stay familiar and be at it, so there are two drills you can set up for daily practice:

• Cone Dribble: Set up as many cones as you can in a straight line and dribble through them, weaving through them on alternating sides. It is best to start this drill slowly, and then slowly add in pace as your accuracy improves.

If you're one of those coaches on the internet who hates to see tarining involving cones look away now. Individual Dribbling - Vince Gino Dekker pic.twitter.com/4ZOVnQoWhN

— Keepitonthedeck (@Keepitonthedeck) October 12, 2019

• Close Control Dribbling: A simple drill, simply take a ball, with very small touches, try and dribble with it while your head is up, looking around you. This improves your feel and the ability to know roughly where the ball will go after you take a touch.

Stamina and Speed Training

The foundation of any talented footballer is the ability to run for the whole 90 minutes, remaining relatively fresh while others tire. Though a painful, and at times boring drill, fitness and pace are key to being noticed on the professional and scouting scenes.

Interval Training: A drill to push to the limits of your fitness, this one only requires a stop watch. Start off with a five minute warm up jog - when this is done, sprint for 30 seconds, then jog lightly or rest for one minute. Repeat this between 10 and 15 times to see noticeable improvement in your cardio.

Passing Accuracy - Use Walls or a Training Partner

From a young age, footballers are taught to treat the ball as a friend, and that starts with looking after it when in possession, keeping it for as long as possible. As long as your side has possession, the opposition are doing much more work, as you are forcing them to use energy in chasing after it. To develop your passing, you can do two drills:

One Touch Passing: Stand 10 feet away from either a partner or a wall, and kick the ball towards them/it without taking a first touch. This drill improves your pass speed and your directional control.

💎 Arsenal diamond passing drill
🔥 Perfect drill for 1 touch passes
⏱ Timing of movement pic.twitter.com/l7oDVWqmGv

— Drills4Football (@Drills4Football) February 4, 2020

Long Pass Practice: This can only be done with a partner. Stand 25 to 30 yards apart and make long, aerial passes to one another. Spin and speed can be worked on later down the line; simply start by focusing on technique and accuracy to create a reliable, consistent, stock pass.

Improve Core Stability with Balance Exercises

Core strength is required for most aspects of football, so young footballers at some point need to develop their core in order to improve balance, agility and explosiveness, aspects which can catch out opposition players. There multiple ways of developing your core:

Planks: Prop yourself on your elbows and toes, keeping as flat as possible - start by doing this for 30 seconds, and as you get stronger, graduate to one minute, then two minutes, and so on.

Russian Twists: Keeping your knees bent, lean back slightly and twist your torso left and right with a small weight or football in your hands. Though painful, this exercise is excellent for the quick development of core strength.

Russian Twists fall into the category of Things We Never Do
❌the function of the core is not to create movement but to stabilize the spine and resist movement
❌creating movement thru our lumbar spine
❌flexion & rotation, 2 things the back hates
✅there are MANY better options pic.twitter.com/wrcSdhlnG2

— Craig Edwards (@Craig__Edwards_) December 24, 2019

Single Leg Balance Drills: Can be applied to any drills on a football pitch, but the best way to do this is to balance on one leg when doing a passing drill. You can control and pass the ball with the non-balancing leg, but it must not touch the ground.

Tactical Awareness Training

Though not necessarily a physical activity, knowing your role, as well as everyone else’s on the field is crucial to developing your game. The better tactical understanding you have, the more you have to offer on the pitch. Tactical understanding comes through drills such as:

Game Analysis: If possible, record your own gameplay and watch it back upon the full time whistle. See if you can identify where your strengths are, and what works consistently, as well as what doesn’t.

Watch Professional Games: Though usually a relaxed activity for most, watching professional football games can also be educational - the best players are always in the right position, and almost always pick the right option when on the ball, traits that you can attempt to emulate.