How Chasing Soccer Balls Helps Player Concentration

The best sessions are when you can get your players to use their skill, technique, fitness and most of all their concentration from the word go. Keep them moving and learning with this great exercise, says David Clarke.

Fast session to get your players going

This session uses skills, technique and agility. It also needs a soccer brain because your players not only have to control the ball then stop it, they are also under pressure to see where they are going.

Quickly moving the ball from side to side

Set up eight cones like the diagram.

Put a ball on each row so that they are odds and evens.

Tell your players to run to the first cone, control the ball while running across to the opposite cone and stop it with their foot next to the cone then move up a cone.

If you get two sets going like in the diagram you can have them running against each other.

The first team to get back to the finish wins.

Moving up the cone ladder

When the first player moves up to the second row of cones player two goes from the opposite side.

So all they are doing is running to the cones and controlling the ball as they move across the cones and move up.

DON’T BE SURPRISED IF THE BALL GOES ALL OVER THE PLACE AT FIRST BECAUSE IT’S A GAME OF CONCENTRATION, AGILITY AND SKILL!