Here’s the second instalment of practice and learning advice from super proactive coach Annabel Ault. Each week she is sending out information to her U12s players (and sharing with other coaches and teams across the land,) with ideas on how to improve while maintaining ‘social distancing’:
Week 2
Hey team,
I hope you’re all well, and that the first week of not being at school has been OK for you all! As promised, here’s another weekly email to help you do some football training this week!
Indoor Training Session Designed to be done indoors with the ball staying on the floor or can be done outside if you have a garden
Do each of the below 15 exercises for 45 seconds before taking a 15 second rest, doing them as fast as you can. Work through this list twice for a 35-minute session!
| Drill | Description |
| Stationary Toe Taps | Stood behind the ball, use your toes to tap the top of a stationary ball with alternating feet |
| Side Shuffles | Pass the ball between your feet, using the middle of the inside of each foot (and the middle of the ball) |
| Side Rolls | Drag the ball from side to side with the width of your foot, hopping over the ball (36:00 in this video) |
| Moving Toe Taps | With each top tap move the ball forward ~10cm, doing four going forwards before then changing to go backs (1:50 in this video) |
| V Pull Pushes | In a v shape on the floor, push the ball away from you with the outside of your foot, before stopping the ball by putting your foot on top of it to pull it back towards you (0:38 in this video) |
| 1 MINUTE BREAK | |
| Round the World Toe Taps | Tap the top of a stationary ball with alternating feet, whilst moving around the outside of the ball |
| Solo Passes (strong foot) | Pass the ball forwards with your strong foot before stopping it with your weaker foot and dragging it back to your stronger foot (1:04 in this video) |
| Solo Passes (weak foot) | Same as above |
| Stationary Step Ons | Stood almost on top of the ball but just behind it, use the middle of the bottom of your foot to tap the top of the ball with alternating feet |
| Cone* Figure of 8s Strong Foot | Set out two cones 30cm apart, and use one foot to move the ball in a figure of 8 around them |
| 1 MINUTE BREAK | |
| Cone* Figure of 8s Weak Foot | Same as above |
| Sole Rolls | Pass the ball between each foot, by using the bottom of your foot on top of the ball |
| Scissors | Not touching the ball, do step overs around the ball (alternating each foot) |
| Samba Step Ons | Hard to explain, so watch from 0:08 in this video! |
| Weak Foot Rolls | Roll the ball keeping your foot constantly in contact with it- you want to use just the outside and inside of your foot to do this, and the ball should move around 30cm side to side whilst doing this |
*If you don’t have any cones, you could use many substitute objects (eg. book, box) – get creative!
Outdoor Wall Exercises (if you have one)
25 bounces against the wall for each exercise – stand up to 3m away, but this all works if you only have space to stand nearby too!
If you don’t have a wall, you can ask a parent / sibling to help you out with this
| Drill | Description |
| Strong Foot 1 Touch Passes | Use the inside of your foot |
| Weak Foot 1 Touch Passes | Use the inside of your foot |
| Alternating Foot 1 Touch Passes | Use the inside of your foot |
| Strong Foot Laces Pass | Use the top of your foot and put more power behind the ball |
| Weak Foot Laces Pass | Use the top of your foot and put more power behind the ball |
| Juggling | Volley the ball against the wall, taking one touch |
| Two Touch Juggling (harder) | Volley the ball against the wall, controlling it on its return with one foot, before passing to the other foot to volley it back |
| 2 Touch Passes | Pass with one foot, receive the ball with the other foot:
Touch 1) Receive and pass across your body to other foot Touch 2) Pass back to wall |
| 2 Touch Drag Passes | Pass with one foot, receive the ball with the other foot and drag it to the passing foot. (look at 30:51 on this video if that doesn’t make sense)
Touch 1) Receive and drag to the other foot Touch 2) Pass back to wall |
| 2 Touch Outside Passes | After every pass, receive and control the ball with the outside of your foot |
| V Shape Passing | Set up two cones, and side step between them after every pass- each pass should hit the wall between the two cones, and then you will receive the pass on the outside of the cones |
| Close Wall 2 Touch Passes | Stand 50cm away from the wall and do alternating 1 touch passes – look at this Fast Footwork Wall Drills video if you want some more ideas!
|
Social Media Challenges
- #TeaBagChallenge This won’t improve your skill levels, but quite good fun – have a look at the different examples and try to film yourself doing it! I’d recommend following the account in that link– he does some really cool freestyle videos! Another good example is this one from Arsenal & Dutch forward Vivienne Miedema
- #HomeTopBinChallenge on Instagram – try and get creative with using an (empty!) bin
- @TyneMetNESA are doing daily challenges to get involved with on Twitter- check in at 4pm each day to see and enter them!
- Follow @jillscottjs8 on Instagram – she’s also doing daily challenges. Jill is one of England’s most capped footballers of all time, and received an MBE from the Queen in recognition of her services to football. Watch a video of her daily routine and see what it’s like to be a professional footballer here!
Other Coaching Resources
- Download the FA Super Kicks app on the app store (links here) – it’s aimed at 5-11 year olds, but think there’s still great content on here for you
- ‘Fast Feet Home Soccer Workouts’ is a great youtube channel with indoor exercises like the ones above – some of the above exercises are from their channels, and they have 10 minute sessions you can do at home
- Have a look at this resource from Richmond Park FC- the fast feet drills & dribbling are good solo exercises
Women’s Football Content
- This article is one for the Tottenham fans, written by Wales & Tottenham midfielder Josie Green about her football career
- Follow @AlexScott2 on instagram – she’s a former England & Arsenal player who’s now a brilliant pundit for men’s & women’s football, and she’s doing interviews with different footballers & athletes on Instagram live each night
- Watch this behind the scenes video from an England Women’s training camp
- The Players Tribune article I’m recommending this week is for Lieke Martens – she plays for Holland & Barcelona, and is one of again one of the best female players in the world right now. Have a look at her 2019 highlights here and career highlights here – she has phenomenal footwork, and hopefully will help you see why the ball control exercise above are key to upping your game!
That’s it for now- stay safe & stay positive everyone!
Annabel asks if you can *DONATE*: If as a parent or coach you are finding these helpful and are in a position to donate to charity, I’m going to provide a fundraising link each week to small charities that are struggling and desperately in need of donations to help their COVID response. This week, it’s the Felix Project in London – they’re a foodbank providing meals to the most vulnerable people in London, and £30 allows them to deliver 150 meals to people in need. There’s of course no obligation to donate or even forward this part of the email on when you send around to your teams, but I’m going to continue to include these each week given the potential we could raise if each email recipient gave a small amount of money.
TRAINING AT HOME WEEK 1: A message from a ‘socially distant’ coach to her U12s team
