Here’s the third 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 3
Hi team,
Hope you’re all safe and well and not getting too bored with lockdown! Here is this week’s email – please let me know how helpful you find it and if there’s anything you want to see more or less of in future weeks!
Skills Based:
Before you do this practice, I want to remind you of the benefit of doing it, and show how having ‘fast feet’ translates into beautiful football. Have a look at this video or this video. Remember that all of the best footballers put a huge amount of time into solo practice – it’s nothing like as fun as training as a team, but this will definitely make an impact on how you play once we get back to matches later on this year!
With the below, do each practice for 45 seconds then take a 15 second break – and adjust those times if you’re finding it too hard or easy. Try and stay on your toes throughout, and do each drill as fast as you can. The last set is harder drills for if you want to challenge yourselves- I’ve tried to explain them as best I can, but I think you might need to watch the videos for these!
| Round the World (with a cone*) – alternating feet | Dribble a ball around a cone, alternating touches on each foot- keep the ball as close as you can to the cone, and take ~4 touches each time the ball circles the cone. (Example Link Here) |
| Round the World (with a cone*) – left foot | Dribble a ball around a cone using your left foot – keep the ball as close as you can to the cone, and take ~4 touches for each time the ball circles the cone |
| Round the World (with a cone*) – right foot | Dribble a ball around a cone using your right foot – keep the ball as close as you can to the cone, and take ~4 touches for each time the ball circles the cone |
| Inside Rolls – right foot | Move the ball across your body from right to left, keeping your foot in contact with the ball. Start touching it on the right, and roll your foot over the ball so it finishes on top of it – then drag it back (example link here) |
| Stationary Toe Taps | Stood behind the ball, use your toes to tap the top of a stationary ball with alternating feet |
| 1 MINUTE BREAK | |
| Side Shuffles (inside of feet) | Pass the ball between your feet, using the middle of the inside of each foot (and the middle of the ball) |
| Side Shuffles (sole of feet) | Pass the ball between your feet, using the sole of your foot (and the top 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 |
| Stepovers (alternating, strong foot touch) | After every third stepover, touch the ball as lightly as you can with the outside of your strong foot as if you were going to pass it on |
| 1 MINUTE BREAK | |
| Stepovers (alternating, weak foot touch) | After every third stepover, touch the ball with the outside of your weak foot as if you were going to pass it off |
| Forward/Backward Rolls (right foot) | Using the sole of your foot to move the ball backwards and forwards (example here at 1:30) |
| Forward/Backward Rolls (left foot) | Using the sole of your foot to move the ball backwards and forwards (example here at 1:30) |
| Brazilian Sole Flicks | Move the ball across your body using the sole of your foot on the top of the ball (example here at 1:58) |
| 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 – watch the videos for this final section | |
| Complex Side Shuffles | Moving the ball across your body with the outside of your foot making the pass across and the inside of your foot placed behind your other leg stopping the ball at each side (example here at 1:05) |
| Drag & Laces | Alternating feet, push the ball forwards with your laces and then drag the ball back. Throughout the forward and backward motion, your foot should stay in contact with the ball (example here at 1:10) |
| Left Foot Drags | Whilst hopping on your right foot, drag the ball around with your left foot using the sole of your foot (example here at 1:59) |
| Samba Step Ons | Hard to explain, so watch from 0:08 in this video! |
| Side Shuffles (inside/outside of feet) | Shuffling the ball from side to side with the outside of each foot, and stopping it with the inside of your foot- so taking two touches at each side of your body (example here at 0:02) |
*doesn’t need to be a cone- use something taller that will fall over if you want to challenge yourself (eg. a pringles tube, a torch)
- If you have a small space (1m by 1m), have a look at this half hour skills workout online – using only four cones and a ball, it looks quite good (link here)
- Alternatively, have a look at this closed space cones workout with Tobin Heath , and then watch this video of her footwork skills when playing for the US Women’s National Team to see how practising these skills translates to great football
Cardio with a football:
10 minute workout: 45 seconds on and 15 second resting for each of the below
| Russian Twists – hands holding ball | Sitting down with your feet in the air and holding the ball with your hands, turn from side to side and touch the ball to the ground with each rotation |
| Plank passing the ball between your hands | Holding a high plank position with your hands slightly wider apart than normal- roll the ball between your two hands |
| High Knees Running on the Spot | Hold the ball out in front of you and touch your knee to the ball with every repetition |
| Squat Jumps | With the football on the floor, alternating between landing behind and in front of it |
| Leg Raises | Lying on your back, put the ball between your feet and move your legs between being horizontal and vertical |
| Plank – four corners circular passes | Holding a high plank position, roll the ball around between your hands and feet, passing in a clockwise direction between each ‘corner’ of your body |
| Sit Ups | Having your feet wider apart than in a normal sit-up, alternate between touching the ball down between your feet and behind your head (as far back as you can reach without straining) |
| Plank – four corners figure of eight passes | Holding a high plank position, roll the ball around between your hands and feet, passing in a figure of eight shape between each ‘corner’ of your body |
| Squat Jumps (landing with one foot on the ball) | Squat jumps with the ball in front of you, but when you’re stood up you should land with one foot on the ball |
| Russian Twists- feet holding ball | Same as above, but holding the ball between your feet |
Keepie Uppies
I know we’re all getting a bit bored of keepie-uppies – if you’re at a point where you can do 10 or more, try these to challenge yourself by adding in these variations:
- Add in some ‘round the worlds’ – where your foot circles the ball without touching it whilst it’s mid-air between kicks
- Try doing them where the ball goes above your head
- Try adding in different parts of your body as well as your feet- thighs, head, shoulders etc.
- Try and start your routine with a rainbow flick – there’s a video here explaining how to do them. It’ll take you a while to get it right, but well worth doing- they look very impressive once you can do these in matches- eg. link here for some examples from Neymar
Football Club Resources:
All of the football clubs are putting out fitness and training videos at the moment, so I’ve tried to put something in here from each of the clubs you support – let me know if your club isn’t there and you want to see something from them next week! If you’re just looking for good training ideas, I’ve put these in order of which I think are best:
- Football Association resources – there is so much stuff on the FA’s site that is great for you – look in the ‘Extra Time’ section at the Soccercise, ‘Me and My Ball’ and Disney themed challenges. The ‘Team Talk’ section also has some good home learning resources
- Manchester City #Together : There’s a lot of football content on here for things you can work on at home. The daily football challenges are great to keep an eye on if you have a small space outside to practice in. Have a look at the Georgia Stanway challenge in particular– we’ve covered this before in training, and I think you’re all capable of nailing this skill in the next few weeks!
o Remember that with step overs, a lot of the skill is in how you drive the ball away after doing the fancy skills part – being able to push off powerfully with the outside of your foot is what will get you past defenders
- Chelsea Women are posting daily fitness / training exercises with their women’s team – can’t recommend these enough, they show you the highlights of a different player each day before then going through a workout with them!
- Brighton Home Workout – This is a great 8 minute cardio workout
- Everton home workout or Theo Walcott’s home fitness guide – the latter is some fun workouts you can do with household items
- Liverpool Skills Video
- School of Spurs Activity Pack – there’s some family exercise ideas on here, alongside learning activities
- Hammers at Home – West Ham have posted two fitness videos so far on their site
Non-Football Club Challenges
- Match of the Day #TekkersTuesday – check their social media pages [(link%20here)](link here) each Tuesday for their latest football skills challenge
- PE With Joe – I’m sure you’re all aware of this one already- just putting it here to remind you all fitness / cardio will help with your football when we get back to playing!
- Post your skills / training session online with Izzy Christiansen – the England midfielders is giving away two signed shirts to entrants in this (you just need to film yourself doing any football), and there haven’t been many posted so far!
- @SportsXtraCardiff are doing weekly live football circuits sessions on their facebook page each Wednesday
- Team Videos- if you want to work together to make a video as a team, the below two options would be quite easy to do:
o This challenge passing a toilet roll between the whole team, shown here by the Lionesses
o #DontRushChallenge shown here by the British heptathlon team and here by the British sprint team
Entertaining Content
- Funny videos here from professional footballers
- Player’s Tribune Article this week is Eni Aluko – Eni has recently retired from football after playing for a variety of clubs (including Juventus & Chelsea) and England, and combined her professional career with working as a lawyer. You can see a highlights video from her here!
- Keep an eye on @alexscott2’s Instagram – she’s doing almost daily live shows on her story with a variety of footballers
Hope the above is all helpful- stay safe, and please let me know if you have any questions on the above!
Thanks, Annie
