Set-up: Half the players with balls, half without. Players without the balls form a circle around the players with the balls.
The Exercise: Players with balls dribble freely in the middle of the circle. The coach can ask these players to perform various moves (scissors, step-over, hesitation, etc.). When the coach yells “take-over”, the red players make eye contact and dribble toward a white player on the outside. The white player comes to meet the red player and perform a take-over. Note: When performing a take-over the player dribbling the ball should do so with one foot. This will allow the player on white to “read” which side he/she should collect the ball. As the player dribbling the ball nears the player who is going to take the ball, he should leave the ball, do not pass it. This will allow the white player to take a positive 1st touch into the middle.
The roles now switch.
1st progression below
Set-up: (same as initial exercise).
The Exercise: Players with balls dribble freely in the middle of the circle. The coach can ask these players to perform various moves (scissors, step-over, hesitation, etc.). When the coach yells “overlap”, the red players make eye contact with a player on the outside and pass the ball to the white. The white player comes to meet the ball and slowly dribbles the ball toward one side. The red player now quickly runs around the white player to perform an overlap. White passes the ball into the path of the red player, who dribbles back into the middle. White should reform the original circle. Note: The coach can now call out either “take-over” or “overlap”.
2nd progression below
The Exercise: Players with balls dribble freely in the middle of the circle. The coach can ask these players to perform various moves (scissors, step-over, hesitation, etc.). When the coach yells “combination”, the red players make eye contact with a player on the outside and pass the ball to a white player. Red should support his pass at an angle. The white player comes to meet the ball and drops the ball back to the oncoming red player. Red now passes the ball back to the white player. White should take a couple of steps back before running onto the return pass from red. This will allow the white player to take a positive 1st touch into the middle. The red player now takes the place of the white player on the outside of the circle. Note: The coach can now call out either “take-over”, “overlap” or “combination”.
Final progression
The Exercise: Players with balls dribble freely in the middle of the circle. The coach can ask these players to perform various moves (scissors, step-over, hesitation, etc.). When the coach yells “wall pass”, the red players make eye contact with a player on the outside and passes the ball to a white player. Red should quickly support his pass at an angle and turn his/her body to face the middle of the circle. The white player comes to meet the ball and passes the ball back to the red player. White should take two touches and try to pass the ball to the foot of the red player that is furthest away “the back foot”. The red player should receive the ball across their body and dribble back into the middle. White should reform the original circle. Note: The coach can now call out either “take-over”, “overlap”, “combination”, or “wall pass”.
If you enjoy this exercise Coach Donahue recommends:
| Possible next Activity: | Match Related Game/Exercise to Goal: |
|---|---|
| 4v4 Round Robin Day | 3v0 Developing Game Intelligence |
| Combination followed by 1v1 | 4v4 Double Penalty Box Combined |
