Five Simple Soccer Drills For Kids

Around the Clock
Divide the kids into groups of 5 players. The four corners of a 15 yard square should be manned by one player a piece while a fifth player has the ball at the center of square. The ball should now be passed to one of the corners after which the child that was at the center of the square should trade places with any other corner player not in possession of the ball. The player who has just received the ball should now pass it back to the new center player. The drill can be repeated as many times as the kids can stand and is great for helping improve pass quality and spacing issues.

Simon Says
With a ball each players dribble their way around a 20x20 yard grid (you can mark it with cones) waiting for "Simon's" instructions. These can include "foot" which would mean stop the ball with the foot (of course) "change direction" "run faster" and so on and so forth. Any player who fails to obey an instruction prefaced by "Simon says" is out, with the winner being the last child on pitch. Kids have a lot of fun with this drill and it can be modified to teach any number of skills.

Shuttle Passing
This is a drill for groups of three players. After the groups are decided two players should stand about 20 yards apart from one another while the third team member stands in the middle between two marker cones. Each player has their own ball.

On your mark the middle player runs towards an end player calling for the ball. The end player then passes the ball to the middle players feet and he or she must return it as accurately and quickly as possible. This achieved they then run towards the other end player to repeat the process. The drill should continue until all three players on the team have been the middle man at least once. You can make it a little more competitive for all by awarding a reward for the team with the most completed passes.

Soccer Marbles
Soccer Marbles improves offensive and defensive skills. Begin by marking off a 10X10 area with cones and dividing the kids into groups of 3. Each child has a ball and two are designated as defenders while the other is the attacker. The attacker than dribbles his ball around the space while the two defenders attempt to hit his ball with their own. Once the attackers ball has been hit the players rotate places.

After ten minutes or so, up the ante for the attackers. Let the defending players pick up their balls and roll them at the attacker's ball. This really helps the attacker learn about defending both the ball and himself. The coach should time how long each player maintains procession of his ball, and the player with the best time wins.

Pass, Move, Turn
This drill is also a great warm up before a match.
Have half your players stand within the confines of a 20x20 grid, while the other half stand around the perimeter. Players in the grid have no soccer balls, those on the outside have one each. Players within the grid move around freely looking to receive a pass from an outside player and return it accurately before moving on to another challenge from another "outsider" at the opposite end of the grid. Switch the outside and inside players after about ten minutes.

To add more of a challenge for older players, determine how balls should be returned. One touch or two touch pass? Return it with the outside or inside of the foot?