26 March 2011
Here are a few skills training drills and some tips on throwing.
Here are some throwing tips that I was given for getting maximum power:
See this video of a good throw:
Below are two drills that I like.
Hopefully this drill will help you get the final wrist flick part of the throw right, so energy isn't wasted with the ball spinning off the fingers.
Hopefully this drill will help you get a feel for catching the ball one handed in a controlled manner and throwing the ball without gripping it too hard (if the ball has to escape your grip to start flying, I guess speed is being taken off it.)
A drill to make practising long throws a bit quicker.
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This drill is to be done at speed, so each player in the outer ring has a ball to prevent delays from bad passes/catches. Alternatively, one ball can be used and after catching it is passed to the next person round who then throws it back, and so on.
Player one passes their ball to player eight, who then passes it back. Player two passes their ball to eight and, who then passes it back, and so on, moving round the star. When player eight passes the ball back to player seven, everyone moves round one place, ie seven becomes eight, eight becomes one, one becomes two and so on. Repeat!
NB: Hard passes are worth a go, if you get used to receiving hard passes, nice friendly passes are dead simple.
To keep the drill going, players one to six should have a ball each. Player seven is the goal-keeper.
Player one passes his ball to player eight, player eight shoots. Player two passes his ball to player eight, player eight shoots, and so on, moving round the star. When all balls have been shot, everyone moves round one place, ie seven becomes eight, eight becomes one, one becomes two and so on. Repeat!
NB: Always try to aim your shots at top corners, or make them awkward to save some other way, try to trick the keeper with the power.
No pictures for this one, but it's good, especially for a warm-up and wake-up exercise. Just keep moving around into space, looking for a pass.
This drill is for practicing the sprinting, timing and ball skills used during a 'break'. By a break, I mean that your team has just regained possession and players have broken free to sprint up the pitch and receive a long pass, hopefully resulting in a goal. The three pictures below should explain it!
Two players and the keeper of the attacking team line up on the goal line. The opposing team has just a keeper and one defender. The two attacking players on the wings sprint up the pitch.
The attacking players start to sprint in towards goal. The attacking keeper either throws a long pass to or in front of one of his the players. The defender sprints to stop the player with the ball.
The attacking player with the ball, having drawn the defender across, passes the ball to the other attacking player, who then shoots. GOAL! Maybe...
Now the three reds left over become the attackers and the two whites left over become the defenders. And repeat!