Training on Your Own

By Tom Goodman, M. Ed.
President - World Class Soccer
Former National Director of Coaching Education

Every player wants to improve in performing the skills of the game. It is often difficult to organize enough players to actually play a small-sided game. Sometimes you are alone in your back yard or you have a few friends over. Here are a few activities that you can do in your backyard by yourself or with a friend or Mom or Dad to improve your soccer skills.

Dribbling

Throw some cones around the yard haphazardly. Dribble your ball around the yard touching it to one of the cones. When you touch a cone with your ball, quickly pull the ball away from the cone with the bottom of your foot and dribble off to another cone. Continue this activity for 30 seconds. Try it at different speeds. Build your speed up gradually, but always try to perform the skill at top speed…this is referred to as technical speed.

Set up small goals with cones about 1 step apart. Place many of these goals around your yard at different angles. Dribble your ball through as many of the goals as you can in 30 seconds (ask your mom or dad to time you). The next time you do it, try to increase the number of goals that you dribble through in 30 seconds by at least one.

Kicking

Lay a clean, plastic trash can on its side in the back yard. Place a ball 2-3 yards away from the opening of the trash can. Practice kicking stationary balls into the trash can. This can save you from chasing your soccer ball. You can also kick the ball into the side netting of a big soccer goal. The ball will bounce back at you. Work on the technique of kicking (shooting and passing):

• Approach the ball from a slight angle.
• Practice approaches at different speeds (the faster the more power)
• Vary the size of your last step (power step) into the kick (the larger the more power)
• Use the outside of your foot, inside of your foot and the laces (instep)
• Lock your foot when kicking the ball
• Always keep your eyes on the ball when striking it
• Strike the ball on different parts of the ball:
  • lower half will send the ball up
  • midline (equator) will send the ball level to the ground
  • upper half will drive the ball down

If you have a wall you can kick against, you can practice both kicking and receiving the ball. Kick the ball against the wall at different speeds (pace) and receive it on the rebound.