The current situation around the world has encouraged coaches the world over to be creative in terms of helping their players develop. Of course more important things are at play here. That doesn't mean that we cannot encourage those players who want to continue learning with ideas on how they can do so.
Of course, coaching courses are not designed to show you how to create at home practices and with that in mind here are 3 practices that players can do at home, either in their garden or in their house (space and type of ball dependant!).
The Countdown
Place 3 cones in front of a goal, about 5 yards apart. The players starts at the furthest cone with a ball. They have 10 seconds to dribble to each cone, perform a pre-selected move and score. If they succeed, players then move down to 9 seconds. If they miss, they stay at 10 seconds.
I have done this activity many times in private sessions with players as young as 7. Their initial reaction is one of dismissal, fearing that they cannot even beat 10 seconds. More often than not, after 10 minutes of attempting the practice they are down to 4/5 seconds and asking "one more go".
Potential variations include angling the cones so that players can practice turns and placing obstructions in front of the goal to work on more focused aiming of their finishes.
The Wall
“Most of the time I was by myself, just kicking the ball against the wall, seeing how it bounces, how it comes back, just controlling it. I found that so interesting! Trying it different ways, first one foot, then the other foot, looking for new things: inside of the foot, outside of the foot, laces… getting a sort of rhythm going, speeding it up, slowing it down. Sometimes I’d aim at a certain brick, or the crossbar. Left foot, right foot, making the ball spin. Again and again. It was just fun. I was enjoying it. It interested me. Maybe other people wouldn’t bother. Maybe they wouldn’t find it fascinating. But I was fascinated.” - Dennis Bergkamp, Stillness & Speed
Players need a firm surface in front of them. They pass a ball back and forth, alternating between feet and number of touches.
This is such a simple activity that players the world over use. I recall being the first perosn home from school in my circle of friends and using the wall that joined the local garages together to do this very thing. As suggested above, there are so many variations of this that players can keep themselves challenged for weeks.
Rebound Reactions
Young Nathan Tobin became a legend in social media coaching circles when his Mom posted this video on twitter. So much so that Juan Mata offered to take some free kicks at him when the lockdown conditions are finally off!
Make a goal about 5-10 yards away from a firm surface. The player starts at the side of the goal woth a ball. They strike the ball hard off the wall so that it rebounds towards the goal. The player then moves into the goal and attempts to save the ball.
As a variation players can place water bottles or other raised objects in between the wall and the goal to force it to move in various directions. Petr Cech did a similar thing when at Arsenal, as can be viewed here.
Know any other ideas? Share them in the comments box below