Description
Player will play a pass either side of the pole before back peddling to the top cone. They will open their body out, with their hips facing where they want to take the touch (behind the cone, at a diagonal). The coach will play the ball in for the player to take a small back foot touch past the cone and play a pass back to the coach. Repeat in the opposite direction.
PROGESSION 1 :
Start the same as above, with the 2 passes and then back peddling to the top cone. The player will increase the size of their back foot touch, aiming to get past the bottom cone in one, aggressive touch. They will then play the ball back to the coach and repeat in the opposite direction.
PROGRESSION 2 :
Maintain same pattern as Progression 1 but once they pass to the coach at the bottom cone, they will open out to receive another pass at the bottom cone. This time, their touch will take them towards the board at the top of the session (above the top 2 cones as seen in my amazing diagram), where they will play a pass off the board and then return the pass to the coach. They will then repeat all the above in the opposite direction.
Key Coaching Points
BODY POSITION :
When taking a back foot touch, body position (how we stand) is super important! If the angel we are playing at is small (less then a right angle), then have the hips facing where we want to go. If it is a big angle (larger than a right angel), we want our hips to be 50% facing where we want to go, 50% where the ball is coming from.
FIELD POSITION :
Consider where the player is stood. They need to create 2 things :
1) Space for the pass to come in
2) Space for their touch to go
We must encourage their movement to create both, and highlight when they are lacking one or the other
TECHNIQUE :
MOVE : all passes will be different, so encourage players to move their feet to meet the ball.
STEP : to take a positive back foot touch, step into the ball. This will create a strong contact, and get the player moving into the touch.