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keeping heads up when dribbling

I need some drills to show my team how t keep their head up when dribbling with the ball without the drill being boring for them because when I try the traffic lights drill or something like that they switch off really quickly but I'm also trying to teach them that when someone passes the ball to them they always look what's around them before they get the ball and I want to know if their is any drills I can use

Nat taylorCoach, England

4 answers

ANSWERS

John BryanCoach, Australia

Hi Nat,

If you`re finding your team switching off, it may be worth trying to form a small circuit of drills that can be performed, as opposed to one longer drill. This way your team get to try 4 or 5 different styles of exercise whilst still working on the same core skill.

When doing the above, i often plan to do 3 full circuits at varying intensity. The first run through is at a very light jog, allowing players to get used to the techniques being used, and how best to complete the exercise. Next i`ll have them go at a quick jog, attempting the skill at a higher pace. Finally, I have them finish trying to complete the circuit as fast as they can, encouraging mistakes in the final run through as I usually find players are more willing to mess up if i emphasis this point.

In terms of specific drills, I`d still use the traffic light exercise as one of your drills. Another fun drill i like to use is to have a few players line up, forming a corridor. These players then have to jog at different points across the corridor, with the player in possession have to keep their head up to judge the speed and position of their dribble (imagine the old video game frogger).

Let me know what you think,

John

Nat taylorCoach, England

thanks for the advice I have some good ideas now but can you just explain to me the frogger drill a bit more I don`t understand what they have to do

John BryanCoach, Australia

- Set up the corridor with the red cones (box here for emphasis) - Have blue players line up along the width of the corridor - The blue players must jog across the corridor at different times, and different speeds - Red player starts at far end of the corridor with a ball, and must dribble to the other side without bumping in to other players As a progression, you could have everyone with a ball, and in order to encourage everyone to keep their head up, players must shift down a position each time. This will keep blue players with their heads up to know when they must move down (so blue player in line 3 moves to line 2, blue player in line 2 moves into line 1, and blue player in line 1 would become the new player to dribble across).

Hope this helps,