Are you looking for ways to improve your football training? If so, this blog post is the perfect starting point! We’ll be talking about 10 things that will help keep your skills sharp and make you a better player.
Before you get going make sure you’ve got plenty of football training equipment, your football goals and nets are set up and you’ve got ball stop netting in place to catch any wayward shots!
Agility Skills
First up are some of our favourite exercises for developing agility. Agility is all about being able to change direction quickly.
The first exercise you should try is the high knees drill. Keep your head up and legs bent as you run around cones at a steady pace for 30 seconds. This helps build strength in your foot muscles which will help control how fast or slow you are going when changing directions on the field.
The second exercise is the side shuffle. It works on how fast and low you can get to the ball when you are trying to take it away from an opponent. All you need for this drill is a cone or something similar that’s about knee height (or lower). Get in position with your right foot touching one end of the cone and your left foot touching the other.
The third exercise is an advanced version of the side shuffle where you can practice dribbling at full speed while keeping close control of the ball. Run sideways, using quick changes in direction to get around different coloured cones that are set up in different patterns. Be sure not to let go of the ball until you have run completely around the cone.
Shooting Skills
The next thing to work on in your football training is all about shooting. You can’t score goals without a strong shooter, so don’t neglect this part of the game!
There are two exercises we recommend for improving shooting skills: wall ball and target practice.
Wall ball uses either a tennis or volleyball to work on shooting accuracy. Simply stand with your back to the wall, toss the ball up into the air and then shoot it at a downward angle against the wall before it bounces more than twice.
Target practice is another drill for improving shooting accuracy but this time you use targets instead of walls! Different sizes can be used depending on how far away you are from them and you can even attach targets to the goal with holes in to practice your aim.
Defending Skills
Our final 3 skills focus on defending skills. You can’t let your opponents get near enough to shoot, and you definitely won’t win any games if they score more goals than you! Here are some great drills for improving your defensive skills.
The first defensive exercise is called the spider drill. All you need for this one is a cone and at least two players. One player starts on each side of the cone, facing opposite directions with their hands out in front to touch or slap an opponent’s hand as they run by (the defender gets points if they tag the runner before he/she reaches the end).
The second exercise is wall defending which helps you keep close control of the ball at all times while you practice intercepting passes and taking shots away from players on the other team. With this drill, you stand with your back to the wall and have a friend toss balls at different angles toward you. Your job is to catch them before they touch the ground!
The final exercise is called the backwards run drill. This helps you learn to keep up with an opponent even when they are going in the opposite direction! To do this, simply follow a coach or other player while using quick changes of speed and direction without letting them get by at all costs – even if that means running backwards!
Well done! Now you know the top ten football training tips to improve your game. Keep these in mind when you’re on the field and you will soon see yourself getting better at your favourite sport!
