A good drill to work on ball control and dodging a sliding defender
Set Up
Put cones in a zig zag slalom type line, each 2-2 yards apart. The player must run quickly to each cone (they can stay one handed as this about ball control and playing fast) At the end of the slalom, 1 defender who is 5 yards away from the end, will slide to the player and they will play 1v1. The slalom is a constraint, it organizes rapid weight & balance shifts, change of direction, and footwork changes without the coach saying “practice your footwork”. The live defender creates the affordance for those same movements in a real context. Rotation: attacker goes, then becomes the waiting defender. Defender goes to back of line. Line keeps moving, high reps, low standing.
Coaching Points & Principles
- Ball control – cradling in a fast paced environment with quick body movements
- Sliding on defense – working on taking a good angle and breaking down
- Playing 1v1 and trying to dodge to space. Offense should try to make 1 move only, and then GO!
Progressions
- Have the defender be closer so less time to react
- More experience players, make them change hands at every cone
- do on the wing, to teach getting to middle on offense and trying to prevent that on defense
