A ground ball drill that works on playing with pressure and moving the ball quickly
Set Up
Put players in groups of 6 or 9, and have the 2 outside lines be offense, middle line is defense. Coach rolls a live GB into play:
- If the offense wins, defender must play the ball, and offense needs to make 3 passes
- If the defense wins, they run away from pressure and pass back to coach
Coaching Points & Principles |
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- Ground Balls – Accelerate through, start teaching “Ball” and “Man”
- Playing vs pressure, defense always pressure the ball or runs away from pressure
- Passing and movement – offense must move into passing lanes to connect 3 passes
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Inside out chaos passing is a really fun game that works on recognition ground balls in team passing.\
Set Up
Create a small playing around area. Split your group up in the two teams. Each team will have 2-3 players on each end line. The rest of the players will be around the playing field, alternating dark white dark white. Coach will put 6 to 8 balls in the middle of the field, and on the whistle the players in the end line will run to try to gain possession of a ball. After a player gain possession, they will find a teammate on the perimeter and make a pass.
That teammate that just received the pass will now bring it in the playing area trying to find another teammate to pass it to while the other teammate takes their place on the perimeter. Play for 1 minute, the team in possession of the most balls, wins! Play best of 5, or 7 depending on your time. It’s really fun, engaging, and players will learn how to play within the chaos inside the box and finding teammates to pass to around the field.
Coaching Points & Principles |
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- Groundballs! The game starts with a live ground ball, that is the best time to gain possession!
- Ball Control – Players must be able to cradle through chaos inside the box to find open space and teammates to pass to
- Communication – Perimeter players should be ready to receive a pass, and calling “ONE MORE” or HERE”S HELP”
- Defense – If you don’t win a ground ball and are stuck on defense inside, try to force bad passes/turnovers.
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- Box Out First: Make the first step a box-out step—get your body between the opponent and the ball before attacking the ground ball.
- Escape the Pressure: Securing the ground ball is only the first action. Carry into space when necessary before trying to make the outlet pass.
- Finish the Play: Use deception or a stick fake to avoid blocked passes, protect the stick through pressure, and complete a clean pass to the outlet.
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A fun small area game that focuses on transition play
Set up
Put your players into 2 teams, and create a small playing area. The teams will line up on opposite sidelines, coach throws a live ground ball in. 3 Players from each team go try to win the groundball. The team that wins, goes right to the goal they are attacking and play until goal/save/turnover. New ball comes in and the team on defense now attacks the other goal, until dead ball. Coach will give the original winning team 1 extra offensive rep, and they will transition and go try to score
Coaching Points & Principles |
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- Groundballs – Players should work on ground ball battles, boxing out and helping other teammates get the ball
- Transition – We want to play fast and try to get scoring opportunities in transition
- Defensive pressure – defense should pressure the ball and force the offense to move the ball
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A fast paced, half field drill to get your players competing.
Set Up
Split the group into two teams, and put them in alternating lines at the midfield. On a Half field, we would have 4-6 lines of each color, being a full team drill. If working in smaller spaces like video, you can do 3-4 of each color. The drill starts with coach rolling a live ground ball into the play. The first player in each line will go try to win the ground ball. Which ever team wins the ball, gets the ball to the goalie and initiates a clear. If you don’t have a goalie, just have the players clear to a Coach up top. Once they successfully clear the ball, they will go back in on offense, and attack the goal. Coaches can manipulate the rules or constraints to make uneven situations or get players to explore other team concepts like picks, off ball play, etc..
Coaching Points and Principles
Progressions
- Add extra players in on offense to creat uneven looks
- Number the lines up top, so only select players go into the drill (1,2,3,4 would be a 2v2 groundball play)
- Shot Clock – Once on offense, create a shot clock to speed up play
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- Ground balls – players should be working hard to win ground balls to start the drill
- Clearing – Team is spread out and finding open spaces
- Even & Uneven scenarios
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