Juggling

Warmup: Look Up (5 mins)

n players, each with ball

In a confined space, all players are dribbling. Coach walks around, holds up fingers. Players immediately stop the ball and call the number of fingers.

- Confined space forces ball to remain at feet.

- Stopping the ball immediately shows that player has control

- Calling number of fingers forces players to look up off the ball while dribbling

Stretches (5 mins)

- stand on one foot, pull other foot up and count

- cross feet over, cup hands, reach down with back straight and count

- sitting, feet together, knees apart, count

- don’t stretch before warming up

- use time for coach talk

Dribble between the lines (10 mins)

N players with balls

Players line up horizontally. 30 paces away is a line of cones. Players must dribble the ball to the line, stop it, turn it and dribble back.

- variation: touch the ball every n paces.

- Variation: using different feet, parts of foot to dribble

- Ball must stop on the line – keep the ball close, little touches

- Using the sole of the foot to move the ball

- (Advanced) Note: using outside of foot to dribble allows for faster run.

Shark Attack/Tunnel Tag (10 mins)

N players, n-2 balls

Players dribble in confined space. 2 players without a ball (sharks) attempt to kick away any loose balls. If you lose your ball, you become a shark.

- variation: if you lose your ball, you stand outside the space and watch. Last player in wins.

- Variations: left foot only, right foot only, inside of foot only, outside of foot only.

- Variation: tunnel tag. If you lose your ball or it goes out of bounds, you retrieve it and stand holding it over your head with your legs apart. You can be released by another player dribbling a ball through your legs.

- Keep the ball close!

1v1 + goal (5 mins)

3 groups of 2

10x10 square with two goals about 2 paces wide. One pair of players plays 1v1 for 60s, then rotates out.

- Goal is very small, forcing the player to score by dribbling the ball rather than taking a shot.

- 60s on, 120s off allows adequate resting period for a strenuous game like this.

Scrimmage (10 mins)

- just observe (if you can) and see what sticks, what doesn’t. Good guidance for your next practice.

- comment on only those things that you’ve been teaching this practice, ignore the rest.