Soccer drills for youth teams, with video, setup and coaching points, grouped by skills, passing, shooting and defending. For 5U to 14U.
3 drills · 24 minutes if you ran them all
Each player has a ball and taps the top of it with alternating feet, staying on the toes. Go thirty seconds on, fifteen off, then add moving forward, backward, and side to side while tapping.
Light feet, arms out for balance, eyes up. The ball should barely move while the feet are fast.
Watch: US Club SoccerPair players with one ball a few yards apart. One juggles two or three touches and passes the ball in the air to the partner, who controls it and juggles back. Beginners can let it bounce once between touches.
Soft touches with the laces and the ball spinning back toward you. Count out loud and chase the pair record.
Watch: US Club SoccerSet two lines of cones about six yards apart and have players jog between them in pairs. Work through straight jogging, hip out, hip in, circling the partner, shoulder contact, and quick forward and back. Finish with a few short sprints.
Knees over toes and soft landings on every hop and cut. Keep it steady and controlled, it is an injury prevention routine, not a race.
Watch: US Club Soccer7 drills · 58 minutes if you ran them all
Players dribble freely inside a twenty yard square using the laces, inside, and outside of both feet. On the coach call they stop the ball with the sole, turn, and go the other way. Ninety seconds per round, three rounds.
Small touches, head up, and both feet. Call out a player every time you see a good turn into open space.
Watch: US Club SoccerPartners stand eight yards apart and pass the ball on the ground. The receiver cushions the ball with the inside of the foot, pushing it a yard out in front, then passes back with the other foot. Twenty reps, then switch the receiving foot.
Get the body behind the ball and relax the foot on contact. The first touch should set up the next pass, not stop the ball dead.
Watch: US Club SoccerPlace five cones in a star pattern about five yards from a center cone. Players start at the center, dribble out to a cone, turn, and come back to the center, then go to the next cone. Use a different turn each round.
Shield the ball on the turn with the body between the cone and the ball. Accelerate out of every turn.
Watch: US Club SoccerSet three cones in a line five yards apart. Players dribble to the first cone, fake inside, cut outside with the outside of the foot, and explode to the next cone. Repeat at each cone, jog back, and switch feet.
Sell the fake with the shoulders and body, not just the foot. Explode after the cut with two fast touches.
Watch: US Club SoccerLay a line of five cones two yards apart. Players dribble through using inside of one foot then outside of the same foot, making a snake through the cones, and jog back. Switch feet every trip.
Keep the ball within a stride and the touches small. Hips face forward while the feet do the work.
Watch: US Club SoccerPlayers work one move at a time at a cone standing in for a defender: scissors, step over, and a drag back. Five reps each foot, then add a passive partner who becomes live on the third set.
Change of speed is what beats a defender, the move just creates the gap. Touch past the cone and go.
Watch: US Club SoccerPairs with one ball in a small area. The attacker holds the ball with the body between it and a passive defender for a three count, then turns and explodes away into space. Switch roles every rep, then make the defender live.
Arm out, knees bent, ball on the far foot. When you go, go hard for three touches.
Watch: US Club Soccer6 drills · 56 minutes if you ran them all
One player stands in the middle of a ring of four or five teammates with a ball. The middle player passes to each teammate in turn and receives it back, moving around the circle. Switch the middle every forty five seconds.
Check to the ball before each pass and call the name of the next receiver. Pass with the foot that opens you to the next target.
Watch: US Club SoccerPartners eight to ten yards apart pass with the inside of the foot, right foot only for twenty, left for twenty, then alternating. Back up two yards and repeat with firmer passes.
Plant foot beside the ball pointing at the target and strike through the middle with the ankle locked. Firm passes are easier to control than soft ones.
Watch: US Club SoccerTwo pairs set up in a square about twelve yards across. Pairs pass across the square and switch sides after each pass so the ball and players are always moving. Add a second ball once it flows.
Communicate so the balls never collide. Pass and move immediately, do not watch the pass.
Watch: US Club SoccerSame four cone square but with two balls going at once and a defender in the middle trying to touch a pass. If the defender touches it, the passer swaps in. Keep two touch for the older kids.
Look at the defender before you pass and play away from them. A quick two touch beats a slow one touch.
Watch: US Club SoccerFour cones in a square twelve yards apart with a player at each and a few extras at the start. Pass to the next cone, follow the pass, and take that spot. Change direction every two minutes and add a second ball.
Receive across the body with the back foot so the next pass is quick. Head up before the ball arrives.
Watch: US Club SoccerSet a fifteen by twenty yard box and play four against two or five against two with a two touch limit. The defenders win by touching the ball; the passer who loses it becomes a defender. Two minute rounds.
Move after every pass to give the ball a new angle. Make the simple pass fast rather than the fancy pass slow.
Watch: US Club Soccer5 drills · 46 minutes if you ran them all
A coach plays balls into the box from the wing or the top. One or two attackers arrive on the run and finish against a goalkeeper. Vary the service: on the ground, bouncing, and crossed.
Arrive as the ball arrives, not before. Pick the corner early and hit it with the first clean touch.
Watch: US Club SoccerSet a target square or a keeper in a small goal twelve to fifteen yards away. Players dribble in and chip the ball with a stabbing motion under it so it lifts quickly and drops into the target.
Short backswing, toe under the ball, and stop the follow through. The ball should spin backward and die on landing.
Watch: US Youth SoccerPlayers start twenty five yards from goal with a ball. They dribble at a cone, make a move to one side, and shoot in the first two steps after the move. Alternate sides and feet, and rotate a keeper if you have one.
The move opens the shooting lane, so shoot early before the defender recovers. Plant beside the ball and strike with the laces.
Watch: US Youth SoccerLines on both sides of the goal about twenty yards out, a coach at the top of the box with a pile of balls. The coach lays a ball off and the first player strikes it first time, then the other line goes. Keep the balls coming fast.
Head down on contact and follow through at the target. Low and in the corners beats high and hard.
Watch: US Club SoccerA partner tosses the ball underhand from ten yards and the shooter volleys it back toward a small goal or the partner hands. Ten each with the right, ten with the left, then move the toss to the side for a side volley.
Lock the ankle, toe down, and get over the ball. If it flies high, the knee was not over the ball.
Watch: US Youth Soccer4 drills · 36 minutes if you ran them all
Partners face each other with a ball between them. On the coach command both plant and block the ball with the inside of the foot at the same time, firm but controlled. Then run it live: a slow dribbler and a defender who steps in to block when the ball is exposed.
Lock the ankle and put the whole body behind the tackle. Time it when the ball is off the dribbler foot, not when it is under them.
Watch: US Youth SoccerTwo attackers against two defenders in a twenty yard channel. The first defender pressures the ball while the second drops at an angle behind to cover. When the ball moves, they swap roles. Play to an end line.
First defender says I have ball, second defender says I have cover. Cover at an angle, not flat beside your partner.
Watch: US Youth SoccerIn a ten by fifteen yard channel an attacker tries to dribble past a defender to the end line. The defender closes down quickly, slows up, and gets side on about a yard away, then wins the ball or delays until the attacker runs out of space. Switch after each rep.
Sprint then slow: fast approach, short steps at the end. Stay side on, stay low, and do not dive in.
Watch: US Youth SoccerPairs in a small grid with one ball. The player with the ball keeps it away from the partner for twenty seconds using the body and the far foot, then they switch. Count how many seconds each player holds it.
Side on, arm out for balance, ball on the foot farthest from the defender. Move the ball as the defender moves.
Watch: US Youth Soccer2 drills · 18 minutes if you ran them all
Lay a line of cones every ten yards for forty yards. Players dribble slowly to a cone, then explode with big touches to the next, then slow again. Four trips with a walk back recovery.
The change of pace is the whole drill: clearly slow, then clearly fast. Push the ball far enough to sprint but not so far that you lose it.
Watch: US Club SoccerPlay five on five in a thirty by forty yard area with an end zone at each end instead of goals. A team scores by dribbling or receiving a pass in the end zone. Keep the games short and rotate teams so the running stays high.
Run into the end zone when your team has the ball and sprint back when you lose it. Spread wide to make the field big.
Watch: US Club Soccer3 drills · 36 minutes if you ran them all
Play a small sided game where every restart from the keeper or end line must be a pass to a teammate on the ground inside the defensive half. No long kicks allowed, so the team learns to build out from the back.
Spread out wide and deep when your keeper has the ball. Show for the pass and talk to the player on the ball.
Watch: US Club SoccerPlace the two goals on opposite corners of the field rather than in the center of each end line. Play a normal small sided game; the angle forces players to change the point of attack and find space away from the ball.
Look for the pass across the field that opens the goal. Players without the ball should move to the open side early.
Watch: US Club SoccerSet three small cone goals on each end line and play four on four or five on five. Teams can score in any of the three goals they are attacking, so they learn to switch the ball when one side is crowded.
Head up and find the open goal. If one side is packed, switch the play to the other side fast.
Watch: US Club SoccerVideos are linked, not hosted, and belong to US Club Soccer and US Youth Soccer. Drill write-ups are by Cheat Code Coaching. Durations are what we run them at with a youth team; adjust for your group.
Every drill here is already in the Cheat Code Teams Practice Builder for Youth Soccer. Drag them into a plan, tap Start practice, and the clock, the whistle and the next drill are on your phone and your lock screen.