8 Soccer Drills for Kids

8 Soccer Drills for Kids

8 Soccer Drills for Kids

Spend some time with your kids doing what they love and help them get the practice they did. Try out these eight soccer drills for kids.

Keyword(s): Primary: soccer drills for kids Secondary: soccer drills, soccer training for kids, soccer drills for 6 yr olds, soccer practice for kids

Soccer is a sport of great speed, precision, and coordination. It's not a sport which is mastered overnight. It requires you to put in a great deal of hard work over a span of many years.

The key to becoming a great soccer player is building a base of fundamentals. Kids must learn basic dribbling, passing, and shooting fundamentals before they can move onto a more complex style of play.

How do kids learn these fundamentals? By engaging in particular drills. Here are 8 soccer drills for kids.

1. Keep Your Yard Clean

A great way for young kids to improve their kicking and passing technique is by playing Keep Your Yard Clean. This game can be played by people of any age, but is best for kids of 6 to 10 years of age.

Though you can use a playing area of any size, it's recommended that you play within a 40-yard X 40-yard square. This square will be split in half so that one team is on one side, and the other team is on the other side. To mark the parameters of the field, it's recommended that you use cones.

There will typically be 10 kids on each team, with each kid starting with a ball. After you blow the whistle, kids will kick their respective balls into their opponents' side of the field.

These balls will be kicked back and forth until you stop the game (typically after around 4 or 5 minutes). The team which has the least amount of balls on its side of the field after the whistle is blown wins the game.

2. Tug of War

One of the most fun and effective soccer drills is tug of war. This game is great for those between the ages of 8 to 14 years old, promoting passing power and accuracy.

In this game, kids are separated into two teams. Each team is required to stay behind a line of cones. Between these cones will be a specially marked soccer ball.

At the beginning of the game, every participant will have a soccer ball. Once the whistle has been blown, it is the goal of every player in the game to strike the specially marked soccer ball with their respective soccer balls. The point is to hit the specially marked ball with other balls until it rolls past the opponents' line of cones.

3. Corner Kick Game

The corner kick game is a drill which essentially involves playing a standard game of soccer. However, the difference between this drill and a standard game is that, if the ball goes out of bounds, regardless of where it goes out of bounds, it will result in a corner kick.

The corner kick is one of the most important plays in all of soccer. This drill helps kids to practice it a great deal in a real-game situation. It not only promotes technique, it endorses cardiovascular exercise as well.

4. 3v1

The 3v1 drill is a drill which helps kids to improve both their defense and shot accuracy. To set the game up, you must establish a 3-yard X 3-yard box. It's a good idea to establish this box with cones.

Once the cones have been set up, place a ball in the middle of the cones. No player is allowed to go inside the parameters of said cones.

There will be 3 offensive players, and 1 defensive player. The offensive players will pass the ball back and forth, kicking the ball toward the center ball in an attempt to hit it. All the while, the defensive player must try to stop the ball which is being passed.

5. Knockout

Knockout is a drill which promotes ball protection and defense. In this game, a large circle is established. After this circle is established, each player will go inside of it with a ball of his or her own.

Once the whistle is blown, each player will try to knock every other player's ball out of the circle, all the while protecting his or her own ball. The participant with the last remaining ball in the circle is the winner.

6. The Shooting Game

The shooting game is one of the best forms of soccer practice for kids. This game involves two different teams, both of whom are separated by a line of cones. In the middle of these two lines of cones is a goal.

This game begins with a goalkeeper from one team in goal and a shooter from the opposite team taking a shot. Regardless of whether this shot is made, blocked, or missed, the shooter will assume the position of goalkeeper. Then, a player from the opposite side will take a shot.

This process will play out back and forth until the officiator decides to end the game.

7. Killer Whale

One of the more classic soccer drills is killer whale. This is a game in which 12 to 16 players go inside of a circle of cones and attempt to keep their respective soccer balls within said cones.

While 10, 12, or 14 players will have soccer balls to protect, 2 players will be the "killer whales," and attempt to knock those balls out of the cones. This is one of the best soccer drills for 6 yr olds, promoting ball security and defense.

8. Spread Out

Something a lot of kids have trouble with in soccer is spreading out from each other on the field. To help teach this concept, you need to consider playing spread out.

In this drill, you will separate players into two teams. Players on each team will throw the ball to each other, catching it in their hands. When a player has caught the ball, he or she can not move until he or she has thrown it to a teammate.

The opposite team will try to steal the ball. The last team which has the ball at the end of the game is the winner.

Learn More Soccer Drills for Kids

Interested in learning more soccer drills for kids? Hoping to help your child brush up on his or her soccer skills? If so, Express FC Soccer Academy is the place to go.

We not only put on camps, we field a team as well. As one of the longest-running soccer clubs in Central Ohio, we help turn good players into great players.

Contact us today!