Inside-Out Passing and Catching Warm Up Drills
Use these passing and catching drills in practice and pregame warm-ups in place of your usual line drills. They are much more effective to imitate realistic game situations and spacing. Plus they give your players plenty of repetitions catching, throwing, picking up ground balls, even dodging.
We saw some really good high school teams running these before games last year. They must have gotten them from college coaches, because lots of college teams use them. College teams do so many different drills and exercises before games that it's hard to keep track of them all!
The best thing about Inside Out warm-up drills is that they imitate the same distances and positions your players are going to see on the field in games. It doesn't matter if you use them during practice or before a game, setting up your passing and catching, ground ball, or dodging drills around the goal will give your players more experience in realistic game situations.
Remember, the most important part about any warm up exercise you use is that your players get the maximum number of repetitions to practice any skill or drill, and they keep moving their feet.
Here's THE DRILL:
Figure 1.) Put all your players in lines behind 5 cones around the goal like you would in a common 2-3-1 formation- two cones up at the top of the goal area box, two on the wings at the edge of the box, and one cone behind the goal at "X".
Put all your lines of players inside the cones so that they are actually in the middle of the field, close to the goal. This is what makes this drill different from the way you might usually do things.
PRACTICE TIPS:
- Use this time to warm up your goalie. He will have to focus on finding the ball with so much movement and activity going on in the middle, just like in a game!
- Reverse the ball and move it clockwise around the goal. Make sure your players are getting plenty of practice catching and throwing with both sides.
- Maximize the number of times your players are getting to touch the ball. Have two or even three balls going at a time to force your players to pay attention, look and think ahead, and communicate.
- Remember to Time Your Drills for your players' age and attention span. Line drills shouldn't take more than 20 minutes of practice, no matter what level you coach.
RELATED PRACTICE DRILLS:
- Hamster Passing and Catching Drills: A great way to maximize repetition and muscle memory in line drills.
- Square Passing and Dodging Drill: We've seen lots of college teams using this drill in their pregame warm-ups to give their players plenty of chances to practice their "moves" before the game starts.
- Extra Pass Over the Shoulder Drill: Give your players more than one touch on the ball every time they are in a drill.
Try it out at your next practice and let us know if looks like Inside Out Line Drills are going to help your team!
