Soccer Keep Away Drill

Soccer keep away Drill

To improve your team's passing skills in soccer, keep away is a good basic drill to help them understand the fundamentals. This is one of the most popular drills to do to introduce your main focus for team passing and possesion.

Preparation:
- To set up your soccer keep away 4 v 1 drill, create square grids 10 x 10 yards.
- 4 players on outside, 1 between each set of cones per side, and 1 defender in the middle.
- As with every drill, demonstrate how you expect the drill to look like to your team.

Execution:
- 4 players pass the ball keeping the ball from the middle defender.
- Change defender every 60 seconds.
- 4 players must stay on their line, not going outside or inside the square.
- Give defender 1 point for however many times defender wins the ball, or errand pass is made during each 60 second interval.

Quality:
- 4 outside players must always be on their toes for quick movements.
- 4 outside players should sprint to provide best angle possible for player with the ball, ideally players should be almost at the cone nearest the player with the ball.
- Players should make crisp, accurate passes along the ground at all times, allowing the recipient the best chance for success that way.
- Once 5 minutes is up, 4 of 5 defenders with lowest total of points do a quick "punishment" like knees to chest, push ups, sit ups, etc.- Remember, encourage successes!

Progression:
- Reduce size of grid to increase difficulty.
- Reduce to a 3 v 1 to increase difficulty and movement.
- Limit players to 2 or 1 touch, or have them alternate. If previous player took 2 you must take 1, then 2, then 1, and so on.
- This is a great initial drill to progress into several other passing drills.

Total time estimated:
- 5-7 minutes for this soccer keep away drill.