Passing Pairs and Three Cone Passing

Dive into our two essential soccer drills, “Passing Pairs” and “Three Cone Passing,” designed to fine-tune your team’s passing and receiving skills. These engaging exercises promise action-packed practice sessions for players and coaches alike. In “Passing Pairs,” players focus on their ball control and defense, while “Three Cone Passing” sharpens their agility and passing precision. Whether you’re a coach seeking to refine your team’s strategy or a player aiming to excel in passing, these drills have you covered. Read on for step-by-step instructions and invaluable coaching tips to master the beautiful game.

Passing Pairs

Purpose: 

Players practice their passing and receiving skills while protecting the ball from active defenders.

Setup:

Create a 15 yard wide by 20 yard long grid. Put a goal at each end.

Instructions: 

1. Divide players into pairs and select one pair to be on defense. All pairs but the defensive pair get a ball.
2. Offensive pairs pass the ball back and forth while the defenders try to steal the ball and score a goal.
3. Offensive players can steal the ball back from the defensive player.
4. If a defender puts a ball into the goal, that passing pair becomes defenders.

Coaching tips: 

• On short passes, players should be using the inside of the foot with toes pointing up. On long passes, players should use the laces with the toe pointing down.
• To receive a pass, the player should use the inside of the foot with toe pointing up. He or she should strive to softly cradle the ball with the foot.

Three Cone Passing

Purpose: 

Players work on their passing and receiving skills as well as moving with quick, nimble feet.

Setup: 

Set up three cones in a triangle pattern, around 3 yards

Instructions: 

1. Divide players into pairs.
2. One player is the server, the other player works the cones.
3. Player starts at the first cone, receives a pass from the server and passes it back.
   He then repeats using the opposite foot. After two passes, he backpedals to the second cone and does it again. Then runs forward to the third cone and repeats.
4. Players work for 30 seconds on all of the following:

• First-time pass back with right foot.
• First-time pass back with left foot.
• Bouncing serve and a halt-volley return with right foot.
• Bouncing serve and a half-volley return with left foot.
• Aerial serve and a volley return with right foot.
• Aerial serve and a volley return with left foot.
• When the sequence is complete, the players switch positions.

Coaching Tips: 

Players should be focused on two things when performing this drill – speed and accuracy. In other words, they should go as fast as possible but only as fast as they can retain their accuracy. Don’t sacrifice accuracy for speed.