SoccerHelp Tips 3 Ways Teaching One Touch Soccer Can Help Your Team The Dribble Around Cone & Pass Relay Race soccer practice game can easily be used to teach players to one touch the ball into Open Space. One Touch Play is BOTH a CRITICAL SOCCER SKILL AND a WAY OF THINKING about playing soccer, and is much better than a player always stopping the ball at his or her feet and THEN starting to move with the ball, because stopping the ball usually gives a defender time to close in to defend (one-touch play doesn't give the opposing defenders as much time to close in on the ballhandler). In the Dribble Around Cone & Pass Relay Race soccer practice game, receivers will learn that they can win the game if they one touch the ball into Open Space, because that allows them to play faster. Once players start winning the Game because they are one-touching their receptions into Open Space, THEN all the players will see how important that is and all the players will want to learn how to do it so they can win the game, because if they don't do it they will lose the game. Learning this skill will allow players to BLOW PAST a defender before the defender can stop it (it will catch the defender moving forward and use the defender's forward momentum against him). In this sense, it is one of the most effective "Soccer Moves", and it is one of the easiest to learn. YOU CAN BEAT BETTER TEAMS BY TEACHING THIS. Or, if a team that is not quite as good as yours plays this way and you don't, you will probably lose. There are 3 times this can be very effective:
Your Soccer Players Will Play Faster
Your Soccer Attack Will Be Greatly Improved
Players Will Learn to "Blow Past" Opponents
Soccer Forwards Will score More Goals
It is Both a Skill and a Way of Thinking About Playing Soccer
How to Teach One Touch SoccerHere is how to Teach One Touch Soccer Play: When your players are playing the Dribble Around Cone & Pass Relay Race soccer practice game, show the players how they can go faster if they one-touch the ball to Open Space when it is passed to them instead of stopping the ball at their feet. Demonstrate both ways while they watch so they can see the difference. THEN, after each game, talk about what the winning team did to win the game (one-touching passes into Open Space will be one reason teams win) AND also let this be one of your "Tips" about how teams can win this Game. When some of your players start to do this, explain to your players how they can one-touch the ball to Blow Past an opponent or to win the ball. Encourage your players to try it when you play the Win the 50/50 Ball or Be the First Defender 1v1 Attacking and Defending soccer practice game as a way to Blow Past the defender.
- When receiving a pass a player can one touch the ball into Open Space as a way to play faster OR to Blow Past an opponent OR to get open for a shot.
- When winning a ball, rather than stopping, encourage attackers to try to one-touch the ball past the Defender and run onto it. This will often work because of the Defender's forward momentum.
- When a Forward is in scoring range, it can be very effective to one touch (block or pass) the ball into Open Space away from the Defender and then take a quick one-touch shot.