Scoreboards

While these soccer drill games may be listed as ‘just for fun’, they are indeed enhancing skills, awareness and dexterity. In some cases, the games are focused on individual performance, and in other cases there is a team effort. In all situations, there is a learning process that help the kids in their performance.

P-I-G; Ages 10-14; one of the most fun
Variations for challenges may include a start off where the ball may hit the ground once. For advanced players, require a head ball or full volley.

Get all of your players to form a circle. Players will half volley/juggle the ball back and forth to each other. If a player makes a bad volley or serve, he gets a letter ‘P’. Start the game again. If the player makes another error, he receives the letter ‘I’, and now has “PI”.

There are variations in these soccer drill games to enable players to perform from both a defense and offense position.

Corner Kick Game; Ages 8-14

This game can be played with 6 v 6 or 8 v 8; with just a bunch of soccer balls places at the opposite corners.

When a team kicks a ball out of bounds relating to any line, the other team is given a corner kick.
This creates a situation where the players simply run and run.

Shooting drill practice is an excellent way to broaden dexterity and awareness skills. Since the games are designed to be fun and work in a team environment, they also bring a heightened attitude towards team comradery. Coaches can adjust the speed, field length and other levels to make this more challenging for the older kids, thereby making a shooting drill game more fun.

Breakaway shooting game; Ages 6-14

Using a series of cones, each player has to dribble the soccer ball to a cone and shoot before he gets to the next cone. If the next player saves the ball, he keeps the ball and runs to the end of his team’s line. If the 1st players shot is wide, the 2nd player gets the ball and goes to the end of the line for his team. After the 1st player shoots, he becomes the goalie.

1 v 1 Dribbling Through the Gate; Ages 6-14 Use a large field and set up a lot of ‘cone gates’ which are about one yard apart. Pair up the players with one of the two possessing the soccer ball.

When the coach blows the whistle, player will try to dribble the soccer ball through as many of the ‘gates’ as possible and the other player will at the same time, be trying to steal the ball. Time= 30-60 seconds. The player with the ball cannot go through the same gate two times in a row. One point is given for each gate. If the other player steals the ball, he gives it back to attacker. When the time is up, each player will switch positions. The one with the most points wins. This is a great dribbling drill that is a lot of fun.

Musical Chairs; dribbling drill and fitness; Ages 8-12 Variations on this dribbling drill can include adding different moves and varying the size of the circles. These changes will enhance their fitness levels.

Create one small circular grid and one large circular grid.

Players will have their own soccer ball and will dribble around the small large grid at a decent pace, avoiding each other and maintaining a heads up position. After they have been dribbling for a specified amount of time, call out the word ‘Switch’. When the word is called out, each player must stop their ball, leave it where it is located and run around a cone in the outer circle, then run back into the small circle to a new/different soccer ball. It’s important that this is done quickly and that they go to a completely different soccer ball. The players will then continue dribbling.

Passing through the gates: Technique development; ages 6-12 Variations on this passing drill can include adjusting the size of the gates; larger or smaller as well as the distance between the two players.

Using cones, create gates about three yards apart from each other. Split the group into pairs.
Each of the players will take a turn trying to pass the soccer ball in between the gates. Points are scored each time the ball actually goes through the gates without touching any of the cones. Each play should be from three to four minutes.

Soccer passing drills and exercises are a great way to develop agility, movement, decision making and team attitudes. When coaching and working with kids of all ages, there are methodologies of combing skill development with fun while getting their passing down to a science.

Four Corners; Ages 10-14

Make four grids of approximately 5 ft x 5 ft each and about 40 yds apart from each other. There is no ‘out of bounds’ section allocated. There will be two teams, each of from 4-8 players. Variations on this passing drill can include the pass must be a give and go to a team mate player.

The Bank Bank: Passing drill with Pressure; Ages 10-14

Set the game up with two teams, each with 4 to 5 players on an approximate 40x40 grid. You can change the variations on this by sending more than 1 defender in, making the grid smaller or, to have an easier game make the grid a larger size and add an offensive player

Coach projects the soccer balls in team X's grid. The opposing team will send 1 player to play as a defender. Team X will try to connect four passes in a row without the defender kicking the ball out of bounds or stealing.

Designing a soccer jersey is a tricky business and one that has changed from a plain necessity to an outright fine art. A well crafted look can turn a team into both popular and iconic or make everyone do a double-take, asking “what were they thinking”. Some of the best soccer jerseys that stand out are memorable and recognizable, and, after all, in marketing, that’s the name of the game; especially when you see the team colors on the electronic scoreboard.

Audi made an executive decision that is destined to put them in the hall of fame for genius advertising. The method to their madness involved the understanding that Americans love cars. So their marketing people got together to create a plan to bring together the love of soccer, World Cup broadcasting, the biggest electronic scoreboard ever created and….cars.

I don’t think any of us have a real grasp on the amount of money that is invested and spent in the marketing, advertising and promotions for the World Cup. Each year, FIFA, has a list of partners and corporate sponsors that are some the major big bucks behind the scenes. But the rest of the marketing dollars total into the billions. In 1984, a World Cup sponsorship jumped from $2,000 to $16,000 in 1996. The major sponsors for that game were Coca-Cola, McDonalds, and Adidas. The sponsors count on the millions of viewers, but the hosting cities also count on the huge influx of fans that will show up to attend and spend. An example is the 1994 World Cup, held in the U.S. This generated $623 million in economic profit for the area. Compare that to 182 million for the Super Bowl.

FIFA established their international competition for soccer in 193, with the games being played every four years. There were two exceptions: due to World War II, the 1942 and 1946 games were not held. Whether you all it soccer or football, the World Cup games have been a frenzy of international excitement, comparable only to the Olympics.

There have been nineteen tournaments held and of these, seventy six nations have participated in the games at least one time, with twelve making it to the final match and eight announced as winners. Over the years, the World Cup has made some major transitions from a more subdued game to a complete world championship competition. Different countries vie for the honor of being the host country for the World Cup and it is considered an important national treasure to be selected as host.