Football coaching tips for long passing skills
It is important to be able to pass the ball over long distances because it is often the quickest way to exploit the space behind a defence, or the fastest method of switching the point of attack. Use these football coaching tips and drill to help.
This is the technique to coach:
- Strike bottom half of the ball and a vertical line that bisects it.
- Firm ankle, extend the kicking foot.
- Sweep through and across the ball.
- Non-kicking foot diagonally behind the ball but not immediately next to it.
Run the football drill
In this drill get your players to stand in two lines at opposite ends and take it in turns to hit lofted passes to the opposite side of the playing area.
Put a player in each of the middle two zones. The player at the end sidefoots a pass along the ground to the centre of the playing area, where the nearest player returns it on the second touch.
The player at the end controls it, then hits a lofted pass to the far side over the heads of both players in the middle. The sequence is repeated at the opposite end.
A further development involves the middle player running towards the player at the end to exert some pressure after hitting the return pass. To increase difficulty, the lofted pass can also be hit first time.
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Click the link for another distance passing coaching session.