Top 5 Best Soccer Drills for Kids

Top 5 Best Soccer Drills for Kids

If you're a coach or parent of a young soccer player, choosing the right drills is important. You want to help them learn the skills they need; however, when you're looking at soccer drills for 5-year-olds, 6-year-olds and even 10-year-olds, fun should also be a factor.

The experts at Bownet™ have chosen what we think are the five best kids' soccer drills. Use these passing, dribbling, shooting and defensive soccer drills to introduce beginners to "the beautiful game" while having a good time.

Passing in Doubles

This simple drill for two players focuses on one of soccer's most fundamental skills.

• Set up a pair of field cones about two yards apart, then set up two more cones the same way 5-10 yards from the first pair.
• Place a player behind each set of cones.
• The first player passes the ball through the cones to the second player.
• The second player uses one touch to control the ball, then the second touch to pass it back to the first player.

You can change the distance between cones or switch to one-touch passes to increase the difficulty.

Juggling

This is a great warm-up drill that can be done solo or with other players to improve ball skills.

• Toss an underarm throw to a player.
• If doing the drill solo, simply try to keep the ball in the air using any body part legal for soccer.
• When playing as teams, players get up to three consecutive touches before they have to pass the ball to a teammate. Whichever team keeps the ball in the air the longest wins.

Penalty Kicks

Every player likes to score goals, and this soccer shooting drill helps them work on ball placement.

• Place a ball at the penalty kick spot. (If not pre-marked, this is about 12 yards from the goal.)
• Have the player take 10 shots at the center of the soccer goal with their right foot, then repeat with their left foot.
• Do the same for all four corners of the goal (bottom right, top right, top left, bottom left).

Backpedals

Soccer isn't just about going forward. This warm-up drill helps players improve backward running, which is especially important for defenders.

• Start with the players facing a field cone.
• Have them backpedal from the cone for a certain time or distance, then run back to the cone.
• Repeat at a 45-degree angle in each direction.

Remind players to keep their heads up and hips open to avoid tripping. For added difficulty, toss a ball to the player that they have to control while backpedaling.

Sharks & Minnows

This is a fun game to end practice that works on dribbling and protecting the ball.

• Set up a grid roughly 20x25 yards (size can vary depending on players and skill level).
• Select two players to be sharks at the center of the grid. The rest of the players are minnows who stand on an end line with a ball.
• The minnows attempt to dribble their ball to the opposite end line while the sharks try to take the balls away or knock them out of the grid.
• A minnow who loses a ball becomes a shark. The last minnow standing is the winner.

Bownet has a variety of soccer training equipment for these drills and many others. Shop for regulation goals, balls, equipment bags and anything else you need to Train Like a Pro.