Motor skills and ball control to improve footwork and balance

Excellent exercise to improve footwork and balance for U11 or U13 players. Use the competitive spirit to create enthusiasm.

Set up 2 identical stations. Place 4 hoops one meter apart from each other to form a square. Then place another hoop behind with 5 balls inside the hoop. Arrange 4 cones a few meters further to create 2 gates.

The player must complete the following course, first with the right foot then with the left foot:

Step with the right foot then the left foot in each hoop
Pick up the ball in the 5th hoop and dribble between the 2 gates while alternating foot positions
Stop the ball in the hoop on the way back

You can of course introduce a form of competition between the 2 teams to energize the exercise. Ideally, perform a relay in this type of agility exercise.

Variation: you can then replace the hoops with side bars and ask the players to perform side steps before retrieving the ball in the last hoop.

Variation with ground bars and side steps

Don't forget, if you have a large number of players during your training session, consider dividing the groups and duplicating the stations so that all players can be as active as possible. This is crucial if you want to work on agility and ball control.