Ball Mastery

Finishing Figure Eight Mastery

Develop close control through continuous direction change

Ball Mastery

Dribbling

Finishing Figure Eight Mastery is a 12-minute ball mastery drill for 2-16 players, suitable for Under 5 to Adults at beginner, intermediate, advanced level. You need balls, cones, poles. Below you will find the objective, the set-up, how to run it, coaching points, common mistakes, progressions, regressions and variations.

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Ball Mastery

Dribbling

Technical Practice

Beginner

Intermediate

Advanced

Full Squad

Agility Kit

Foundation Phase

Youth Friendly

Adult Suitable

Finishing

Duration

12 min

Players

2-16

Pitch size

20 x 14 yards

Ability levels

Beginner / Intermediate / Advanced

Pitch diagram

Finishing Figure Eight Mastery — Goalkeeping set-up — serve, save, reset · 20 x 14 yards

Step 1 of 5Players dribble the figure-eight using inside and outside of the foot only.

1. Players dribble the figure-eight using inside and outside of the foot only.
2. Each lap finishes with an explosive three-yard burst out of the last turn.
3. Swap the leading foot every lap.
4. Every sequence starts with a pass out and ends with a strike on goal.
5. Goals score one, first-time finishes score two, and rebounds must be followed in.

Cones mark the area
Full goal
GK = goalkeeper
C = coach serving, S = second server
Ball
Cones mark the keeper's starting positions
Dotted arrow = rotation between repetitions
Keeper distributes back to the server
Solid arrow = pass, thick = shot, dashed = run / dribble

Objectives

-Develop close control through continuous direction change
-Link ball manipulation to a change of pace
-Repeat quality touches with both feet

Setup

1Two poles eight yards apart with a figure-eight route marked around them in a 20 x 14 yards area.
2Set a goal at the end of the area with a keeper or a target zone if no keeper is available.
3A ball each and a rest cone at the start of the route.

Coaching instructions

1Players dribble the figure-eight using inside and outside of the foot only.
2Each lap finishes with an explosive three-yard burst out of the last turn.
3Swap the leading foot every lap.
4Every sequence starts with a pass out and ends with a strike on goal.
5Goals score one, first-time finishes score two, and rebounds must be followed in.