Dribbling

Finishing Escape Square Dribble

Protect the ball under real pressure

Dribbling

Ball Mastery

Possession

Finishing Escape Square Dribble is a 14-minute dribbling drill for 6-18 players, suitable for Under 5 to Adults at beginner, intermediate, advanced level. You need balls, cones, bibs. 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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Dribbling

Ball Mastery

Possession

Skill Practice

Beginner

Intermediate

Advanced

Full Squad

Minimal Equipment

Foundation Phase

Youth Friendly

Adult Suitable

Finishing

Duration

14 min

Players

6-18

Pitch size

22 x 22 yards

Ability levels

Beginner / Intermediate / Advanced

Pitch diagram

Finishing Escape Square Dribble — Goalkeeping set-up — serve, save, reset · 22 x 22 yards

Step 1 of 5Dribblers keep the ball alive in the square while two thieves try to kick it out.

1. Dribblers keep the ball alive in the square while two thieves try to kick it out.
2. A dribbler can escape through any gate and re-enter on the opposite side.
3. Thieves swap in every 90 seconds.
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

-Protect the ball under real pressure
-Use turns and shielding to escape tight areas
-Keep the head up in traffic

Setup

1A square with four exit gates, one on each side in a 22 x 22 yards area.
2Set a goal at the end of the area with a keeper or a target zone if no keeper is available.
3Balls for the dribblers, bibs for two ball-thieves.

Coaching instructions

1Dribblers keep the ball alive in the square while two thieves try to kick it out.
2A dribbler can escape through any gate and re-enter on the opposite side.
3Thieves swap in every 90 seconds.
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.