Wide Channel Change of Direction Grid

Objective

• -Decelerate and re-accelerate safely
• -Turn off both feet with control
• -Build agility that transfers to the game

Setup

1. 1Five cones in a cross pattern in a 26 x 26 yards area.
2. 2Mark five-yard channels down both touchlines with flat cones.
3. 3Balls at the central cone.

How to play

1. 1Player sprints to a called cone, plants and returns to the middle.
2. 2Every third rep finishes with a pass off the central ball.
3. 3Rest twice as long as each work rep.
4. 4The practice is started by a pass into one of the wide channels.
5. 5End actions only count when the ball has travelled through a wide channel first.

Progressions

• +Defender allowed into the channel to make it live
• +Raise the demand once the group is consistently successful

Regressions

• -Channel is a free zone with no defender at all
• -Simplify the area or the service until success returns

Variations

• -Switch the ball to the far channel before the end action
• -Run the practice on the opposite side of the pitch

Common mistakes

• -Rounding the turn instead of planting
• -Working through fatigue
• -Everything funnelling into a crowded middle