Speed & Agility

Finishing Ladder and Ball

Improve foot speed and coordination

Speed & Agility

Football Fitness

Ball Mastery

Finishing Ladder and Ball is a 14-minute speed & agility drill for 2-16 players, suitable for Under 5 to Adults at beginner, intermediate, advanced level. You need balls, cones, ladder. Below you will find the objective, the set-up, how to run it, coaching points, common mistakes, progressions, regressions and variations.

Back to drill library

Speed & Agility

Football Fitness

Ball Mastery

Technical Practice

Beginner

Intermediate

Advanced

Full Squad

Agility Kit

Foundation Phase

Youth Friendly

Adult Suitable

Finishing

Duration

14 min

Players

2-16

Pitch size

22 x 12 yards

Ability levels

Beginner / Intermediate / Advanced

Pitch diagram

Finishing Ladder and Ball — Goalkeeping set-up — serve, save, reset · 22 x 12 yards

Step 1 of 5Player works through the ladder pattern then accelerates to the ball.

1. Player works through the ladder pattern then accelerates to the ball.
2. They complete a dribble through two gates and jog back.
3. Full recovery between reps — quality over volume.
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
Agility ladder
Solid arrow = pass, thick = shot, dashed = run / dribble

Objectives

-Improve foot speed and coordination
-Link quick feet straight into a football action
-Keep work-to-rest ratios sensible

Setup

1A ladder with a ball station five yards beyond it in a 22 x 12 yards area.
2Set a goal at the end of the area with a keeper or a target zone if no keeper is available.
3One ladder, balls at the far station.

Coaching instructions

1Player works through the ladder pattern then accelerates to the ball.
2They complete a dribble through two gates and jog back.
3Full recovery between reps — quality over volume.
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.