Football Fitness

Agility Gate Weave

Develop footwork and change of direction

Football Fitness

Speed & Agility

Dribbling

Agility Gate Weave is a 10-minute football fitness drill for 4-16 players, suitable for Under 5 to Under 12 at beginner, intermediate, advanced level. You need cones, poles, balls. 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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Football Fitness

Speed & Agility

Dribbling

Technical Practice

Beginner

Intermediate

Advanced

Full Squad

Agility Kit

Foundation Phase

Youth Friendly

Quick 10 Minutes

Agility

Change Of Direction

Fitness Type: Agility

Duration

10 min

Players

4-16

Pitch size

20 x 10 yards

Ability levels

Beginner / Intermediate / Advanced

Pitch diagram

Agility Gate Weave — 4 gates — score by travelling through · 20 x 10 yards

Step 1 of 3Weave through the poles with quick feet then accelerate through the finish gate.

1. Weave through the poles with quick feet then accelerate through the finish gate.
2. Walk back around the outside to recover.
3. Repeat with a ball, using the inside and outside of the foot.

Cones mark the area
Cone gates to dribble / pass through
Ball
Poles to dribble / run through
Solid arrow = pass, thick = shot, dashed = run / dribble

Objectives

-Develop footwork and change of direction
-Link agility to dribbling with the ball
-Build quality repetitions with full recovery

Setup

1Poles or cones set one metre apart in a weave line.
2A finishing gate five yards past the last pole.
3Players in two short lines with a ball each.

Coaching instructions

1Weave through the poles with quick feet then accelerate through the finish gate.
2Walk back around the outside to recover.
3Repeat with a ball, using the inside and outside of the foot.

Coaching points

-Low hips and short steps through the weave
-Explode out of the last pole
-Both feet used on the ball rounds

Common mistakes

-Wide, slow turns around the poles
-Slowing down after the last pole
-Too many reps with no rest

Equipment needed

Cones

Poles

Balls

Age groups

Under 5

Under 6

Under 7

Under 8

Under 9

Under 10

Under 11

Under 12

Progressions

+Progressive Tempo: add a fourth maximal round
+Ball For Every Player: shrink the working area
+Reaction Start: two cues, one a decoy
+Add a competitive scoreline for the last round

Regressions

-Progressive Tempo: stay at the first two tempos only
-Ball For Every Player: bigger area, share a ball between two
-Reaction Start: coach counts players in
-Simplify the area or the service until success returns

Variations

-Progressive Tempo — Three rounds: 60% pace, 80% pace, then match pace with full recovery between.
-Ball For Every Player — Every player works with their own ball so no one waits in a queue.
-Reaction Start — Every repetition begins from a visual or audio cue rather than a set count.
-Partner Race — Players work in matched pairs and race each repetition, best of five.
-Mobility Focus — Each round finishes with a controlled mobility hold for the hips, groin and ankles.
-Change Of Direction — Add a 90 or 180 degree turn into every repetition before the finish.
-Team Target — The whole group works to a shared score target and repeats the round if they miss it.
-Flip the practice to the opposite side of the pitch