This is a very
common drill but with an interesting twist that adds a great deal of
conditioning to a sometimes slow moving drill. The most commonly used
name for this drill is the tunnel drill.
Normally, you would have a group of players (anywhere from 4-8) in each
of two lines facing each other (see diagram below).
The first player in line A passes the football
to the first player in line B and then sprints to the back of line B.
The first player in line B then passes to the first person in line A and
then sprints to the back of line A. Very simple drill and somewhat
boring.
To increase the number of touches per
player and to increase both the intensity and conditioning part of the
drill, do the exact same thing in groups of 3. Have two players together
and then the third player is 15 yards away. The first person in the
group of 2 passes the ball to the third player and then sprints behind
her. It ends up being just like a bigger tunnel (and in fact can be done
utilizing the same space) but now each player gets every third touch. By
keeping the players 15 yards apart, the players will have to really
sprint to get to the spot to receive the ball next. Do this drill at
full speed for one minute periods and you will find that this
conditioning is very relevant to soccer fitness.
Other variations on this drill include,
playing two touches with the first touch away from pressure (the
sprinter runs right at the receiver). This touch can be done first with
the inside of the foot and then with the outside of the foot. Also, you
can move the players back to 30 yards apart and have them play 2 touch
chips to each other. This requires both a great deal of conditioning as
well as working on chipping and receiving high balls. Do 5 different
variations of this and it takes a mere 10 minutes of the training
session (one minute of intense work and one minute of rest per
variation) and you will find this is a great example of economical
training.
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