Coaching Corner:
Sequential Passing
By Jeff Tipping, NSCAA Director of Coaching Education
Sequential passing exercises are a great training tool to teach players some important playing habits. The coach assigns each player a number and then issues the following directives:
- No player is allowed to stand still
- No pass may be less than 15 yards
- The players must pass the ball sequentially, receiving the ball from the number before them and passing the ball to the number after them. For example, #2 receives the ball from #1 and passes the ball to #3.
By placing various conditions on the players the coach encourages the following developmental habits:
- Each player must take two touches, one to receive it and one to pass it. This encourages the players to:
- look where their next pass will be before they receive it
- prepare the ball in the direction the pass will go
- measure the weight and accuracy of the pass to their teammate
- One-touch passing will encourage the following
- further reinforce the need to look where they will pass the ball before they receive it
- put the onus on the next sequential player to call for the ball early and move into space early to help the passing player execute an effective pass
- put maximum emphasis on the speed of the pass knowing that the teammate also has only one touch
- Introduction of a second, third or fourth ball. This will force the players to pass the ball quickly as they do not want the two balls to arrive at a single player at the same time.
A coach can divide a squad of 16 into 2 groups of 8, separate the groups and have them perform the exercises listed above. At some stage the coach can intermingle the two groups so that the visual environment puts more demands on the players.
We recommend sequential passing exercises as a fun way of developing good technical and tactical habits for players of any age.
Web Administrator Ken Gamble