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Power / Finesse / Head
FineSoccer Drill 128
Here is a fun finishing activity that makes the players think about three different types of finishes. The game is called Power/Finesse/Head.
Start with three lines of players with each player having a ball (if you have two goals available for a team that would be best so players aren't standing around too much waiting) and they should be lined up as shown below.
The players in line 1 are the shooters. The first player in line 1 takes a touch and then shoots the ball from the top of the 18 (since this is a good distance for most, this shot will have to be hit with power in order to beat the keeper). As soon as she shoots the ball, the player in line 2 passes the ball out toward the 12 yard spot for the second shot from Player 1. Since this shot is closer in and the ball is coming at the shooter, it's more of a finesse shot (probably with the inside of the foot as opposed to the power shot which was hit with the instep). As soon as this finesse shot is hit, the first player in line 3 throws the ball so that Player 1 has to head the ball to try to score. This results in the player in line 1 working on three different types of scoring opportunities in a very short period of time. The players would rotate after the shots are hit (it's easiest if they rotate clockwise so everyone knows where to go next).
There are numerous ways to keep score in this type of game and lots of people do it as a team event but I like to do it as an individual competition. Each player goes five times and they get a point for each goal they score. If they score all three goals in one series (the power shot, the finesse shot and the header) they also get a bonus point so there is a maximum of 20 points possible for each player after 5 times. If there is a tie score the players could go head to head for the "playoffs".
The idea is for this to go extremely quickly so that as soon as one shot is hit the ball is served for the next shot and when a player has hit all three shots, the next player goes automatically. Even though it might seem like there would be a lot of standing around, done properly this is a very fast moving game that works on different types of finishing, goalkeeping (actually more like shot blocking), passing and throw ins.
Give this game a try but be prepared to have players want to do it on a regular basis once they play it the first time.
Any comments, questions or suggestions can be posted to the FineSoccer Forum
Have a great day!
Lawrence
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