Keep
Away Drills
Every
soccer coach has the drills they
love to run as often as possible.
For me, I enjoy keep-away related
drills for a number of reasons.
The
benefits of playing keep away
is plentiful. First and foremost,
they are especially valuable for
working on passing and possession.
If your team is going to be successful
it will be terribly important
for them to learn, understand
and master the art of maintaining
possession and controlling the
flow of the game.
On
the defensive side of the ball,
keep-away drills force players
to apply heavy pressure. It also
teaches players to counter and
stay in tuned to what is happening
when they don’t have the
ball: The priority if you don’t
have the ball should always be
to get it. If you lose it, chase
it. If you can’t get it,
apply pressure and delay the carrier.
As cliche as it sounds, the game
revolves around the ball.
Finally,
small sided keep away games of
the even and uneven ratio give
players lots of touches on the
ball, which should always be of
importance. Keep away and it’s
many variations are valuable for
improving the play and understanding
of your soccer team.
