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Footwork Drills, Handwork, Eye Speed Drills, Balance

  • Stand on one leg and bounce a tennis ball catching it with your opposite hand ----alternate legs—then do it without looking      Footwork
  • Get hurdles or make hurdles and use them like you would use the ladder—ie.  Hop one leg, two legs, run straight through etc.     Footwork
  • Go through the ladder with your partner holding up colored balls or different fingers (1,2,3) while you call out the number or color changes as you run through      Footwork
  • Jump rope---all styles—double leg hop, single leg hop, criss cross, speed jump, try to get the rope around twice per jump     Footwork
  • Do extra reps with your non-dom leg to build its strength     Footwork
  • Use the lines for all sorts of footwork—like what you do at camps, front-side to side-one leg, two leg hopping ,slalom  etc….     Footwork
  • Stand facing a wall and have someone from behind you throw the ball at the wall so it rebounds and you have to catch it—start fairly far out from the wall with no stick and work catching it with one hand and then progress towards the wall—you can use tennis balls or lax balls and you can work catching it only with your dom.hand and then  with a field players stick etc.. FOCUS: Eye speed, seeing the ball, quick reactions      
  • Also you can get within 2ft (give or take) from the wall and take a mini soccer ball (mini and flat works best) and have someone throw only high balls and you have to pin the ball against the wall, stepping into the wall so that the ball almost never comes off the wall.   FOCUS:   Eye speed, seeing the ball
  • On a Bosu ball standing on the ball side up, have your feet spread shoulder width apart, non-dom hand behind your back,.  Have your partner throw you balls that you catch taking your head behind the ball to work on core strength and taking your eye to ball.  Then go down in a squat position and have your partner lob balls high to both sides so you have to reach for them while keeping balance…still one handed.  Then start with both hands in the air reached high up and throw balls low so you have to squat to reach them      FOCUS:  Balance, core strength
  • Place two cones about ten feet away from each other---slide from cone to cone while someone (who moves with you sort of) throws bounce shots at you with a stick—you use one hand to catch them and keep moving the whole time no matter when they throw the ball—do this for timed reps like 1 min on 1 min off etc.  You are not stepping forward for this drill just constantly moving laterally…Thrower, vary when you throw the ball and don’t get into a rhythm, also have extra balls so if they or you drop it you keep going.   FOCUS:   Balance, leg strength,  catching the ball and staying focused, footwork and hand skills while you are tired
  • Stand on one leg and bend that leg so you are crouching—take three little quick hops straight up and down and then explode out at an angle for three explosive steps and then finish running through so you don’t hurt yourself.  If you are on your right leg you explode stepping forward at an angle with your left and vice versa—your partner will then throw you a ball while you are in the midst of the 3 steps to get you to focus on catching.  Watch for the first step being forward, not down and then out or even rocking backwards.  FOCUS: Footwork,  first step explosiveness and focus, leg strength
  • Have someone stand holding a ball about 5 ft away from you (this distance can be whatever works best to start) and have them drop the ball and you have to catch it off of only one bounce—have them keep moving away from you FOCUS: Eye speed, Reaction time
  • Make the person hold two balls, one in each hand, and stand like a T so that they only drop one on either your right or left side so that you have to react with the correct foot without rocking backwards  FOCUS: Reaction time, first step being forward not rocking back or a hitch step
  • Have a partner hold two balls in one hand about five to ten feet from you,  have them throw the balls towards you (both at once pushing out about chest high), they will be able to manipulate the distance that the balls split apart from each other by how they push them out of their hand and you must catch one with each hand while stepping forward.  Keys: keep your hands away from your body as you catch.  Variation: have two people each with two balls one standing in front of you, one standing directly to the side.  Catch the 1st  person’s balls, throw back, turn on the angle, catch the second set of balls, throw back, turn back to 1st person, and so on.  FOCUS: Footwork and hand eye coordination
Goalie juggling:
Partner up with one ball per kid.  Stand about 3 to 4 ft away from each other, hands up by your head and one partner has a ball in their right hand, the other partner has it in their left.  With a wrist flick more than a throw just throw the balls back and forth.  They go straight across, no crisscrossing.  Work on peripheral vision and moving from watching your hands and your  partner’s hands to staring straight across.  It’s easier the closer you stand.
With 3 balls, throw in a circular motion so that as partner A throws from her right hand to partner B’s left hand Partner B passes from her right hand to A’s left hand….don’t think too much it’s like partner juggling.  Then progress to moving so that one person moves backwards and the other moves forwards.
A few shooting drills: 
5 points:  Have 5 lines around cage, two at the crease, and 3 on the 8m hashes; The order of shots is as follows:  from the GK point of view, the right crease roll, the left crease roll, the left 8m hash, the right 8m hash, the center hash….repeat in series of 3 so each line goes 3 times before the GK rests.  TIPS: all shooters must run out after they shoot to avoid being hit, have the second crease roll wait until the GK is on her post, all others go at a rapid pace.
5 point Variation:  Still five lines, the right crease cuts up to receive pass from top left 8m, shoots then runs up to be fake pick for top left 8m, top left picks up ground ball and dodges pick shoots, top right passes to left crease cutter who then runs up, sets pick for top right who picks up ground ball, dodges pick shoots, center line picks ground ball, goes to goal
GK+one shooter…have the GK stand with back to shooter, yell shot and then allow her time to turn before shooting
GK+one shooter…have the GK stand on one post and imagine (they move as if it was shot) a high shot and then move to the other side (shooter stand about at the 1st inside hash) and take a low shot  FOCUS is movement across the crease and getting low on the moving low shot