 focusing on improving shooting. Specifically we're taking a look at one time shooting or shooting the ball without taking a touch. This situation will happen many times during the game and it's important that your child is confident enough to shoot the ball without taking a first touch. So here we'll play a small rolling pass towards your child. They'll strike the ball, quickly grab the ball and play it back so they can strike the ball with another foot. Here I've placed a cone that he has to track back to between each shot. This will encourage him to run towards the ball, working on also his footwork as well as his shooting technique. Now if you're not comfortable playing small passes you can simply pick the ball out of the net and roll it back to your child. Be sure to give them a nice rolling pass that they can hit. If the pass is struck too hard it's going to be difficult for them to hit the one-time shot. Encourage them to get their body over the ball, flex their foot and keep a tight angle drill that you can practice with your child is what's referred to as layoff shooting. So here we're playing a passing combination before shot is played. Now as you can see I've laid out a cone a further distance from the net. Here he's going to quickly get on the ball, turn, play a firm pass, I'll lay it off to him and you'll take a shot on that. Now this drill like every drill should be performed with both feet. If you have enough balls you can rotate feet every time where you can work on the left side and then move to the right side. A couple keys to focus on here. When he gets on the ball turn quickly, play a firm pass, attack the ball and focus on proper shooting technique. Body over the ball, flexed foot and ankle, toes pointing towards the ground, follow through towards your target. Final shooting drill we're focusing on quick reactions and instinctive finishing. As you can see I've placed a cone about 15 yards away from the net. Now the player will start on the cone. Notice he's not standing still, he's on his toes, he's quick, he's ready to react. As soon as the ball is rolled to the side he'll quickly turn, get his head up, find the goal and take a strong shot on net. Now you can perform about four or five repetitions to the right side and then work on the left side or the weaker side. It's very important like every drill we've talked about that your child focuses on improving both feet, especially the weaker foot. In order to become better your child simply needs to practice more repetitions. You can give them advice by looking at their stronger foot, seeing what they do well and comparing it to their weaker foot. What is the difference? What do they need to change? Now they're only going to get better if they practice so the key to improvement is repetition. Focus on good shooting technique, body over the ball, laces down, strong ankle, striking through the ball. As you can see I have two cones set up on each side. We will play one touch passes between the cones until I say go. When I say go he'll get to the other side as quickly as possible focusing on sprinting with the ball. He'll play one touch passes again. When I say go, sprint to the other side, keep possession of the ball, turn quickly and play one touch passes. If you're not comfortable playing one touch passes again you can simply roll the ball back to your child with your hands. A couple keys to focus on here. One touch passing should be accurate. It should reach the player's feet every time. When dribbling taking that first touch after I say go you want to take a bigger first touch. Now when we talked about dribbling how to dribble effectively we focus on taking little close touches, quick touches. This is important when there's other players around you want to keep possession but when there is space you want to take a bigger first touch. Why? Because it's easier to run faster with the ball. So when I say go take a big first touch out of his feet, sprint with that ball as quickly as you can. When it's time to slow down that's when you'll take those smaller touches to keep possession of the ball. The purpose of this drill is dribbling with speed, improving passing. Now when you're performing these drills with your child if you're not comfortable with your passing skills you can simply pick up the ball and roll it back to your child. Here we're playing two touch. Receiving with the right foot passing with the right foot. You want to get a first touch out of your feet and step into the pass with good technique. Remember body over the ball, my foot is square to the ball or square to my target and I'm stepping through following towards my target. Next play with the other foot. One touch to receive, one touch to pass. The keys here are to play quickly. You want to receive, get the ball out of her feet and quickly step into the pass. The quicker we can play two touch soccer the more effective we'll be on the field. Finally playing with both feet. If I receive with my right foot I will pass with my left foot. If I receive with my left I will pass with my right. Passing is one of the most important skills in soccer and one that your child should definitely work to master a little bit more each day. It may not be the most enjoyable for them but it is definitely one of the most important skills they must practice. This partner drill your child can practice their soccer moves and beating a player. Now as I talked about in the video on how to beat a player at this point we don't want them to focus on fancy skills and tricks. What we want them to focus on is beating players with simple and effective moves. Cuts to either the right or the left cutting to the inside or cutting to the outside. Now here we're practicing with passive defense and what that means is you're not actually tackling your child. You're simply letting them beat you, coming at you, get away from you and let them dribble past the line. Now once they become comfortable with these moves dribbling at the player cutting away from them and putting on a quick acceleration or change of speed then you can start putting on more pressure or less of a passive defense and eventually you can start tackling them. Now as you can see I have a line on each side or two cones on each side. Their objective is to get to that end line. Eventually you can defend them and not let them pass. They'll have to use their creative skills, changes of speed, changes of direction to get past you successfully. Here is another partner drill that you can practice with your child to improve their dribbling and turning skills. So to start there are two cones about 10 yards apart and the player will dribble at the partner in this case you make a quick turn go back to their starting cone turn and play a pass. Wait on the cone and start again. Now you can play a pass back if you are not comfortable with your passing skills you can simply pick up the ball and roll it back to your child. So to start they practice the inside cut. Next they can practice the outside cut dribbling at the defender make a quick turn go back to their cone turn again and play a pass. Now as you can see all of these drills or all of these turns are done with both feet it's extremely important that you get your child to practice with both feet especially at this young age it will serve them very well in the future. The final turn we want them to try is a roll back so they'll put their foot on the ball roll back go in the other direction roll back play a pass wait on the cone and perform with the other foot. Now as they're doing these drills you can do what we call passive defense so as they come to you to make the turn give them a little bit of pressure force them to make a mistake or make them nervous on the ball. Now you're not actually tackling them but just being there will cause them to hesitate in some situations and even make mistakes. In this video we're focusing on ball control. This is another partner exercise that you can try with your child. So you'll throw the ball up in the air and he will receive the ball with different parts of his body bring it down to the ground quickly and play a pass along the ground. To start we're using the foot or specifically the toe. Now you want to focus on absorbing the ball bringing it down to the ground rather than kicking through the ball and making a big bounce. We want to get the ball on the ground quickly so we can play right away. Next you can try with the thigh. So similar to the foot we want to absorb the ball rather than having a big bounce. Now you will have more success using the thigh as opposed to the knee. So try using the thigh bringing the ball down to the ground quickly and playing a smooth pass. Next you can try the chest. The biggest thing with the chest is that the player is not scared of the ball. They're opening their chest and they're coming to the ball. They are attacking the ball rather than being shy and turning away from the ball. Finally you can try with the head. This is an unorthodox technique but it's a good skill to learn. So instead of playing a header through the ball we're absorbing the ball putting it down to the ground and playing a pass.