 For this defender specific drill, we are not going to usable. We're gonna practice closing because a skill of being a defender is the movement of being a defender. It's closing players down. So obviously you're gonna get a bit of fitness out of this, but what you really wanna do here is practice the way you close down the attacker. Okay, so first of all, if I'm closing him down, I'm not just gonna jog towards him. I wanna close that space. If he's receiving the ball, let's give him a ball. If he's receiving the ball, I wanna be on him as he receives the ball. Okay, so imagine that pass is coming. First, that pass is coming as that ball gets there. Boom, you wanna be here. Okay, so focus on closing quickly is number one. But this drill, what you're gonna do is I'm gonna close him down, close him down, and then practice kind of jockeying back into space. Go again. Close him down, jockeying, staying low, jockeying back into space, kind of trap him one way. But a couple of things to this drill. Okay, so you're gonna get a fitness. Practice closing down quickly. So one, speed of the drill, speed of the close. At this point, now I'm getting cautious. Now I'm not running in crazy. He's in my defensive third, I'm getting cautious. So close down quickly. Next is the way I want him to go, the shape of my run. If I run directly at him, set up like this, two ways for him to go, three ways for him to go. What I wanna do is think about trapping him, pushing him one way. Let's say I wanna take him to the sideline. So I'm gonna close quickly, but I'm gonna curve my run. So I know where he's going, I'm pushing him this way. So practice curving your run, then practice keeping him into that space. Good, if I wanna bring him this way, I'm gonna curve my run and back. Okay, obviously I look like an idiot, running had a dummy with no one there, but this is a very important skill of defending. If you don't know, first of all, if you don't get there in time, if you don't know how to close him, if you're not trapping him, you're making it very easy for him to attack you. So practice this skill of closing down and jockeying. I will send the better in one day soccer blueprint to anyone who comments hashtag soccer on this video. But the purpose of this drill is to replicate what happens a lot of times as a defender, cycling the ball around the back four or the back three. So ball comes from one side, let's say you're playing center back, you want to receive that ball and you wanna quickly play it to the other side. When I say quickly, I don't mean rush, I don't mean panic, but as a defender, if your job is to switch the ball, it comes from one side, you wanna switch it to the other side, you should be playing two, three touch tops most of the time. Okay, so if you are receiving the ball from that way and my body's not turned, I'm taking one touch here, maybe I'm taking another touch to set, then I'm playing that pass with the wrong foot, I'm getting myself into trouble or I'm playing here and I'm turning, I'm not opening up, I'm not keeping my body, let's say the opposite net is over there. So I play this ball, I want to keep my body this way so I can play that pass and then go again. Obviously you don't have a teammate, so just practice a fake pass, change your direction, go the other way, play with the other foot, opening up the body, play it to the other side, go again. Practice opening up the body, facing the field, the field's this way now, facing the field, switch of play, okay, and you can let that ball roll across your body or hit it with a bit more pace. Now we're playing two touch and play, okay? Switching feet and play. Now, first step of this drill is opening up the body, seeing the field, not closing yourself off when I know I want to go that way. Receiving in half turn, so I can switch the ball quickly. The other thing is the quality of your pass. As a defender, you need to be an expert passer, you can't give the ball away. Best passing or best defenders have very high passing percentage completion, okay? So when you're playing that pass, focus on the quality of the pass. Get over the ball, open your foot, strong contact, aim for a spot on the wall, hit that spot, go again, yes. Good, play. If you want to improve faster and achieve more this season, use the Soccer Success Planner. It's 100% free, players all around the world have already used it to improve. You can download it right now, there's a link in the description below. Another important skill for midfielders is long passing. And I'm actually going to show you some clips I did for a video on soccer drills for midfielders. In this row, we're going to do some long passing. And if you only have one ball, find a wall, ping it against that wall, let it bounce back to you. Go again. But if you have a few balls and you want to try hitting it into a net, just get that ball out of your feet, play a driven pass, good technique, into the net, try to hit the back of the net without the ball bouncing, okay? So, good technique, driven pass, focus on... And if you can, don't just have a dead ball, go and hit it because in a match, that's not realistic. You're either coming off a turn or dribble, getting your head up, good technique, driven pass. Let's do better than that. And maybe you missed the net, but you go again. There you go, driven pass, okay? After you play that, you can run to the other side, get your balls again. So depending on the distance, little bit of fitness, come, get it out of your feet, driven pass again. And like always, ooh, crossbar, ooh, camera. I'm always playing with both feet. So as I said, it's better for you to practice off a dribble. It's more realistic. Get that ball down, good technique. Playing with both feet, there we go, beautiful. As a defender, it's very important that you're capable and confident with your heading skills. So practicing as a defender, defender-specific skills can be tricky, but one thing you can do to practice your heading technique is use a wall, okay? So first, just practice good contact off the forehead, good contact off the forehead, direct it where you want to go. As a defender, a lot of times, maybe you're doing a defensive clearance. Okay, so you can practice going up, going high. Yeah, but this is a good way to get that technique. Can't be scared of the ball as a defender. Practice good contact off the forehead, snapping with the body. Okay, the more power you want, the more you have to generate from the hips, from the upper body, from the neck, but developing confidence with your heading skills. If you don't know about me, I used to be a huge underachiever, but through obsessive self-improvement, I found my success. Earned a college scholarship, played for my national foot-salt team, a YouTube channel with over 100 million views. I've helped players worldwide, and I'd love to help you improve faster and achieve more. From moving up divisions to making national teams, players who use the Online Soccer Academy get results. Access elite level coaching and training, become a complete player, make a difference on the field and get noticed when you play. Limited spots available, apply today, start improving tomorrow. Link in the description below.