21 Passing/Receiving Activities for Reinforcing Effective Ball Movement & Off-Ball Movement Skills

with Marcus Wood,
Hardin-Simmons University Head Women's Soccer Coach;
2010 NCAA D-III National Champions; 2010 NSCA National Coach of the Year;
2017 NCAA D-III Final Four appearance; over 330 career wins;
led Hardin-Simmons to 15 straight American Southwest Conference titles (16 overall)

Ball movement, and off-ball movement, is a foundation of a successful possession game. In this video, 2010 NCAA D-III National Champion and NSCA National Coach of the Year head coach Marcus Wood walks through 21 of his most-used passing and receiving activities that will help your team automate the technique. Coach Wood uses passing patterns to raise the technical abilities of his players so when game situations occur, they are prepared to play at a high level.

Practice Organization

Coach Wood begins by explaining how to organize practices so they run smoothly from exercise to exercise. His style of practice plan is also great for players because they will easily understand what the main point of practice is on a given day. Wood shows how to pick key points for players to focus on during practice so they can maximize their improvement.

Technical Drills

Through a series of 15 passing and receiving activities without pressure, your athletes will learn to automate the technique of passing and receiving with game-like movements. You'll see how to read and execute a proper pass for players "showing" or making a stretch run. Additionally, Coach Wood's instruction will help your team keep shape and maximize available passing lanes as they possess with a purpose.

Wood uses each drill to help his team with tempo of play. He stresses the importance of moving the ball as fast as possible so that when it becomes game time, the practice is harder than the game itself. You'll see Wood use many variations of pattern play to mimic different game-like situations. Once they've practiced the patterns enough, your players won't have to think anymore - they'll just be able to naturally run through the patterns during competition. Wood shows different play combinations your athletes can use to get out of a bad situation or to score.

The highlight drill of this video is the Jeff Tipping drill. This drill will teach your forwards how to make runs by using timing and space to get behind defenders and shoot. Midfielders must learn how to put the right touch on their service so forwards can easily collect the ball and shoot.

Coach Wood's practice planning techniques and drills are excellent and are sure to boost your team's passing and receiving abilities. This video solves the problem of figuring out which passing drills or games to run in practice and will provide you with a foundation of exercises you can use going forward.

183 minutes. 2018.