Keep Ball Drills for Improving Possession

World-class soccer coach Bobby Clark shows you how to improve your team's possession time. With more time on the ball, your team creates more opportunities in the attack, and reduces opportunities for your opponent. Coach Clark diagrams drills on the whiteboard before demonstrating them on the field, providing a better learning experience for both coaches and athletes.

Keep Ball Transition Grid
These grid drills, which work on possessing in transition, start as a 3v1 and progress to 7v5. They can be used as warm-ups to get players working on quick one- and two-touch passing. Players learn how to support their teammates, and create angles to help them pass out of pressure. The importance of playing a soft pass to draw the defender and then a firm pass to split the defense or to get around them quickly is also discussed.

The "10v6 + 4 Drill" emphasizes seeing the whole field and looking for the open man both near and far. The defenders try to force the turnover by reading and stepping to the offense before a pass is made.

Barcelona Keep Drills
A great first touch creates space and time to decide the best option going forward. Coach Clark demonstrates his adaptations of two drills from one of the world's top club teams, FC Barcelona. These challenging drills will teach players how to maintain possession with limited touches.

Similar to the Barcelona Keep Drill, the Bigger Barcelona Drill focuses on spacing players to make it tougher for the defense to get the ball. This is a great game-like drill that gives options for getting past the defense by working around the opponent, going through the opponent or over the top of the opponent.

Increase possession time with these exceptional keep ball drills. Possess with a purpose and become a team that plays quicker than opponents both on and off the ball.

75 minutes. 2014.