10 Soccer Practice Drills to Prep for Spring Tryouts

Hey everyone! Coach Mike here with Blayze Soccer bringing you a list of the 10 best individual drills to work on at home for your upcoming spring tryouts.

These are the five fundamental technical abilities for defenders, midfielders, and forwards broken into five focus areas with two drills each. If a player can build these skills in their individual training, they will be well-prepared for their upcoming tryouts.

All of these drills can be performed with a ball, a few cones, and a flat surface to pass the ball off on. If you have a goal to shoot on, great! If not, find creative ways to make a shooting target.

For more drills, our coaches can also help you put together weekly personalized training plans tailored to your specific needs. Check out Blayze for more details!

Let’s get to it!

Improve your right and left-footed instep passing technique with this simple one-touch passing drill. Focus on locking your ankle, staying on your toes, and alternating feet while continuously passing the ball off the wall.

Increase your passing and receiving abilities with both feet while also increasing your speed of play. Focus on locking your ankle to pass the ball, staying on your toes, and using the inside of your foot to steer your first touch across your body before passing off the wall again.

Develop your ability to collect/receive a ball while moving or on the run into space. Focus on the weight of your pass and the timing of your movement to receive the ball in between the cones, collect the ball and dribble with speed back to the start.

Enhance your timing and ability to receive and shoot a ball while moving into the open space. Focus on the weight of your pass and the timing of your movement to meet the ball around the cone. Lock your ankle and deliver a pass or shot to the far side of the goal.

Improve your dribbling and ball control ability with both feet. Focus on keeping the ball and your body tight around the cones, transitioning the ball to the opposite foot at the cone, and dribbling with speed to the next cone.

Develop your dribbling and ball control abilities in really tight spaces with this drill. Focus on keeping the ball close to your body with little touches, tight turns around the cones, and keeping your eyes up in front of you to scan the field.

Perfect your ability to strike a clean volley with your laces. Focus on keeping your eyes on the ball all the way to your foot, locking your ankle, and keeping your body and eyes down over the ball while striking. Try to hit the back of the net in the air each time.

Enhance your ability to add curve your shots making it harder for the goalie to read and save. Focus on getting your plant foot close to the ball. Use your instep striking technique and rotate your hips and foot towards where you want the ball to curve. Aim for the back post of the goal in the air. Repeat using both feet on both sides of the goal.

Making a good first touch is important in soccer. Focus on following the ball with your eyes all the way to your foot, getting your foot over the ball to push it into the ground, and aiming your foot to take a touch in the direction that you want. Control the ball while dribbling around the cone you took your first touch towards and return to the middle.

Work on controlling the ball in the air with both feet. Focus on moving your feet at all times, locking your ankle, and pointing your toes toward your face to pop the ball up with a little bit of backspin. Take two touches with the right foot before letting the ball bounce and switching to the left foot. Try to keep the ball inside the square at all times.

We’ve also gone ahead and put together a free athletic development planner to track and plan your progress week by week. Click here to read more about it!

Blayze professional coaches know what it is like to work hard to achieve their dreams. They help youth athletes identify areas of improvement and develop a realistic plan on how to accomplish goals. Our athletes are learning more than skill development. They are learning life lessons of perseverance, overcoming hurdles, and the responsibility of managing their success.

Blayze coaches are current professional athletes. They know what the best in the world do because they are the best in the world.

Through training or game film analysis, our coaches can hone your gameplay skills. They customize coaching that drives performance where you need it most, in games.

With weekly custom training plans, Blayze coaches give you the individual drills you need to improve the skills you’re working on. These are drills that the pro players do themselves in and out of the season.

Through chat messages + live calls, your coach is there to support you through every moment.

All of this is available through our Blayze program. Tap here to select your dedicated private pro coach at Blayze for one month for just $29!