Warm-Up: Musical Balls

Your players, each with their own ball, dribble around a large grid. They should be moving at a decent pace, avoiding each other and keeping their heads up.

The Transition Game

by Paul Cooper for It's My Game!
This is a great game for improving players' concentration and their ability to switch quickly from defence to attack. It also forces attackers to defend and defenders to attack!
Experience: Intermediate or advanced.
Set up: Mark out an area measuring 40 yards by 30 yards with normal goals at each end or on a regular small-sided soccer pitch.
Split your squad into teams of four to six players.
How to play: When a team scores, they take the ball from the goal and immediately attack the opposite goal, ie. the goal their team were defending.
This means the attackers are now in defenders' positions and defenders are in attackers' positions.
Players have to react quickly and be aware of the change in their roles.
Coaching tip: have plenty of balls in the goal or by the side to allow a quick transition.