Making Footwork Fun
Say "no, to core chores" and "yes, to fun fundamentals"!
"Oh no, not ladders again." You may have heard this from your players, but you don't need to let essential core skills appear boring. Instead, here are some interesting ways to make footwork drills fun.
Sell the benefits of fast feet
Coaches can sometimes be accused of "telling" the players what is best for them. Use the examples of Joe Worsley or Steve Thompson to show what fast feet can achieve.
4 Ways to make fast feet fun
1. Obstacles: Use cones, tackle bags, flag poles, players bodies, tracksuits, balls and the like. Put them all on the ground as alternatives to specialist ladders. Make the players move through these obstacles, making sure they do not step on any.
2. Fast feet adventure courses: Set up courses which require lots of different footwork skills. Each player can be timed over the course, with seconds added for failure to complete a section correctly. For instance station one could be jumping back and forward over a tackle bag six times, followed by a zig zag through cones, then running backwards through some poles.
3. Dance moves: We can learn a lot about footwork by trying to copy some of the steps used by dancers. Ballet leaps, break-dancing, Cossack leaps, two players performing the quick step and many more could be employed.
A session with a professionally trained dancer might be an excellent, if unusual, alternative to a normal practice.
4. Slow, fast, slow: Sometimes footwork can become repetitive, without challenging the player. Change the rhythm of the footwork session by changing the pace of the activity.
A ball handling exercise can be enhanced by players performing with high knees, followed by tip toes, then heel flicks.
Footwork game
Split your players into three named teams, such as Sharks, Warriors and Lions. Put them in a grid. The size of this depends on the number of players, but leave enough room to at least jog comfortably.
Have the players run around passing a ball amongst their team mates. This helps improve avoidance skills. Ask them to move in different directions or ways, e.g. backwards, sideways, hopping on one foot. Carry on until the players have become accustomed to moving into empty spaces.
Shout a team name. That team needs to put their chests on the ground and then get to their feet as quickly as possible. In the meantime, the other players need to keep moving, whilst avoiding the players on the ground. Repeat this randomly for each team a number of times.
Finally, though you can easily develop further actions, shout out a team name twice. These players must remain with their chests on the ground for a count of ten before getting back to their feet. In this time the other teams must increase their speed of movement, again avoiding stepping on the players on the ground.