Weak-foot wall passing
Transcript
In one study, weak foot training improved both feet. Here's a drill for your weaker foot. You need a solid wall, a ball, and two cones. Put the cones against the wall, two metres apart, as your target. Stand five metres from the wall. Watch. Pass it into the target with the inside of your weaker foot, and let it come back. First, hit it between the cones. Then, strike through the middle of the ball. Do a hundred passes in four sets, weaker foot only, with a minute of rest between sets. Twice a week makes two hundred, our target. Then take the free test at footballreach.com.
What it trains
Make your weaker foot usable: firm, accurate passes into a target with the foot you use least. In one study of 39 players aged 15-20, the 18 who used only their weaker leg in all their team training except full games for 8 weeks improved in tests with both legs, compared with a control group from the same team. This drill is a much smaller home dose of that idea. FIFA's technical activation circuit also asks for equal use of the left and right foot, and runs some drills the other way round to build two-footedness.
Set up
- A solid wall
- 2 cones
- 2 m target on the wall
- 5 m from the wall
How it works
- Find a solid wall with flat ground in front of it. Put 2 cones against the wall, 2 m apart (or chalk a 2 m box on the wall). That is your target.
- Stand 5 m from the wall with the ball.
- Pass the ball firmly into the target with the inside of your weaker foot. The video shows a left weaker foot. If you are left-footed, use your right.
- Let it come back, control it and pass again, weaker foot only. Count every pass.
- Do 4 sets of 25 passes with 1 minute of rest between sets (100 passes).
Coaching points
- Hit it between the cones. Aim every pass between the cones, and try to make the ball come back to the same spot every time.
- Strike through the middle. Strike through the middle of the ball with the inside of your weaker foot, firm and along the ground.
Not this
Switching to your stronger foot when the ball comes back awkwardly. Every pass in this drill is weaker foot only.
Dose
- 4 x 25 passes, 1 min rest
- 200 a week: our target
Our target: 200 weaker-foot passes and finishes a week (the Football Reach plan target, not an FA or research rule): this session twice gets you there, and weaker-foot finishes (episode 9) count too.
Harder / Easier
Harder
Pass first time as the ball comes back, still weaker foot only. Then narrow the target to 1 m.
Easier
Stand closer (3 m), pass softer, and widen the target to 3 m until most passes hit it.
Safety
- Use a solid wall with nothing breakable nearby, never a window or a neighbour's wall.
- Flat, dry ground with space around you, never a road or a driveway next to traffic.
Sources
Not sure which skill to work on first? The free Football Reach test gives you a Player Development Score and shows which of the four corners of your game to work on next, in about two minutes.
Take the free test
