Soccer is a passion of mine.  I enjoy teaching, coaching, playing, as well as having my USSF referee certification.  Its funny to think that we invented a sport in the states and gave it the same name that the rest of the world had already been using.  Best of all, American Football focuses very little on your feet!  So confusing! Regardless of what you call it, enjoy these five activities!

 

1. Soccer Red Light, Green Light

• This game is played the same as usual, except every student has a ball. They must keep it close so that they can stop quickly when “Red Light” is called. Any student that makes a mistake must go back to the start. For suggested cues for dribbling click here.

 

2. Target Practice

• Have students find a partner. Each pair should place a ball on a cone (a soccer ball sits nicely on a disc cone or a tennis ball works for a taller cone). One partner tries to knock the ball off the cone using good passing. The other partner replaces ball (if necessary) and returns the soccer ball to the passer. Switch after 5 attempts. For suggested cues for passing click here.

 

3. Shark Attack

• Make a boundary that is large enough for all students to dribble around inside comfortably (about 25×25 paces for a class of 20). Select 3 students to be the sharks and have them stand by you or inside of a hula hoop (shark cage). All of the other students are the fish dribbling around the ocean. After the fish dribble in the boundary for a few seconds, yell “shark attack.” At this point the sharks enter the boundary (with no ball) and attempt to kick the balls of the other students out of the boundary. If their ball leaves the ocean (i.e. boundary) then they have to do something to get it back. For older students have them do 10 toe touches on the ball and for younger students have them do 5 jumping jacks.

 

4. Soccer Tag

• Everyone has a ball. Give 3 students a small pool noodle to identify them as the taggers. When tagged, tell students to hold the ball over their head and make a tunnel with their legs. To be freed someone most dribble and pass their ball through the tunnel.

 

5. Soccer Solution

• This activity will allow you to integrate any academic subject that you wish to reinforce. Label cones in the playing area with the answers for the questions you plan to ask.
• Examples: Numbers for Math; Vocabulary words for ELA; States/continents for social studies; Food groups for Health/Nutrition
• All players have a ball and dribble inside of the playing area. The teacher shouts a question (e.g. “What is 9-5?” or “On what continent can you find Spain?”). Students would have to dribble to the cone with the correct answer (“4” for the first example or “Europe” for the second).