Defensive Soccer Drills for Kids

Young soccer players may be more interested in playing offensive positions because the team members who score the goals garner the most praise from parents and other players, but good coaches know that it is actually the defensive players who win games. Develop your players' interest in defensive play by putting your team through fun and challenging drills.

  1. Turnovers

    • This is a simple defensive drill in which four defensive players and a goalkeeper are challenged by three offensive players. Restrict your players to half a soccer field. Place the goalkeeper in the goal as you would for a normal game, but create two smaller goals, approximately three feet wide, in the middle of the left and right sides of the field. The offensive players start with the ball, and their objective is to score in the central goal. The defenders must gain possession of the ball and score in one of the two small goals at the sides. This drill will teach your defensive players not only to gain possession of the ball, but to quickly organize counter attacks.

    Two Against One

    • This drill pits a single defensive player against a pair of offensive players. Have the defensive player kick the ball out to the two offensive players. The objective of the two offensive players is to keep the ball away from the defensive player, while the objective of the defensive player is to regain control of the ball. Set a time limit upon the drill appropriate for the age of your players (younger players have shorter attention spans), and end the game when either the defensive player steals the ball, or the two offensive players still control it after this set time. This drill will teach your defensive players how to steal passes, and will teach your offensive players to work together to a common goal.

    Triangle Game

    • Divide your players into two teams and appoint a goalie for each team. Restricting the players to half of a soccer field, create one triangle shaped goal marked by cones in the middle of the half field and place both goalies inside of the goal. Line each team up at opposite ends of the half field and give each team one ball. When you blow your whistle, the objective of each team is to score on the triangle goal from any side. The teams can steal the balls from each other, so that at any point one team could be in control of both balls. If a goalkeeper catches a ball, his or her team must take the ball back to their starting point before attacking again. This drill will teach both your offensive and defensive players to be more alert of other players because there are two balls at play at any time.