Passing the Soccer Ball - Make a Contract

Passing the soccer ball effectively requires that you have a plan before you get the ball. While the technical skills to receive and pass the ball are certainly prerequisites, teaching the girls to stop ball watching and start thinking isn't easy. I tried out a new idea and it looked like it was working.

I first explained to the girls what a contract was - in our case, an agreement between players to pass and receive the ball. Each player needed to first get a contract from a teammate to pass the ball to them. Next to get a contract with a different player to whom they would pass the ball. That doesn't sound very simple, does it. A simple means of communicating this contract is the key.

Here's what we did:

• If you don't have a contract, raise your hand.
• A player who has a contract to receive the ball looks for a player with their hand in the air and points to that player. If a player points at you, you have your first contract.
• Now you lower your hand and point to another player that needs a contract. When that deal is done, you're ready to receive the ball.

In essence what happens is you "pass the point". The players will be pointed at and then do the pointing all before the ball arrives. Now you have player anticipating the action, watching off the ball movement, and ready to move the ball quickly to another player after receiving it. After the pass is made, she raises her hand again and tries to get a new contract.

This gets them thinking the right way, then you make sure they're moving to get open so the first pass is an easy one for their teammate. Just standing with your hand in the air is not the idea.

We'll keep working on this and see if it translates to the game.