Equipment Needed
- One ball per player
- Cones for boundary
Every player needs their own ball
A multi-pack of training soccer balls means the whole group can play sharks and minnows at once.
Shop Soccer Balls on Amazon As an Amazon Associate, FreeCoachingDrills.com earns from qualifying purchases.Setup
- Mark a grid roughly 20x20 yards; one or two players are "sharks" without a ball in the middle.
- The rest of the players ("minnows") each have a ball and start on one end line.
Instructions
- On "go," minnows try to dribble across the grid to the other side without a shark kicking their ball out.
- Sharks try to poke the ball away from any minnow they can reach, without using their hands.
- Any minnow whose ball gets kicked out becomes a shark for the next round.
- Play several rounds until only a few minnows remain, then restart.
Coaching Points
- Keep the ball close — small touches are harder for sharks to poke away than big dribbles.
- Use both feet to shield the ball with the body when a shark is close.
- Praise players for using their body between the ball and the defender, not just their feet.
- Restart quickly after each round to keep energy and repetitions high.
Variation
Shrink the grid to make it harder, or give sharks a ball too so they have to dribble while defending.