Five goals, five ways

Players will develop their understanding of:

• the different techniques they can use to score
• effective communication with teammates
• healthy competition.

Want to try this with your team? Download the session plan to your device and give it a go.

Set up an area that’s appropriate for the age and ability of your players and place a goal at each end.

Separate them into two teams and play with goalkeepers. In our example, it’s 6v6, but you can adapt it to your numbers.

Then place a whiteboard and a pen at the side of the pitch.

First things first, write five different ways to score a goal down the side of the whiteboard. An example could be: left foot, right foot, header, volley, nutmeg. Then draw a line down the middle of the board to give both teams a column. This is where they can put a tick – or their names – against each finish when they score with them.

Then let them play the game.

Once a team has scored using one of the five techniques, the scorer runs off to note it down on the whiteboard. Only one goal can be ticked off at a time, though – so if a left-footed volley is scored, it doesn’t count as two of the goal types. So, in this instance, the scorer would have to choose to tick off a left foot finish or a volley.

Their aim is to work together to be the first team to score using all five finishes. If they do that, they win.

Alternatively, instead of having to tick all five methods off, you could create a points system. Allocate points to each finish and then challenge players to score as many as possible. Set a time limit, and then the team with the most points at the end wins.

This activity is a great way to help your players practice a variety of different finishing techniques. And it will also improve their teamwork and communication skills as they work together to discover ways to score each type of goal.

It’s important to think carefully about progressions. Learning doesn’t happen straight away, as players will be figuring everything out at first. Changing the game constantly can mean players miss the opportunity to learn. So, give them a chance to have a go at solving the problems they’re facing in this activity.

But, after a while, if you feel your players have cracked it or that they’re struggling, you could progress the game to alter the difficulty of the challenge.

To make the game easier, you could play without goalkeepers to increase the number of goals scored – or make the pitch a bit bigger to give players more time on the ball. You could even create zones out wide where players are allowed to cross unopposed.

To make the game more difficult, you could choose finishes that challenge your players’ technical ability even more. For example, scoring with the outside of their foot or scoring from outside the box. You could even introduce a rule that all goals have to be from a first-time finish.

Whenever you decide to progress the activity, think about using the STEP framework. And however you adapt the session, make sure you keep it fun, highly engaging and appropriate for your players.

If you use this session with your team, let us know how you get on by posting in The FA Community forums.