Relay with cone slalom

A relay in which the ball goes around the slalom course with you and is handed to the next runner at the end. With a ball in your hands you can no longer steer with your arms, and that turns the slalom into an honest test of your footwork.

11 players 8 phases ± 12 min 6 cones, 1 ball per team From U13 upwards

Phase 1 of 8Two teams behind the starting line, cones on the course; the front runners have the ball

Two teams behind the starting line Equipment Ball

This animation comes straight out of the Koach app. In the app you play it at your own pace and the positions carry your players' real names.

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How the drill runs

What you are training

Warm-up relay: two teams slalom around the cones and hand the ball to the next runner.

Keeping your balance in the turn without being able to use your arms.
The handover: passing it on and joining the back of the line without the line stalling.
Holding your speed over a course with six changes of direction.

Coaching points

Ball in two hands in front of your chest.

A ball under one arm makes the player run lopsided and makes the slalom one-sided. Two hands force an upright trunk, and then the legs have to do the work.

The receiver waits with his hands out in front.

A handover is a contact that can go wrong. Hands first and only then the ball is the same order as when you take a pass.

Turn tight around the cone, even if it costs you a bit of speed.

Running wide gives you a better time but trains nothing. Agree that a knocked-over or missed cone makes the lap invalid, and it sorts itself out.

Let the team decide the running order themselves.

Who starts and who anchors says something about the pecking order in your team. It costs you nothing to let them sort it out, and in thirty seconds you see who takes charge.

Variations

Easier: Carry the ball under one arm and put fewer cones on the course.
Harder: Set the ball to yourself three times along the way and catch it again, or bounce it once around every cone.
With six players: Two teams of three on a shorter course, with everybody running twice.
As a game: Three rounds, with every knocked-over cone and every dropped ball adding three seconds to the final time.

Volleyball drills

4 players · 6 phases SafeVolley base round Warm-up 3 players · 5 phases Shoulder activation with band Warm-up 2 players · 6 phases Dynamic movement patterns Warm-up 5 players · 5 phases Core plank with rotation Warm-up

Read on in the knowledge base: how a youth practice is built up · which ball suits which age · planning a practice in three steps