A football coach without any cones is like a fish without water! Cones are an essential piece of training equipment, and you can do hundreds of footballing drills using them.
From fitness and agility exercises to drills that work on a player's control or dribbling, there are so many different types of training that you can do using football cones.
This guide looks at the best cone drills coaches can add to their training sessions. These can be done individually or as a team.
- Shuttle runs
- Ladder drills
- Dribbling drills
- Ball passing drills
- Shooting drills using cones
Shuttle runs
Shuttle runs are a common drill included in training, and they are great for working on players' fitness.
This exercise involves players having to run back and forth between cones in a set time, which helps improve their acceleration, deceleration, and change of direction.
Shuttle runs have many benefits as they help to build explosive power, agility, and endurance. Coaches will often change the intensity of shuttle runs depending on the team's current level of fitness. For example, in pre-season training, you might practice it for a few weeks before moving on to a higher intensity or a more advanced drill.
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Ladder drills
Having quick footwork is a vital element in football, and whilst you can improve this with a speed and agility ladder, you can use football cones instead.
Coaches can set up the cones in a ladder-like pattern, and this will help a player develop more nimble feet and that turn of pace to help them evade an opponent. An exercise such as this will also help players work on their acceleration, movement, and balance.
A benefit of using cones over an agility ladder is that you can easily move the cones to create a lengthier workout or adjust the distance of each step to work on specific techniques and increase the difficulty level of the drill.
Dribbling drills
One of the best football cone drills coaches can plan into their training schedule is dribbling exercises.
One of the most commonly practised cone drills is the straight-line cone weave. This exercise sees cones laid out in a straight line, and the player has to slalom between the cones, taking as few touches of the ball as possible. Depending on the ability of the players you are coaching, you can spread the cones out further apart or put them closer together.
This exercise will teach players to dribble with both feet and improve their agility and ball control.
If you want to include game-specific drills that work on dribbling, you can use cones to simulate defending players. A common exercise is for players to dribble past the cones, acting as defenders, and then cross a ball into the box or pass a ball to a teammate.
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Ball passing drills
Using cones is a great way to work on passing as well, and there are plenty of exercises that coaches can include in their training.
The ‘pass and move’ is a popular drill that works on passing and uses four football cones. A player stands behind two cones, and their teammate stands opposite to them behind two cones. This exercise sees players take the ball wide of one of the cones and then try and score a goal by passing the ball through the two cones of the other player who, on receiving the ball, takes it wide of their cones to pass the ball back through their teammate's cone. The players can keep score and turn it into a competition to see whose passing is the most accurate.
There are other exercises that involve turning and passing, and Sport Plan, a website that shares coaching tips and recommendations, talks about this exercise:
“Set out the two goals behind which each team stands. One player from one group goes to the centre square of cones to receive the ball from the other side. They receive the ball, turn and pass the ball through the gate to their partner to score a point.
“Then the player from the other team runs into the centre square to receive the ball and turns to pass the ball through the gate to their partner.”
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Shooting drills using cones
One of the most widely used drills for shooting includes an exercise that we have already featured in the guide. Coaches can set up the straight-line cone weave and get a player to dribble in between the cones, and at the end of that, the player must shoot at a goal. You can initially use a football target net or a Corner Shot net, and then to develop the exercise, you can put a goalkeeper in a goal and get the outfield players to shoot against them.
The four-cone shooting drill is another popular exercise that coaches regularly use. To set up this exercise, you create a rectangle using four cones located just outside the box, with dimensions of approximately 5 x 10 meters.
You then assign one player to each cone, and any additional players should form a line behind the two cones farthest from the goal. Players then perform a basic one-two pass with the player ahead of them. The player who first gets the pass then passes the ball to the shooter, who takes a shot. After the shot, the players rotate positions.
Onside Training spoke about the benefits of this exercise: “The 4 Cone Shooting Drill is a straightforward yet effective way to practice shooting while integrating various passing combinations. In addition to developing shooting skills, players also enhance their passing, one-two passing combinations, and third-man passing. This drill contributes to a better understanding of the game and aids players in improving their performance during attacking phases.”
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Cone drills for football training
By incorporating these cone drills into your football training, you can help players improve their agility, quickness, dribbling, passing and shooting.
Here at Diamond Football, we offer a wide range of products and football training equipment, so you can find whatever you need to help you with your training sessions.
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