Four ways to score
Transcript
Four goals, four different finishes. Here's the game. Warm up first. You need a goal, a friend in goal, a partner and six balls. Start on the penalty spot. Watch. Score once with your left foot. Once with your right. A volley from a gentle throw, below the waist. And through the keeper's legs. First, pick your finish before the ball arrives. Then, hit the target first. Take turns. First to all four wins. Keepers, stay on your feet. Three games of five minutes, two minutes rest. That's our target. After any knock to the head, if in doubt, sit them out. Then take the free test at footballreach.com.
What it trains
A finishing game that makes you use every finish: one goal with your left foot, one with your right, one volley and one through the keeper's legs. Adapted from England Football's 'Five goals, five ways' session, with its headed goal removed.
Set up
- An anchored goal
- A friend in goal
- A partner, 6 balls
- From the penalty spot
How it works
- Warm up first. Use an anchored goal with a friend in goal. Start on the penalty spot (11 m out) with a size 5 ball.
- Take turns with your partner. On each go, pick a finish you still need: left foot, right foot, a volley, or through the keeper's legs (a nutmeg).
- For the volley, your partner stands 3 to 4 m to your side, a little in front, and throws gently underarm so the ball drops below your waist. Never throw at head height.
- Each goal ticks off one finish only: a left-foot volley counts as one or the other, not both. The keeper rolls the ball back out after each goal.
- The first to score all four ways wins. Start again in a new order. Play 3 games of 5 minutes, resting 2 minutes between (our target).
Coaching points
- Pick your finish early. Look at the keeper and the space, and decide which finish you still need before the ball reaches you, so your body is set for it. This is a coaching cue, not a research finding.
- Hit the target first. Accuracy before power: a shot on target can still go in, a miss never does. England Football notes that the side-foot gives up power for accuracy, and that a powerful laces strike may not be accurate.
Not this
Blasting every shot as hard as you can. Power without aim misses the target, and leaning back on a volley sends it over the bar.
Dose
- 3 games of 5 min
- 2 min rest between
Our target: 3 games of 5 minutes with 2 minutes of rest between (the Football Reach target, not an FA rule).
Harder / Easier
Harder
Play it as a small game, 3v3 plus a keeper (the age ladder's main version): your team must tick off all four, and passes stay on the ground. Then add a fifth way: a first-time finish from a cut-back along the ground.
Easier
Move closer to goal and let the keeper stay on their line until you shoot. For the volley, start with a half-volley: strike it just as it bounces.
Safety
- Warm up first. Flat grass with nobody behind the goal: never a road, a window or a neighbour's wall.
- Only use a goal that is anchored to the ground or has a weighted back bar, and never climb or swing on it.
- Foot finishes only: the FA session counts a headed goal, and we have removed it. Throws stay gentle, underarm and below the waist, never near anyone's face.
- Keepers stay on their feet: no diving at feet and no diving on hard ground. In the small game nobody slides in.
- If in doubt, sit them out: anyone with a suspected concussion stops straight away, does no training for at least 24 hours and plays no matches for at least 21 days (UK concussion guidelines).
Sources
- England Football Learning - finishing session: five goals, five ways (opens in a new tab)
- England Football Learning - different finishing techniques (opens in a new tab)
- England Football Learning - how to coach shooting (opens in a new tab)
- England Football - guidance by age, which is why this game has no headed goal (opens in a new tab)
- The FA - goalpost safety (opens in a new tab)
- England Football - UK concussion guidelines for grassroots sport (opens in a new tab)
Not sure which skill to work on first? The free Football Reach test gives you a Player Development Score and shows which of the four corners of your game to work on next, in about two minutes.
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