Having the confidence to use either the left or right foot is not just a helpful skill for attackers to have. All over the pitch, if players can pass with their weaker foot it will help your team keep the ball. Simple short passing with the weak foot is often a route out of trouble when defenders or midfielders are under pressure and cannot get the ball away. Use this simple soccer warm-up drill to get players using both feet.
First you have to build the players’ confidence.
You need a ball each for this drill, so, depending on how many balls you have and how many players are in your squad, you may want to split them into half doing this and half doing something else – give them around 15 minutes for this.
Tell your players they are working on using both feet and when you call out an order, they use that foot. So if you call “best foot,” they dribble around using that foot.
Work your players through the following dribbling drill. The aim is to enable the players to work with both feet whilst using various parts of the foot.
1. Best foot
2. Weak foot
3. Inside and outside of best foot
4. Inside and outside of weak foot
5. Move around using only the sole of your foot to drag the ball
6. Dribble around and drop your shoulder and then take the ball in the opposite direction
Add to these drill skills by asking your players for suggestions of ways to manipulate the ball using both feet. They’ll probably surprise you with their creativity.
Click here for a drill to get strikers using either foot when they’re close to goal.