Heading.

On offense and when in front of goal you should try to head the ball down and into the corners. It is more difficult for the goalkeeper to read and judge a ball that bounces towards the goal.

On defense you should head the ball up as to give our teammates more time to read the play and get into position to defend. If you head the ball down you could mistakenly head the ball directly to an opponent who might get a shot off.

Also, keep your elbows up when going up in the air to protect yourself and dissuade others in trying to go up and win the header.

Patterns.

You can set up a number of game like patterns for your team to run through during practice. For example you could have the defender positioned on the right or left and play a forty yard ball towards the top of the box where a forward is checking back to receive the ball (this can just be a five to ten yard run - first dragging the defender towards the goal and away from where he wants to receive the ball - creating the space he wants to check into) and then this forward lays the ball back to a center midfielder who then plays the ball down the line to the defender who has made a run and crosses the ball into the box.  The midfielder and forward make near and far post runs and the defender picks one of them out with the cross.

You can then have each of these players rotate into the next position - the forward coming back to act as the defender and serve the ball into the midfielder and the defender exchanging places with the midfielder and so on.

Also, you can then develop and create your own patterns: the defender playing the ball into the midfielder who plays it back to him and then serves the ball into the forward laying it back to the midfielder who plays the defender in who crosses the ball. You can add more players and layout more patterns before a cross or a shot is taken on goal; have a player overlap the defender and serve the ball in for a cross; have the midfield begin the play with a pass to the defender who then plays it to the forward and back to the midfielder for the ball. The key is making all of the passes one or two touch and hit with pace - setting it up so every player and position gets a touch on the ball before a shot or cross is taken.  You can even start out walking through these patterns and then build up speed as the angles of the passes and the runs become sharp.

All the players should try to check back to the ball as if they had a defender on them and make sharp angled runs to the ball. These runs don't have to be long - even just five or ten yards. The overall idea is to concentrate and make these patterns game like situations, turning them into exact set plays to an extent, to the point that your team could run through them in their sleep.

More Drills.

A good warm up and also good to do once a week:  in pairs go about five yards a way from one and another and one player tosses the ball in the air to his or her teammates right and left inside of the foot, top of the foot, thigh, chest, head. Going through the cycle about ten times each.

Keep away in a tight square - starting out without restrictions and then go to two touch and one touch and towards the end make it a competition where the team who completes ten passes first wins.

Follow your pass (Groups of three). This is a good warm up drill as well as good for improving and maintaining your technique. Remember, always play crisp and sharp passes. You can set this up in various distances to work on both short and long passes.  First off, you can get ten to twenty yards apart and simply pass the ball to your teammate who then passes the ball to the next player in a rotation; and you get a good warm up by following your pass and getting prepared to receive the next pass. You can start out doing this drill in two touches and then move on to one touch. You can also have the player who is playing the ball close down the player who is receiving the pass and act like a defender - forcing the player to go one direction.

Next you can spread out to thirty or forty yards a way and play the ball in the air - trying to maintain the rotation and sharpness of the drill with two touch play and driving the ball into your teammates. A lofted pass is easy for the defense to intercept and close down.

It is a good idea to finish a day of practice with some crossing and finishing; having your defenders and midfielders serve the ball into the forwards who make near and far post runs.  Have a teammate play the ball into the players crossing the ball - either a crisp pace into their feet or play a ball ahead of them, when doing a crossing drill or any drill try not to hit a ball that is just sitting still - it is not a game like situation.

Plyometrics.

This is great for maintaining strength and preventing injuries. Simply start out jumping over a soccer ball to the right and left twenty times and then forward and backwards over the ball twenty times. Next you can do this on one foot, first jumping with the right foot over the ball and then switch to the left - doing forward and backwards and then to the right and left.

Shooting drill.

Simply have a forward post up on the top of the box and for a line near the half-line of shooters who play the ball into the forward who lays the ball off the right or left for his teammates to take a shot on goal.
 

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