Coaching tools › Activities › Dribbling and 1v1

1v1 to Cones

By Gabe Ramos · U.S. Soccer Coach Educator · Updated October 2026

Pairs face each other across a line neither can cross, a cone at each end. The attacker scores by stopping the ball next to either cone and the defender blocks with a foot in front of it. Fake one way, go the other.

Setup

Pairs face each other across a line neither can cross, a cone at each end. The attacker scores by stopping the ball next to either cone; the defender blocks with a foot in front of it. Lose control and swap roles.

Make it easier or harder

• Harder: Move the two cones closer together.

Coach’s notes

• If It's Chaos: Pairs drifting together? Give each pair its own lane.
• Rotate: 90-second games, then find a new partner.

Why it works

A first-grader learning a move needs a defender who cannot tackle. The line between the pair does that, so the attacker can practice making the defender move first, fifty times, without ever losing the ball to a lunge.

Ninety-second games and a new partner each time. The variety of defenders is where the move gets tested.

Where it sits

This activity is from 1st Grade · Week 2 · 1v1 Moves in the Full Season Intramural Curriculum for Pre-K to 2nd grade. Every session in the book has the same shape: arrival play, Soccer Island, two or three activities and the game, with two coaching points a day, an easier and a harder version of everything, and a fix for when it turns to chaos.

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