Coaching tools › Activities › Dribbling and 1v1

Free activity · Intramural curriculum, ages 4–8

See Ya Later, Coach!

Players dribble at you, drag the ball back with the sole just before they reach you, shout “See ya later, Coach!” and speed away into space. Points for every good one. The drag back, taught as a joke.

FormatEveryone v the coach
Players6–10
Area25 × 30 yd grid
Minutes8
Watch it runKindergarten · Week 1 · Soccer Island · 26 seconds, silent

Setup

Players dribble at you. Just before they reach you they drag the ball back with the sole, shout “See ya later, Coach!” and speed away into space. Points for every good one.

Coaching points
  1. Head up.
  2. Keep the ball close.
Say this“Sneak up on me… pull it back… and see ya later!”

Make it easier or harder

  • Easier: Stop the ball with your sole, turn, go.
  • Harder: Coach pokes a foot out to steal the ball.

Coach’s notes

  • If It's Chaos: Crashing into you? Add a parent as a second coach; demo it in slow motion.

Why it works

The drag back is the first real move in the program, and five-year-olds learn it faster when it has a punchline. The shout is the timing cue: pull it back, say the line, go.

Once they have it, poke a foot out to steal the ball. Now the move has to be done at the right moment, not just done.

Where it sits

This activity is from Kindergarten · Week 1 · Soccer Island 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.

Run it inside the free U6 practice plan ›

Four grades, eight weeks each, every activity on video

The Full Season Intramural Curriculum covers Pre-K, Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade: one page per session, nothing to memorize, built so a professional trainer and a parent who volunteered last week run the same quality session. 112 animated videos included.

$150Buy the curriculumSee what’s inside ›52-page PDF + 112 MP4 videos · instant download