Coaching tools › Activities › Possession and passing

Shoulder-Check Lines

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

Threes in a line, ten yards apart. The end player holds up fingers, the middle player checks a shoulder, calls the number, receives on the back foot, turns and plays the other way. Look, call, then touch.

Setup

Threes in a line, 10 yards apart: A, B in the middle, C. C holds up one to five fingers. B checks over a shoulder, calls the number, receives from A on the back foot, turns and plays C. Then back the other way. Change the middle player every minute.

Make it easier or harder

• Easier: B may take extra touches.
• Harder: C sometimes shows a fist. A fist means a defender is on you: bounce it back to A.

Coach’s notes

• If It Stalls: Calling after the touch? Slow the pass down so there is time to look.

Why it works

Receiving on the half-turn is the skill that separates a midfielder from a player who stands in midfield. This drill isolates it: the look, the call, the back-foot touch, the turn, in that order, ten times a minute.

The fist is the best part of the harder version. A fist means a defender is on you, so the middle player bounces it back instead of turning. Now the look decides the action, not the coach.

Where it sits

This is the Sharpen block of Week 3 · Session 1 in the Full Season Travel Curriculum for ages 9 to 12 (Weeks 3–4 · Playing Out of the Back). Every session in the book runs the same 90 minutes: rondo, sharpen, solve, play and a set piece, drawn for 7v7 and 9v9, with two coaching points a day and a match-day page for every week.

Run it inside the free U12 practice plan ›

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