Football shooting drill – Volley shot

-August 24, 2021

Volley shots allow players to surprise the opposition and score without wasting a second. They can make for spectacular goals but also hilarious or embarrassing misses. So, technique and practice are crucial. The drill in this post will help your players perfect their volley and half volley shot.

Setup

This drill requires an actual football pitch and at least 11 players. 5 players per side and a goalkeeper. However, you only need half of the field. So, if your squad is over 20 players strong, you can have another group practising the same drill in the other half of the pitch.

In addition to the field’s full-size goal, you will need a minimum of 10 balls and enough cones to mark the stations as in the picture above. If you can’t get hold of goals, use cones or, preferably, agility poles to mark them.

Instructions

This drill is a competitive shooting game. The objective is for each team to score as many goals as possible from a volley or half volley shot. In addition, players have to practice shooting with both feet. The instructions for this drill are:

2 teams: 4 players to shoot at goal, and 1 player to pass the ball in a throw-in like motion.
Distribute left-footed players evenly between teams.
Throw-ins from the left are to be kicked with the right foot.
Throw-ins from the right are to be kicked with the left foot.
No touches are allowed. Only volleys or half volleys are allowed.
A half-volley is hit at precisely the moment that the ball bounces or a split-second after. A volley is a hit before the ball touches the ground.
Players of each team wait in an intersepted manner. For example, allowing one throw-in from the left, then one throw-in from the right and so on.
The game is run in multiple two rounds cycles: firstly, players hit the ball with their right foot and second with their left foot, or vice versa.
Do not pick up the balls after shooting. It will keep the flow of the game going. Instead, do it after completing a 2 rounds cycle.
Do not wait for the goalkeeper to recover. Keep throwing in balls. The idea is to keep the keeper moving too.
After two rounds, swap the players throwing in the ball to allow them to practice their volley shot.
When you swap the players throwing in the ball, also invert the side each team is throwing the ball in. This will keep the game fair.
Finish when every player had executed 2 cycles of throw-ins (one from the left and one from the right).

Be creative and add your own rules. But, whatever the changes you make to the base game, make sure to maintain the spirit of the drill. And above all, have fun! This drill can be hilarious 😊.

For inspiration, have a look at these impressive volley goals.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Btiu0LW_6oo

Takeaways

The main objective of this drill is to practice scoring from a volley. However, this drill covers other aspects of the game. For example, your players will get better at throw-ins. In summary, this exercise will improve:

Shooting technique. Volleys shots are all about technique. Players have to kick the ball with the right weight, at the right height and with their body and foot in the correct position. Have a look at the video below on how to shoot a volley.
Both feet control. This is a crucial aspect of this drill. Do not allow your players to use their strong foot when they are meant to be kicking with their weak foot.
Throw-in. To improve the chances of their teammate scoring, players will need to throw the ball to the correct height and foot. This will improve their precision when executing throw-ins during a game.
Goalkeeping. This game involves your goalkeeper. Because you don’t stop during each game cycle, goalkeepers will also practice recovering and improve their fitness.

I hope you find this drill useful. If you like this post, please share it with your friends. If you know other exercises or have any questions, leave a comment below.

Pablo Matamoros

I am a software engineer with 25+ years of experience across diverse industries. I've climbed the corporate leader over the years, which has some benefits but means I moved away from my love for tinkering with technology. So, I build the odd website or application to keep learning and stay in touch with technology. FootballTechniques allows me to combine my programming knowledge with my passion for football.

To find out more about my professional experience, visit PabloMatamoros.com