Skills sessions

Skills sessions - the flick turn

By David Clarke

Young attackers with their backs to goal can find it difficult controlling the ball and turning to get past the defender if they are being tightly marked.

One of the options you can give to your attackers is the flick to take the ball either side of the defender and then go past them.

The angle and the direction of the flick will control where the attacker turns but it must be done with speed and concentration. The attacker needs to know where the goal is and his distance from it.

To practise it, the player needs to be shown his body position and the movement of his feet. This is a technique that is best demonstrated by either yourself or if you are not confident of doing it yourself, ask a helper or one of your players to do it.

How to set it up

• Split your players into groups of three.
• Position players as in the picture above with the server five yards from the attacker.
• The defender should be directly behind the attacker.
• The defender and attacker both have their backs to target goal.

How to play it

• The server passes the ball to the attacker. The ball needs to have pace for the flick to work.
• The attacker flicks the ball with the outside of his favoured foot and follows the ball to the outside of the defender.
• Then the attacker flicks the ball with the inside of his favoured foot to turn inside the defender.

How to advance it

• The attacker should flick the ball with the inside of his foot then go to the outside of the defender.

• He should try alternating which foot he uses.