Black Hole, Keep Away.

    black hole keep away


    a soccer coaching drill designed to encourage young soccer players to spread out.

    by Bob Christensen

    Focus: Possession through passing, spreading out, using space.

    Age: U8-U10 (And older)

    Equipment: Flat cones to define the playing area. Coloured bibs to identify teams. A couple of balls.

    Players: 12-16 players work well, as few as 10 will work in a pinch, and as many as 20 can be accommodated.

    Space: 30x30 to 40x40 or so. Can be done easily on half a field.

    Introduction: Getting young players to recognize the usefulness of spreading out can be one of the most challenging aspects of coaching youth soccer. The plaintive cry of “Spread Out!” can be heard from the sidelines in many youth matches. This exercise should help the young players discover the value of spreading out and passing to maintain possession, in a fun and intuitive way.

    Setup: Establish area boundaries compatible with the age and number of players present. Four U10's start with an area about 30 yards in diameter and define it with flat cones. Inside the area, create another, smaller circle about 7-10 yards in diameter. This is the “Black Hole”. For older players like U12, make the area larger, like 40 yards in diameter, and the black hole proportionally larger, like 10-15 yards in diameter. I even use this with U14's with the centre circle (20 yards in diameter) as the “Black Hole”.

    Split the team evenly, and identify the teams with different colored pinnies. In the following diagram, the z team has possession of the ball, and the x team is defending/trying to get possession.

    black hole keepaway

    Execution: Simply play keep away, but players cannot touch the ball within the “Black Hole”. They may freely run through the black hole, but cannot touch the ball inside it.

    Coaching points:

    - If marked, move to open space.

    - Communicate to your teammates on both attack and defence.

    - Pressure-cover defense roles.

    - Square and drop pass support to maintain possession.

    - If the edge of the black hole is crowded, find space away from it.

    - You don’t have to pass across the black hole.

    - Touch the ball to open space with your 1    st touch as you receive it.

    - Lose your mark by checking (moving) away, and then back.

    - Play the way you face.

    - Receive and turn with one fluid movement if you are on the edge of the black hole and the ball comes across the black hole.

    - Always know your options and have a plan before the ball arrives.

    - Don’t mark too tightly on defence, especially if you are marking near the black hole edge. You can intercept easier if you are away a bit and the receiver doesn’t know exactly where you are, and where you are moving.

    Variations:

    - If too much dribbling away from the black hole takes place, consider reducing the size of the outer boundary, increasing the size of the black hole, or place a touch restriction on the players (like 2 touch).

    - Place a minimum touch restriction on the players to encourage better support. For young players, simply tell them that they must control the ball with their 1    st touch before passing with another. For older players, a minimum 3 touch, or even 4 touch restriction can dramatically change the game and place a much heavier emphasis on off ball teammates providing close support.

    - You can intercept the ball within the black hole, but must be outside the black hole before the ball enters it in order to do this. This is good to work on cutting out passing lanes.

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