Kids' outdoor soccer drills that focus on working in confined spaces also work well indoors, as do indoor-only drills that take advantage of the way the arena's walls serve as rebounding surfaces. To structure your practice, have the kids warm up and stretch, follow up with specific skills drills and apply the drills in a 3v3 or 4v4 scrimmage, using a small area with corners and goals marked by disks or cones.
Horse
This drill, described by sportswriter Ned McIntosh in "The Baffled Parents' Guide to Coaching Indoor Soccer," works to prepare your players for game situations where the goalie has been pulled away so the goal is open. Set five disks to mark stations near the penalty kick spot, the corners of the penalty box and the wings, and describe them as H, O, R, S and E. Each player kicks from each station into an untended goal. The winner is the first who can score from each of the five positions.
The Glob
Sports educators Tom Fleck and Ron Quinn recommend "The Glob" in "The Baffled Parent's Guide to Great Soccer Drills" as a way to master changes in direction. Position all but two players on one side of half the indoor arena. You and the two players join hands and form the Glob. On your signal, players run to the other side of the half field without being tagged by the Glob. Players tagged leave the game, perform four alternating ball touches and return. Vary the composition of the players in the Glob.
Basic Attack
Split the players into two lines inside the midfield to work on Basic Attack, recommends Active.com as a means to learn to rebound. The player at the front of line B passes the ball to the space ahead of the player in line A and runs to the far post. Player A collects the ball and passes it sharply into the wall left of the near post so that it rebounds in front of the goal. Player B one-touches the rebound into the goal. Players A and B return to the back of the others' lines.
Advanced Attack
For Advanced Attack, set up three lines. As in Basic Attack, player B passes to player A, who moves toward the middle of the pitch and passes to player C on the wing. C shoots into the wall, B moves in for a goal while A holds the center for a second chance at a rebound goal. A proceeds to the B line, B to the C line and C to the A line.
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