Serve and Trap
Partners face each other across a short gap — one serves, one traps and controls with whatever surface you call, from foot to thigh to chest.
Every good possession starts with a trap — working each surface with no opposition lets players groove the controlling touch before anyone is hunting the ball.
Starting at Core — your team is set to mixed.
15 min tonight · Pairs, in two facing lines
- Ages 6+
- Pairs, in two facing lines
- 15 min as the drill is written
- Cones, balls
Grab Cones to mark the two lines and a ball per pair.
Build Set the two lines 5 to 10 yards apart — closer for beginners, farther for more advanced players.
Place Half the team on each line, everyone facing a partner across the gap. One ball per pair, with the server.
- 1
Organize the players
Split the team into two groups facing each other, 5 to 10 yards apart — walk beginners closer together, back advanced players up. Give each pair a ball.
“Two lines, face your partner. One ball between you — servers, ball at your feet.”
- 2
Show the jobs
Explain the serve — you call the surface; balls to the foot are passed on the ground, and balls to the thigh or chest are tossed underhand.
“I call the body part. Feet — pass it in. Thigh or chest — soft underhand toss.”
- 3
Play
Work through the surfaces one at a time — inside of the foot, outside, instep, sole, thigh, chest — with a run of reps on each before you call the next.
“Inside of the foot! Trap it, settle it, serve it back. Now the thigh!”
Look for Control — the trap settling the ball down at the receiver's feet, ready to play, instead of bouncing away.
- 4
Switch and repeat
Swap servers and receivers and run the list again. For advanced players, serve with the feet — and let them play the thigh and chest traps back with their feet.
“Swap jobs! And you two — serves come off the foot now.”
If the traps keep breaking down, walk that pair a few steps closer together — a shorter serve is a kinder serve — then step them back out as control comes.
Go deeper · 3 notes
Why it works
With no opposition, every rep is about the touch itself — and because the serve matches the surface, a pass for the feet and an underhand toss for the thigh and chest, players get clean, repeatable reps on each of the six ways to bring a ball under control.
What they learn
Trapping and controlling with the inside, outside, instep, and sole of the foot, the thigh, and the chest.
What's next
Throw, Trap, Throw — the same controlling touch, now inside a real game.
Where does this come from?
SoccerXpert — their published drill library.
A published drill library. Useful and widely used, but not a governing body — so it fills gaps rather than leading.