Indoor soccer--and specifically, the walls surrounding the playing field--make for all new quirks in the world's favorite sport.
How do you prepare for the unique challenges of indoor? By incorporating drills into your practice that are indoor-specific.
Here are two such indoor soccer drills, provided by eteamz.com. It works on improving the attackers' instincts when it comes to playing rebounds off the walls.
Basic Attack
Form two lines, A and B, inside the midfield, 15 yards apart.
Line B starts by passing ball to space ahead of Player A, and makes run toward far post. Player A runs onto the ball and plays ball with authority into wall three feet left of near post. Ball will rebound in front of goal. Player B will have made looping run and one-touch rebound into goal. A goes to line B and B goes to A. Two times through and switch beginning to line A. Make sure to have your player's use one-touch shots with either foot!
Advanced Attack
Form three lines, A, B and C, inside the midfield, 10 yards apart. Line B begins by playing ball ahead of player A. A receives and carries toward middle third while B overlaps to outside. A passes to C, who is moving down the wing and C shoots into wall three feet right of near post. Ball rebounds to B who has looped in for a one-touch shot on goal. Player A holds the center position for a drop or another rebound. A goes to B line, B to C, and C to A. Two times through then start by playing to C to start.
Other Indoor Tips
We use nets above the field and if ball is played too high then play is stopped and the restart is a direct free kick from a center spot at the quarter line. If you have this same scenario, you definitely want to teach your players to take a quick restart. Don't give the defense a chance to form a wall. Always have one player place the ball while another trailing player takes the shot. It takes too long to set the ball, back up, and take the shot. Indoor is fast!
Depending on the number of players, sub every five minutes, five players at a time at a stoppage of play (which you can create yourselves at times). Keepers play halves. Keep fresh legs on the pitch as much as possible. Sub on the fly if you can't get an advantageous stoppage.
The formation many teams use is a 2-1-2. An athletic keeper can play keeper/sweeper position.
See more soccer training tips or find a soccer league near you.