Ok, you’re finally getting your players comfortable with passing the ball. That’s great. What’s your next step? After they pass, they should move to space. Sounds easy to understand, but it’s a lot harder to teach than it looks.

This is what I tell the kids. When you pass the ball to someone, where are they looking? They’re looking in your direction. Who are THEY most likely to pass to? YOU! If you stay where you are after you passed the ball, you are probably in no better position to receive the ball, or you shouldn’t have passed it in the first place. If anything, the player pressuring you probably turned right into the lane of your pass, preventing the possibility of a successful “return pass”. The best thing for a passer to do after passing is to immediately move into open space, preferably up field so that their team can further penetrate the other team’s defense.

Since the pass receiver was looking in your direction, she is very likely to see you “run” into space and give you the return pass. The defender that was marking you most likely will turn in the direction that you passed the ball, temporarily losing her concentration for just enough time for you to move into space and receive the return pass. That’s why they call it a give and go. That’s what you need to do, give (pass) and go (into open space).

Too many young players want to stop to admire their wonderful pass and forget all about the “Go” portion of the saying. One way to get the idea across is to play some 4v4 (always in a diamond shape). Insist that after every pass the player must make a short run into space. If they fail to do this, they have to do a pushup. It will amaze you how many kids will be doing pushups. If you play with them, you’ll be doing pushups too. I suggest that you play this game often and you may even want to speed things along by mandating no more that “two or three touches” per player before they must make a pass. You will be pleasantly surprised at the results after just a few practices. The kids will realize (with your help) that Give and Go’s are an effective way to advance the ball up the field. Try it. I’m telling you, it works!