Lead Pass Timing

Teach passers to play the ball where a runner is going, weighted so it arrives at the same time as the runner, and teach runners to time their run off the passer's touch.

20x25 yard area. Passer at one end with balls. Runner starts 10 yards away, level with the passer. A 3-yard cone gate 12 yards ahead of the runner, angled toward the far corner. A target cone 5 yards past the gate.

1. The runner checks toward the passer, then turns and sprints toward the gate.
2. The passer plays the ball into the runner's path so they run onto it inside the gate without slowing down.
3. The runner controls and stops the ball on the target cone with one touch. Score 1 for a ball received in the gate, 2 if the runner did not break stride.
4. Five reps then swap. Then move the gate so the pass is played with the other foot.
5. Stage 2: add a passive defender between passer and gate who can only move sideways.

• Runner: check away first so you arrive with speed.
• Passer: play it in front, not to feet; aim for where they will be.
• Weight it so the runner meets it in the gate, not chases it.
• Passer's eyes up as the runner turns; that is the moment.

• The pass is played to the runner's feet and they have to stop; aim at the far cone of the gate, not the player.
• The runner goes before the passer is ready and is past the gate before the ball; the run starts on the passer's touch.
• Passes are hit too hard and run out of the area; ask for a pass the runner meets, not one they chase.

• Passer must play first time from a set-up pass.
• Add a second runner making a decoy run.
• Runner finishes into a small goal instead of stopping on the cone.

• Runner jogs instead of sprinting.
• Widen the gate to 5 yards.
• Move the gate closer to 8 yards.

• The ball must be received inside the gate or the point does not count.