The complete guide
How to run football drills at home with a ladder, cones and a kick trainer
What drill equipment is for
Club sessions are built around the team: shape, patterns, set pieces and a game at the end. The individual work, such as quick feet, a clean first touch and turning on either foot, improves best with short, frequent practice, often alone or in a small group.
Drill equipment gives that practice a structure. Twenty minutes in a garden or a school yard gets spent on something specific instead of kicking a ball against a wall.
The pieces that matter most
Agility ladder
The ladder trains foot speed, rhythm and coordination. The one in this kit is 6m long with 12 rungs, which is long enough for a proper run through rather than three steps and a stop. Four steel stakes hold it flat on grass.
Cones
Cones mark out gates, channels, slaloms and turning points. This kit has twelve, in two colours: six yellow and six orange. That second colour is more useful than it looks, as you will see below.
Something that keeps the ball coming back
Ball work alone is hard when the ball keeps running off. A rebounder is one answer. The kick trainer in this kit is another: it is made of neoprene and fastens with an adjustable waist belt, so the ball stays close and a player gets far more touches in a session.
Kit you may add later
Resistance bands, speed parachutes, training bibs and a goal all have a place in a full programme. None of them are in this kit, and none are needed to start.
Choosing what to buy
Start with the goal. For speed and footwork, a ladder and cones. For touch and control, something that returns the ball. For team drills, cones and bibs.
Then think about who is training. Younger players need simpler patterns, more space between drills and an adult setting things up. Older players and adults can run faster, more complex ladder patterns with the same kit.
Finally, think about how often it will be used. Kit that goes out three times a week needs to pack away quickly, or it stops going out at all. That is the point of a single carry bag.
A 20-minute session that works
Five minutes on the ladder
Two feet in each rung, then one foot per rung, then lateral in and out. Slow and correct beats fast and messy.
Five minutes of cone work with a ball
A simple slalom through the cones, using both feet. Then the same again with a turn at the end.
Five minutes with the kick trainer
Short passes and control, alternating feet. Count the touches and try to beat the number next time.
Five minutes of their choice
This is the part that makes a young player want to come back tomorrow.
Using the two cone colours
Set up a yellow gate and an orange gate a few metres apart. As the player sets off, call a colour. They now have to read, decide and move, instead of running a pattern they already know.
That one change makes a drill look much more like a match. For younger children, it also turns a drill into a game.
Ladder technique that carries over
Keep the eyes up. A player staring at the rungs is not learning anything they can use in a match.
Stay on the balls of the feet, with quiet, quick contacts.
Let the arms work. Stiff arms slow the whole movement down.
Stop when it gets sloppy. Tired footwork drills teach tired footwork.
Setting up and packing away
On grass, push the four steel stakes in to hold the ladder flat. On a hard floor or artificial pitch, leave them in the bag, as the ladder lies flat without them.
When you finish, count the stakes back into the bag every time. A steel stake left in a lawn is hard to spot and will find a mower sooner or later. Roll the ladder rather than bundling it so the rungs stay straight.
For clubs and schools
If you are equipping a squad or a PE department with several kits, ask for a quote through our wholesale page.