Un-defensible Free Kick, serve and volley...

This 3v3 soccer play is super cool. If the players are younger and small and the box and goals are large, this play, if executed correctly, cannot be stopped by the defense. In fact, the defense has to hope you cannot execute it, but then, this play requires lots of skill to perform.

In the last post I told you about two-touch kickoffs. There is actually a variation of this play on kick ins and free kicks where the first offensive player simply runs over the ball, stepping on it, and the second player comes in afterward and kicks the ball. While this strategy works against inexperienced teams, it rarely, if ever, works against experienced teams. The other problem is that some tournaments require the ball to make one revolution before it can be kicked.

The serve and volley free kick works best when you are fairly close to the goal. The other team will make a wall but this doesn't matter. Have two players stand beside each other near the ball, preferably your best jugglers as this is a simple two-touch juggle. The first player will simply lift the ball up into the air, about a foot or two into the air is all you need. The second player will then tap the ball, while it is still in the air, up and over the wall and into the goal. Again, this requires practice to perfect. I have found that some players are better at serving the ball up and others at volleying the ball into the goal. At practice, we have the volleyers tell the servers where they want the ball in the air. At first, your players will try to stand too far apart, but make them stand close together as this is a quick play that should happen before the defense can react.

Another hint is that both players should face the goal. The initial lift should be toward the goal and the second player simply continues to send the ball on the same path and line. It's easier to tap the ball forward than to redirect on an angle.

Incidently, I thought of this play while trying to “invent” a new kick-in play that involved one player kicking the ball off the positioned foot of another player. Of course, the ball never came off correctly. Then I thought about chipping the ball up to our player in the wall, until I realized two players might be able to juggle the ball in. I wasn't sure if my players could do it, so we tried it in practice and the players seemed to have fun trying it. The next tournament, we had a free kick close to the goal so I yelled at my players to try the new serve and volley play. It worked. We scored. The defense hadn't even moved from their wall. From then on, I didn't have to tell the players to use it.

Below is an example of my boys sending the ball over a ladder and into a backstop.