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Home/Training Drills/Passing Drills/Scanning: Check Your Shoulders
PassingIntermediate

Scanning: Check Your Shoulders

Build the habit of looking before you receive. Scan over both shoulders as the ball travels, take a first touch that opens you toward the free option, and play the right pass without needing to look again.

Create your own drill
Live animationPAS
Duration
12 min
Total drill time
Players
5
Recommended
Pitch
30 × 22 m
Setup space
Level
Intermediate
Skill required
Intensity
Medium
Physical demand
Age band
U11-U12
Any format

Setup & instructions

A server plays into a middle player with two targets beyond him, one marked and one free. The middle player must check both shoulders while the ball is travelling and then play to the free target first time or in two touches. Change which target is marked every rep so he cannot guess. Cue it out loud, check your shoulders, until it becomes automatic, and add a colour or number call to prove he really looked.

Setup time: 1 min

Tactical breakdown

Look up is the least actionable instruction in football. It names a problem without describing a behaviour, which is why coaches shout it every week and nothing changes. Scanning is a specific, countable habit: two quick glances over alternate shoulders while the ball is travelling towards you, and it is trainable precisely because it can be counted.

So count them. Watch one player for two minutes and count the looks before each reception. The number is usually far lower than anyone expects, and showing a player that number does more than a season of being told to be aware. Then set a target and count again.

The timing is the part that gets taught wrong. The scan happens while the ball is in flight, not as it arrives and not after the first touch. Information gathered before the ball comes lets a player decide in advance; information gathered afterwards arrives too late to be useful and usually means a touch has already been taken blind.

Two quick looks beat one long stare. A player who turns and studies the pitch loses sight of the ball and mistimes the reception, and he also telegraphs to a defender exactly what he has seen. Short glances, over each shoulder, then eyes back to the ball.

The first touch is where scanning either pays off or does not. Having seen the free option, the touch should open the body towards it. A player who scans well and then takes a touch back under himself has done the hard part and thrown the benefit away.

How to run this drill

  1. Count the scans, do not shout look up. Watch one player for two minutes and count. The number is always lower than expected, and showing it changes behaviour faster than instruction.
  2. Scan while the ball is travelling. Information gathered before the ball arrives lets a player decide in advance. Gathered afterwards, it comes too late to use.
  3. Two quick looks, not one long stare. Studying the pitch loses sight of the ball and telegraphs to the defender exactly what you have seen. Glance and come back.
  4. Look over each shoulder, not one. A player who only ever checks one side has a blind side, and good opponents work out which one it is within about ten minutes.
  5. Open the first touch toward the free option. Scanning well and then taking a touch back under yourself does the hard part and discards the benefit entirely.
  6. Play without needing a second look. The point of scanning early is that the pass can be made immediately. If a player still has to look again, the scan was too early or too shallow.

Coaching focus

FROM SESSION PLAN

Coaching points

  • Look before the ball arrives, not after: scan while it travels
  • Two quick looks, over each shoulder, not one long stare
  • First touch opens you toward the free option
  • Decide early so you do not need a second look before playing
  • Head up between touches whenever you are not on the ball

Common mistakes

  • Watching only the ball the whole way, then looking up too late
  • One long look instead of two quick scans
  • A first touch that closes the body off from the free option
  • Guessing the answer rather than actually looking

Progressions & regressions

VARIATIONS

Progressions

  • Coach calls a colour or number the receiver must report, proving he looked
  • One touch only, so the decision has to be made before it arrives
  • Add a second defender who switches which target is marked late

Regressions

  • Slow the serve so there is more time to scan
  • Mark the same target every rep while the habit forms
  • Two or three touches allowed before the pass
Equipment
Cones×3
Tactical principles
scanning drillcheck your shoulderslooking before you receiveawareness traininghead on a swivelmidfield scanningfirst touch away from pressureu11 passing drillfootball awarenessplaying with your head up
Audience
U11-U12

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