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Home/Training Drills/Dribbling Drills/The Body Feint
DribblingBeginner

The Body Feint

Beat a defender with the body, not the feet. Sell the fake by dropping the shoulder and leaning hard one way, then push the ball the opposite way with the outside of the foot and burst past into space.

Create your own drill
Live animationDRI
Duration
8 min
Total drill time
Players
1
Recommended
Pitch
24 × 14 m
Setup space
Level
Beginner
Skill required
Intensity
Medium
Physical demand
Age band
U6-U8
Any format

Setup & instructions

From a start cone, dribble at a defender (a mannequin or cone), keeping the ball close. A step or two away, slow down, drop your shoulder and lean hard to one side, then push the ball the other way with the outside of your foot and accelerate to a finish cone. The ball stays close through the fake, the deception is all in the body. Ten reps each way, both feet.

Setup time: 1 min

Tactical breakdown

Every skill move a player will ever learn rests on one idea, and the body feint is that idea with everything else stripped away. During the fake the ball does not move at all. Only the body does. That is what makes it the right first move to teach and the reason it keeps working at every level afterwards.

A defender does not react to the ball. He reacts to your hips and shoulders, because those are what tell him where you are about to go. Once a young player understands that, every other move becomes easier, because the foot part of a step-over or a chop is decoration hung on the same principle. Teach this one badly and everything built on it wobbles.

The fault to watch for is a big touch during the feint. Players who are used to moves involving the ball will instinctively push it one way to sell the lie, which is exactly wrong here. The ball stays under the body, and if it drifts even half a yard the defender simply takes it, because for that moment nothing is protecting it.

The second fault is going too fast. Approaching at full speed leaves no time for the defender to register the fake and shift his weight, so the lean does nothing and the player runs into a defender who never moved. Slow slightly on approach, freeze him, then accelerate. The change of pace is doing as much work as the feint.

How to run this drill

  1. Approach and slow slightly. Arriving at full speed leaves the defender no time to react to the fake. Slowing on approach is what gives the lean something to work on and freezes him.
  2. Keep the ball still and close. The ball does not move during the feint. Any touch to sell it puts the ball momentarily closer to the defender than to you, and a good one will take it.
  3. Drop the shoulder and lean hard. Shift real weight to one side. A defender reads hips and shoulders, not feet, so a half-hearted lean gives him nothing to commit to.
  4. Push it the opposite way with the outside of the foot. Once his weight has gone, take the ball the other way with the outside of the foot, into the space his commitment has just opened.
  5. Accelerate through the gap. The lean buys perhaps half a second. Explode past his shoulder rather than taking a settling touch, or a recovering defender simply catches you up.

Coaching focus

FROM SESSION PLAN

Coaching points

  • Keep the ball close, the fake is the body, not a big touch
  • Slow down as you approach to freeze the defender
  • Sell it: drop the shoulder and lean hard to one side
  • Push the ball the other way with the outside of the foot
  • Explode into the space, change of pace beats the defender

Common mistakes

  • A big touch on the fake, losing control of the ball
  • Not selling the lean, so the defender does not move
  • No change of pace after the feint
  • Feinting too far from the defender, giving him time to recover

Progressions & regressions

VARIATIONS

Progressions

  • Beat a live defender using only body feints, no footwork
  • Feint on the run without slowing down
  • Chain into a finish or a cross after the burst

Regressions

  • Walk through the lean and push from a slow dribble
  • Feint past a stationary cone before a defender
  • Use a wider gate so the push is easier to control
Equipment
Cones×2
Mannequins×1
Tactical principles
body feintshoulder drophow to beat a defenderbeginner dribbling move1v1 dribblingfootball skills for kidsfake and godribbling drillyouth dribbling drillu8 skill move
Audience
U6-U8

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