Passing
Double Triangle Passing
Groove the give and go until the return pass is automatic. Because the pattern repeats at every station, players get a high volume of the same two-pass exchange in different directions and at different angles.
Live animation
Duration
12 min
Total drill time
Players
7
Recommended
Pitch
Full Pitch
Setup space
Level
Beginner
Skill required
Intensity
Medium
Physical demand
Age band
U11-U12
Any format
Setup & instructions
Lay two nested triangles of markers, a small one about 4m a side inside a larger one about 15m a side, and put a player on each. The ball goes out to a station and is returned first time to the player who sent it, who then plays on to the next station. Work around both triangles in a fixed order until it is automatic, then reverse the direction. Two touch for the passer, one touch for the return. Rotate players between the inner and outer triangles every few minutes.
Setup time: 2 min
Tactical breakdown
The give and go is the first combination any player learns and the one most often done badly by players who have known it for years. The failure is almost never the first pass. It is the return: controlled instead of played first time, delivered behind the passer instead of in front of him, or hit so hard it runs away from a player already moving.
This shape exists to repeat that return until it is not something a player thinks about. Two nested triangles give six stations, and the ball goes out and back at every one of them, so a ten minute session produces an enormous volume of the same exchange at six different angles. The angles matter: a return played across the body is a different action from one played straight back, and a player who has only practised one of them will fumble the other.
Running a small triangle inside a large one is what stops the repetitions being identical. The inner exchanges are four metres and have to be soft and precise; the outer ones are fifteen and have to be firm. Alternating between the two, without warning, is what keeps players adjusting weight rather than settling into one groove, which is the trap every passing pattern eventually falls into.
The instruction that gets ignored is moving after the pass. Players deliver the ball and then wait to see it come back, which is the one thing the exercise is trying to remove. The return should be arriving into space that the passer has created for himself, and if he is standing where he passed from, the whole point of a give and go has quietly gone missing.
How to run this drill
- Return it first time, always. The controlling touch is the habit this drill exists to break. If the return needs a touch, the pass into you was wrong and that is worth saying out loud.
- Return it in front, never behind. A return played behind the passer stops him and kills the sequence. Put it where he is going so he can play on without breaking stride.
- Move after you pass. Standing still to watch the return removes the whole point of a give and go. The pass should be the start of your movement, not the end of it.
- Change the weight between triangles. Four metres inside and fifteen metres outside need completely different passes. Hitting both the same way is how a passing pattern goes stale.
- Open toward where the ball is going. Facing the player who passed to you means the next pass has to travel through your own body. Turn your hips toward the next station before you receive.
- Reverse the direction once it is automatic. The moment the group can run the pattern without thinking, it has stopped teaching. Turning it around restores the decision without changing the setup.
Coaching focus
FROM SESSION PLANCoaching points
- Return the ball first time, every time, without exception
- Return it in front of the passer so he can play on without stopping
- Passer moves after he passes, so the return arrives into space
- Firm passes on the long ones, soft and accurate on the returns
- Open your body toward where the ball is going next, not where it came from
- Call the next station before you receive, not after
Common mistakes
- Controlling the return instead of playing it first time
- Returning the ball behind the passer, which stops him dead
- Standing still after passing, so the return has nowhere useful to go
- Hitting the short return as firmly as the long pass, so it runs away
Progressions & regressions
VARIATIONSProgressions
- One touch throughout, returns and onward passes alike
- Reverse the direction on a call, mid sequence
- Add a second ball starting on the opposite triangle
Regressions
- Two touches on the return while the shape is being learned
- Work one triangle only before joining the two
- Walk the order once so everybody knows their next station
Explore more drills
LIBRARYReady to run this drill?
Save it to your private drills, then change the animation, adjust positions, swap equipment, or drop it into a session block. Or start from a blank pitch and build your own.