Soccer Drills for 8 Year Olds: Home and Team Games

Soccer drills for 8 year olds include gate dribbling, doorway passing, receiving into space and goal choice games for girls and boys. Try gate dribbling or shooting alone, passing with a partner, and goal choice or small team games with others. Each activity below explains how to begin and how to adjust the challenge, so you can organise practice even if you have never played. For youth soccer coaching, I recommend pairing the coach’s instruction with The Giro X’s Curl Master One, which provides immediate feedback on striking contact. Demonstrate a turn so your child can see what completes the activity before having a go.

How Do You Set Up Soccer Practice?

Start by marking the playing area and showing your child what completes the activity. Gather a ball and cones or flat markers suitable for the surface, leaving other belongings outside the playing space. Walk through the route before introducing a scoring challenge, then let your child explain the activity back in their own words. In my opinion, showing where an activity finishes is a useful starting point for a parent who has never played, because you can explain the objective without introducing unfamiliar soccer terms.

For home practice in Ontario, British Columbia, Québec or elsewhere in Canada, choose the setup around your available space. Check the facility’s rules before using a field or an indoor area, and confirm arrangements for weather changes with your team. Use the same suggested activities for girls and boys, adjusting each challenge to the player’s understanding. Choose the playing area and spacing to suit your child and the available space.

Which Dribbling Game Can Your Child Try First?

Gate dribbling gives your child an opening to aim for and a choice about where to go next. Mark a playing area and place gates inside, leaving room between them for turning. As a suggested starting setup, use an area measuring 9 by 9 metres, with four gates about 2 metres wide. Adjust these dimensions to your available space. Your child dribbles through any opening, then chooses another, counting a successful attempt whenever both player and ball pass through without touching a marker. During a pause, ask which gate they would like to visit next.

To adjust gate dribbling, widen an opening when your child wants more room, or invite them to try their less comfortable foot. Partners can each have a ball and choose their own routes through the space. For a team, create additional playing areas so smaller groups can play alongside each other. I would ask each child to remember their own score and choose a personal target for the next round, giving the next attempt a purpose that does not depend on another player’s score.

How Can Partners Practise Passing and Receiving?

Doorway passing gives partners a target for a ground pass and a controlled receiving touch. Mark a gate, with the players starting on opposite sides at a comfortable passing distance. Ask them to pass through the opening using the inside of the foot. The receiver settles the ball before returning it through the same gate. Count a completed exchange when the ball clears the markers and stays with the receiver, then move closer or widen the opening to adjust the challenge.

Receiving into space adds a destination for the first touch. Put a destination marker beside the receiver, clear of the passing lane, and ask the receiver to guide the arriving ball towards that marker before passing back. Swap roles so both partners try receiving. Keep the destination close and adjust its position together. A child practising alone can instead pass through the gate, follow the ball and turn before passing back. Use the partner version when someone can supply the arriving pass.

What Games Combine Shooting With Defending?

Goal choice lets an attacker choose a shooting target while responding to a defender. Mark a playing area with small goals on the far boundary. Start the attacker at the opposite end and the defender near the centre. Begin with the defender walking while the attacker dribbles towards an opening and shoots. Count successful goals, reset after each attempt or possession change, and swap roles so both children try attacking and defending.

For a small team game, divide players into equal sides with a goal at either end of the available space. Let players choose when to pass or dribble, and restart a boundary exit with a ground pass from where the ball left. Widen the playing area if teammates want more passing room. For solo shooting, use the goal choice setup without a defender, choosing an opening before dribbling and shooting. Move the starting position closer or widen the goals to adjust the challenge.

How Should Home Practice Work Alongside Coaching?

Choose a familiar activity first, then let your child try a different challenge before finishing with a game. Ask the coach which part of the activity to revisit between sessions, and use that answer to give home practice a specific purpose. When moving between outdoor and indoor practice, adapt the setup to the venue and its rules. Parents helping a U9 group can also explore U9 Soccer Drills for more activities to discuss with their team’s coach.

Curl Master One Product Card

Curl Master One has six speed settings, works with a standard ball and requires no app or subscription. It is suitable from around age eight through adulthood, and younger players start at the top speed before turning it down as technique develops. Players aged eight to twelve should practise with an adult nearby. Parents do not need soccer knowledge to help children use Curl Master One.

In my opinion, Curl Master One is a useful purchase because its immediate striking feedback gives your child a specific part of soccer to revisit alongside coaching. The coach can identify a contact task, and you can help your child return to that task between sessions without needing a background in the sport. Get Curl Master One and ask your child’s coach which striking task to practise next.

Practise Soccer With Curl Master One

Curl Master One works with a standard soccer ball.

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