A player looks to dribble past their opponent.

Session

Moving with the ball and turning session: escaping the defender

Session

England Football Learning

2 mins - Sep 8, 2025

Session intentions

This is week two of the moving with the ball and turning session programme. Check out the whole six-week programme here.

This session will help players:

develop their moving with the ball and turning skills
use their speed and moving with the ball technique to attack space
work with a teammate to beat defenders
improve decision-making skills when moving with the ball and turning.

If you're short on time, this structured training programme can be used as it is. Pitch sizes in this programme are shown as how long the pitch is x how wide it is, but these are just suggestions.

To make the session more effective, adapt it to suit your players, your numbers and the space you have. If you want to skip, repeat or amend these sessions – that's fine. It’s up to you how you use this resource.

If you like this idea, download the session plan and give it a go. And don't forget to share your experience on the England Football Community. We'd love to know how you got on.

If you’re coaching U7s, please note that from the 2026-27 season, changes will be made to the formats to improve the experience young players get across the country. Check out the Future Fit digital content hub to find out more and alter training plans accordingly.

Session setup

In our example, this is what we’ve used to set up this session. But adapt it to suit your team and the space available to you.

35x25-yard pitch

Nine players

Mini-goals

Flat cones

Bibs

Escaping the defender

Bib steal: Use half of your pitch for the bib steal arrival activity. Each player has a bib tucked into their shorts in line with their hip. Players try to steal other bibs while protecting their own. If they lose their bib, they try to get another one.
Bib steal: To progress this activity, give a ball to each player and add in a safe zone. The aim of the game is the same, but players can go into the safe zone to be unopposed for a bit if they need to.
Small-sided game: Play a small-sided game on each half of your pitch. Place a mini-goal, or use cones to create goals, on each side. This gives players the chance to practise turning and dribbling with the ball.
Double trouble: Use half the pitch. Have a keeper and defender (plus an extra player for rotation) at one end and attacking pairs opposite. Attackers try to score. When play resets, the next pair have a go. If the defender wins the ball, they dribble through cones at the side or halfway to score.
Small-sided game: Finish the session with a small-sided game using the whole pitch and a goal at each end. This gives players more space and opportunity to practise what they’ve been learning.

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On the pitch

Looking for a bit more detail? Check out this video to see what it can look like on the pitch.

Make it easier

Using the STEP framework (Youth Sports Trust, 2002) can help keep things fun, engaging, and appropriate.

To make this session easier for the players, you could:

increase the size of the bib steal area to give players more time and space
introduce safe zones in the match where players are unopposed to give them time to move with the ball without being tackled.

Make it harder

To make this session harder for the players, you could:

decrease the size of the bib steal area to encourage more scanning and turning
add another defender into the double trouble game
underload one side in the game at the end.

Coaching points

Ask players to think about how they can beat a defender using their movement or a teammate.

Set up a ‘tactics zone’ for double trouble. Use this space to speak to individual players about what you’ve seen and get them thinking about what they can do better next time.

Encourage players to use their body to protect the ball by being in between the opponent and the ball.

Encourage players to use their speed to move with the ball into space.

When near a defender, get players to think about taking smaller touches and keeping the ball close to them. When there’s space, encourage players to take bigger touches to drive into the space.