1TO1-P26 · Technical practice
1st Touch and Passing
Take your players’ first touch, scanning, and passing accuracy to the next level with this focused technical practice.
Ball mastery
Ball mastery drills. One ball each. Lots of touches.
Ball mastery practices for close control, turns, dribbling and first touch. Most give every player a ball, so the whole group works at once. Each outline lists the age, numbers, area and key coaching points.
Touchtight Club has 64 practices for this page (as of October 2026). Below: 12 practice outlines.
Age
Practices
Ball mastery drills and practices
12 of 12 shown
84-P1 · Technical practice
1st Touch, Passing and Fitness
This simple technical practice takes place in a 20 by 20-yard area and develops players 1st touch, passing accuracy and fitness.
WU-29 · Warm-up
Cone Throwing Target Range
This fun warm up/activation practice develops the social aspect of the game combined with dribbling, awareness and finishing.
WU-22 · Warm-up
Dribbling and Finishing Relay!
This fun warm up takes place in a 15 by 20-yard area and is a relay race focusing on players dribbling and finishing.
MB-P32 · Warm-up
Race Those Cars!
This fun foundation phase practice takes place in a 15-by 20 yard area and develops players agility, dribbling, and finishing.
BM-11 · Skill practice
Running with the ball
This Ball Mastery Practice is focused on individual players dribbling past defenders and recognising when to burst into space with the ball
WU-36 · Warm-up
Scanning and Dribbling
This practice takes place in a 15 by 20-yard area and focuses on developing scanning when receiving and driving with the ball.
MB-P12 · Skill practice
Skill Circle-Mix It Up On The Move
This takes place in a 20 yard area and focuses on developing players technical ability with the ball while on the move.
94-P1 · Technical practice
Technical Movement to Receive
This technical practice is designed to improve passing and receiving, with a focus on movement and first touch.
94-P3 · Technical practice
The Directional 1st Touch Square
This technical practice focuses on improving directional first touches and passing.
BM-14 · Warm-up
The Dribbling Box
This ball mastery practice takes place in a 15 by 20-yard area and focuses on developing players dribbling ability and awareness.
MB-P45 · Small-sided game
Turn and Attack!
This small sided game is designed specifically for our Mini Ballers to develop their close control and turning ability.
These are 12 of the 64 practices in Club for this page. Start a free trial to see them all ↗
Coaching it
How to get more from these practices.
Why ball mastery first
Players who are comfortable on the ball have more time to look up, so passing, dribbling and decision-making are easier to coach later.
Short and often
Ten to fifteen minutes of ball mastery as a warm-up or technical block builds comfort faster than one long session a month.
Both feet, every surface
Ask for both feet and different surfaces of the foot. A simple rule such as every second turn on the weaker foot adds challenge without slowing the practice.
Questions
What coaches ask.
- What is ball mastery in football?
- Ball mastery is a player’s control of the ball with every surface of both feet: close control, turns, changes of direction and first touch. It is usually coached with a ball per player so everyone gets a high number of touches.
- Are these practices free?
- The practice outlines on this page are free to read, with the setup and key coaching points for each practice. The full coaching videos, progressions and player questions are in the Touchtight Club library, which you can try free for 14 days (card required).