Knockout is an old classic soccer drill used for teaching players the art of dribbling. Players ranging from ages between 6 to 12 are trained using this drill. It is a very effective drill in teaching players how to keep their heads up while dribbling the soccer ball in order to keep their eyes on both their team members and members of their opposing team.
The setup of this drill involves creating a large circle using cones (equipment). Or just create a grid depending on the number of players. Mostly, there are 4 to 18 players in a game, each with a soccer ball inside the circle made.
The objective of this drill or game is for players to try and kick other players soccer balls out of bounds while simultaneously trying to protect his or her own soccer ball. The players basically try to “knockout” each other’s soccer balls. It is important for the players to stay with their ball at all times and cannot leave the ball for a very long period of time. In a single game, players can only be “knocked out” two times which will lead to a “punishment” of 5-10 pushups and then they are able to get back in the game. However, on the 3rd time, they are out of the game. The player who kicks out the most balls wins the game.
Variations can be made in this drill by making the players dribble with only certain parts of their foot. So, if any player dribbles out of bounds their self which is decided beforehand, they are considered “knocked out”.
A coaching tip for this classic drill is that it is required for the coaches to instruct the players to keep the ball very close and keep touching the ball often. It is important that the players heads should be looking upwards towards other players and be aware of their surroundings at all times.