Passing, and why they stop doing it

The real reason passing dries up

Parents watch a junior game and see a child dribble into three defenders instead of passing to an open teammate, and the natural conclusion is that the kid is being greedy. Occasionally that's true. Far more often the child genuinely didn't see the teammate, because their eyes were on the ball the entire time.

You can't pass to someone you haven't seen. So the first fix for poor passing is almost never a passing drill, it's getting their head up while they dribble. Once they can see the floor, passes start appearing on their own without anyone having to tell them to share.

There's a second cause worth checking before you blame effort, and it's the team rather than the child. If nobody moves, there's genuinely nobody to pass to. A junior holding the ball while four teammates stand still isn't making a selfish choice, they're making the only choice available, and no amount of telling them to pass will change that.

The two hand habit

The second thing that kills junior passing is the two handed chest pass being the only pass they own. It's a fine pass and it's also slow, telegraphed and easy to intercept once defenders get quicker at around eleven or twelve.

They need a one handed push pass off either hand for short range, and a bounce pass that goes past a defender's legs rather than into their hands. Three passes total is plenty at this age. What matters is that they've a choice, because a player with one pass will hold the ball rather than throw the wrong one.

The drill that actually transfers

Stand your child about four metres away with a defender between you, which can be a bin or a chair if there's nobody else. They have to get the ball to you past the obstacle. No rules about how. They will work out bounce passes and overhead passes on their own, which is exactly the point.

Then make it live if you've a third person. The defender is allowed to move. The moment there's a real person trying to take it, the passing decision becomes a decision rather than a technique, and that's the thing a game actually asks for.

Passing is a timing skill, not a strength skill

Most junior passes fail because they arrive late, not because they were thrown badly. A teammate is open for about a second and a half at this level. A player who sees the cut, decides, then throws has usually missed the window entirely.

So practise throwing early. In the drill above, have them pass before you're fully open, to where you're going rather than where you're. It feels wrong to them at first and it's the difference between a pass that works and a pass that gets picked off.

What not to bother with

Behind the back and no look passes don't need practice time at this age. They occasionally work, they fail badly when they don't, and they're not the reason your child isn't passing. The reason is vision and options, and neither of those is helped by a flashier throw.

Equally, static two line passing drills where everyone stands still and chest passes at each other are close to useless. Nothing in a game looks like that. If the drill has no defender and no movement, it's a warm up rather than training.

One last thing parents ask about constantly: passing drills done against a wall. They're fine for building a bit of accuracy and they train none of the decision making, because a wall is always open and never moves. Use them as a warm up if your child enjoys them, but don't count them as passing practice.