Aerial Skills drill
High Ball Under Pressure
Hold catching technique together when the pressure and the doubt are real.
- Time
- 20 minutes
- Players
- 2 to 6 players
- Intensity
- High
- Equipment
- Ball
- Space
- 25-30m
- Positions
- Fullbacks, wings, back row
Setup
Open grass with 25-30m of kicking distance, two or three balls, optionally a tackle shield. Two or three players.
How to run it
- Start with ten completely uncontested catches focusing only on the four basics - call, leap, elbows, turn.
- Then add pressure one layer at a time: a chaser closing, then a chaser with a shield making contact after you land, then a chaser calling for the ball to create doubt, ten reps per layer.
- Increase the difficulty based on how you are actually coping, not on a fixed schedule.
- If you start failing repeatedly, stop the drill rather than grinding - repeated failure escalates anxiety and you will keep failing.
- Do not add new technical advice mid-failure; either continue or switch to something else.
Coaching cues
- Loud call, early
- Leap into the space for the ball
- Focus on what you're doing, not what you're avoiding
Common mistakes
- Tensing up and dropping catches through overthinking - a high ball gives you far too much time to think
- Grinding on through a failure sequence, which makes the anxiety and the dropping worse
Related drills
- Kick Chase LineArrive as the ball arrives, which is the whole point of a chaseable kick.
- Restart Receipt PodWin your own restart receipt safely as a unit of three or four.
- Solo High Ball Self-FeedBuild high-ball catching confidence and the safe jump entirely on your own.
- High Ball Catch TechniqueBuild a safe, confident high-ball catch - the foundation of every aerial skill.
- Contested Aerial CatchWin the ball in the air with an opponent competing, safely and legally.
- Wall Pass ReboundBuild passing accuracy and reaction catching completely alone, off any flat wall.