Hands and Lungs

Starting position

Two feeders facing each other, nineteen metres apart, a line of five in the middle and a bag planted behind. Nothing complicated: it is a handling drill, but you do it with your lungs. The first man steps out of the line, takes the feeder's pass and gives it straight back. Then he goes to the bag, touches it, and comes back. He has barely returned when the ball arrives again — and that is where the drill really starts. He has to fire a clean pass, behind the back, without looking, already short of breath. Then he loops round the cone and rejoins the back of the line. The next man has already gone. The ball shuttles from one feeder to the other without ever hitting the ground: five crossings in twenty-two seconds. What you work here is not the pass — everybody can pass standing still. It is the pass when the arms are heavy and the head wants to slow down. Hands up, pace held, and talk loud: that is the only way the ball never stops.