07/31/2025
First Touch Training
What Is “First Touch Training”?
LYSA’s development model, “First Touch Training” is more than just receiving the ball — it’s a teaching framework that cultivates quick-thinking, technically confident, and spatially aware players. It emphasizes how players control the ball, what they do immediately after receiving it, and how they move to support the next action. We train players not only to touch the ball well, but to make that first touch matter — tactically, physically, and mentally.
Succinctly, First Touch Training is:
1) Move with the play
2) When a ball is passed, move to the ball don’t wait for it
3) Control the ball with first touch
4) Carry/pass/shoot
5) Move off the ball
First Touch Training simultaneously teaches tactics and techniques in the order that are most important to game play and to create quick players. Coaches cannot make players faster. Physical speed of any athlete is determined by genetics, level of development and (on a long-term basis) physical conditioning. However, we can help our players learn to be quick with First Touch Training.
Quick players are never static (standing flat footed); rather, they are always moving with the play, not chasing the ball. Players must understand that when their team has control of the ball, everyone on the team is an attacker. Likewise, when the opposing team has control of the ball, everyone on the team is a defender. A quick player’s job is to constantly assess where they need to be for the greatest advantage to their team depending on who has the ball, where on the field the ball is and where the ball is likely to go next. Avoid teaching defined positions; positional play is static and limiting. Instead, teach positional responsibilities based on the factors listed above and encourage players to never stand; this is dynamic, thinking soccer and creates quick players.
Quick players move to the ball when it is passed to them. They do not wait for the ball to come to them. Players should step up to reduce the space the ball must travel and simultaneously move away from the marking defender.
Quick players strive to control the ball with their first touch when it is passed to them because they understand control is critical. If your team doesn’t control the ball, they cannot score goals and will not win games. Quick players also control the ball dynamically as opposed to a standing trap. Controlling the ball with first touch in a dynamic manner allows a player to move away from marking defenders and to open space limiting a defender’s opportunity to steal the ball. Once the ball is under a player’s control, a quick player can then advance the ball.
Quick players know what their next likely move is before they control the ball; they do not need to stop and think before making their next move. Fundamentally, players have only three choices – carry, pass or shoot (soccer is a simple game!). Carrying the ball and/or making short, accurate passes to teammates are superior tactics. Younger players are often cheered for making “big kicks” but these are not tactically sound if teammates do not maintain control. Long balls rarely allow a team to maintain control of the ball thereby limiting the opportunities to score. Shooting/scoring is the ultimate goal of quick players.
Quick players immediately move once the ball is released to another player or a shot taken. Again, quick players are never static. They are continuously moving with the play; analyzing and determining what place on the field will give their team an advantage. Often, the best choice is open space away from marking defenders. Encourage players to move with the play to open space so opportunities for further advancement of the ball are created.
