Single-Leg Balance Circuit
Single-leg holds, reaches and airplane holds on a square of floor: the ankle strength a sharp first step is built on.
Hear the coach on this drill
Every line the Audio Coach says in this drill, played back to back; the time beside each is when it comes in the 8-minute drill. No account needed.
Set-up
A patch of floor about two steps square, with a mat or carpet if the floor is hard and a wall within arm's reach for the eyes-closed holds. Bare feet or socks give the feet more to feel. No ball, and a phone or watch to count the seconds.
What you need
- Nothing but the space
The ground: 6 × 6 ft (about 2 × 2 m). One child can run it alone in a backyard. The space and equipment check lists every drill that fits the ground you have.
How to run it
- Set up. A patch of floor two steps square. Bare feet, or socks on a mat if the floor is hard. No ball.
- Stand. Thirty seconds on one foot, eyes open, hands on hips. Then the other foot.
- Eyes closed. Fifteen seconds on each foot with the eyes shut. Much harder: a wall within reach is fine.
- Star reach. On one foot, touch the free foot forward, to the side and behind, five times each way. Swap.
- Airplane. On one foot, tip the chest forward with the arms out wide for twenty seconds. Swap.
- Count it. One last eyes-closed hold on each foot, timed. Write the longest down.
Coaching points
- The standing knee sits over the middle toes and never rolls in
- Hips stay level: a dropped hip is a lost hold waiting to happen
- Soft knee, tall chest, eyes on one fixed point
What to watch: The standing knee rolling in and the hips dropping. Shorter holds done straight beat long wobbly ones.
Common mistakes
- The standing knee rolling inward, which is the hold already failing
- A hip dropping on the free side so the body leans to stay up
- Locking the standing knee straight, which turns balance into a stiff wobble
- Looking at the floor instead of at one fixed point on the wall
- Chasing a long wobbly hold instead of a shorter straight one
What good looks like
A good target: A 20-second eyes-closed hold on each foot without a touch down.
Progressions and variations
Making it harder
- Level 1: Eyes open only, with a fingertip on the wall allowed
- Level 2: Hands off the wall, and the eyes-closed holds added
- Level 3: The star reach, touching the floor lightly at each point
- Level 4: Every hold on a folded towel or cushion for an unstable surface
- Level 5: A sibling tosses a ball to catch during the airplane hold
- Level 6: Thirty seconds eyes closed on each foot with no touch down
Alone, with a sibling, or in a group
- Solo: a phone timer and a wall within reach, chasing the eyes-closed record.
- Sibling: face each other on one foot and see who wobbles first, then swap feet.
- Co-op: a line of players holding together while a leader calls the next shape.
Adjusting it by age
- U14: Shorter holds and a wall always within reach, with the game being who can stay still longest rather than longest full stop. Praise a straight knee over a long time.
- U18: Take the wall away, lengthen every hold and add the cushion. Pair it with the skater bounds so the strength built standing still is used landing.
For the parent running it
- Count the seconds out loud and watch the knee. It should sit over the middle toes, never falling inward.
On their own: A phone timer and a wall to touch if a hold is lost. Count your own seconds; write down the longest eyes-closed hold.
Safety
- A wall within reach for the eyes-closed holds, and nothing sharp-cornered nearby
- A mat on a hard floor if they are in bare feet
More on training safely at home: Safety at Home.
Related drills
Ladder & Cone Agility
Quick feet through a ladder (or cones as substitutes), followed by short sprints.
Sprint Intervals
Repeated 30m sprints with walk-back recovery.
Cut and Go
Accelerate to a cone, brake properly, cut, and accelerate away again.
Fast Feet & Lateral Shuffle
Quick feet on the spot, side shuffles across a metre and small forward-back hops: the footwork a player uses between every touch.
Run it with the Audio Coach
In Spatrian the Audio Coach talks your player through this drill while they play it, and each run goes on their own training record, which their coach or personal trainer can read and, for a homeschool family, counts as PE time. The beta is opening to a small first group of players and families.