Elliott Dickman worked as professional development phase coach at Sunderland for four years, before moving to become Newcastle United Under-23 lead player development coach in October 2021. Before he left to take up his new role, he filmed this exclusive coaching course for CV Academy, taking a group of his then Sunderland PDP players through a series of practices designed to develop their ability to break lines and pass forward.

The session, which Dickman took alongside lead Under-18 coach John Hewitson, starts with a technical practice that isolates the passing and receiving skills that will be employed throughout. The second practice is an end-zone possession game that rewards the players if they can play through one of a number of mannequin gates before scoring. The sessions ends with a 6v6 (plus goalkeepers) game that places a restriction on backwards passing and encourages teams to find different ways to progress the ball forward.

We hope you enjoy it! Please also click below to download the accompanying session plan in PDF form.