General Practice Guidelines
The way to have successful practices is to plan. Your practice planning should begin before you first get together with the team and should continue throughout the season as you plan for each practice.
PRE-SEASON PLANNING
Find out when and where you can practice. Passer teams may practice twice a week for about an hour each time; older teams may extend twice-a-week practices to 90 min. The two main objectives for any soccer practice are (1) to have fun, and (2) to learn to become better soccer players. In order to achieve the second objective, it is important that you develop teaching goals for the season before you start. You will ordinarily have only eight to ten practices before the first game. Since you will not have time to teach everything, choose the topics you want to focus on and build your practices around these topics. Some of the topics you should consider include:
(*) These topics are good ones to emphasize for the younger kids.
RULES
*Kick-off
*Corner kick
*Throw-in
Drop ball
*Goal kick
*Indirect free kick
Penalty kick
Offside
CONDITIONING
Speed · Endurance · Strength (Always with a ball)
TECHNIQUES
*Dribbling
Fakes
*Foot trap
*Pass (inside foot)
Pass (outside foot)
Heading
Shooting
Thigh trap
Pull back
*Turning
Juggling
Chipping
*Shielding
*Tackling
Chest trap
Curving
Volleying (half & full)
Goalie (*Catching, *Throwing, Punting, Diving, Punching)
TACTICS
*Positions
*Support
Crossing
Overlap
Channeling
Double team
*Passing
Set plays
*Wall pass
Defensive wall
*Marking up
Be realistic in selecting your objectives! Consider the age and experience of your players. Decide on your priorities - what are the most important things you want to cover before the games begin? If you have doubts about whether your team is ready for a new tactic, skill or concept, introduce it after you have seen it used by some of your players.
Identify one or more assistant coaches. Assistant coaches are extremely valuable. They make it possible to divide players into smaller groups so that each player gets individual attention. Parents who would like to help, but feel they lack the necessary skills, should be encouraged to attend practice to help shag balls and direct traffic. It is hard to have too many helpers, especially with younger players. The pre-season Parent Orientation Meeting is an excellent time to solicit help! Prepare a bad weather contingency plan. Inform your players and parents before the season whether you will practice in the rain or cancel practice. Even if you plan to practice in the rain, you should not have practice when conditions are dangerous (for example: when there is lightning or if the field has become too wet to permit safe play). If you do need to cancel practice due to adverse weather, have an organized plan to inform parents. Again, the Parent Orientation Meeting is the time to set up a telephone tree, which can make this job much easier.
PRACTICE PLANS
Have a written plan for each practice. You cannot have a good practice if you do not have an idea of what you want to accomplish during that practice. The plan may be written out in detail or it may just be notes jotted on the back of an envelope, but it really should be written down. Writing down your plan will help you think through the equipment and setup you will need for the topics to be covered. Save these plans as a record of performance and to help develop a progressive program for the season. As you plan your practices, with the help of the information that follows, remember these points:
TIPS TO KEEP PLAYERS’ INTEREST AND AVOID BOREDOM:
- Minimize the amount of talking that you do.
- Get all of the players involved.
- Turn “drills” into games.
- Give players many touches on the ball.
- Give players many chances to shoot and score.
Keep the practice focused. If you are trying to teach new skills, your practice should concentrate on a single major topic (e.g. passing), rather than on many different topics. Practices should follow a progression: warm-up, drills, scrimmage, and cool down.
Plan warm-ups so that each player uses a ball. Incorporate games and exercises that emphasize a lot of touches and dribbling. If possible, use or create conditioning exercises that require the players to work with a ball rather than just running. The kids will have more fun and they will learn more soccer skills! Be sure to include stretching at the end of the warm-ups. Younger players don’t need a lot of stretching, but you should start the habit early. Try to use stretching exercises that require a ball; again, the kids will enjoy it more and it increases their familiarity with the ball. Drills should be appropriate for the skills you are teaching. Limit the number of drills in a given practice, and don’t spend too long on any one drill. Remember that a child’s attention span is limited! Keep it varied and interesting with a minimum of oral instruction (don’t lecture!). Demonstrate as much as possible. If you feel uncomfortable demonstrating techniques, don’t hesitate to enlist your more skillful players, or perhaps older soccer players, to help you. Depending on the level you are coaching, junior high or high school players may be useful for this purpose. MAXIMIZE the number of touches for each player by running drills with several small groups at the same time; no child likes to stand in line waiting!
Small-sided games (e.g. 3 v 3) are an excellent practice tool. They help keep everyone involved and, by reducing the size of each playing field, you can have two games going at the same time. Drills should be organized to progress into controlled scrimmages (e.g. no shots until at least four consecutive passes have been made). Follow up a controlled scrimmage with an open scrimmage. Remember the kids signed up to play soccer!
Be prepared to change your plans! Weather, field conditions, the number of players who come to practice, can all affect your plans. Be flexible and adjust to conditions. You may also need to extend the time spent on a particular drill if the players are having difficulty acquiring a particular skill. If it is especially hot, allow for more frequent water breaks and reduce the physical intensity of practice. After the season starts it is helpful to take a few minutes of practice to discuss the previous game, emphasizing what your team did well, what can be improved upon, and what the goals should be for the coming week.
PLAYER MANAGEMENT
LOOK OUT FOR THE KIDS! Come to practices a few minutes early to set up and to be there for early drop-offs. The coach (or another parent) must stay at the practice site until all children are picked up (remember the “Two Times” program). If parents are persistently late, then settle the problem with the parents, don’t gamble with the safety of the kids.
TEAM DISCIPLINE
At the first practice it is valuable to establish team rules concerning attendance, listening carefully, respecting teammates, etc. You will be most successful if you do this with the cooperation and consent of the players and parents themselves. Make it clear to all what the penalty will be for breaking team rules (e.g. time out from practice or a scrimmage). This is also a good time to set realistic team goals for the season (e.g. to have fun, to work together as a team, to practice good sportsmanship).
Some ideas to avoid having to install discipline:
- Keep your players busy so they don’t have time for mischief. If you have kids standing in line all the time, you are inviting disaster!
- Be positive: say “Please walk” instead of “Don’t run”.
- Try to deal with problems before they get worse.
- Speak with the culprit first, before resorting to other disciplinary measures.
- If time outs don’t work, then talk to the parents; ask them to attend practice, if necessary. Work on your communication skills. Many coaches can speak clearly, use appropriate words well enough and have content that is appropriate to young players. However, most coaches need a great deal of work on listening to young players, controlling and reading non-verbal cues, and understanding the emotional responses of different athletes to what they say. The better you understand your players, the less trouble you are likely to have with misbehavior.
Alternatives to practice
Instead of a practice, take your team to a soccer game. Local high schools, colleges or universities may have teams that would be exciting to watch (call to ask whether you can get your team in free or at a reduced rate). Renting or borrowing a soccer video is another alternative, especially for older teams.
The MAIN POINTS to remember for a successful practice are:
- BE PREPARED. Have a plan for what you will cover during the practice.
- Keep it SIMPLE. Give a short demonstration with a minimum of talk, then have the players work on the drill. MAXIMIZE touches for each player.
- Make it FUN. Sometimes the drills in books just don’t work for you and/or your players. Don’t fight it to the point of frustration. Be prepared to switch to something you know they can handle.
- Strive for a PROGRESSIVE acquisition of basic skills. Begin with relatively simple drills. Add movement and then opposition to simulate game conditions. Always consider the age and skill level of your players. The percentage of time spent on practice without opposition should decrease as players become older and more skillful. Restricting space and number of touches are other ways to make drills more demanding.
- Always have time when the players JUST PLAY.
- Always BE SAFETY CONSCIOUS with your players.
- Every once in a while ASK YOURSELF, “Why am I coaching?” and “How do I measure my success?” This will help you evaluate your techniques and your progress.
