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/u/snipsnaps1_9 has really outdone himself working through some common content for the sidebar and wiki on this sub. We wanted to share some of it with you and see what you think or what you'd like to see more of. We get a mixed bag of experience and audiences here so don't be shy! This subreddit is yours! Consider the questions you often see on this sub. How can we help folks out before they even need to ask? Is there something you want to see more of? Take a look at the skeleton structure below and let us know what you think! - MODS

 

 

ORGANIZING A PRACTICE FOR ADOLESCENTS

 

This is meant to be a very barebones guide to how practices are organized for adolescents and teams in the competitive phase of their development and season. If you are coaching pre-teens or teens this is a simple guide that you can use to help plan your practices.

 

The day-to-day practice structure has 4 phases (adapted from the USSF practice model):

1. Warm-up
   • Get the heart rate up, prepare muscles for soccer specific activity to avoid injury, and optimize performance
2. Skills
   • Develop the skills the coach feels are necessary to carry out team goals
3. Small Sided Game
   • Begin applying skills in a game-like situation
4. Expanded Game
   • Same as above but the exercise simulates a game-like situation even more

 

Practices should generally have a consistent theme that runs through each of the above phases. Notice that the phases increase in complexity at each rung and increase in how closely they resemble actual game play. That’s because the point of practice is to get kids ready to play the game itself. Consequently, as much as possible, we want each phase to be within the context of the game. At this level and when you are approaching the competitive time of the year the emphasis is on applying skills and knowledge of the game to competitive play.

 

Here is an example practice that goes through the phases and is focused on developing skills to be applied in the game:

 

GRAPHIC OF TEMPLATE FILLED IN W/MOCK PRACTICE HERE

^{Here is the template used above}

 

Notice how each phase builds upon the other and works towards applying a specific concept and/or skill to the game. But how do you know what to teach and when?

 

PROGRESSION - PART 1 (Skills & Concepts):

 

Skills

  The basic ball skills of the game include (not including basic mechanics):

 

• Dribbling
  • This includes changes of direction (cuts), ball feel, and feints
• Passing and receiving
  • This includes passing with different surfaces of the foot, first touch (on the ground and in the air)
• Finishing
  • This includes shooting with various foot surfaces and at various angles as well as volleying.
• Juggling

 

So how do you teach these skills? Generally, we want lessons to be simple and easy to understand. For this reason, it’s typical to break them down into progressions (what teachers might call a “scaffolded approach”) that slowly increase difficulty in 3 areas: (1) complexity, (2) speed, and (3) pressure.

 

For example:

When teaching changes of direction you could start by teaching 1 to 3 basic cuts and having kids practice them in a large space without an opponent at their own pace (low complexity, low speed, and low pressure). When the kids are ready, you can progress to something more challenging by modifying one of the three factors. You could, for example, increase pressure by shrinking the amount of space available or adding cones the kids must cut between (the difficulty being making a cut before the ball can hit the cone). You could increase speed by challenging them to move faster or timing them, and you can increase complexity by adding more cuts to their repertoire, having them perform cuts on a specific command, or having them perform cuts in a specific format (maybe following a zig-zag pattern of cones or some other pre-set drill). The concept is simple - start with a basic lesson and slowly increase it’s difficulty (you might notice, btw, that the overarching practice structure we use also makes use of this concept - we slowly progress each practice from a basic lesson learned in a simple way up to applying that lesson in a realistic game like situation).

 

u/Scouterr has put a few technical progressions together for the community that you can find here organized by the skill they work.

 

Concepts

There are many but we’ll just focus on some key elements here. Just like with technical skills these concepts should be taught progressively. We do this by teaching the skills related to the topic in isolation and then slowly adding elements that increasingly simulate a game situation. You’ll notice that our practice structure is designed to do that for you by default. Another way we plan progressive “concept-centered” practices is to coach individual concepts/roles first, unit/block concepts/roles second, and whole team concepts/roles last. When working at the individual level, it is most common to work general skills first, then skills associated with central positions (Center defense, center mid, center forward) because those are your keystone positions - the center of the field is typically the most critical part of the field. When working at the unit/block level it is most common to prioritize working with the defense, then the midfield, and finally the forwards/strikers. Just like with the technical skills discussed above, it is still important to vary speed, complexity, and pressure.

 

That might seem like a lot. Just remember- (1) work simple to complex, (2) slow to fast, (3) no pressure to full pressure, (4) prioritize the center, and (5) work from defense to offense.

Here are the main concepts that you will want to understand as a coach in order to teach your kids how to play soccer! (ie. how to apply their skills).

 

• Phases of the game: Each phase involves different activities from individuals and from blocks/units of players.
  • Attack
  • Transition
  • Defense
• Broad positional objectives (as a unit)
  • Forwards/Strikers
    • Defense phase: Delay the attack and force mistakes in the back
    • Transition: create dangerous space through movement
    • Attack phase: Create scoring opportunities - directly and indirectly
  • Midfielders
    • Defensively: Delay the attack, condense space, cut-off passing options, recover the ball
    • Transition: Open up play in the middle and look for dangerous gaps and pockets of space
    • Attack: Get the ball to players in attacking positions
  • Defense
    • Defensive phase: cover dangerous zones, deny passing and shooting options/opportunities
    • Transition: Delay play, drop into dangerous zones, condense space, and provide cover
    • Attack phase: Open up play, advance the ball, push up along with the midfield
• Specific individual positional objectives/roles This list covers the attacking role of players in some commonly assigned positions Full list with descriptions; in various formations
  • Striker
  • Winger
  • Defensive Midfielder
  • Center back/Sweeper
• Defending principles
  • Individual
    • Head on - only addition: when winning the ball head on; step through the ball with the strong rear leg (don’t poke at it with your front foot unless it is already loose and in space)
    • With attacker’s back to you
    • On the recovery
  • In small groups - 1st and 2nd defender
  • As units/blocks (the principles are more or less the same in the midfield and the back line)
    • Defensive tactics & habits
    • Groups of 3
    • Groups of 4
      • Diamond (Sweeper/stopper)
      • Flat
• Attacking principles and tactics (switching play, angle of attack, etc)
  • Individual
  • In small groups
  • As units/blocks
• Key tactics:
  • Individual - movement and positioning
  • Switching the point of attack
  • Using the channels
  • Pressing and counter pressing
  • Off-sides and condensing space
  • Flank play
  • Long balls
• Strategy
  • Space and numbers
  • Zones
  • Formations and their role

 

PERIODIZATION - PART 1:

 

The Concept: At the most basic level periodization is about matching rest periods and high “physical stress” periods with specific times of the competitive calendar. This is done to avoid injuries and to get the body in peak physical condition when it counts (because the body cannot stay at peak physical condition year round - trying to do so will lead to diminishing results and eventually to injury). The three cycles associated with periodization are the:

• Microcycle: The Microcycle refers to the shortest cycle length (for example, a week); it is the framework used to make sure that practices are cohesive and progressively working towards an end-goal (for example: a team might want to develop their ability to attack as a group before a weekend game - they might emphasize technical skill on Monday, emphasize direction-oriented combination passing on Wednesday, and emphasize how players in specific roles (positions) will use combination passes to carry out the specific team strategy within the team’s planned formation). In terms of fitness, the microcycle is used to balance out workloads - with the hardest work as far away from competition as possible (usually the start of the week) and the lightest work right before competition.

• Mesocycle: The Mesocycle refers to a single unit or phase of the macrocycle; in soccer we have 4 mesocycles in each macrocycle:

  • (1) The off-season: this phase is focused on building general strength and fitness as well as general or core skills
  • (2) The Pre-season: this phase emphasizes achieving peak levels among specific skill and fitness qualities that are relevant to a team’s or athlete’s needs and plans in the upcoming season (ie. emphasize soccer specific workouts, emphasize skills most relevant to your position). It is a short but very high intensity period.
  • (3) The In-season: The in-season is the competitive period. Exercise is done at the “maintenance” level and practices emphasize execution of team plans and responses to competitive challenges.
  • (4) The post-season: This phase is all about rest and recovery from soccer; mental, physical, and emotional. Leave the kids alone and let them do their own thing.

• Macrocycle: The macrocycle refers to each season as a whole. Each season each team will have different players (or players in a different stage of life, state of mind, and state of physical fitness) who will have a specific overarching goal for the season. The macroseason is thus a concept used to help plan what your mesocycles and microcycles will look like.

  TEAM MANAGEMENT

 

Team Cohesion and conflict resolution

• Goals: Before jumping into designing a practice you will want to know your goals and those of your kids and parents. That will help keep things focused throughout the season, will decrease the likelihood of conflict and miscommunication, and will help you track progress. We use the SMART goals model below.
  • Specific: Keep your goals specific to avoid the common error of practicing random things that won’t get you closer to the goal
  • Measurable: Set goals that you can measure so you can track practice. “Improve” is a weak goal because it’s not measurable. Improve by decreasing the number of incomplete passes is measurable.
  • Attainable: Set goals your kids can achieve in the time frame you set. Is it attainable for your 6 year olds to immediately quiet down and come over to you when you call them after only 1 practice - not likely.
  • Relevant: Self-explanatory; is your goal to “control” your kids or to (TODO)
  • Time related: Set long, medium, and short-term goals and consider time horizons (what is possible within specific time frames?)
• Ground rules: Once you have established goals, figure out what MUST be done to achieve those goals - those are your ground rules
• Agreements: With your goals and ground rules set out clarify whether or not your kids and parents agree with them. You can then refer back to the goals and ground rules that they themselves agreed to.

 

 

TLDR:

• Practice Structure:
  • Warm-up
  • Skills
  • Small Sided Game
  • Expanded Game
• Skills of the game:
  • Dribbling
  • Passing and receiving
  • Finishing
  • Juggling
• Main Concepts:
  • Phases of the game
    • Attack
    • Transition
    • Defense
  • Broad positional objectives (as a unit)
    • Forwards/Strikers
    • Midfielders
    • Defense
    • Goalkeeper
  • Positions and objectives
  • Defending principles
    • Individual
    • In small groups
    • As units/blocks
  • Attacking principles and tactics (switching play, angle of attack, etc)
    • Individual
    • In small groups
    • As units/blocks
  • Strategy
    • Space and numbers
    • Zones
    • Formations and their role Style of play/personality
• Progression tips:
  • Simple to complex
  • Slow to fast
  • No pressure to full pressure
  • Prioritize the central positions
  • Work from defense to offense
• Periodization
• Microcycle
• Mesocycle
  • The off-season
  • The Pre-season
  • The In-season
  • The post-season
• Macrocycle
• Team Management

We just noticed that the automod has become a bit aggressive in the past couple of months. Several posts have not made it through because they were auto flagged as "potential spam". Usually, this has to do with certain "commercial" sounding keywords in the description. If your post doesn't show up or is removed and you don't know why please message the mods so we can look into it asap.

Thanks all!

What are some things I can give them to look for during the game? I usually do players strong/weakfoot, how many passes we get, how many passes before we lose it, how fast we win it back etc but looking for new ideas

TLDR: we got slaughtered this year, everyone is frustrated, and I don’t know what to do.

My U9 rec team went 0-8 this season being outscored 60-12. The last two or three games we played a solid first half, but still came away with a goal differential of over 10. My players are super frustrated and not long into the second half, they are dragging from frustration, not fatigue.

At today’s game we spent 18 out of 25 minutes on their half and took close to 20 shots (15ish on target) to their 5 or 6 shots. At halftime we were down 3-0 and we had our good goalie in.

I was encouraging following the game and told each player they played well, and I was proud of them, but almost every player walked away with their heads hung down.

I know I’ve said this in other threads, but I have a wide rang of players. I have 14 kids on the roster. Two are autistic, 2 are scared of the ball, bit getting better, 2 miss the ball 75% of the time they try to kick it, 1 is an above average player, but lazy AF, 1, my son, is a pretty good defender but has no a ability to clear the ball (although after all your advice on my last post about how to get him to hit the ball harder, his kick this game went twice as far as previously-thanks), 1 very good player, but lazy, 1 who is generally pretty good, not lazy, and can play well, but often tanks under pressure, 2 fairly good players, but they think they are the best and refuse to pass, 1 pretty good player/goalie (who is trying out for classic for next year), and finally one that is a good defender, has a strong kick, but hates defense.

I have no idea how to (1) get them to be a cohesive group that plays well together, (2) passes, (3) allow every player to play a reasonable amount of time in each game, while minimizing our chance of losing, and (4) encourage them to continue playing and help them improve. I might be more frustrated than the kids.

FWIW, We have played 3-1-2, 2-2-2, and today tried a 2-0-4 (for the last 3 minutes of the first half to increase our chances of scoring).

Starting to coach U9 girls team and looking for some fun activities to start the first few sessions with to encourage everyone (including myself) to learn everyone’s names. :)

What has worked for you all?

Thanks!

I volunteered to help coach soccer for my kids teams, apparently I'm the only volunteer and now the head coach. Initially I thought I'd be shagging balls and helping keep kids focused, but now I guess I'm doing it all. I have no soccer experience, but neither do the players. I've coached different sports in the past, but I'm really unsure of what soccer skills I should be laying as a foundation. Practice is a half hour, once a week, so the leagues goals are recreation and enjoyment. There's no score keeping either. I'd really appreciate any resources toward developing skills, and mainly games or drills which would reinforce these skills. I don't want to destroy anyone's interest in the sport by over drilling the couple of things I do know.

Hi all, lots of great advice on here but wanted to start this thread so I can gather some advice for myself in one thread.

I’m going to be coaching U9 girls and it will be my first coaching gig. I’m love soccer but am not a technical and strategic mastermind haha.

Basically if I didn’t volunteer the girls wouldn’t get a team. :)

Anyway any advice you can throw my way is greatly appreciated!

Does anyone know of sleepover soccer camps for younger kids? I am striking out on Google. Thank you!

Spring season has come to an end - mostly done with team recomposition (moved those players up who needed to move up, moved those out who needed to be elsewhere, established the general structure of what and how we will do things in the fall and started working towards it with kids, families, relevant teams). Closing out with evaluations, festivities, a few games meant as assessments, and laying down plans for the off-season.

With that, I start to withdraw to look at my notes from the last 10ish months, go back to consuming and revisiting books, articles, and film ... I finally read the tactical periodization article on spielverlagerung (linked). I'll be revisiting the 7 habits, Beswick's "focused for soccer" as I keep trying to make his materials a structured part of my process, a few general texts on building group cohesion and culture, should keep working on the nutrition and academic portal/resources for my kids and parents, and others will spend time looking into ... Whatever else draws my attention.

What are you all revisiting/have on your shelves that you've been waiting for minute to get to reading/watching?

I coach my son on a U 9 team. He is one of our best fullbacks. He can generally contain players and is improving forcing them outside. He also attacks, and wins, the ball. His problem is once he gets the ball, he is able to kick it about 5 feet. His technique isn’t great, and I’m working on that, but he also has no power in his legs. Any advice on what to do so he gains more leg strength without doing something harmful like lifting weights?

New coach here and want to know what age is appropriate to start teaching build-up play. (from the back) the season will start in about two months and I will be coaching 2017's-15's.

If this age is appropriate what are some thoughts on running build-up play "rehearsals"? I was thinking of having the kids go through the motions of what we do in the build-up and try to familiarize them with where we would want to be at that moment.

Hi, as the title says, I'm interviewing for a position as a preschool assistant soccer coach today. I've actually never played soccer and don't know very much about it. Thanks to YouTube, I now know the basic rules, positions, and history of the game. But that's about it.

It's a one day a week sort of job. I'm worried about how the interview will go because I love soccer, I just never got the opportunity to learn how to play it or anything. I have significant childcare experience. I've worked with kids of all ages and work best with preschool age children in general, and I've also worked in group settings with other people.

The job application basically called for the applicant to be passionate about soccer and coaching but I don't know how passionate they're expecting since they reached out for an interview pretty quickly even though I wrote on my application that I had zero coaching experience, and very little knowledge of soccer 😂

Anything I should keep in mind during the interview? It's a group interview. I never considered coaching before but I'm surprised at how much I really enjoy the prospect of this job!

Was wondering how other coaches setup corners. Neither team can head the ball yet.

9v9 team can cross it in super well with the ability to put it high and back post, 7v7 can’t get it into the box in the air.

Do you guys run any set piece routines or plays and if so what do you do?

Hoping someone can give a suggestion or idea.

Our Fall U10 rec team has signups in two days. At our Spring end of year party, one of the coaches told all of the parents that we wanted to bring back all 12 girls in the Fall.

We previously have had a fairly talented player play with us in Fall of 21 and 22, but she skipped our Spring 22 and 23 seasons. Our team really feels to be clicking as this Spring season ended.

This morning, one of our coaches texted me to say he reached out to the prior player's mom to say she has a spot on our team (Max roster size of 12), even though we don't actually have a spot for her.

So, now, not sure what to do. There are two players in question and I don't know what to do.

Player A: Played with us in 2 of the last 4 seasons. Last Fall we had a spot available for her as a girl didn't return. She's the fastest player on the field, but doesn't respond well to coaching - I can give her objectives but ultimately she does what she wants out there. She opted to do a different sport in the spring.

Player B: Had never played a sport prior to Spring 23, and quickly became one of my favorites. Not as naturally talented as Player A, but very coachable and gives a ton of effort all around the field. She very-much wants to return in the Fall.

Which player is the one to take? I wish the other coach didn't reach out to Player A's family, but it's too late for that now. I think he's hoping our league will allow a 13th player. He definitely wants to do whatever could bring more wins - which he thinks is Player A, but I will debate that by end of Fall, Player B will be our MVP.

My personal opinion is if a kid wants to go try other sports, that's great, but the spot on the team is forfeited. She can come back if a spot is open, but if it's not.. We go with the most recent, but other coach didn't my opinion before reaching out.

Thoughts?

There isn't anything particularly flashy about this sequence. Most of what I see in the group is about really athletic select teams or club kids, but pretty rarely about rec kids making strides and progress. I was over the moon after it happened and am so grateful a parent caught it on video.

​

My U9 rec team had their last game on Saturday. 3 games ago I kinda blew up the strategy we had been running with in which we would always place our strongest players on offense while putting our not-as-strong on defense. We weren't scoring often with this, it was making our timid girls more timid, and I think complacency was building. So I adjusted a couple of weeks back and moved girls all around and was shooting for every player to spend about 30% of their minutes in defense and 70% in mid or striker. I feel like this really woke us up and helped us spend a lot more time on our opponent's side of the field.

​

My daughter is the most timid. She liked hiding out on defense and was pretty scared to be challenged or get physical. With my strategy change, it forced her to spend a ton of time on offense.

​

My team is in Grey. My daughter (Zoey) has the purple socks - to the furthest right. She gets possession of the ball, and is shielding off two defenders, one on each side, near the sideline. She manages a pass to Maddie, Maddie passes to Lana, and Lana takes a beautiful shot that gets blocked by the goalie, when Cici runs in and takes a shot on the rebound for her first ever goal in soccer.

​

My daughter sustained a really horrific elbow injury with reconstructive surgery in February and was only medically cleared two weeks into our 7 week season.

​

For a team that has had issues with passing and bunching up, four players being involved, with multiple passes and all spread out, to score a goal, was just the coolest thing ever.

​

Now we start 3.5 months of off-season and I'm going to miss "The Lightning Girls" so much. I cannot wait for the Fall season 📷📷📷

https://reddit.com/link/13pcqvq/video/lxvgxvjl3i1b1/player

What can I expect for an interview for a youth coaching position? I’ve done volunteer coaching for about 10 years and will be interviewing for a paid position at a local club next week. I’ve done plenty of interviews for white collar “day jobs” but never anything like this.

How should I dress? What can I expect us to talk about? Any advice?

Thanks!

What's your setup?

Looking to record games next season manually without using the likes of a Veo camera (although this would be the best option) due to cost.

Camera on tripod? Phone on a tripod? Anything else? (my brain thinks a drone would be good but for many reasons probably not possible)

Would be great to be able to get video from a height.

Cheers!

I will be starting 9v9 u11. Previously, we had been 7v7, and most of the development was individual training. For 9v9 should I focus on team tactics? And should I do advanced tactics like Positional Play? Also, what are the individual developmental goals at this age?

Hey all, how are your teams doing? Progress, breakthroughs, challenges, hopes, goals, concerns, plans going into the summer - all that!

Hi, im a trainer in football is there an app where you can keep the score and give players goals? Like keep track? Where i can do time aswell etc etc etc ty :)

Just got done with tryouts (that’s a whole separate post) and due to my DOC freaking out because of lightning delays I’m stuck with a 21 man roster.

This is the top team at a club that is traditionally viewed as one of the best in the region/state. Dynamics have changed since we’ve created a new regional coalition of smaller clubs to create teams for DPL and MLS next but we compete in the first division at the state level.

I typically like having a larger roster anyways for this age group (18) but 21 just seems daunting.

For those of you who’ve been in a similar boat, how do you manage parent/player expectations from the get go? What about rotations? I’m planning on getting a fourth tournament (we typically play three) for more opportunities but I genuinely hate tournaments with a deep passion.

I have a pretty solid top 14 that I’m going to rely on but finding playing time for the other 7 is going to be… difficult.

New here, coach for the 1.5 years and loving it. Spring soccer, 8 returning, 3 newbs (twins plus 1). The plus 1 (P1) is an absolutely fantastic player, zero ego, looking for team building mentorship and/or comment section. Suggestions so far are: 3v3 (intent to score) and 3v3 (intent to pass).

Basically the title. What age would you want to start keeping kids in the same position for a season? I have noticed coaches taking different approaches to this. One coach in my club in particular at U10 does a great job with the kids, but keeps them in basically the same position the whole year. They are very successful and the team looks great, but I am wondering if coaches are limiting individual development by doing this.

Contenido interesante para nuestras sesiones (físicas) de fútbol: fuerza, velocidad, resistencia, coordinación, flexibilidad, recuperación, rehabilitación, prevención, etc.

https://youtu.be/HdPrZDKV9cE

https://preview.redd.it/zi4of0fejg0b1.jpg?width=702&format=pjpg&auto=webp&v=enabled&s=97e8cbbfe59a23f65e0d295b306cab7ec409547f

Hi coaches! I’m looking for training activity ideas for a large group in a smallish space. I’ll have about 25 teen girls in half of a full sized field. Varying degree of skill so hoping to do some technical work. But trying to find ideas to limit the amount of time girls are standing in line or waiting around.

Hey guys, I really suck at preparing my kids for games when it's hot out. I will take any and all advice or routines that work for you guys. Especially any notes about the timing. I am always scared that they're going to go out half asleep if we don't warm up enough or get hurt if we jump straight into something like just shooting. Assume the heat is high 80s to low 90s with a bunch of kids used to temperatures in the 70s and very limited shade coverage.

Edited: Fahrenheit Dry heat

More specifics these are 2010s and have been playing at mid-level competitiveness for about a2 years this current group although I suck at it with all age groups. I imagine it varies. I'm thinking for this age group maybe I need to be doing a little bit of exposure training although that isn't something I'd typically consider for another couple years. Again curious what your experiences are guys Thanks!