Home - Better Soccer Coaches

When I got my first assignment as a soccer coach I was excited but I was also scared to death. I was scared that I didn’t know enough to run a good practice, I was scared of not being able to teach or coach, and I was mostly afraid of not being able to control a group of children. I was right to be scared - I can still remember my first practice, mostly because of how horrible it went. The practice had very little organization, kids took over as the authority on how to run the drills, and I could tell we (me AND the kids) were all feeling a little discouraged when leaving the practice field that day. It didn’t have to be like that, and it doesn’t have to happen to you! I don’t want that to happen to you, and so everything you read from here on out on this page will be about how to learn from my mistakes and my experience, and ultimately how to run a really great soccer practice. How to create a soccer practice plan How to prepare and plan a soccer practice The most important thing you can do as a soccer coach is to prepare and plan a practice ahead of time. I know that you will have a job, a family, and other hobbies that will take up your time. Try to spend even just a few minutes preparing for the practice and you will reap the benefits as will the children you are coaching. You don’t need to be a pro soccer player and you definitely don’t need to have coached for decades before. Every soccer coach has to begin somewhere, and your beginning should be in preparation and planning. Preparing a soccer practice plan I’ll guide you through how to create a perfect soccer practice plan but none of that will be important information for you to learn if you aren’t ready to dedicate time before your soccer practice begins. When you create a soccer practice plan here are the top tips: Make the practice plan as simple as possible so that kids of any age can understandCreate drills and practices that you can modify for any level of technical skillPrepare your practice plans in a way that slowly gets closer to a real match - for instance begin with a warm-up, then small-sided games, 7v7, and then eventually 11v11Bring your practice plan with you in a format that you can have readily available. Maybe that’s a PDF on your phone or maybe you printed it out with one of those ancient technologies called a printer!Preseason practices should be about teaching, in the season however practices should be about reacting and teachingTry to focus on one specific skill per practice - DON’T try to jumble ten different skills into one practice or else your players won’t be able to focus on improving their technical ability Here is how to build a perfect soccer practice plan! Plan water breaks at regular intervalsArrivalGet to the practice field 20 minutes early so you can have your cones and any equipment already set up as kids arriveExpect that kids will get there early and make sure you have an activity for them to do while waiting for the rest of their teammatesAn example could be taking shots from the 18 yard box - you can provide simple instruction about a player’s plant foot, or the way they strike the ball which is often one of the easiest opportunities for a young player to improve WarmupsGet your player’s heart rate up so that they’re ready to work hard throughout the practiceA sample activity can be like this: Have your players dribble within a confined space and call out different instructions every 30 seconds like “outside of the foot only” or “weak foot only”You can end activities like this and transition to small-sided games by playing the game “shark” where one player tries to kick another player’s ball outside of the space and that player now joins the sharks until there is only one player standing with the ballSmall sidedLet’s take our own advice and build a practice plan that focuses on just one skill and carry over the focus on “dribbling”A small sided game could be something like the below graphic where dribblers need to take on defenders at different stages of the pitch Small-sided soccer dribbling practice Medium sidedNow I’ll play the role of coach but to you this time… How would you build a game that includes 7-12 players and provides a drill for dribbling?Try to include something with a score to engage your playersKids are competitive enough where they will keep their own score - so to wrap up you can play the two “winning” teams against each other 4v4 dribbling soccer practice drill 11v11Okay now for the moment everyone has been waiting for… including the players!Most practices will end with an intra-squad scrimmage and here is your chance to reinforce some of the lessons you have been trying to instill throughout practiceWhen players do well to incorporate what they have learned throughout the practice make sure you positively reinforce that actionMaybe a player had a nice turn with their outside of the foot or a stepover that helped to deceive a defender, those are great moments to encourage a player and reinforce a lesson throughout the soccer practiceAllow your kids to play freely and ensure this is a good environment where they can be engaged in the activity How long should a soccer practice be? Soccer practices are typically 1-2 hours but can be extended if you are building a lesson plan for a soccer camp. I would highly encourage you to work your way up and build confidence in yourself as you coach more intricate and longer practices. For most recreational and travel teams 1-2 hours is a perfect amount of time for team instruction. If we take the 2 hours and place it on our example lesson plan it might look something like this: TIMEACTIVITY20 Minutes before practice startsShootaround & greeting0-15 minutesWarmup15-45Small-sided game45-50Water break50-1:15Medium-size game1:15-1:20Water break1:20-2:0011v11 with a break at halftimeSample soccer practice activities What makes a good soccer practice? Kids have funKids are challenged to learn something new no matter what skill levelKids fall a little bit more in love with the game I hope you learned something new and this was able to give you more confidence in planning a GREAT soccer practice! Download the free soccer practice template!Download If you want to learn more about soccer or watch how I discuss the beautiful game consider following on YouTube or subscribing for free to my substack newsletter!

Welcome to the website that will help you become a better soccer player or coach!

Recent Posts