Structured practices

[basilides]

Hi all - my first post here!

Been coaching my son's U8 AYSO team for a year now. Teams are generated anew every season here, which is not really encouraging long-term development :-(

I was new to coaching but not to football/soccer. The first season I did a lot of fumbling around and trying to figure out what 6-7yr olds can and cannot learn. Looking back, I did a poor job. Second season I did much better; had pinned down a few fun games for practices, and had kind of a structured practice, and some clearer ideas about what to expect. The past year I've read a lot of good advice both here and elsewhere, and I think I'm becoming a better coach and certainly a more confident coach.

For the next season, I've started palnning the overall structure of my practices, and this is where I'd appreciate some good advice from this forum. Basically I'm considering the following elements to form a practice session:

1. Warmup. Only with the ball (Cross the square, Give & Go, Car dribble, Monkey in the middle, etc.)

2. Short (!) talk about last weeks game if first session of the week
..or...
2. Today's question and short (!) talking. I'll ask the question and let the kids do the talking. ("What is special about the goalkeeper?", "What is a team captain?", "What is the best goal you've ever seen?", etc.)

3. Games! (Pirate, Bang!, The Three-goal game, The Parma game, etc.)

4. Scrimmage. Bascally free play with some restrictions depending on the theme of the practice. Last season we would play another team that practiced alongside us for the last 20-25 minutes and it was great fun.

5. Hand out a note with what I call "home-play"; something they can practice at home if they want, websites with cool videos, the question for next time so they can start thinking about it, etc.

So, what do you all think? Any kind of advice is much appreciated.

[Val]

Welcome to GrassRootsCoaching! Hope you enjoy your stay. And as the administrator of the site and an American, I give you full permission to use the term soccer, which, heck, is an English term after all....

As far as having a structure, absolutely. You can see my exercises in the Building A Girls League blog. I'd limit the games you have and let them do them several times each year, both for mastery and to make your planning less difficult.

I don't think I'd send websites yet, not for U10s and U8s, some parents (and with good reason) don't want kids on the net at this age. I just started sending youtube links to highlights for my U11s. And while it is important to teach games that they can play at home, U8s and U10s may be a little young for handouts back home.

And you're in the same boat as most of us in the American contingent: getting new teams and new kids each year. I like getting new kids, because each new kid is a fun new experience waiting to happen, but I am looking forward to having a core team and working with them over time.

Once again, welcome. Post early and often.

Val

[basilides]

Val. Thanks for the welcome. Actually, I'm not not American, nor British so I'll probably mix up soccer/football a bit. I'm sure you'll know what I mean anyway

Good point about the websites. Didn't think of that since we've got the computer right there in the living, so whenever the kids are online we are always around. Not necessarily the case for other people...

As for number of different games, how many would you deem appropriate? I've got 3-4 favorite warmup games and 4-5 "real" games. Too many or too few?

About the handouts, your comment made me realize I should keep it very simple - perhaps just the "question for next time" and a "remember what we did today? - show and tell your parents". Just an idea, don't know if it would work.

Thanks again - your comments are as always very thoughtful.

[Jerzy]

You might want one more of each. With younger kids, you probably shouldn't spend much more than 10-15 minutes per exercise (though the temptation is too spend longer because they'll take longer to learn your teaching point), so you can get 4-6 games for an hour to hour and fifteen minute practice.

As far as the handout goes, you should give it a try. I coached YMCA ball a couple of years ago and I was given handouts to go over, but with one 1-hour practice (since I always had kids late with that group), I just didn't have the time to spend 5-10 minutes talking with the kids. Maybe if you're better organized than I...

[basilides]

Thanks for your suggestions. I can easily find another game or two to play, if nothing else as variations over the ones I've got so far. I'll try the handouts, but will keep it simple. I'll let you know here how it goes once the season is underway.

[Andy38]

As a new coach (but ex Amateur player) I like the structure and ideas you have put together - it all seems to make sense. Especially like the idea of taking home an idea/thought for next training session.
My difficulty is reigning in my over-ambitious training (based on my own 32 years footballing 'experience') and pitching it correctly and into building blocks for the younger kids. These games sound good (eg. Pirate, Bang!, The Three-goal game, The Parma game) but I am not familiar with them - where have they been taken from (website/book)? or could you give a brief explanation.

Thanks
Andy

[basilides]

I've found the games in various places. Some on this forum, others at youth football (soccer) coaching advice, drills, practice plans, articles, downloads and more, others in yet other places. I've adapted them slightly in some cases, but here are some short descriptions - just to give you an idea of the kind of games that work for me:

Pirate:
--------
Players in confined area ("pressure cooker"), each with a ball. One player without ball must kick the others balls out of the area. Players who lose their ball become pirates and help the other pirates. Last player with ball starts as pirate next round.

Scoring frenzy:
-----------------
Set up many small gates/goals in an area. Player pairs must score as many goals as possible within a set time, but cannot score in the same goal twice in a row. Must take turns to score.

These were the warmups with 1 ball per player or pair. Then we progress to the games:

The Parma game:
--------------------
Medium-size field. Number of goals = #players per team + 1. Laid out as for Scoring Frenzy, distributed on the field. Score by passing through any goal to a teammate who must touch it before opposition. Cannot score in the same goal successively. Simpler: just score through goal, but player cannot take the ball after scoring.

The three-goal game:
-------------------------
20x40 yd field. Three goals on each end. Behind the goals, outside of play, is a "defender" (coach, parent,...). When defender is behind a goal, no goal can be scored there.

Bang!
-------
Small field ("pressure-cooker") with full-sized goals at each end. When a player receives a ball, they cannot dribble. They have to shield the ball until they can pass it to a teammate. The only way to advance the ball is to pass it. Only 1 defender can challenge for the ball, and the only way the ball can be won is to push the ball holder off the ball with a shoulder charge.

Those are my favorites. YMMV