Soccer Training for Kids

Every practice must be planned ahead. While planning, avoid 7 P’s trap - Poor Planning and Preparation Produce Particularly Poor Performance. Boring practice is just that – boring. The planning steps can be formualted as:

Analysis: Coach should analyze weak and strong points of the team. This analysis should also consider if there was an effort to improve these weak points before and what phase of training team is currently in.

Objective: Based on this analysis, coach can choose a subject of the practice. Important point to consider is what the priority of the subjects are. What would be the main objective of the session? Can it be done in one practice or multiple practices will be required to cover the subject?

Planning: Once subject is selected, it is time for planning the session. What method should be used? What should be intensity of an activity (drill, small sided game, etc.) and how long should it take? Do not plan to do too much, it will only confuse your players. The only way for players to get better is to practice, to “touch the ball”. Design your drills around this concept. The more touches the better.

Practice: During practice coach should constantly monitor if the players are able to follow the instructions and corrections satisfactory. Avoid long waiting lines at all cost. Kids are easily distracted and if they will find somebody to talk to, while waiting for their turn, they will be doing just that – talking. Waiting line should not be more than 3 players. Always demonstrate new drill or skill. If you cannot do it, find somebody else who can – assistant coach or another player. Allow plenty of time for player to try. If players cannot do what you asking them to do, do not hesitate to switch to a simpler version or another activity. Do not talk too much. Attention span for kids is not that long, you will “lose” them, and all explanation and time will be wasted. Stay positive! Use “Do” and stay away from “Don’t”.Evaluation: After practice is finished it is necessary to evaluate the results. Were the objectives achieved? Was the intensity of the drills adequate?