Soccer Drills and Practice Plans for your youth soccer team
The game revolves around the ball, and teams that pass well are usually dominant. Here are a few general passing concepts you can drive home with your players at your next soccer practice.
Eye contact- As you look to pass or even receive a pass, keep your head up, and your eyes on your teammates. Realize where the defenders are, and look for space for which to exploit. A lot can be said between teammates through body language that could not be said with words. Full awareness. For some reason, an image of Carlos Valderrama looking around, scanning the field just popped into my head.
Check to the ball- When you are being passed to, check to the ball. Being stationary and waiting for the ball to come to you is not acceptable come game time, so don’t let them do it at practice, either. Run drills that enforce the concept in practice, and drill the point home with your players.
Lead the receiver- Soccer players are always moving. When you make a pass, you pass to where the man is going, not where he has been. If you can’t lead someone with a pass because there is too little space, another option may be best. Don’t force passes, sometimes holding the ball or making a back pass is the right answer. Possession and high percentage passes is what we are after.
3 simple ideas that will translate to big results if you can get your players to implement them at practice time. Here is a drill from Coerver coaching that emphasizes all three:
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Fast footwork is one of the biggest objectives of The Coerver Coaching Method? Can your players do this as smoothly?
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Email this video to your players and tell them to watch it, and do some of the drills in their spare time. Get more soccer drill videos, or a complete season coaching plan
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Developmental hindrance or enhancement?
USSF “A” Licensed Coach Sheldon Cipriani
Let me begin by saying that this is my humble opinion based on my twenty year observation of high school soccer. I am a Director of Coaching for a club and I have a significant number of male and female players that participate with their varsity soccer teams. I look at as many games as possible, because I want to support my players and I enjoy looking at them play. The problem I have is with the decline in fitness, sharpness, and rhythm of my players when they return to club soccer. Some players have taken two steps back and the rest have stagnated at best.
I asked my players what it was about high school that they enjoyed so much. The answers were disturbing. Some players said that it was easy, it was fun because they could dribble players with ease, they had more time and space to play and they played more games. I know you are saying what else do I expect from young players? I asked these same players why do you play club? The responses were much different. They said that they wanted to improve individually, they wanted a better understanding of the game, they wanted to gain an appreciation of what it took to play at the next level, they wanted the challenge of playing with and against better players, and they wanted to be prepared to play in college.
With this in mind, it is a mystery to me why some players participate in high school soccer. I say some players, because not all of them have the ability or ambition to play past this level. For these players this is great. The club environment helps these kids prepare for high school. My sincere concern is for the kids that are extremely talented college prospects. Let me explain why.
The players of this caliber usually play in positions that best suits the needs of the team, in terms of results. This does not always coincide with the developmental needs of these players. I will give you an example. There is a young lady that played at my club until she was U15. She moved to another club in a much larger city to improve her chances of being seen at bigger tournaments with a better team. She is very talented athlete and has committed to a top 20 NCAA Women’s program as an attacking fullback. At high school she plays as a target forward. The ball is launched to her and she runs on to it. I fail to comprehend how this helps her in the long term.
Then there is the poor quality of coaching. Some high school teams are lucky enough to have a credentialed coach working with them, but most have a warm body with very little understanding of the game. The senior players run practices, there is no discipline, there is no organization, the sessions lack content and most of the time is spent scrimmaging. When looking at the games, passing sequences are a rarity. The teams lack chemistry, there is no methodology to the play, and there seems to an absence of the basic principles of soccer. The more talented attacking players are allowed to ignore defensive responsibilities, and they play only when their team is in possession.
The playing surfaces are also usually below standard. Most games are played on American Football fields that are shorter and narrower than a regulation soccer pitch. The teams play without width most of the time and rely on longer, direct passing. Very little takes place in midfield. It resembles a 100 yard tennis match.
Let me end by saying that I have seen some very good high school teams, but only about as often as I have seen a shooting star. The teams that actually look like a they are playing soccer are comprised of players that play at the club level under very good coaches, or have a very good high school coach that continues what the club coaches have started. Some argue that the kids are playing and having fun and this does not hurt them. This may be true at the superficial level, but I have seen year after year the negative affects of kids having fun without direction. More coaching insights
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By Stanley Tang
In soccer, a goalkeeper’s footwork defines how skillful he is in a good number of aspects. The importance of footwork is seen when a goalkeeper needs to change his stance and position to ready him to dive for a ball out of his normal reach. Footwork is a major factor in determining how a goalkeeper would be able change directions and to accelerate towards a given target. Footwork keeps a goalkeeper’s stance controlled and not easily compromised as it assists in distribution of his weight evenly.
Many coaches agree that the goalkeeper’s weight should be distributed in the sense that three-quarters goes to the forefoot, and a quarter goes to the rear foot. This would ensure optimum mobility for the goalkeeper. Keep this in mind when you think about developing your goalkeepers’ footwork. Let them know this as you have them perform the footwork drills mentioned below.
It is important that you attempt to integrate some footwork training even if you plan on accomplishing other tasks in a session. Your players and your goalkeeper should always recognize the importance of footwork, as it assures their mobility and safety from sprains and the like.
After having the goalkeeper stretch and jog, do an introduction or recapitulation of the basic steps, such as the shuffle, or the crossover. If you need to have the goalkeeper repeat after you, do so (refer to footwork techniques articles). Play ‘Follow the Leader’, where you, as the coach, would lead the rest while you move back and forth across the field, performing footwork steps. Sprinkle in some sudden movements to practice their reflexes and how they link them with their footwork.
Always make sure that your goalkeeper is on his toes, with his knees bent. If he is just beginning to train, he might not understand the reason behind the need to stay light on their toes. You can have them see the importance of it by having them stand on their toes, and making them jump as high as they can. After having them do that, let them stand on their heels and attempt to jump. You can bet that nobody leaves the ground!
Next, pair the goalkeepers and give them two cones each. Have them create an imaginary ‘goal’ with the cones, around 6 paces apart from each other. The goalkeepers should face each other. One goalkeeper becomes the leader, and the other goalkeeper becomes the follower. The leader would move quick, using footwork to touch the outside of either cone in his or her ‘goal’. In order for the follower to keep the leader from gaining a point, he should attempt to use footwork, reacting to the movement of the leader, to touch the area just inside either goal. Goalkeepers would switch roles after a period of time.
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