Skills Drills vs. Practice Games: How to break up your time

Some soccer coaches fret about how much time to spend at practice working on skills related drills vs. time scrimmaging or playing in other small-sided games. The answer lies in how your team is performing on the field during practice and in games. In other words, use your time so that your players properly grasp the essential elements of each vital skill, such as trapping, dribbling and other basics.

If they demonstrate they understand, spend less time on the essential basics and move into more elaborate drills that work on other areas of the game. However, if your team is lacking in an important area fundamental skill, for example trapping, you must make it your objective to fix this serious leak.

Learning to dribble, trap and pass are the basis for all ball movement. If your players are going to elevate their game, it is up to the coach to structure the practice correctly and make it happen. Your job is to analyze the team and figure out the areas your team needs the most work. Once you establish what your team needs to work on, hammer the point with drills and emphasis until they understand.

Once you get to the level where your players are fundamentally sound, your objectives change somewhat. At this point, your goal is to give players a good number of touches at practice. Whether it is skills drills or game drills, the more chances to control and carry the ball your players get, the more comfortable they will become. Given enough touches, over time your players will improve considerably, individually and as a team.

You must also accept that players will become bored if you spend too much time in heavy skills drills. One and at most two is plenty per practice, and I would devote most of your time at practice for small-sided games, and other scrimmage-like elements.

This mix will keep it interesting for players, while the small number of players will give them a high number of touches on the ball. The way to get players to “get it” is to reinforce what you have worked on in the skills drills in your game drills. Stop the game temporarily when a fundamental mistake occurs and the team can learn from it.

If your players show during the scrimmage games what you have taught them during the skill drills, you are spending enough time. For example, dribbling the ball properly means keeping the ball within a touch or two, and keeping your head up, scanning the field. If your players are not performing in this fashion, it is time to plan more dribbling drills to the mix at practice. As always, it is up to the coach to decide what a proper mix requires, and taking my recommendations into consideration should make it easier for you to find that proper mix.