Soccer practice Setting up soccer practice for the first time coach can be a little intimidating, maybe even a little scary. You have so much that you want to teach but not sure where to start. Or maybe you're not sure how to set up a soccer practice to get the most out of your players. I want to share with you my experience with you, both good and bad.

Warm Up:

All my practices start with a warm up, maybe a little ball handling, just enough to get the players loose and ready to start their workout. I usually give them five to ten minutes for this then a short jog just to make sure their muscles are loosing up. Then we move to our stretching and other exercises to get loose. After we complete all the warm up exercises, they get another, longer run. This run is a harder run to get the heart rate going. then after a short water break we are ready for soccer practice. My warm ups generally take up to twenty minutes.

Ball Drills:

After a their short break, I get them moving again. The one thing I try to concentrate on for the younger players is to keep them moving. Boredom can set in very fast with the younger players, you have to keep a good flow going at soccer practice or you will find yourself fighting for their attention. Ball drills are a good way to keep them focused. Try to come up with drills that they can do as a team so they are not standing lines waiting their turn. If you have help in soccer practice, this is a good time to put them to work. Break the team up into smaller groups and each group can do a different drill for about five to eight minutes each then rotate them around. With s a few smaller groups you can keep them moving. This section will again take twenty to thirty minutes.

Offense and Defense:

Before we move on to this section we take another short water break. Now we will start with the positions and working together as a team. This is where we teach the players our philosophy on the game. This is where you show the players the formations you are going to run as a team. On 8 v 8 I like to run what is called 2-3-2. here you have 2 defenders, 3 midfielders, and 2 forwards ( and of course a goalie). I try to keep all the players involved in this as much as possible, but sometimes you may end up with players just standing around. That's okay, just not for long. Soccer practice can get a little slow for them a this point, so I try to shift from offense to defense often. This section should be twenty minutes as well.

Scrimmage:

Depending on the length of your soccer practice, now is the time to let them play. Split the team in two and assign positions. If you have not figured out yet your players position, this is a good indicator or who will work well in what position. Run this scrimmage just as you would a game, but you are the ref and the coach. Blow the whistle for every thing you see. I always blow the whistle, then ask the players why I did. Most of the time they know. Stopping the scrimmage is not what the players want, so this becomes a great teaching tool. Let them play until about 5-8 before soccer practice ends. After this scrimmage is over, they should be plenty tired. But just for good measure I will always get a little more running out of them before they go home. Just to

Recap:

Again depending on the length of your soccer practice, break it down into smaller sections to help you focus on certain aspects of the game. It is important to warm them up before anything they do at full speed, so start with a few warm up drills. Then move on to ball drills, this can be individual or in pairs or even groups. Then move on to offense and defense, again you can split this into two groups if you have help. With all this out of the way, now we can scrimmage. Remember one thing, soccer practice should be about learning and growing as a player, but it should also be fun!     Visit our website Goodsoccerskills.com