How to Prepare For The Season

Before you walk onto the soccer field, you should have a set of goals and objectives for
the practice and be mentally prepared for dealing with a large group of players.
Prepare your plan either mentally or on paper, although the later is preferred. If you
prepare a Practice Plan on paper, then an assistant coach or another volunteer could
continue the team development in case of your absence.

This plan should include:

Provide objectives that should be accomplished during the practice. This can
include both subjective and non-subjective goals.
Outline the goals and requirements of the four basic activities and the amount of
time you would like to devote to each. Our sample agenda includes recommended
times and should vary with your teams skill development and maturity.
Prepare a list of the equipment required. This helps ensure you only take what
you need and makes sure you get what you need if you should be in a hurry. (You
know, that pushy boss that wants a 5pm meeting.).

The Practice Plan form gives you an area to take notes as to what aspects of the
practice went well, what did not’t, or maybe ideas you had to make the skill
development simpler for the players. You can also take notes about the players’
responses during your Team Talk regarding the next practice. Keep these forms for a
reminder next year.

Here is a typical practice session. The practice should last about an hour; should last
about an hour and a half and a little less for younger players. Each practice should
consist of:

Warm Up (5minutes) - Important in developing physical fitness awareness for your
players and greatly reduces the risk of injury to your players. First begin by demonstrate
the exercise and then begin the exercise. Be sure to explain the exercise to the players.
Participate with them, because the players will learn quickest by example.

Team Talk (2 minutes, 1 minute) - Have a Team Talk to let them know what you want
to accomplish today and what you expect of them today. Keep it simple and in words
they can understand.

Skill Development (25 minutes) - Begin skill development drills and exercises. Spend
the first 10 minutes improving skills taught in previous practices. Consider providing
mentors, other players that can show good execution of the skills. This mentoring
approach also keeps more players busy and ‘engaged’ providing more fun and
participation.

After the review, begin introducing a new skill ‘game’ or regimen. You should strive to
introduce one new skill, or a variation or refinement of a skill at every practice session.
This may require a brief Team Talk with the players to provide a foundation of words or
expectations. First explain the skill, then with other assistants, if necessary,
demonstrate the skill using proper technique. Then turn the players loose to try it
themselves.

Once they begin the skill development exercise, try to keep further instruction and
refinement to a minimum, and spend your time one-on-one with the players. Having
other volunteers and coaches manage the ‘team’ allows you to spend some ‘quality
time’ with each player while they are striving to learn. If you have an exceptional player
or two, place them in a mentoring position with another players.

Water Break - If you are in warm or summer conditions, take a 3 to 5 minute water
break. Have the players’ gather in the Team Talk location and use this as a brief cool-
down. You can have an assistant or player ‘serve’ the water and you can use this
opportunity to reinforce the skill(s) just practiced.

Here's some more info about keeping you players properly hydrated.

Play (20 minutes) - Play a modified game or small-sided game / scrimmage. This will
increase the likelihood that the skills you have just introduced or have previously
introduced have real-world (read game-time) implications.

Here are a few tips to ensure a successful scrimmage:

Be sure to have the player’s rotate positions so that each player can understand
the requirements of the position, and possibly develop an appreciation of other
players that play that position.
Have a couple of players be assistant coaches and officials. This encourages
these players to understand the rules and really teaches a sense of fair play.
Play for a per-determined amount of time, not until a scrimmage team reaches a
certain score.
Focus on only one or two rules or skills at a time. Trying to teach too many skills /
rules at a time can be overwhelming for most players.

Team Talk (5 — 10 minutes) - This provides time for the players to cool-down and
reflect on their recent accomplishments. It also provides a time for you to repeat today’s
instructions and to communicate with your players.

If you find this site helpful, please leave a donation for Darrell so you can enjoy the
spirit of giving too.

A sample agenda on the closing Team Talk could include the following:

Ask the players to tell the team what they learned today. Try to refrain from using
"Yes" or "No" questions. Don’t force a player to make provide an answer to your
questions. He may be too tired or mentally drained to answer your question. If
they give you an inattentive answer, simply acknowledge their answer with a
nod, smile or "that’s interesting" and move on to the next player.
Talk to the team about a particular rule or situation that may have happened in
practice or the last game. For instance, in soccer, "Johnny pushed Jason down
while going to the goal. What foul would be called? What would the penalty be?"
Or in baseball, "Johnny was called out at second in our scrimmage. Can anybody
explain why? " (Running outside of the baseline, tagged out, or force out).
Ask the players what they would like to do in the next practice. This will give you
a good pulse on what part of the game is the most fun, and will let you use this in
between "less fun" activities.
If your team is old enough or if you choose to use the "mentoring" practice,
assign some players to be officials, assistants or mentors for the next practice.
This creates enthusiasm for practice for these players, and is especially useful
with less enthusiastic players.
If you’re going to give the players ‘homework’, now would be the time to do so.
Give them very specific instructions on skills and rules they should practice and
learn. For younger children you should provide this information as note cards or
flash cards. Then see how many of them completed last week’s homework. Test
them with simple questions.
Summarize your discussion and repeat the important teachings of the day. With
younger kids a small ‘reward’ can help keep the players’ attention. (Bubble gum,
etc…)
Make a game out of wrapping up the practice. Have the players’ pack up the
equipment, balls, retrieve the bases or cones, etc…

Development for Soccer Players and Coaches

How to Prepare For The Season

Support DarrellStuart.com
..........................................................................................
Donate

Best of DarrellStuart.com
.........................................................................................
Soccer History
Soccer Field Dimensions
Soccer Rules
Coaches Corner
Soccer Equipments
Soccer Camps

Recommended Products
..........................................................................................
Books
Gears

Recommended Links
..........................................................................................
Total Soccer Fitness
Soccer Tutor
Soccer Practice Plans
Fundamental Soccer