Tips For An Effective Practice

#1 KEEP IT FUN Picture yourself at the bank and your the last person in a 12 person line. Any fun? Same thing for the kids. Avoid using lines in your drills or activities.

Another good practice tip is not to have elimination games in which a player sits if he loses. Chances are good that if he lost, he needs to practice and not be sitting.

#2 HAVE A PLAN You won't be stumbling for ideas with 24 eyes looking at you. You will look more professional. Fold it in half and tuck it in on the side of your waistband for quick access to it. After practice, use it to write what worked well and what you would change. Keep them as records so you know what and when you practiced.

#3 ARRIVE EARLY. Have all your cones laid out for two or three activities. No down time in between drills.

#4 USE SMALL SIDED GAMES

-Have an odd number of players. Use the player as a target player (a player that plays on both teams). This will give you numbers up on either offense or defense. This can be useful to show the team success in a certain area. Or use extra player as "ball buddy" to keep player busy.
-Last player to practice is on "cone duty". Cone duty is picking up all the cones and gear at the end of practice. I guarantee the player wont be late too often.
-Keep it simple. Don't use big fancy words.
-Fake it. If you had a bad day at work and you are not enthusiastic about being at practice then you have to fake it.
-If a drill or activity is not working, don't be afraid to change it or even stop it all together

Practice Drills That Are Simple And Effective

Drills for Practice:
Drills should last about 10-20 minutes, depending on the mood of the players and how tired or hot they are. Many drills work better if the coach or an assistant simulates a defender putting on light pressure.

If you run the same drills in sequence every practice (but use variations to keep them interesting) your players will know the routine and practice will get easier to run. As the season progresses, the players will want to socialize and scrimmage more and drill less.

Come early to practice and set up your cones to mark out a field, and set up a normal size (8 yard) goal. Bring an index card with the practice scripted out and keep in your back pocket. As players arrive have them:

Drill: Shooting. Players line up with their balls about 18 yards out (extent of the penalty box). One by one, they dribble in and shoot.

Variation: Players line up at a post and kick the ball forward at an angle away from the goal, and while it is still moving take a shot. Remind them about shooting angles, how it gets harder to score the further sideways you move from directly in front of the goal.

Variation: Players kick a stationary ball from as far away as they can and still get it in the goal. Teach them to approach the ball in a "J" pattern rather than straight on for further kicking.

Variation: Add a defender (asst. coach) with light pressure. No shooting until the ball passes the original position of the defender.

Variation: Coach rolls the ball fast out to each player, who is running to the goal, on the ground or bouncy, left side, right side, for a one-touch or two-touch shot. Balls should come mostly from the side or behind, like they normally would in a real game.

Variation: One player dribbles straight for the end line then cross passes to another player going to goal who one-kicks it in. Defender is between the two lines of attackers. Remind the receiver to stay behind the passer so the cross is in front of her.

Variation: One player give and go passes to another and then shoots. Defender is to the side of both lines of attackers, defender first pressures the dribbler, then breaks off to engage the other attacker at the "give" part of the pass.

Variation: Two or more "goalkeepers" with all the balls. The goalkeepers drop kick or javelin-toss the balls to midfield as fast as they can. Everyone else is at midfield: when they get a ball they bring it in and shoot, then run back to out to get another ball sent by a keeper.

Variation: Over the top: You need a real goal set up (not just cones). One player as goalkeeper, rest lined up each with a ball in 18 yards in front of the goal. First player shoots, if she shoots over the goal she has one "strike". If she scores, the goalkeeper has one "strike". Each player in line gets to shoot up to three balls, but as soon as they miss any they replace the keeper, who then goes to the end of the shooting line. When someone in line misses, the next player in line should shoot as soon as possible to get a strike against the new goalkeeper before she can set up. Once a player has three strikes they're out of the drill; play continues until there are no players left. If the keeper is struck out she is replaced by the shooter.

Break:
Drill: players get in pairs (not triangles or squares - too much talking) and kick to each other. Players can work on trapping and kicking a stationary ball, or one-touch kicking a moving ball, right foot, left foot, chip shot and on the carpet, kicking as far as possible to push the partner back.

Variation: One touch passing with the side of the foot, ball can't stop moving. A short hop with the planting foot right before contact with the kicking foot works best for distance and accuracy.

Variation: One partner runs a short distance away, then turns and comes back. The other partner rolls the ball to her as she is turning. The running player kicks or passes the ball back.

Variation: work on headers, throw-ins.

Break:

Drill: Cat and mouse. Make a square or rectangle with cones. One cat the other players mice with balls. Cat tries to kick any mouse's ball out of the playing area, which turns this mouse into a cat. Keep playing to the last mouse, which starts as cat for the next round.

Variation: mice have to take the ball from one end of a rectangular area to the other.

Variation: cats have to take the ball from a mouse and score on a goal guarded by a mouse to create a cat. Balls knocked out of the playing area by a cat still belong to the mouse, if a mouse sends a ball out of the playing area twice she turns into a cat.

Variation: mice have a partner they can pass to.

Break, then have the players pair-up.

Drill: Lanes. Create lanes with cones, each lane about 20 feet wide. Pair-up one pair in each lane, take turns being attacker and defender, attacker tries to dribble past the defender while staying in the lane. If defender gets the ball out of the lane she switches with her partner and becomes attacker for the next round.

Variation: players can't look at the ball while dribbling.

Variation: Attacker starts with back to defender.

Break

Drill: World Cuppies. All pairs on the field, one narrow goal. Throw two balls out at a time (unless there are only two pairs playing) and always keep two balls in play (players off the field put the new ball in play by throw in or drop kick). Each time a pair scores they come out to rest. Last pair on the field is eliminated from further play (they weren't able to score). Start another round with the pairs that have not been eliminated.

Variation: when ball is thrown in it must be headed by a player to be live.

Variation: Three pairs at a time, throw out one ball, see who can score, winner comes out to be replaced by the next pair in line.

Variation: each pair has one ball, each pair plays one-on-one against their partner.

Break, and pass out jerseys (vests, pennies) of both colors evenly. If there are enough players you can form a third group with no jersey ("skins"). Groups should have 3-5 players.


Drill: Moving monkey in the middle. Groups form a triangle with one monkey in the middle. Triangle moves from one end of the field to the other, no dribbling only passing. If the monkey gets the ball the triangle restarts; if the triangle makes it down the field the monkey position rotates to another player in the group. To make this drill work, the players have to talk and move to space to receive a pass

Drill: Sprint relays. Groups have one player at a time race down the field with a ball and around a goal cone and back. Players hand-off by passing to a player in their group or by scoring on a goal.

Variation: groups cross each other diagonally.

Variation: left foot only, outside of foot only, dribble two balls at a time.

Variation: Coaches act as a defender with light pressure.

Variation: Sprint only - no ball.

Variation: Bumpers: four cones in a square, about 18 yards apart. Each cone has two players standing next to it (if you have more than 10 players in the drill, add another cone for every two players, making a pentagon, hexagon, heptagon, etc.). There is one "chaser" and one "it" player. The "it" runs over to one of the players standing next to a cone and stands next to her. The other person standing next to the cone (the "bumper") becomes the new "it". If a "chaser" tags an "it" they switch roles. Players can run along the area marked by cones and inside of it but not outside.

Break

Drill: Attack play. Have the groups work over and over on attacking the goal - make the defending group smaller and stock it with your starting defenders. For the attackers reiterate about moving to open space, talking to each other, and going to where you can receive a pass.

Variation: Goal kicks and corner kicks:: Create set plays for these in practice, on both offense and defense. A goal rich environment.

Break

Small Scrimmage: with just our team. Narrow goals (2 meters wide), no goalkeepers, uncoached.

Variation: Three teams (red jersey, blue jersey and no jersey), teams can score at either goal.

Variation: One regulation size goal, a keeper from each team in the goal. If the keeper gets scored on another player from her team becomes a new keeper.

Or,

Full Scrimmage: An important consideration of what days and time to practice should be: are other teams there to run a full scrimmage against?


Positions:

There are four basic positions in soccer: backs, goalkeepers, midfielders, and forwards.

Backs play in front of the goalkeeper and are responsible for defending the goal.

Backs should always: engage an attacker with the ball immediately.
Backs should never: kick the ball across the front of their own goal. (Many goals in rec. soccer, especially in the younger age groups, are caused by friendly players who kick the ball near their own goal and end up centering it for the other team).
Backs should know when to: mark up on unguarded attackers in the penalty box and during goal kicks.
Good Backs: "push up" as soon as possible as a group in front of the other teams furthest up players and rely on their speed and the offside rule to counter fast breaks. Backs should never retreat unless the ball gets behind them.
Playing as a back is tough because: you have no control over constant crises that require your immediate attention.

Goalkeepers keep the ball from entering the goal. Every rec. team I have ever seen has had a problem in recruiting goalkeepers. Make sure before the game that your assigned goalkeepers are willing to play keeper that day.

Goalkeepers should always: speak up because they can see more than any other player.
Goalkeepers should never: just stay on the goal line
Goalkeepers should know when to: come out and dive on the ball
Good goalkeepers: charge an unmarked attacker with a fast break or a ball in the box
Playing as a goalkeepers is tough because: your best case scenario is you prevent disaster.

Midfielders: play in the middle of the field and try to advance or retard the advance of the ball.

Midfielders should always: dribble if they have an open field to draw defenders and open space for teammates.
Midfielders should never: think the coach wants them to play as a forward
Midfielders should know when to: engage as first defender.
Good midfielders: pace themselves and indicate when they need be subbed out
Playing as a midfielder is tough because: the position doesn't really have clear responsibilities and you often don't know what you're supposed to be doing.

Forwards: play forward of the other players and therefore have the best chance to score goals.

Forwards should always: know their offsides status 
Forwards should never: wear themselves out trying to save the team.
Forwards should know when to: rest
Good forwards: are trigger pullers
Playing as a forward is tough because: you can choke.

I like to play the center forward as a "hatcher" that positions herself parallel with the second furthest defender and just waits for easy opportunities to score.

Formation:

You can use this Position Planner:  to plan your formation for the game. The planner shows a 3x3 formation plus goalkeeper and floater, but it can be altered according to your players. 

Coaches spend a lot of time adjusting the formation, usually to play the last game, especially if the team lost. Most of the time you want to be balanced. If you strengthen one area, you're going to weaken another.

One theory you may want to consider is that strong players in the center of the formation can support the left and right sides, and strong players in the middle can support the forwards and backs.

Visualize three rows of three players. In this formation the center mid is adjacent to and supports eight other players and has a 360 degree range of action. The center forward/back and left/right mid are adjacent to and support or receive support from five other players and have a 180 degree range of action. The left/right forwards and backs are adjacent to and support or receive support from three other players and have a 90 degree range of action.

One way to decide who plays where is to put your best two players as center mid, since this is the position that impacts all the other positions. Keep one on the field and one as goalkeeper for older age groups. Sub these back and forth with each other to keep them rested, tell the referee "goalkeeper sub." For younger groups sub the center mid from the side line. These two should also take goal kick and corner kick.

Put your next six best players as center forward/back and left/right mid (four on the field and two subs for the mids), since these positions impact five other positions.

Even though the left/right mids spend almost all of their time in parts of the field where neither team can score, you need good left/right mids because they protect the midfield when the center mid is attacking and also help out with defense.

You can make next four players, who are not as good, left/right forwards and backs, since these players only support or receive support from three other players, and they position in the corners of the field in places that are harder to score from.

At halftime the positions should rotate. The forwards and backs can switch, and left/right mids can change sides. Next game, center forward/back and left/right mid can rotate one position counter clock-wise (righthanded persons prefer to move counter clock-wise), so for example, the center forward this game is the left mid the next game.

Besides the players in the 3x3 formation you can designate a player and a sub to be a floater that can go all over the field. The floater can be assigned special missions by the coach such as: follow behind the ball when we have it to intercept counter-kicks, play man-to-man on a dangerous opponent, fill in an empty midfield, or help on defense so the backs can really push up.

The floater is good position for less skilled players, because they can decide when to engage and when not to. In this case, you should not instruct the floater during game play but just let her play so her confidence goes up.

If you have a player that is really slow, just play them as floater in the center circle.

Any Players left over can sub for corner forwards/backs.

If you put friends next to each other in the formation, they usually talk too much and don't pay attention.

Tournament: For the end of season tournament, you should change the formation by playing your top scorers during the season as forwards. You can also fix the players in one position for the entire game.


Pre-game warm-up:

As players arrive before the game have them get in pairs, triangles or squares and kick to each other. Walk around and announce positions to each player. After a while, have the team run to a near-by landmark and back, then stretch in a circle by themselves. When its time to go on the field, have them do a drill like:

Small Scrimmage: with just our team, pass out the jerseys, one goalkeeper, or:

Drill: Shooting. Two lines of players, coach-defender in front of the goal. One player dribbles, then passes to the other player who shoots at the goal, with the passer also following up by running into the goal.

After ref has checked in the team, and the captains have selected the side and kick-off, circle the team, give last minute instructions, then do the team cheer.

To score more goals: train players in practice to block the keeper out of their mind and aim at a corner of the goal when taking a goal shot. All players have a psychological inclination to kick the ball to another person, even if that person is on the other team.

Crash the goal: after a goal shot, the keeper will often lose control of the ball. All nearby offensive players should "crash" the goal by rushing in to get follow-on shots.

Soccer shock: happens when a team gets scored on. For the next two minutes or so they are much more likely than usual to get scored on again. It make sense to take more risks on offense now if you just scored.

In South America they have a saying: "If you don't score the goals, the goals will come to you". Meaning, I guess, that as long as the other team still thinks they have a shot at winning, they are dangerous, even if they are not as good as yours.

So load up the offense in the beginning of the game. After a certain number of goals, the other team will give up. A key mistake I see coaches make after scoring is to protect their lead by strengthening the defense when the other team hasn't given up yet.

If you are behind after the half - adjust: strengthen the forwards. I see teams that get behind in the first half, then play their best player as keeper in the second half, because the positions were scheduled that way before the game to protect a lead that they now don't have. For the first half - stay the course, in the second - adjust if you get behind. And bring a timer to the game so you know exactly how many minutes and seconds are left to play in case you have to make any desperation moves.

If you get too far ahead, you can play down players to avoid a blowout and a call from the coordinator. For every point ahead after 3 take out a player, so for 4-0 take out one player, 6-1 take out two players, etc.

To improve your defense: try to identify the "horse" (best player) on the other team, preferably before the game but certainly if she scores. Then mark up her up all the time when she is playing forward. Only experienced players can mark and you have to constantly remind them, but this will frustrate the offense of a better team that has one dominent player.

Goalkeeper training: It doesn't take much coaching time to make the keeper much better. And if your association sponsors keeper training, send players.

While honesty is the best policy, if the keeper can keep the ball from hitting the net the referee can't tell if the ball is in or not because of the angle of vision.

Throw-ins: I see a lot of goals scored soon after good throw-ins. Players should know how to kick the ball at a defender on the sideline to knock it out, then retrieve as fast as possible (this can interfere with substitutions) and immediately throw down the line (only! Teach them never to throw out on the field unless they are close to the other goal).

It's part mental,: Remember, you can't make the team play hard. Usually, teams will play up to the level of the opposition unless the other team is much better - playing hard against teams that are similar to them and not playing so hard against teams that are worse.

Players also play hard to impress people that know them, so it helps if they know players on the other team.

For psychological reasons, most soccer players cannot score goals.

Surprisingly, bribery - used sparingly - works well in getting players to play harder.

The best response from your players if they experience rough play is tit-for-tat

I'm not sure if soccer develops character, but it sure reveals it (among players, parents and coaches).

And part physical: The biggest factor in game day performance with young players is how much sleep they got the night before. Encourage them to keep their feet dry with waterproof socks, and wear extra undershirts for cold games.

Tell the players to play good soccer until they get tired: Dribbling uses energy, engaging the ball uses energy. If a player gets tired, they should raise their hand to indicate they need to be subbed out, or they can revert to boot ball until they can rest up.

Sub early and often: Sub after every five minutes unless you have an obvious advantage on the throw in. If you have no subs, play a man down just to gain one. The more you keep the ball in bounds, the less the other team can sub, and the more tired they will get.

Avoid the temptation to sub your lesser players for each other - the effectiveness of your best players declines much faster than a normal player when they're tired (because they have more ability to lose) so you should sub them in and out and keep your lesser players in the entire game. Don't take out players who are doing really well, who are "on fire."

Written by Mark Palmer