How to Run an Effective Soccer Practice

When coaching soccer at any level, the first thing you need to tell your players is that the scrimmage is the last thing of the day. Everyone loves to scrimmage, so players will be much less likely to dawdle with other activities and risk losing valuable scrimmage time. As for the activities, never call them drills and always make them competitive.

Instructions

    • 1

      Remember: You play like you practice. Repeat this to your players and keep it in mind with your practices. A practice with a lot of standing around results in a team that is slow to take restarts, doesn't think quickly and waits. Keep everything high tempo, rotate stations or activities often rather than doing the same thing for 30 minutes, keep talking by other coaches to a minimum and make water breaks quick. Have players sprint to get water and sprint back.

    • 2

      Have a plan. The idea of showing up, teaching a skill and scrimmaging won't cut it. Look at what your team does poorly and design practices to work on those issues. If your team loses its shape defensively or flocks to the ball, design a couple of practices that work on principles around defensive organization and shape. These don't have to be full-fledged lesson plans, but a list of practice dates with three topics per practice that you want to work is a good place to start. Get assistants to help supervise or appoint two team captains each week. The team captains are for the week's match but also help you manage practice.

    • 3

      Do everything with the ball. Practice time is short, especially at the youth level, so give them as much time on the ball as possible. Do warmups with a ball; don't run laps or sprints, but practice breakaways with the ball. For water breaks, have players dribble a ball to their water bottle and back. For cool-downs, have juggling contests, with the best juggler with the thighs or the head winning a Gatorade, or the most improved player not having to pick up after practice like the rest of the team. Do lots of mini-games, which increases the number of touches players get on the ball and reduces the amount of standing around.

    • 4

      Choose a method. There are two basic approaches to a coherent practice:
      Different stations that players rotate between or activities that build on one another. For the first, you have a station where a group works on throw-ins, another station where players practice chest traps, and a third station where players practice wall passes. At your signal, everyone rotates to the next station.
      For the activities method, focus on a particular skill, such as chesting the ball down. The first drill consists of players receiving a soft toss that they chest to the ground and kick back to you. The second drill consists of players doing a chest trap with passive pressure -- a teammate or assistant who hovers nearby but doesn't attempt to intercept the ball. The third drill involves players running off the ball to goal, receiving a cross chest high, which they trap and shoot into goal.