How to Run a Soccer Practice for Youth Players

You know you’ve done your job well when they can clearly talk about the one concept you’ve taught them at this practice.

The biggest challenge that is faced by coaches is consistently providing an engaging and fun environment for their players. In providing a quality training session soccer coaches assist players to unconsciously improving an array of skills, such as motor, technical and social, in each training session.

For starters, it is rule of thumb to depart from using “The Three L’s”, which is Laps, Lines, and Lectures. This is old school and it isn’t very effective any more.

Laps do not fulfill a purpose in the drills since young players are naturally fit. Long lines are non-engaging and don’t simulate very well the amount of touches and game play that a player will have.

If a lecture is too lengthy for even top pros like myself to be engaged, when you apply this to a developing children there is simply no chance for kids to focus their attention on what you are saying for an extended period of time.