Running Practices...

Keep the warm-up to a minimum and attempt to vary it each session - without the ball, with the ball, etc. Get players working as soon as possible. Try starting sessions with a short-sided game as opposed to always concluding sessions with a game.

When it's time to teach a skill, bring in all players and describe and demonstrate the skill - "a picture is worth a thousand words." After you have made your coaching points and demonstrated, let the players practice. When the players are practicing, stand outside the practice area so you can see all groups working. Observe to check that all the players are following the instructions. If most of the group are performing the task incorrectly it is usually because:

  1. Instructions were not clear enough.
  2. Demonstration was not clear enough.
  3. The players are not physically ready to perform the task.

If most of the players are having problems, bring in the whole group and explain and demonstrate again. If the task is too much physically for the players, improvise to an easier level. If only a few of the players are having problems, allow the other players to continue practicing while you coach the players having problems.

50% of practice time should be spent on quality drills to improve technique. Keep groups small whenever possible, one ball each or one ball between two players. When choosing teams, name each team, such as "Rugrats" vs "Pokemon", "USA" vs "Brazil" etc.

Try to be single minded in teaching - Do not try to cover passing, shooting and dribbling in one practice session and always try to end practice on an exciting tone. Create an atmosphere where players actually want to continue playing when you finish, this way players will be looking forward to the next practice.

Excerpt from SoccerClinic.com, Copyright Soccer Made Easy, Inc. 2001