U7-U8 Weekly Curriculum Sessions
U7-U8 Weekly Curriculum Sessions Please bear in mind that you are not teaching each theme in singular form, but rather using the provided fun activities as a framework to highlight any technical elements of the week’s specific theme. For example: Your session theme is Ball Mastery and you choose to go with our suggested sharks and minnows activity. Your goal is to say out loud and encourage (quickly and not in lecture form) the technical elements of Ball Mastery/Dribbling, like dribbling with your pinky toe or outside of foot vs dribbling with tip of toes and then quickly move on and keep the game flowing. Definitions: • •
•
•
Themes – Main driving topic of the session Warm Up – Activity designed to ready the body and mind. These should be engaging and fun. Warm up activities should be simpler and shorter in duration than main activities and not consist of players standing around just doing jumping jacks Main Activities – The “meat” or main focus of your practice that drives home the theme of your session. Start out simple and move your way towards more complex main activities, but ALWAYS start simple BEFORE moving to more complex activities. For example, don’t use cones as obstacles before first doing the activity without them. Scrimmage/Game Time – Small or large group play. Try to not over coach during this, but allow the players to figure some things out on their own. A few stoppages are fine but avoid wrecking any flow the players have developed.
Week 1 Theme – Ball Mastery/Dribbling Warmup Activity - 10 minutes I Can Do Something, Can You? Themes: Ball Mastery and Balance and Coordination Number of Players: All Equipment: none when working on Balance and Coordination; add ball to start working on Ball Mastery after warm up This is fun game to get the practice started. Bring the kids in and tell them what game you are playing. Tell them all they need to do is to follow you around your practice area and mimic what you do! Start with jogging, then move to funny animal actions, then move to sitting or hopping, or standing on one leg – anything that gets them laughing and getting ready for their main activities. You can even have another leader for about 30 seconds and have all the other kids and you mimic their creative ideas
Main Activities - 25 minutes Tail Tag – with balls! Themes: Ball Mastery and Balance and Coordination Number of Players: All – in 2 equal groups (Tigers and Hunters) Equipment: 1 ball and 1 pinnie for each player in the Tiger group, disc cones to mark off 20x25 yard area Time: 10 minutes Start with only pinnies to grab and no dribbling so kids get an idea of how the game works and gain success. Have the tigers put their pinnies in the back of their shorts and have the Hunters try to run around and grab the pinnie out. If the Hunter gets their tail, they can yell out “Got your tail!” To keep the game flowing, have the Hunters take the pinnie back to the coach, and the Tiger must run back to the coach to retrieve pinny and stick back in shorts to keep going. Only play for a few minutes before switching Tigers and Hunter to opposite groups. Now include a ball if players are still interested in the game. Each Tiger starts out with a ball. Give each Tiger a pinnie and have them tuck them into their shorts as tails. When you say "Go!", the Tigers start dribbling around the marked area. The Hunters try to tag the Tigers by pulling out their “tails.” If successful, the Hunter calls out “Got your tail!”. The Hunter now becomes a Tiger, tucks the pinnie in his/her shorts and starts dribbling the ball. The original Tiger is now a Hunter. Get the Tigers to recognize where open space is so that they can dribble away from the Hunters.
Technical points • •
Dribbling using their laces or outside of feet. Pop up eyes occasionally to see what’s around them.
State Game Themes : Ball Mastery and Balance and Coordination, and Speed Dribbling Number of Players: All Equipment: 1 ball per player Time: 10 minutes Set up a box and name each side a different state. Have all the players with one ball dribbling around in a box in all different directions around the coach. When the coach calls out a particular state, all the players dribble as fast as they can to make it to that side of the square. As soon as all make it, have them come back to middle of grid, dribble, and then call another state out. Add in some ways to have them stop the ball on the end line, like using their soles or studs on top of ball. Technical points • •
Dribble using their pinky toe or outside of foot – no toe dribbling. Keep the ball close to their body, so they can complete each task quickly.
Big Bad Bear Themes: Ball Mastery and Balance and Coordination Number of Players: All Equipment: 1 ball per player Time: 5-10 minutes Have all your players dribble around in a box with the coach. The coach is the bear and growls and tries to kick the player’s ball out of the box. They can come right back in after you kick it out, but they are dribbling around in all different directions and with all surfaces of feet to stay away from the Big Bad Bear!
Technical points • •
Dribbling using their laces or outside of feet. Pop up eyes occasionally to see what’s around them
Scrimmage - 15 minutes Divide team up and play 3v3 or 4v4 with pug goals or cones for goals. If players are able to beat an opponent by dribbling past them, they get an extra 10 points!
Week 2 Theme – Ball Mastery/Dribbling Warmup Activities - 10 minutes Body Part Game Themes : Ball Mastery and Balance and Coordination Number of Players: All Equipment: 1 ball per player Time: 5-10 minutes A great warm up or main activity that kids love! Have all the players dribble around you with their soccer ball. You call out a body part and that’s the part of the body that has to be touching the ball. So if you say head, they put their head to the ball. Ask them who can do it the fastest. As soon as all the players have completed the body part touching the ball, have them continue to dribble and then call out another body part. Technical points • • •
Arms out for balance when foot on ball. Dribble using their pinky toe or outside of foot – no toe dribbling. Keep the ball close to their body, so they can complete each task quickly.
Main Activities - 25 minutes Freeze Tag Themes: Ball Mastery and Balance and Coordination Number of Players: All (one is Mr./Mrs. Freeze) Equipment: 1 ball for each player (except Mr./Mrs. Freeze) Time: 5-10 minutes For the first round, you are Mr./Mrs. Freeze. When you say "Go!", all players start dribbling around the marked area trying to avoid being tagged by Mr./Mrs. Freeze. If they get tagged, then an untagged player must go tag and unfreeze them. Use as a passing drill if you have the frozen players get unfrozen by another player passing through their legs. Switch the freezer every 1 minute. Capture the Flag Themes : Ball Mastery and Balance and Coordination Number of Players: All - in 2 teams Equipment: Lots of balls, 8 disc cones
Time: 5-10 minutes This is a soccer version of the classic children's game. Instead of trying to capture the flag, each team tries to capture as many soccer balls as possible. Or use cones or pinnies if working on balance and coordination without soccer balls – though you can have the kids pick those up too! Use your disc cones to create two 10x10 squares that are approximately 20 yards apart. Place half of the balls in each square. Place all of the players from one team in one square; all of the players for the second team in the other square. When you say "Go!", players from both teams run to the other square and take a ball. They dribble the ball back to their square and then get another ball. No passing is allowed - only dribbling. Play for 1-2 minutes. At the end of the game, the winner is the team with the most balls in their square. Variations •
Work on both feet by playing one game with the right foot only and the next game with the left if incorporating the ball.
Technical points •
Arms out for balance when running.
• •
Dribbling using their laces or outside of feet. Pop up eyes occasionally to see what’s around them.
Scrimmage - 15 minutes. Split team in half, put two goals on each side and have players be able to score on either of them. Works on dribbling, and changing directions and finding the open space. Award extra points for dribbling into spaces!
Week 3 Theme – Ball Mastery/Dribbling Warmup Activities - 10 minutes Ball Master Themes : Ball Mastery and Balance and Coordination Number of Players: All Equipment: 1 ball per player Time: 5-10 minutes A great warm up or main activity. Have all the players with one ball dribbling around in a box in all different directions around the coach. When the coach says “Go” the players bring the ball to you and you toss back out into the field for them to retrieve and bring back to you. Place some farther than others so you have time to throw out each ball that is brought to you. Start with them going to get with their hands first and then move to their feet as they get the gist of the activity. If they really are excelling at the activity, have them perform a foot on top of ball before they give back to you to throw out. Technical points • • •
Arms out for balance when foot on ball. Dribble using their pinky toe or outside of foot – no toe dribbling. Keep the ball close to their body, so they can complete each task quickly.
Main Activities - 25 minutes Hit the Coach Themes : Passing with Inside of Foot, Ball Mastery, Balance and Coordination Number of Players: All Equipment: 1 ball per player Time: 5-10 minutes A great warm up or main activity. Have all the players with one ball dribbling around in the box and then the coach says “Go” the players try to hit the coach with the ball by passing with inside of foot. They retrieve their own ball and try to hit the coach as many times as they can, while you run around the grid. . Try it now with only using one foot or calling out a name of their favorite pet before hitting you. Technical points • Dribble using their pinky toe or outside of foot – no toe dribbling.
• •
Keep the ball close to their body, so they can complete each task quickly. Use inside of foot to pass and hit coach – no toe balls.
Cars Themes: Ball Mastery and Balance and Coordination Number of Players: All Equipment: 1 ball for each player, disc cones to mark off 20x25 yard area Time: 5-10 minutes In this simple and fun game, players get to do their best car impersonations. Use your disc cones to mark an area approximately 20x25 yards. Each player has to dribble around the marked area according to the following traffic “conditions” that you will call out: • • • • • •
Green light – go (normal speed) Red light – stop Turbo – as fast as possible Reverse – dribble backwards Horn – sit on the ball Accident – try to hit another player (below the waist!) with the ball
Make sure the players are making appropriate car noises as they play the game. Once they get the hang of it, have one of the players call out the traffic conditions. Variations • •
Make the game into an agility game without a ball by adopting traffic conditions for running. To promote skillful use of both feet, tell players they can only dribble with their right foot. On the next round, players can only dribble with their left foot.
Technical points • • • •
Proper stopping of ball with stud or bottom of cleats. Dribbling using their laces or outside of feet. Passing with inside of feet. Pop up eyes occasionally to see what’s around them.
Around the Cones Themes : Ball Mastery and Speed Dribbling Number of Players: All - in relay teams with 3 or 4 players per team Equipment: 1 ball per relay team; 4 disc cones per team Time: 2 minutes
Relays are a very simple game to use to train dribbling at speed. The competitive nature of relays always means players will give a good effort. Around the Cones is a very simple relay with easy setup and few rules to learn. Relay teams should have three or four players so that players get two or three parts rest to every part of work (2:1 or 3:1 rest:work ratio). If you have an odd number of players, add a parent, sibling or coach. You can also have one player go twice at each distance. Set up the relay by laying out disc cones in front of each relay team at the following distances: 0 yards (the starting line), 5 yards, 10 yards and 15 yards. When the relay is started, the first player from each relay dribbles around the 5-yard cone and then passes to the second player. The second player dribbles around the 5-yard cone and then passes to the third player. When the ball is passed to the first player, the first player then dribbles around the 10-yard cone and passes the ball to the second player. When the ball is passed to the first player again, the first player dribbles around the 15-yard cone and passes to the second player. The relay is done when the last player dribbles around the 15-yard cone and dribbles back across the starting line. Variations • •
Instead of just dribbling around the cones, have the players practice an appropriate move (Zico, Spin or Screw) when they reach a cone. You can train sprinting skills by running around the cones instead of dribbling. You can have players run forward, backward, shuffle, etc. - whatever mobility skill(s) you would like to train.
Technical Points – don’t expect players to be good at this, but please do mention these and say out loud even if they can’t complete or follow • •
Dribbling with laces or outside of feet – not with toe! Try to pop eyes up and look around when dribbling.
Scrimmage - 15 minutes Split team up into two halves. Put an end zone for each goal for the teams to dribble into to score. They are not scoring in regular goals but have to dribble into end zone to gain a point.
Week 4 Theme – Passing with Inside of Foot Warmup Activities - 10 minutes Freeze Tag Themes: Ball Mastery and Balance and Coordination Number of Players: All (one is Mr./Mrs. Freeze) Equipment: 1 ball for each player (except Mr./Mrs. Freeze) Time: 5-10 minutes For the first round, you are Mr./Mrs. Freeze. When you say "Go!", all players start dribbling around the marked area trying to avoid being tagged by Mr./Mrs. Freeze. If they get tagged, then an untagged player must go tag and unfreeze them. Use as a passing drill if you have the frozen players get unfrozen by another player passing through their legs. Switch the freezer every 1 minute. Main Activities – 25 minutes Clean Up Your Room Theme(s): Passing with Inside and Striking with Laces Number of Players: All - in 2 teams Equipment: Lots of balls, 10 disc cones Time: 5-10 minutes This frenetic game is a player favorite. The only downfall of the game is it needs a large amount of space so that players aren't kicking balls into other practice areas, etc. Use your disc cones to set up two parallel lines that are 10 yards apart. Put one team on one side of the lines and the other team on the opposite side. The area between the lines is a neutral zone that can not be entered. Divide the balls so that each team has an equal number. It helps if each team has more balls than they have players. When you say "Go!", players from both teams try to "clean up their rooms" by kicking balls over to the other team's "room". Play the game for 1-2 minutes. At the end of that time, the team with the "cleanest room" (i.e., the fewest balls) wins. Note that players are not allowed to go into the neutral zone to recover any balls there although they can try to knock them out like in Marbles.
Work on both feet by playing one game with the right foot only and the next game with the left. Play one game using only the inside of the foot and the next game using the instep.
Technical points • • •
Stress proper striking the ball technique. Either with the inside of feet or with laces. Ankle locked. Hitting ball on proper location – midline of ball.
Superman Themes : Ball Mastery, Passing with Inside of Foot, Balance and Coordination Number of Players: All – in 2 teams (each team needs to select a Superman) Equipment: 1 ball per player (except the two Supermen), disc cones to mark off 20x25 yard area and the two safe zones Time: 5-10 minutes Another good game that involves passing the ball while on the move. This correlates nicely to the real game of soccer. Use your disc cones to mark an area approximately 20x25 yards. Mark off two small safe zones in diagonal corners. Select one player from each team to be the Superman (or Superwoman) for that team and have them start off in one of the safe zone. Each non-Superman has a ball and starts in the marked area (non-Supermen can not enter the safe zones). When you say "Go!", all of the non-Supermen start dribbling around the marked area trying to hit players from the other team below the waist. If a player is hit, he/she must stop and hold his/her ball overhead. If the player’s Superman touches him/her on the head, the player comes back to life and begins dribbling again. The game is over
when one of the Supermen gets hit when outside of one of the safe zones. The team hitting the Superman wins the game. Pick new Supermen and start again. Emphasize passing the ball not shooting it, and constantly remind players to pass low so that no one gets hurt. Technical points • • •
Hips and shoulders facing target. Ankle locked. Toe up and heel down when passing.
Hit the Cone Themes: Ball Mastery and Passing with Inside of Foot Number of Players: All Equipment: 1 ball per player, disc cones spread out in a 20x25-yard area Time: 5-10 minutes This is a good warmup game because it can be played with any number of players. Spread disc cones out in a 20x25-yard area. When you say "Go!", all players try to dribble around the area hitting as many cones as possible. A player can not hit the same cone twice in a row. Play for one minute and see which player hit the most number of cones. If you have unique soccer balls available (e.g., a bunch of size 5 balls), you can use those instead of cones. You can also use corner flags. Variations • • •
Divide the players into teams and see which team can hit the most number of cones. Use different color cones and call out the color that must be hit to score a point. Change the color frequently. To emphasize striking the ball, tell the players that they must be at least 5-yards away from a cone when they shoot at it.
Technical points • • •
Hips and shoulders facing target. Ankle locked. Striking using their laces.
Scrimmage - 15 minutes
Split up team and play 3v3 or 4v4 with pug goals or cones used as goals. Any goal scored with the inside of foot with proper technique is awarded 5 extra points! Any team that can pass three times in a row without defenders intercepting it, gets an extra 3 points!
Week 5 Theme: Passing with Inside of Foot Warmup Activities - 10 minutes I Can Do Something, Can You? Themes: Ball Mastery and Balance and Coordination Number of Players: All Equipment: none when working on Balance and Coordination; add ball to start working on Ball Mastery after warm up Time: 5-10 minutes This is fun game to get the practice started. Bring the kids in and tell them what game you are playing. Tell them all they need to do is to follow you around your practice area and mimic what you do! Start with jogging, then move to funny animal actions, then move to sitting or hopping, or standing on one leg – anything that gets them laughing and getting ready for their main activities. You can even have another leader for about 30 seconds and have all the other kids and you mimic their creative ideas
Main Activities - 25 minutes Hit the Coach Themes : Passing with Inside of Foot, Ball Mastery, Balance and Coordination Number of Players: All Equipment: 1 ball per player Time: 5-10 minutes A great warm up or main activity. Have all the players with one ball dribbling around in the box and then the coach says “Go” the players try to hit the coach with the ball by passing with inside of foot. They retrieve their own ball and try to hit the coach as many times as they can, while you run around the grid. . Try it now with only using one foot or calling out a name of their favorite pet before hitting you. Technical points • Dribble using their pinky toe or outside of foot – no toe dribbling. • Keep the ball close to their body, so they can complete each task quickly. • Use inside of foot to pass and hit coach – no toe balls.
Partner Passing Through Gates
Themes : Passing with Inside of Foot Number of Players: All Equipment: 1 ball per two players Time: 5-10 minutes Have every player get a partner and one ball. Within your grid or box area place two cones to create a gate that th players will use to pass through and then find the next gate. Set up about 6-8 gates so players have many options and don’t make them too small. Pairs go for 30 seconds to see how many they can pass through – every pass through to their teammate is a point. If there is an odd number, the coach or parent can play with the child. Go through a few rounds and switch partners and then add in only passing with right foot or passing only with left foot. Can’t hit the same gate twice. Technical points • Toe up and heel down. • Locked ankle. • Show inside of foot to ball. • Hit the midline of the ball. • Hips and shoulders facing their target.
Scrimmage - 15 minutes Divide team in half and have four goals – two on each side – for teams to be able to score in. Put a line of cones about five yards in front of both goals to note that players must shoot BEFORE they hit this line and can’t score if beyond the line. We are encouraging passing into the goal instead of dribbling all the way in. Award an extra 5 points if anyone can score with the inside of their foot properly or with weak foot.
Week 6 Theme – Passing with Inside of Foot Warmup Activities - 10 minutes Back to Coach – in pairs Themes : Passing with Inside of Foot Number of Players: All Equipment: 1 ball per two players Time: 5-10 minutes Coach tosses ball to each pair, the pair retrieves the ball and passes it back to the coach. Start putting restrictions on the game by requiring pairs to get the ball back to the coach in three or four or five passes. Now the coach walks away and the pairs have to find the coach. Pairs go for 30 seconds to see how many they can pass through – every pass through to their teammate is a point. If there is an odd number, the coach or parent can play with the child. Go through a few rounds and switch partners and then add in only passing with right foot or passing only with left foot. Can’t hit the same gate twice. Technical points • Toe up and heel down. • Locked ankle. • Show inside of foot to ball. • Hit the midline of the ball. • Hips and shoulders facing their target. Main Activities - 25 minutes Sequential Numbers Passing Themes : Passing with Inside of Foot Number of Players: All Equipment: one ball for every 3 players Time: 5-10 minutes Divide team up into 3 even teams and number each team off 1-3. Give every group a ball and have the dribble around the grid and box, passing sequentially from 1-2-3. See which team can move and pass in a row without messing up. See which team can only use their weak foot to pass. Put out cones for extra obstacles to work around.
. Technical points • Toe up and heel down. • Locked ankle. • Show inside of foot to ball. • Hit the midline of the ball. • Hips and shoulders facing their target.
Teeter Totter Themes : Passing with Inside of Foot Number of Players: All Equipment: cones with balls sitting on top, balls on one side with half of team Time: 5-10 minutes Divide team up into halves. Place once team on one side of grid and one team with balls on the other side. Put out two cones about 15 yards apart and evenly spaced from each team with a soccer ball resting on top. All balls with one team. First player in that line passes with the inside of foot over to other line and then immediately becomes the defender. The one with the ball now becomes the offender and they play 1v1 in grid, trying to pass the ball into the balls resting on cones to knock off. The player who passes the ball must go get their ball and give to line with balls. If they hit the ball off the cone, they race to place the ball back on top of cone, so next two in line can continue game. . Technical points • Toe up and heel down. • Locked ankle. • Show inside of foot to ball. • Hit the midline of the ball. • Hips and shoulders facing their target.
Numbers Passing/Scoring Themes : Passing with Inside of Foot Number of Players: All Equipment: one ball for every 3 players Time: 5-10 minutes
Divide team up into two groups and number each group off from 1-4, so there are two groups of kids each with numbers 1-4. Put groups next to each other with the coach in between them with all the balls. Place the goals anywhere you’d like, so that it’s evenly spaced from each team. Coach passes ball into space and then calls a number and those numbers go play 1v1 to score into goal. So both 1s race out and play against each other. Players have 15 seconds to score of play becomes dead, they run off, and coach sends another ball out and calls a different number. Coach can call two numbers at once as well, or all four! Technical points • Toe up and heel down. • Locked ankle. • Show inside of foot to ball. • Hit the midline of the ball. • Hips and shoulders facing their target.
Scrimmage - 15 minutes Divide team up and play 3v3 or 4v4 with pug goals or cones as goals. Extra 10 points if a team can pass three times in a row with the inside of their feet before the opponents intercept the ball.
Week 7 Theme – Striking with laces Warmup Activities - 10 minutes Magical Cones Themes : Dribbling, Ball Mastery Number of Players: All Equipment: 1 ball per player Time: 5-10 minutes Place cones in your grid or box area. Players each have a ball and dribble around in box. When you say “Go” they dribble as fast as they can to a cone and stop the ball with their sole of foot. Do several rounds before moving to weak foot or variations like dribbling in a circle around one cone before finding another cone to stop ball on. Technical points • Dribbling with all surfaces. • Eyes pop up every often to see what’s around. Avoid other players. • Keep ball close to perform skill.
Main Activities - 25 minutes Hit the Coach Themes : Passing with Inside of Foot, Striking with laces, Ball Mastery Number of Players: All Equipment: 1 ball per player Time: 5-10 minutes A great warm up or main activity. Have all the players with one ball dribbling around in the box and then the coach says “Go” the players try to hit the coach with the ball by passing with inside of foot. They retrieve their own ball and try to hit the coach as many times as they can, while you run around the grid. . Try it now with only using one foot or calling out a name of their favorite pet before hitting you. Technical points • Dribble using their pinky toe or outside of foot – no toe dribbling. • Keep the ball close to their body, so they can complete each task quickly. • Use inside of foot to pass and hit coach – no toe balls.
Clean Up Your Room Theme(s): Passing with Inside and Striking with Laces Number of Players: All - in 2 teams Equipment: Lots of balls, 10 disc cones Time: 5-10 minutes This frenetic game is a player favorite. The only downfall of the game is it needs a large amount of space so that players aren't kicking balls into other practice areas, etc. Use your disc cones to set up two parallel lines that are 10 yards apart. Put one team on one side of the lines and the other team on the opposite side. The area between the lines is a neutral zone that can not be entered. Divide the balls so that each team has an equal number. It helps if each team has more balls than they have players. When you say "Go!", players from both teams try to "clean up their rooms" by kicking balls over to the other team's "room". Play the game for 1-2 minutes. At the end of that time, the team with the "cleanest room" (i.e., the fewest balls) wins. Note that players are not allowed to go into the neutral zone to recover any balls there although they can try to knock them out like in Marbles. Work on both feet by playing one game with the right foot only and the next game with the left. Play one game using only the inside of the foot and the next game using the instep.
Technical points • • •
Stress proper striking the ball technique. Either with the inside of feet or with laces. Ankle locked. Hitting ball on proper location – midline of ball.
Dribble and Shoot Themes : Ball Mastery, Striking the Ball, Speed Dribbling Number of Players: All - in two groups Equipment: Lots of balls, 2 disc cones, 2 Pugg goals (or any goals) Time: 5-10 minutes This is the basic shooting game that is played everywhere. Players get to work on their dribbling moves and shooting at the same time. Set up your Pugg goals side by side approximately 5-10 yards apart. In front of each Pugg goal, set up disc cones at the following distances: 10 yards and 25 yards. Behind each of the 25-yard cones, line up one group of players. Every player should have a ball. Note that if you only have one large goal, simply have both groups shoot on the same goal at the same time. The first player from each group dribbles forward, makes a dribbling move, and must shoot before reaching the cone. If the shot goes into the goal, that player's team gets one point. Have each group count their points aloud and the first team with ten points is the winner. Switch goals and shooting feet for the next round. You can make players shag their own shots to give them extra incentive to put them into the net! Technical points •
•
The last dribble before the shot should be a longer one. This allows the player to accelerate into the shot for more power. If the last dribble is a short one, the player will have a hard time getting the ball out from under his/her feet in order to shoot powerfully. Stress proper instep shooting form - plant foot next to the ball, toe down, follow through with the knee and the toe and land on the shooting foot.
Scrimmage - 15 minutes Divide team up into halves. Shorten field and place goals on each end line. We want to encourage more shots and will if the field is shorter. Play 3v3 or 4v4. Extra points if any shot is made with laces properly or with weak foot!
Week 8 Theme – Striking with laces Warmup Activities - 10 minutes Body Part Game Themes : Ball Mastery and Balance and Coordination Number of Players: All Equipment: 1 ball per player Time: 5-10 minutes A great warm up or main activity that kids love! Have all the players dribble around you with their soccer ball. You call out a body part and that’s the part of the body that has to be touching the ball. So if you say head, they put their head to the ball. Ask them who can do it the fastest. As soon as all the players have completed the body part touching the ball, have them continue to dribble and then call out another body part. Technical points • • •
Arms out for balance when foot on ball. Dribble using their pinky toe or outside of foot – no toe dribbling. Keep the ball close to their body, so they can complete each task quickly.
Main Activities - 25 minutes Step on the Crack Themes : Striking with laces Number of Players: All - in two groups. Equipment: As many balls as possible, 2 Pugg goals (or any goals will do) Time: 5 minutes Improper positioning of the plant foot is the death of a good shot. Most players place their plant foot too far back and rob themselves of power and accuracy. This game awards points for proper placement of the plant foot. You need a line to make this game work (or you can paint a line yourself). Place the goals side by side approximately 10 yards apart and 10 yards behind the line. Split the players into two groups. Each group should be approximately 5 yards behind the line and in front of the goal they will be using. You will need an assistant to set balls up for the other group. You will also need two or more parents to shag balls for you. You and your assistant place a ball on the line. The first player in each group shoots the ball using the instep. Regardless of where the shot goes, the player's team gets a point if that player places his/her plant foot on or over
the line. Count points out loud and the first team to 20 is the big winner. Switch goals and shoot with the other foot for the next game. Since you and your assistant will be placing balls on the line as fast as possible, your shaggers will have to be hard at work. Don't worry about any other aspects of shooting other than plant foot and instep. As the players start to master these simple points, you'll start to hear increasingly resounding thuds as proper strikes are made. Technical points • Stress proper striking the ball technique. Either with the inside of feet or with laces. • Ankle locked. Hitting ball on proper location – midline of ball Numbers Game Themes : Striking with laces, Attacking, Defending, 1v1 Number of Players: All Equipment: 2 goals set up 20 yards away from each other Time: 5-10 minutes Get players to stand in line in front of you. Count them off from 1-4 and then starting over with 1-4 for the second half of group, so that there are two 1’s, two 2’s, etc. Put the first group of 1-4 on one side and the second group of 1-4 on the other side. Coach has all the balls by his/her feet. Coach passes ball into empty field and then calls out “1” and both 1s run out to play 1v1 to goal. Someone has to score in 15 seconds or less or game is done. Extra points for scoring with laces or weak foot. Keep calling out numbers and then move to two numbers at once. And then all numbers to play 4v4! Technical points • Get to ball quickly. • Shoot when open - don’t look for perfect shot. • Use laces or inside to score. • Keep ankle locked and hips and shoulders facing target.
World Cup Themes : Striking with laces, Passing with Inside, Attacking, Defending Number of Players: All Equipment: all players with no balls out on field, and all balls with coach by goal/s Time: 5-10 minutes
Have every player out in the grid area facing the goals. Have each player or pairs come up with a name of a country and tell them they’ll have to yell out the country’s name as they shoot before the ball goes into the net. The coach plays one or two balls out at a time and the kids see who can score first. If you score you get a point – first player/team to 5 points wins the game! Make sure you have help to shag balls and keep a good size stack of balls near you since you’ll constantly be playing balls into the group. Stop occasionally and have players bring all stray balls to you before continuing. Technical points • Toe down and ankle locked. • Shoot when you get an opening – don’t delay or try to dribble all the way to goal. • Follow Scrimmage - 15 minutes Shorten field and put up one or two goals to encourage plenty of striking with laces into the goal! Divide up team and give out extra points for any goals scored with laces or weak foot.
Week 9 Theme – Receiving with Feet Warmup Activities - 10 minutes Ball Master/Retriever in Pairs Themes : Ball Mastery and Receiving and Passing Number of Players: All Equipment: 1 ball per player Time: 5-10 minutes Sam drills as Ball Master/Retriever, but now have the players in pairs where the coach sends ball out into grid and pairs pass back and forth until reaching the coach to give them the ball back. Put restrictions on how many passes they must get before getting back to coach. Technical points • • • • •
Take out the “steam” of the pass and cushion ball. Don’t stop ball dead with soft receiving touch but keep moving. Get in the line of the pass with body and don’t just stick foot out. Toe up, heel down, and bring leg up like putter to receive – if toe down there is no barrier. Watch ball all the way into foot.
Main Activities - 25 minutes Partner Passing Through Gates Themes : Passing with Inside of Foot Number of Players: All Equipment: 1 ball per two players Time: 5-10 minutes Have every player get a partner and one ball. Within your grid or box area place two cones to create a gate that th players will use to pass through and then find the next gate. Set up about 6-8 gates so players have many options and don’t make them too small. Pairs go for 30 seconds to see how many they can pass through – every pass through to their teammate is a point. If there is an odd number, the coach or parent can play with the child. Go through a few rounds and switch partners and then add in only passing with right foot or passing only with left foot. Can’t hit the same gate twice. Technical points
• • • • •
Take out the “steam” of the pass and cushion ball. Don’t stop ball dead with soft receiving touch but keep moving. Get in the line of the pass with body and don’t just stick foot out. Toe up, heel down, and bring leg up like putter to receive – if toe down there is no barrier. Watch ball all the way into foot.
Partner Dribble and Pass Themes : Passing and Receiving with Inside of Foot Number of Players: All Equipment: 1 ball per two players Time: 5-10 minutes Have every player get a partner and one ball. Set up two boxes with four cones each, with the small box in the center of the large box. Each pair is on one corner cone with their ball. First player in line dribbles out to corresponding corner cone, gets around cone and passes to partner in line. Good receiving touch forward not stopping ball dead and they repeat what first player just did. Move to only receiving with weak foot and then receiving across the body. Move to a competition that is timed. Technical points • Take out the “steam” of the pass and cushion ball. • Don’t stop ball dead with soft receiving touch but keep moving. • Get in the line of the pass with body and don’t just stick foot out. • Toe up, heel down, and bring leg up like putter to receive – if toe down there is no barrier. • Watch ball all the way into foot. Scrimmage - 15 minutes 3v3 or 4v4 with three small goals on each side made with cones inside one large rectangle. Teams score if they can pass through the goal to another teammate on the other side and they receive the ball properly with inside of foot. After score, the other team gets the ball or have coach play another one out into grid.
Week 10 Theme – Receiving with Feet Warmup Activities - 10 minutes Follow Commands Themes : All Skills Number of Players: All Equipment: 1 ball per player Time: 5-10 minutes Have every player dribbling around in box with ball. Coach calls out commands that players respond to: •
Get in groups of 2, or 5, or 7 – all players run to get into groups. Coach restarts when completed.
•
High five three different players, then go back to dribbling.
•
Pass with a partner back and forth ten times with inside of foot.
•
Sit back to back with 2, 3, or 4 players at a time.
•
Get creative!
Technical points • Toe up and heel down for passing and receiving with inside of foot. • Soft first touches keeping the ball moving. • Dribbling using outside or laces or pinky toe. • Eyes up to look around. Main Activities - 25 minutes: Pass and Move to Other Line Themes : Receiving and Passing Number of Players: All Equipment: 1 ball per player Time: 5-10 minutes Split up group into two lines, half on one side and half on the other about 20 yards apart. If more than 5 players, then split them up into two groups and then those groups are split up evenly behind the cones. Player in front of line passes to the player opposite them and runs into that line. Player receives ball and does the same thing, passes and runs into other line.
See how many you can get in a row without messing up. See if players can do two touch – first pass to receive and next pass to get across line. Technical points • Toe up and heel down for passing and receiving with inside of foot. • Soft first touches keeping the ball moving. • Dribbling using outside or laces or pinky toe. • Eyes up to look around.
Pass Through Triangles with Partner Themes : Receiving and Passing Number of Players: All Equipment: 1 ball per player Time: 5-10 minutes Groups of two with one ball. Make triangles with cones in large grid area – about 4-5 triangles, so players have options. Each pair dribbles around the grid and passes to partner through the triangles. Proper receiving is encouraged. Get receiving player in the habit of thinking ahead and where they are going next, so the receiving touch is pushed in that direction. Make it a timed competition next. You can also restrict to only receiving with weak foot. Technical points • Toe up and heel down for passing and receiving with inside of foot. • Soft first touches keeping the ball moving. • Dribbling using outside or laces or pinky toe. • Eyes up to look around.
Scrimmage - 15 minutes Divide up group and play regular scrimmage (4v4 or whatever you’ve got) with one goal on each side. Extra points for three passes in a row.
•
•
Themes – Main driving topic of the session Warm Up – Activity designed to ready the body and mind. These should be engaging and fun. Warm up activities should be simpler and shorter in duration than main activities and not consist of players standing around just doing jumping jacks Main Activities – The “meat” or main focus of your practice that drives home the theme of your session. Start out simple and move your way towards more complex main activities, but ALWAYS start simple BEFORE moving to more complex activities. For example, don’t use cones as obstacles before first doing the activity without them. Scrimmage/Game Time – Small or large group play. Try to not over coach during this, but allow the players to figure some things out on their own. A few stoppages are fine but avoid wrecking any flow the players have developed.
Week 1 Theme – Ball Mastery/Dribbling Warmup Activity - 10 minutes I Can Do Something, Can You? Themes: Ball Mastery and Balance and Coordination Number of Players: All Equipment: none when working on Balance and Coordination; add ball to start working on Ball Mastery after warm up This is fun game to get the practice started. Bring the kids in and tell them what game you are playing. Tell them all they need to do is to follow you around your practice area and mimic what you do! Start with jogging, then move to funny animal actions, then move to sitting or hopping, or standing on one leg – anything that gets them laughing and getting ready for their main activities. You can even have another leader for about 30 seconds and have all the other kids and you mimic their creative ideas
Main Activities - 25 minutes Tail Tag – with balls! Themes: Ball Mastery and Balance and Coordination Number of Players: All – in 2 equal groups (Tigers and Hunters) Equipment: 1 ball and 1 pinnie for each player in the Tiger group, disc cones to mark off 20x25 yard area Time: 10 minutes Start with only pinnies to grab and no dribbling so kids get an idea of how the game works and gain success. Have the tigers put their pinnies in the back of their shorts and have the Hunters try to run around and grab the pinnie out. If the Hunter gets their tail, they can yell out “Got your tail!” To keep the game flowing, have the Hunters take the pinnie back to the coach, and the Tiger must run back to the coach to retrieve pinny and stick back in shorts to keep going. Only play for a few minutes before switching Tigers and Hunter to opposite groups. Now include a ball if players are still interested in the game. Each Tiger starts out with a ball. Give each Tiger a pinnie and have them tuck them into their shorts as tails. When you say "Go!", the Tigers start dribbling around the marked area. The Hunters try to tag the Tigers by pulling out their “tails.” If successful, the Hunter calls out “Got your tail!”. The Hunter now becomes a Tiger, tucks the pinnie in his/her shorts and starts dribbling the ball. The original Tiger is now a Hunter. Get the Tigers to recognize where open space is so that they can dribble away from the Hunters.
Technical points • •
Dribbling using their laces or outside of feet. Pop up eyes occasionally to see what’s around them.
State Game Themes : Ball Mastery and Balance and Coordination, and Speed Dribbling Number of Players: All Equipment: 1 ball per player Time: 10 minutes Set up a box and name each side a different state. Have all the players with one ball dribbling around in a box in all different directions around the coach. When the coach calls out a particular state, all the players dribble as fast as they can to make it to that side of the square. As soon as all make it, have them come back to middle of grid, dribble, and then call another state out. Add in some ways to have them stop the ball on the end line, like using their soles or studs on top of ball. Technical points • •
Dribble using their pinky toe or outside of foot – no toe dribbling. Keep the ball close to their body, so they can complete each task quickly.
Big Bad Bear Themes: Ball Mastery and Balance and Coordination Number of Players: All Equipment: 1 ball per player Time: 5-10 minutes Have all your players dribble around in a box with the coach. The coach is the bear and growls and tries to kick the player’s ball out of the box. They can come right back in after you kick it out, but they are dribbling around in all different directions and with all surfaces of feet to stay away from the Big Bad Bear!
Technical points • •
Dribbling using their laces or outside of feet. Pop up eyes occasionally to see what’s around them
Scrimmage - 15 minutes Divide team up and play 3v3 or 4v4 with pug goals or cones for goals. If players are able to beat an opponent by dribbling past them, they get an extra 10 points!
Week 2 Theme – Ball Mastery/Dribbling Warmup Activities - 10 minutes Body Part Game Themes : Ball Mastery and Balance and Coordination Number of Players: All Equipment: 1 ball per player Time: 5-10 minutes A great warm up or main activity that kids love! Have all the players dribble around you with their soccer ball. You call out a body part and that’s the part of the body that has to be touching the ball. So if you say head, they put their head to the ball. Ask them who can do it the fastest. As soon as all the players have completed the body part touching the ball, have them continue to dribble and then call out another body part. Technical points • • •
Arms out for balance when foot on ball. Dribble using their pinky toe or outside of foot – no toe dribbling. Keep the ball close to their body, so they can complete each task quickly.
Main Activities - 25 minutes Freeze Tag Themes: Ball Mastery and Balance and Coordination Number of Players: All (one is Mr./Mrs. Freeze) Equipment: 1 ball for each player (except Mr./Mrs. Freeze) Time: 5-10 minutes For the first round, you are Mr./Mrs. Freeze. When you say "Go!", all players start dribbling around the marked area trying to avoid being tagged by Mr./Mrs. Freeze. If they get tagged, then an untagged player must go tag and unfreeze them. Use as a passing drill if you have the frozen players get unfrozen by another player passing through their legs. Switch the freezer every 1 minute. Capture the Flag Themes : Ball Mastery and Balance and Coordination Number of Players: All - in 2 teams Equipment: Lots of balls, 8 disc cones
Time: 5-10 minutes This is a soccer version of the classic children's game. Instead of trying to capture the flag, each team tries to capture as many soccer balls as possible. Or use cones or pinnies if working on balance and coordination without soccer balls – though you can have the kids pick those up too! Use your disc cones to create two 10x10 squares that are approximately 20 yards apart. Place half of the balls in each square. Place all of the players from one team in one square; all of the players for the second team in the other square. When you say "Go!", players from both teams run to the other square and take a ball. They dribble the ball back to their square and then get another ball. No passing is allowed - only dribbling. Play for 1-2 minutes. At the end of the game, the winner is the team with the most balls in their square. Variations •
Work on both feet by playing one game with the right foot only and the next game with the left if incorporating the ball.
Technical points •
Arms out for balance when running.
• •
Dribbling using their laces or outside of feet. Pop up eyes occasionally to see what’s around them.
Scrimmage - 15 minutes. Split team in half, put two goals on each side and have players be able to score on either of them. Works on dribbling, and changing directions and finding the open space. Award extra points for dribbling into spaces!
Week 3 Theme – Ball Mastery/Dribbling Warmup Activities - 10 minutes Ball Master Themes : Ball Mastery and Balance and Coordination Number of Players: All Equipment: 1 ball per player Time: 5-10 minutes A great warm up or main activity. Have all the players with one ball dribbling around in a box in all different directions around the coach. When the coach says “Go” the players bring the ball to you and you toss back out into the field for them to retrieve and bring back to you. Place some farther than others so you have time to throw out each ball that is brought to you. Start with them going to get with their hands first and then move to their feet as they get the gist of the activity. If they really are excelling at the activity, have them perform a foot on top of ball before they give back to you to throw out. Technical points • • •
Arms out for balance when foot on ball. Dribble using their pinky toe or outside of foot – no toe dribbling. Keep the ball close to their body, so they can complete each task quickly.
Main Activities - 25 minutes Hit the Coach Themes : Passing with Inside of Foot, Ball Mastery, Balance and Coordination Number of Players: All Equipment: 1 ball per player Time: 5-10 minutes A great warm up or main activity. Have all the players with one ball dribbling around in the box and then the coach says “Go” the players try to hit the coach with the ball by passing with inside of foot. They retrieve their own ball and try to hit the coach as many times as they can, while you run around the grid. . Try it now with only using one foot or calling out a name of their favorite pet before hitting you. Technical points • Dribble using their pinky toe or outside of foot – no toe dribbling.
• •
Keep the ball close to their body, so they can complete each task quickly. Use inside of foot to pass and hit coach – no toe balls.
Cars Themes: Ball Mastery and Balance and Coordination Number of Players: All Equipment: 1 ball for each player, disc cones to mark off 20x25 yard area Time: 5-10 minutes In this simple and fun game, players get to do their best car impersonations. Use your disc cones to mark an area approximately 20x25 yards. Each player has to dribble around the marked area according to the following traffic “conditions” that you will call out: • • • • • •
Green light – go (normal speed) Red light – stop Turbo – as fast as possible Reverse – dribble backwards Horn – sit on the ball Accident – try to hit another player (below the waist!) with the ball
Make sure the players are making appropriate car noises as they play the game. Once they get the hang of it, have one of the players call out the traffic conditions. Variations • •
Make the game into an agility game without a ball by adopting traffic conditions for running. To promote skillful use of both feet, tell players they can only dribble with their right foot. On the next round, players can only dribble with their left foot.
Technical points • • • •
Proper stopping of ball with stud or bottom of cleats. Dribbling using their laces or outside of feet. Passing with inside of feet. Pop up eyes occasionally to see what’s around them.
Around the Cones Themes : Ball Mastery and Speed Dribbling Number of Players: All - in relay teams with 3 or 4 players per team Equipment: 1 ball per relay team; 4 disc cones per team Time: 2 minutes
Relays are a very simple game to use to train dribbling at speed. The competitive nature of relays always means players will give a good effort. Around the Cones is a very simple relay with easy setup and few rules to learn. Relay teams should have three or four players so that players get two or three parts rest to every part of work (2:1 or 3:1 rest:work ratio). If you have an odd number of players, add a parent, sibling or coach. You can also have one player go twice at each distance. Set up the relay by laying out disc cones in front of each relay team at the following distances: 0 yards (the starting line), 5 yards, 10 yards and 15 yards. When the relay is started, the first player from each relay dribbles around the 5-yard cone and then passes to the second player. The second player dribbles around the 5-yard cone and then passes to the third player. When the ball is passed to the first player, the first player then dribbles around the 10-yard cone and passes the ball to the second player. When the ball is passed to the first player again, the first player dribbles around the 15-yard cone and passes to the second player. The relay is done when the last player dribbles around the 15-yard cone and dribbles back across the starting line. Variations • •
Instead of just dribbling around the cones, have the players practice an appropriate move (Zico, Spin or Screw) when they reach a cone. You can train sprinting skills by running around the cones instead of dribbling. You can have players run forward, backward, shuffle, etc. - whatever mobility skill(s) you would like to train.
Technical Points – don’t expect players to be good at this, but please do mention these and say out loud even if they can’t complete or follow • •
Dribbling with laces or outside of feet – not with toe! Try to pop eyes up and look around when dribbling.
Scrimmage - 15 minutes Split team up into two halves. Put an end zone for each goal for the teams to dribble into to score. They are not scoring in regular goals but have to dribble into end zone to gain a point.
Week 4 Theme – Passing with Inside of Foot Warmup Activities - 10 minutes Freeze Tag Themes: Ball Mastery and Balance and Coordination Number of Players: All (one is Mr./Mrs. Freeze) Equipment: 1 ball for each player (except Mr./Mrs. Freeze) Time: 5-10 minutes For the first round, you are Mr./Mrs. Freeze. When you say "Go!", all players start dribbling around the marked area trying to avoid being tagged by Mr./Mrs. Freeze. If they get tagged, then an untagged player must go tag and unfreeze them. Use as a passing drill if you have the frozen players get unfrozen by another player passing through their legs. Switch the freezer every 1 minute. Main Activities – 25 minutes Clean Up Your Room Theme(s): Passing with Inside and Striking with Laces Number of Players: All - in 2 teams Equipment: Lots of balls, 10 disc cones Time: 5-10 minutes This frenetic game is a player favorite. The only downfall of the game is it needs a large amount of space so that players aren't kicking balls into other practice areas, etc. Use your disc cones to set up two parallel lines that are 10 yards apart. Put one team on one side of the lines and the other team on the opposite side. The area between the lines is a neutral zone that can not be entered. Divide the balls so that each team has an equal number. It helps if each team has more balls than they have players. When you say "Go!", players from both teams try to "clean up their rooms" by kicking balls over to the other team's "room". Play the game for 1-2 minutes. At the end of that time, the team with the "cleanest room" (i.e., the fewest balls) wins. Note that players are not allowed to go into the neutral zone to recover any balls there although they can try to knock them out like in Marbles.
Work on both feet by playing one game with the right foot only and the next game with the left. Play one game using only the inside of the foot and the next game using the instep.
Technical points • • •
Stress proper striking the ball technique. Either with the inside of feet or with laces. Ankle locked. Hitting ball on proper location – midline of ball.
Superman Themes : Ball Mastery, Passing with Inside of Foot, Balance and Coordination Number of Players: All – in 2 teams (each team needs to select a Superman) Equipment: 1 ball per player (except the two Supermen), disc cones to mark off 20x25 yard area and the two safe zones Time: 5-10 minutes Another good game that involves passing the ball while on the move. This correlates nicely to the real game of soccer. Use your disc cones to mark an area approximately 20x25 yards. Mark off two small safe zones in diagonal corners. Select one player from each team to be the Superman (or Superwoman) for that team and have them start off in one of the safe zone. Each non-Superman has a ball and starts in the marked area (non-Supermen can not enter the safe zones). When you say "Go!", all of the non-Supermen start dribbling around the marked area trying to hit players from the other team below the waist. If a player is hit, he/she must stop and hold his/her ball overhead. If the player’s Superman touches him/her on the head, the player comes back to life and begins dribbling again. The game is over
when one of the Supermen gets hit when outside of one of the safe zones. The team hitting the Superman wins the game. Pick new Supermen and start again. Emphasize passing the ball not shooting it, and constantly remind players to pass low so that no one gets hurt. Technical points • • •
Hips and shoulders facing target. Ankle locked. Toe up and heel down when passing.
Hit the Cone Themes: Ball Mastery and Passing with Inside of Foot Number of Players: All Equipment: 1 ball per player, disc cones spread out in a 20x25-yard area Time: 5-10 minutes This is a good warmup game because it can be played with any number of players. Spread disc cones out in a 20x25-yard area. When you say "Go!", all players try to dribble around the area hitting as many cones as possible. A player can not hit the same cone twice in a row. Play for one minute and see which player hit the most number of cones. If you have unique soccer balls available (e.g., a bunch of size 5 balls), you can use those instead of cones. You can also use corner flags. Variations • • •
Divide the players into teams and see which team can hit the most number of cones. Use different color cones and call out the color that must be hit to score a point. Change the color frequently. To emphasize striking the ball, tell the players that they must be at least 5-yards away from a cone when they shoot at it.
Technical points • • •
Hips and shoulders facing target. Ankle locked. Striking using their laces.
Scrimmage - 15 minutes
Split up team and play 3v3 or 4v4 with pug goals or cones used as goals. Any goal scored with the inside of foot with proper technique is awarded 5 extra points! Any team that can pass three times in a row without defenders intercepting it, gets an extra 3 points!
Week 5 Theme: Passing with Inside of Foot Warmup Activities - 10 minutes I Can Do Something, Can You? Themes: Ball Mastery and Balance and Coordination Number of Players: All Equipment: none when working on Balance and Coordination; add ball to start working on Ball Mastery after warm up Time: 5-10 minutes This is fun game to get the practice started. Bring the kids in and tell them what game you are playing. Tell them all they need to do is to follow you around your practice area and mimic what you do! Start with jogging, then move to funny animal actions, then move to sitting or hopping, or standing on one leg – anything that gets them laughing and getting ready for their main activities. You can even have another leader for about 30 seconds and have all the other kids and you mimic their creative ideas
Main Activities - 25 minutes Hit the Coach Themes : Passing with Inside of Foot, Ball Mastery, Balance and Coordination Number of Players: All Equipment: 1 ball per player Time: 5-10 minutes A great warm up or main activity. Have all the players with one ball dribbling around in the box and then the coach says “Go” the players try to hit the coach with the ball by passing with inside of foot. They retrieve their own ball and try to hit the coach as many times as they can, while you run around the grid. . Try it now with only using one foot or calling out a name of their favorite pet before hitting you. Technical points • Dribble using their pinky toe or outside of foot – no toe dribbling. • Keep the ball close to their body, so they can complete each task quickly. • Use inside of foot to pass and hit coach – no toe balls.
Partner Passing Through Gates
Themes : Passing with Inside of Foot Number of Players: All Equipment: 1 ball per two players Time: 5-10 minutes Have every player get a partner and one ball. Within your grid or box area place two cones to create a gate that th players will use to pass through and then find the next gate. Set up about 6-8 gates so players have many options and don’t make them too small. Pairs go for 30 seconds to see how many they can pass through – every pass through to their teammate is a point. If there is an odd number, the coach or parent can play with the child. Go through a few rounds and switch partners and then add in only passing with right foot or passing only with left foot. Can’t hit the same gate twice. Technical points • Toe up and heel down. • Locked ankle. • Show inside of foot to ball. • Hit the midline of the ball. • Hips and shoulders facing their target.
Scrimmage - 15 minutes Divide team in half and have four goals – two on each side – for teams to be able to score in. Put a line of cones about five yards in front of both goals to note that players must shoot BEFORE they hit this line and can’t score if beyond the line. We are encouraging passing into the goal instead of dribbling all the way in. Award an extra 5 points if anyone can score with the inside of their foot properly or with weak foot.
Week 6 Theme – Passing with Inside of Foot Warmup Activities - 10 minutes Back to Coach – in pairs Themes : Passing with Inside of Foot Number of Players: All Equipment: 1 ball per two players Time: 5-10 minutes Coach tosses ball to each pair, the pair retrieves the ball and passes it back to the coach. Start putting restrictions on the game by requiring pairs to get the ball back to the coach in three or four or five passes. Now the coach walks away and the pairs have to find the coach. Pairs go for 30 seconds to see how many they can pass through – every pass through to their teammate is a point. If there is an odd number, the coach or parent can play with the child. Go through a few rounds and switch partners and then add in only passing with right foot or passing only with left foot. Can’t hit the same gate twice. Technical points • Toe up and heel down. • Locked ankle. • Show inside of foot to ball. • Hit the midline of the ball. • Hips and shoulders facing their target. Main Activities - 25 minutes Sequential Numbers Passing Themes : Passing with Inside of Foot Number of Players: All Equipment: one ball for every 3 players Time: 5-10 minutes Divide team up into 3 even teams and number each team off 1-3. Give every group a ball and have the dribble around the grid and box, passing sequentially from 1-2-3. See which team can move and pass in a row without messing up. See which team can only use their weak foot to pass. Put out cones for extra obstacles to work around.
. Technical points • Toe up and heel down. • Locked ankle. • Show inside of foot to ball. • Hit the midline of the ball. • Hips and shoulders facing their target.
Teeter Totter Themes : Passing with Inside of Foot Number of Players: All Equipment: cones with balls sitting on top, balls on one side with half of team Time: 5-10 minutes Divide team up into halves. Place once team on one side of grid and one team with balls on the other side. Put out two cones about 15 yards apart and evenly spaced from each team with a soccer ball resting on top. All balls with one team. First player in that line passes with the inside of foot over to other line and then immediately becomes the defender. The one with the ball now becomes the offender and they play 1v1 in grid, trying to pass the ball into the balls resting on cones to knock off. The player who passes the ball must go get their ball and give to line with balls. If they hit the ball off the cone, they race to place the ball back on top of cone, so next two in line can continue game. . Technical points • Toe up and heel down. • Locked ankle. • Show inside of foot to ball. • Hit the midline of the ball. • Hips and shoulders facing their target.
Numbers Passing/Scoring Themes : Passing with Inside of Foot Number of Players: All Equipment: one ball for every 3 players Time: 5-10 minutes
Divide team up into two groups and number each group off from 1-4, so there are two groups of kids each with numbers 1-4. Put groups next to each other with the coach in between them with all the balls. Place the goals anywhere you’d like, so that it’s evenly spaced from each team. Coach passes ball into space and then calls a number and those numbers go play 1v1 to score into goal. So both 1s race out and play against each other. Players have 15 seconds to score of play becomes dead, they run off, and coach sends another ball out and calls a different number. Coach can call two numbers at once as well, or all four! Technical points • Toe up and heel down. • Locked ankle. • Show inside of foot to ball. • Hit the midline of the ball. • Hips and shoulders facing their target.
Scrimmage - 15 minutes Divide team up and play 3v3 or 4v4 with pug goals or cones as goals. Extra 10 points if a team can pass three times in a row with the inside of their feet before the opponents intercept the ball.
Week 7 Theme – Striking with laces Warmup Activities - 10 minutes Magical Cones Themes : Dribbling, Ball Mastery Number of Players: All Equipment: 1 ball per player Time: 5-10 minutes Place cones in your grid or box area. Players each have a ball and dribble around in box. When you say “Go” they dribble as fast as they can to a cone and stop the ball with their sole of foot. Do several rounds before moving to weak foot or variations like dribbling in a circle around one cone before finding another cone to stop ball on. Technical points • Dribbling with all surfaces. • Eyes pop up every often to see what’s around. Avoid other players. • Keep ball close to perform skill.
Main Activities - 25 minutes Hit the Coach Themes : Passing with Inside of Foot, Striking with laces, Ball Mastery Number of Players: All Equipment: 1 ball per player Time: 5-10 minutes A great warm up or main activity. Have all the players with one ball dribbling around in the box and then the coach says “Go” the players try to hit the coach with the ball by passing with inside of foot. They retrieve their own ball and try to hit the coach as many times as they can, while you run around the grid. . Try it now with only using one foot or calling out a name of their favorite pet before hitting you. Technical points • Dribble using their pinky toe or outside of foot – no toe dribbling. • Keep the ball close to their body, so they can complete each task quickly. • Use inside of foot to pass and hit coach – no toe balls.
Clean Up Your Room Theme(s): Passing with Inside and Striking with Laces Number of Players: All - in 2 teams Equipment: Lots of balls, 10 disc cones Time: 5-10 minutes This frenetic game is a player favorite. The only downfall of the game is it needs a large amount of space so that players aren't kicking balls into other practice areas, etc. Use your disc cones to set up two parallel lines that are 10 yards apart. Put one team on one side of the lines and the other team on the opposite side. The area between the lines is a neutral zone that can not be entered. Divide the balls so that each team has an equal number. It helps if each team has more balls than they have players. When you say "Go!", players from both teams try to "clean up their rooms" by kicking balls over to the other team's "room". Play the game for 1-2 minutes. At the end of that time, the team with the "cleanest room" (i.e., the fewest balls) wins. Note that players are not allowed to go into the neutral zone to recover any balls there although they can try to knock them out like in Marbles. Work on both feet by playing one game with the right foot only and the next game with the left. Play one game using only the inside of the foot and the next game using the instep.
Technical points • • •
Stress proper striking the ball technique. Either with the inside of feet or with laces. Ankle locked. Hitting ball on proper location – midline of ball.
Dribble and Shoot Themes : Ball Mastery, Striking the Ball, Speed Dribbling Number of Players: All - in two groups Equipment: Lots of balls, 2 disc cones, 2 Pugg goals (or any goals) Time: 5-10 minutes This is the basic shooting game that is played everywhere. Players get to work on their dribbling moves and shooting at the same time. Set up your Pugg goals side by side approximately 5-10 yards apart. In front of each Pugg goal, set up disc cones at the following distances: 10 yards and 25 yards. Behind each of the 25-yard cones, line up one group of players. Every player should have a ball. Note that if you only have one large goal, simply have both groups shoot on the same goal at the same time. The first player from each group dribbles forward, makes a dribbling move, and must shoot before reaching the cone. If the shot goes into the goal, that player's team gets one point. Have each group count their points aloud and the first team with ten points is the winner. Switch goals and shooting feet for the next round. You can make players shag their own shots to give them extra incentive to put them into the net! Technical points •
•
The last dribble before the shot should be a longer one. This allows the player to accelerate into the shot for more power. If the last dribble is a short one, the player will have a hard time getting the ball out from under his/her feet in order to shoot powerfully. Stress proper instep shooting form - plant foot next to the ball, toe down, follow through with the knee and the toe and land on the shooting foot.
Scrimmage - 15 minutes Divide team up into halves. Shorten field and place goals on each end line. We want to encourage more shots and will if the field is shorter. Play 3v3 or 4v4. Extra points if any shot is made with laces properly or with weak foot!
Week 8 Theme – Striking with laces Warmup Activities - 10 minutes Body Part Game Themes : Ball Mastery and Balance and Coordination Number of Players: All Equipment: 1 ball per player Time: 5-10 minutes A great warm up or main activity that kids love! Have all the players dribble around you with their soccer ball. You call out a body part and that’s the part of the body that has to be touching the ball. So if you say head, they put their head to the ball. Ask them who can do it the fastest. As soon as all the players have completed the body part touching the ball, have them continue to dribble and then call out another body part. Technical points • • •
Arms out for balance when foot on ball. Dribble using their pinky toe or outside of foot – no toe dribbling. Keep the ball close to their body, so they can complete each task quickly.
Main Activities - 25 minutes Step on the Crack Themes : Striking with laces Number of Players: All - in two groups. Equipment: As many balls as possible, 2 Pugg goals (or any goals will do) Time: 5 minutes Improper positioning of the plant foot is the death of a good shot. Most players place their plant foot too far back and rob themselves of power and accuracy. This game awards points for proper placement of the plant foot. You need a line to make this game work (or you can paint a line yourself). Place the goals side by side approximately 10 yards apart and 10 yards behind the line. Split the players into two groups. Each group should be approximately 5 yards behind the line and in front of the goal they will be using. You will need an assistant to set balls up for the other group. You will also need two or more parents to shag balls for you. You and your assistant place a ball on the line. The first player in each group shoots the ball using the instep. Regardless of where the shot goes, the player's team gets a point if that player places his/her plant foot on or over
the line. Count points out loud and the first team to 20 is the big winner. Switch goals and shoot with the other foot for the next game. Since you and your assistant will be placing balls on the line as fast as possible, your shaggers will have to be hard at work. Don't worry about any other aspects of shooting other than plant foot and instep. As the players start to master these simple points, you'll start to hear increasingly resounding thuds as proper strikes are made. Technical points • Stress proper striking the ball technique. Either with the inside of feet or with laces. • Ankle locked. Hitting ball on proper location – midline of ball Numbers Game Themes : Striking with laces, Attacking, Defending, 1v1 Number of Players: All Equipment: 2 goals set up 20 yards away from each other Time: 5-10 minutes Get players to stand in line in front of you. Count them off from 1-4 and then starting over with 1-4 for the second half of group, so that there are two 1’s, two 2’s, etc. Put the first group of 1-4 on one side and the second group of 1-4 on the other side. Coach has all the balls by his/her feet. Coach passes ball into empty field and then calls out “1” and both 1s run out to play 1v1 to goal. Someone has to score in 15 seconds or less or game is done. Extra points for scoring with laces or weak foot. Keep calling out numbers and then move to two numbers at once. And then all numbers to play 4v4! Technical points • Get to ball quickly. • Shoot when open - don’t look for perfect shot. • Use laces or inside to score. • Keep ankle locked and hips and shoulders facing target.
World Cup Themes : Striking with laces, Passing with Inside, Attacking, Defending Number of Players: All Equipment: all players with no balls out on field, and all balls with coach by goal/s Time: 5-10 minutes
Have every player out in the grid area facing the goals. Have each player or pairs come up with a name of a country and tell them they’ll have to yell out the country’s name as they shoot before the ball goes into the net. The coach plays one or two balls out at a time and the kids see who can score first. If you score you get a point – first player/team to 5 points wins the game! Make sure you have help to shag balls and keep a good size stack of balls near you since you’ll constantly be playing balls into the group. Stop occasionally and have players bring all stray balls to you before continuing. Technical points • Toe down and ankle locked. • Shoot when you get an opening – don’t delay or try to dribble all the way to goal. • Follow Scrimmage - 15 minutes Shorten field and put up one or two goals to encourage plenty of striking with laces into the goal! Divide up team and give out extra points for any goals scored with laces or weak foot.
Week 9 Theme – Receiving with Feet Warmup Activities - 10 minutes Ball Master/Retriever in Pairs Themes : Ball Mastery and Receiving and Passing Number of Players: All Equipment: 1 ball per player Time: 5-10 minutes Sam drills as Ball Master/Retriever, but now have the players in pairs where the coach sends ball out into grid and pairs pass back and forth until reaching the coach to give them the ball back. Put restrictions on how many passes they must get before getting back to coach. Technical points • • • • •
Take out the “steam” of the pass and cushion ball. Don’t stop ball dead with soft receiving touch but keep moving. Get in the line of the pass with body and don’t just stick foot out. Toe up, heel down, and bring leg up like putter to receive – if toe down there is no barrier. Watch ball all the way into foot.
Main Activities - 25 minutes Partner Passing Through Gates Themes : Passing with Inside of Foot Number of Players: All Equipment: 1 ball per two players Time: 5-10 minutes Have every player get a partner and one ball. Within your grid or box area place two cones to create a gate that th players will use to pass through and then find the next gate. Set up about 6-8 gates so players have many options and don’t make them too small. Pairs go for 30 seconds to see how many they can pass through – every pass through to their teammate is a point. If there is an odd number, the coach or parent can play with the child. Go through a few rounds and switch partners and then add in only passing with right foot or passing only with left foot. Can’t hit the same gate twice. Technical points
• • • • •
Take out the “steam” of the pass and cushion ball. Don’t stop ball dead with soft receiving touch but keep moving. Get in the line of the pass with body and don’t just stick foot out. Toe up, heel down, and bring leg up like putter to receive – if toe down there is no barrier. Watch ball all the way into foot.
Partner Dribble and Pass Themes : Passing and Receiving with Inside of Foot Number of Players: All Equipment: 1 ball per two players Time: 5-10 minutes Have every player get a partner and one ball. Set up two boxes with four cones each, with the small box in the center of the large box. Each pair is on one corner cone with their ball. First player in line dribbles out to corresponding corner cone, gets around cone and passes to partner in line. Good receiving touch forward not stopping ball dead and they repeat what first player just did. Move to only receiving with weak foot and then receiving across the body. Move to a competition that is timed. Technical points • Take out the “steam” of the pass and cushion ball. • Don’t stop ball dead with soft receiving touch but keep moving. • Get in the line of the pass with body and don’t just stick foot out. • Toe up, heel down, and bring leg up like putter to receive – if toe down there is no barrier. • Watch ball all the way into foot. Scrimmage - 15 minutes 3v3 or 4v4 with three small goals on each side made with cones inside one large rectangle. Teams score if they can pass through the goal to another teammate on the other side and they receive the ball properly with inside of foot. After score, the other team gets the ball or have coach play another one out into grid.
Week 10 Theme – Receiving with Feet Warmup Activities - 10 minutes Follow Commands Themes : All Skills Number of Players: All Equipment: 1 ball per player Time: 5-10 minutes Have every player dribbling around in box with ball. Coach calls out commands that players respond to: •
Get in groups of 2, or 5, or 7 – all players run to get into groups. Coach restarts when completed.
•
High five three different players, then go back to dribbling.
•
Pass with a partner back and forth ten times with inside of foot.
•
Sit back to back with 2, 3, or 4 players at a time.
•
Get creative!
Technical points • Toe up and heel down for passing and receiving with inside of foot. • Soft first touches keeping the ball moving. • Dribbling using outside or laces or pinky toe. • Eyes up to look around. Main Activities - 25 minutes: Pass and Move to Other Line Themes : Receiving and Passing Number of Players: All Equipment: 1 ball per player Time: 5-10 minutes Split up group into two lines, half on one side and half on the other about 20 yards apart. If more than 5 players, then split them up into two groups and then those groups are split up evenly behind the cones. Player in front of line passes to the player opposite them and runs into that line. Player receives ball and does the same thing, passes and runs into other line.
See how many you can get in a row without messing up. See if players can do two touch – first pass to receive and next pass to get across line. Technical points • Toe up and heel down for passing and receiving with inside of foot. • Soft first touches keeping the ball moving. • Dribbling using outside or laces or pinky toe. • Eyes up to look around.
Pass Through Triangles with Partner Themes : Receiving and Passing Number of Players: All Equipment: 1 ball per player Time: 5-10 minutes Groups of two with one ball. Make triangles with cones in large grid area – about 4-5 triangles, so players have options. Each pair dribbles around the grid and passes to partner through the triangles. Proper receiving is encouraged. Get receiving player in the habit of thinking ahead and where they are going next, so the receiving touch is pushed in that direction. Make it a timed competition next. You can also restrict to only receiving with weak foot. Technical points • Toe up and heel down for passing and receiving with inside of foot. • Soft first touches keeping the ball moving. • Dribbling using outside or laces or pinky toe. • Eyes up to look around.
Scrimmage - 15 minutes Divide up group and play regular scrimmage (4v4 or whatever you’ve got) with one goal on each side. Extra points for three passes in a row.
