Youth SOCCER Drills PDF
When I was a child, I loved playing. I was the kind of kid who hated
rainy days and got angry when the sun went down in the evening.
I still do. Rain or darkness meant playing would have to wait until another day.
I was active, very active. I’m still active. Being still was for someone else. Being still meant being bored. None of that for me.
As I grew into adulthood and considered future employment, I knew I wanted two things: to stay active in sports and to help young people experience the same joys I had while at play.
Being an elementary physical education teacher and coach was a natural fit for me.
I was an elementary physical education teacher for 37 years, and I’ve coached from clinic-level teams through high school boys’ varsity sports.
In that time I’ve discovered two things about working with kids: they want to have fun, and if they don’t understand what you’re talking about, it’s probably not their fault.
When working with children as a physical education teacher and coach, I’ve tried to remember how I felt as a child. I remember how much I hated listening to a coach talk for 20 minutes and then playing for only 10 minutes.
Standing in long lines waiting for a turn during drills absolutely frazzled me.
These memories inspired me to write this book. I wanted to give youth soccer coaches a resource filled with activities that are easy to explain and fun for the kids, keeping even the most active kids satisfied.
The drills I selected for this book meet these criteria.
Besides providing drills to improve skill techniques, I have heavily emphasized movement concepts to improve the quality of players’ movements.
I have designed these drills for coaches of players ages 5 through 12.
Players’ parents and physical education instructors will also find this a handy reference.
The book includes numerous demonstrations, drills, and games that will help players improve the quality of their play.
Demonstrations are visual presentations, with or without accompanying dialogue by coaches or players, that show how to perform a skill or play a game.
Drills are activities to improve play by repeating actions. Games differ from drills in two important ways: (1) games have rules and (2) games can be won.
For the purpose of keeping things as straightforward as possible, the activities presented in this book are generally referred to as drills.
The book is divided into seven chapters. It begins with a chapter on space and movement that discusses open, closed, personal, and general space.
These ideas are integrated with concepts of vision, direction, speed, and level into drills that promote the development of efficient movement.
This chapter is exclusively for players in the 5- to 6-year-old range.
Chapters 2 through 5 offer drills dealing with skill acquisition and tactical development.
Drills are organized in progressions from least to most challenging.
Those that are least challenging require less movement. Players often learn skills more quickly by practicing from a stationary position.
As they become more successful, drills become more challenging.
You can introduce movement; change the responsibility of players; or restrict time, space, or touches.
You can add defensive pressure, beginning with subtle pressure and progressing to gamelike pressure.
These chapters include drills that develop skills in dribbling, passing, collecting, heading, and shooting.
The book does not include drills to develop the special skills of goalkeepers. Instead, it focuses on developing spatial, movement, and skill concepts for field players.
Chapters 1 through 6 include activities for individual, partner, small-group, and large-group drill work.
Many drills contain more than one performance level. The higher the level, the more difficult the drill.
Factors influencing the difficulty of the drill vary and may include adding players as defenders, changing spatial requirements, and combining movement with skills.
Each drill is labeled according to its appropriateness: beginner (ages 5 and 6), advanced beginner (ages 7 and 8), intermediate (ages 9 and 10), and advanced (ages 11 and 12). Many of the demonstrations, games, and drills use game markers, cones, and game spots to define boundaries.
I still do. Rain or darkness meant playing would have to wait until another day.
I was active, very active. I’m still active. Being still was for someone else. Being still meant being bored. None of that for me.
As I grew into adulthood and considered future employment, I knew I wanted two things: to stay active in sports and to help young people experience the same joys I had while at play.
Being an elementary physical education teacher and coach was a natural fit for me.
I was an elementary physical education teacher for 37 years, and I’ve coached from clinic-level teams through high school boys’ varsity sports.
In that time I’ve discovered two things about working with kids: they want to have fun, and if they don’t understand what you’re talking about, it’s probably not their fault.
When working with children as a physical education teacher and coach, I’ve tried to remember how I felt as a child. I remember how much I hated listening to a coach talk for 20 minutes and then playing for only 10 minutes.
Standing in long lines waiting for a turn during drills absolutely frazzled me.
These memories inspired me to write this book. I wanted to give youth soccer coaches a resource filled with activities that are easy to explain and fun for the kids, keeping even the most active kids satisfied.
The drills I selected for this book meet these criteria.
Besides providing drills to improve skill techniques, I have heavily emphasized movement concepts to improve the quality of players’ movements.
I have designed these drills for coaches of players ages 5 through 12.
Players’ parents and physical education instructors will also find this a handy reference.
The book includes numerous demonstrations, drills, and games that will help players improve the quality of their play.
Demonstrations are visual presentations, with or without accompanying dialogue by coaches or players, that show how to perform a skill or play a game.
Drills are activities to improve play by repeating actions. Games differ from drills in two important ways: (1) games have rules and (2) games can be won.
For the purpose of keeping things as straightforward as possible, the activities presented in this book are generally referred to as drills.
The book is divided into seven chapters. It begins with a chapter on space and movement that discusses open, closed, personal, and general space.
These ideas are integrated with concepts of vision, direction, speed, and level into drills that promote the development of efficient movement.
This chapter is exclusively for players in the 5- to 6-year-old range.
Chapters 2 through 5 offer drills dealing with skill acquisition and tactical development.
Drills are organized in progressions from least to most challenging.
Those that are least challenging require less movement. Players often learn skills more quickly by practicing from a stationary position.
As they become more successful, drills become more challenging.
You can introduce movement; change the responsibility of players; or restrict time, space, or touches.
You can add defensive pressure, beginning with subtle pressure and progressing to gamelike pressure.
These chapters include drills that develop skills in dribbling, passing, collecting, heading, and shooting.
The book does not include drills to develop the special skills of goalkeepers. Instead, it focuses on developing spatial, movement, and skill concepts for field players.
Chapters 1 through 6 include activities for individual, partner, small-group, and large-group drill work.
Many drills contain more than one performance level. The higher the level, the more difficult the drill.
Factors influencing the difficulty of the drill vary and may include adding players as defenders, changing spatial requirements, and combining movement with skills.
Each drill is labeled according to its appropriateness: beginner (ages 5 and 6), advanced beginner (ages 7 and 8), intermediate (ages 9 and 10), and advanced (ages 11 and 12). Many of the demonstrations, games, and drills use game markers, cones, and game spots to define boundaries.
These items come in many sizes, shapes, and colors and may be purchased at al-most any sporting goods store or online through various sporting goods companies.
For the purpose of this book, large game markers are shown as the traditional cone shape, approximately 12 inches (30.5 cm) high.
The small game markers are circular disc cones approximately 7 inches (17.8 cm) in diameter and 5 inches (12.7 cm) high.
Game spots are flat, circular poly spot markers approximately 9 inches (22.9 cm) in diameter.
Chapter 6, Game Progressions, discusses a plan for implementing structured games according to players’ readiness.
The chapter identifies the concepts you can present at the 4v4, 5v5, 8v8, and 11v11 levels. Chapter 7, Using Drills in Practice, offers information about practice organization and includes practice plans for 5- to 6-year-olds, 7- to 8-year-olds, 9- to 10-year-olds, and 11- to 12-year-olds.
A drill finder is included to make the drills more accessible.
It shows the level of defensive pressure, number of players, and time needed for each drill, as well as the page where it can be found.
You can choose a skill or concept you are interested in, then easily select the drills that use the level of defensive pressure appropriate for your players.
You can also use the information about the number of players and time required for each drill to plan and conduct efficient practices.
This book will help you help your players move more efficiently by using the drills that target direction, speed, and level.
It is a resource to guide you in creating a logical order for teaching skills and concepts.
The information about movement concepts will help you improve safety and reduce collisions during practices and games.
In addition, you will develop a better understanding of what concepts you should present at each age level.
Many of the activities in this book are my original ideas, and some I collected by observing other coaches, clinicians, and teaching professionals.
The book is not all-inclusive. Feel free to substitute some of your favorite drills where appropriate in the progression.
Most important, have fun using this book. Your players will be grateful and will never have to say that the sun went down before they got their turn.
Note: If you use the metric system in your measurements, you can replace the number of yards with the same number.
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